---> OFFICIAL: Dell STUDIO 14z Owner's Lounge <---

I downloaded and installed the drivers from Dell and it worked fine. Did you download the 2 chipset drivers as well as the 9400M driver?

 

That *is* the fix.

When you install it, you'll see it says Windows 7 (or at least the 32-bit version does).

The Nvidia site tells you not to install their driver, so I didn't try it.

 

Anybody else have this problem after undervolting?

Under "CPU Info" tab, there's the "Current VID" which should be whatever multiplier you're on right now and what you undervolted it to. It's bothering me however, that under "Startup VID" it says 1.000V for 6.0x when I undervolted it to 0.8750V

Furthermore, for "Maximal VID" it shows 1.1250V which is the largest possible for the 9.0x but I also undervolted that to 0.9250V. "Minimal" is at 0.8750V, which makes sense to me. Whenever 9.0x is under "Current", however, it still shows only 0.9250V instead of the maximal 1.1250V. That goes for all multipliers under "Current", they'll all use the undervolted settings.

I also went to check the monitors and realized that the VID spikes up to 1.000V quite often with rare cases of 1.1250V when idling. I have no idea why this is happening, anybody else has this problem with the P8600?

 

Yes, everybody else is seeing the same things that you see in RMClock, it's normal.

 

I have a similar issue with my t6500, though I've only been able to get it down to 1 V it will briefly spike to 1.125 V and that is also listed as the maximal, even though I've brought it down to 1.000 V for all multipliers.

 

Anyone know of any coupons for the dell outlet or for the 14z? I want to buy my 14Z asap as I need to get one for school and just found out I have a little less to spend then I thought. Any help quickly would be great as I leave for school in a couple of hours and want to order it so it arrives before school starts.

 

Yeah I find that weird. Does anybody know if those sudden voltage spikes hurt the processor?

 

likely not, especially since their standard voltage 1.25 V. This is more likely caused by RMClock's incomplete ability to control voltage.

 

Yeah, I installed the vista drivers dell supplies and they worked. Weird that the nvidia drivers didn't work. :-/

By the way, I called Dell today and they don't make spare parts for the 14z yet--so no Back-lit keyboard upgrade YET. Maybe in the future... not sure how far in the future we're talking though...

I'd suggest getting one at Best buy if you have one near you. I bought one yesterday. It came with a DVD-RW external drive, Office 2007, and 15 months antivirus subscription. It cost me $699, but it didn't have the back-lit keyboard.

 

That is a really good price with the external drive and office 2007.

 

Yeah, no kidding. That's why I bought it at the store instead of buying one online. The only thing I'll miss is the back-lit keyboard and maybe the higher resolution screen. Though... I'm content. It's hard for me to imagine trying to read this forum text on a 1600x900 screen that small. Good grief. lol

**(Not to knock anyone who got the higher res screen... lol... I would have gotten it if I could **

 

I would have gone higher res if it was possible. screen real estate is useful.

 

Agreed. Though things would be really tiny on a 14" screen, I'm sure I'd get used to it though since I have good vision.

 

God I wish they had a 1080p! I'd be willing to pay a lot of money if it was an option.

 

New Record?

Ordered on the phone evening of august 10th received the 'order shipped' email morning August 17th 5 business days later!

 

I guess they're finally getting that supply chain in line.

 

I ordered mine on the 12th and it is still in production

 

My build is the same as yours except for hte color (midnight blue) my ship date was also the 24 so perhaps you will be ahead of sched as well

 

I like to think what they list as a deadline - most people, even those whose orders have been delayed, have recieved them on or before the deadline.

 

maybe but I checked this morning and it still shows in production.

 

When i called them they told me about how it had actually shipped from its international factory already, but they were waiting for it to arrive in the states before assigning a local tracking number.

 

I spoke with my sales rep this morning and my hasn't been shipped from its international factory as he said as soon as it has been shipped it will be invoiced and it hasn't been invoiced yet but who knows it may still show up on the 24th.

 

Argh I think I might have too, I was about to order an outlet one with a 900P screen and didn't, and now it's gone. i might be headed to best buy -_-, especially with that free external dvdrw drive.

 

You ordered 1 business day later than I did and mine shipped yesterday... I'm sure it will be shipped before tomorow! Mine was already transiting in USA when it shipped, could it have possibly been assembled in the USA? I thought they were assembled in malaysia

 

Everybody talks about Malaysia here, while the computer is actually made in China. I wonder who started that rumor with Malaysia?

 

That would be me - mind you, i don't really know either way, it's just what the CSR told me when I called them after mine had been in production for a couple of days.

 

No problem at all - when I need to do intensive reading I just adjust the zoom in the application. IE 7 didn't zoom well, but IE 8 does a fine job.

 

That would make sense. It doesn't ship as an individual item from overseas. It can only have a tracking number once it's been given to FedEx, UPS or whoever ships it from Dell to you.

 

Dell has multiple factories. Not all of their laptops are made in either China or Malaysia.

 

But to me if you're adjusting the zoom to the same size as it is on a 720P screen so that you can see it then you're not really gaining much with the 900P screen. **Wink...

But don't get me wrong. I would have definitely bought it with the 900P screen if I was getting one custom built. Though I would not buy a 1920x1080 size screen for this size of laptop. If you would, then that's great. More power to you.

Oh, and I emailed the dell guy and got a back-lit keyboard ordered.

Also, just so you know, I don't know for sure if the best buy deal is nation wide or not. It was a yellow coupon next to mine when I went into the store. They said that I was the last customer they were going to do it at that store because they had run out of DVD-RW drives. They gave me one that was comparably priced.

Has anyone been able to get the facial recognizition software working on windows 7 that came with vista?

Anyone else notice that before they install the Alps driver that the mouse actually functions smoother? Is there a fix for that? Having a jerky mouse irritates the hooky-pooky out of me. I could just remove it, but I would also like to have the side-scrolling function that the alps driver enables.

 

1600x900 is already TOO MUCH. To want a 1080p on this screen size is totally crazy! I mean, if you wanna damage your eyes in no time and start wearing glasses, sure, go ahead!

 

I just disabled chiral scrolling.

 

I already wear glasses - and I'm already almost blind. But i'd still do it in a heartbeat.

 

How much was the back-lit keyboard? I'm thinking about replacing the keyboard in mine.

I wish I waited a month to buy my 14z.. That $699 + free DVD-RW drive is outrageous.

 

I bought my dell studio 14z 3 days ago, I paid $745 + free external pioneer drive. The guy who "tried" to help me told me they only had 1 left because the deal was going to end. Just yesterday, I was browsing bestbuy.com and I noticed that my laptop was only $699 (just for the laptop). I went to bestbuy to see if they can price match it and they did! $699 + free external drive... Awesome!

 

$48, not bad considering...

 

not a bad deal at all.

 

Best Buy usually has a 30 Day price guarantee... Even if it's a little over 30 days, I'd take it in and see if they'd give you the difference.

 

My facial recog sw works surprisingly well. You have to update it to the current version 2.4.7 in order for it to work properly with W7, which if I recall takes a few steps. My recollection is that:

-I first uninstalled FastAccess and restarted.
-I then downloaded and installed FastAccess from Dell online support (this is not the correct version, but you have to do this first).
-Then, before restarting again, I ran FastAccess and manually updated it to 2.4.7 (open the FastAccess Configuration Console, click Advanced and then select "Check for Updates")

It's not perfect, particularly in poor lighting conditions, but the more I use it, the better it seems to work. That said, others have pointed out that it may not be all that secure and can be fooled. You can adjust the sensitivity so that it is much harder to fool, but I think in the process you will also get more false false results.

 

OH yeah, purolator will deliver my laptop tomorow!

6 days earlier!

 

Just in terms of the time wasted when trying to login with that software, isn't it easier and faster just to type the password?

 

Could you point me in the right direction? Maybe a link to the facial recognition software download on dell's website?

Thanks

 

Quite possibly... but it is cool to show your friends . lol

 

Actually there is some useful parts of that software.

For example you can set it up so that if your face is away from it for more than a specified amount of time, then it locks the machine. You could of course do the same with a screensaver, but I can't stand screensavers.

For example, at work I have both a PC and a notebook (because I work too quickly for just one machine). If I walk away from my notebook I might forget to put it into locked mode. If it detects that I have walked away then great.

Also, it can make passwords even more secure by requiring both the password & the facial recognition to gain access. Until the software has matured a little I wont be turning this on - because poor lighting means sometimes it doesn't recognise my face.

The facial recognition I have been unable to fool when set to it's strictest level, even got my younger brother, who looks incredibly like me, and a hi res video of myself as well as high res pictures, and still no luck fooling it. Default out of the box settings can be fooled though.

 

Does anybody know if the Proexpress-7 cardreader can read Compact Flash cards? I can't seem to find product specifications anywhere on dell.com

 

Does anyone know if there is a way to get touch pad to work smoother/more smoothly? It is infuriating to keep over shooting my target because the computer doesn't represent the mouse's movement right away. The track pad seems accurate enough, but the mouse is just so jerky. Like is being updated at 10-15 frames per second rather than 30+ on most laptops.

Someone said something about disabling their "Circular scroll" but this didn't improve my performance at all.

I'll probably eventually get used to it, but coming form a laptop (HP DV5) that works perfect/smooth, this is very frustrating. Any fixes out there?

 

i can't find the facial recognition on dell's website. What's up with that? Is it only on those cd's?

 

It's more the novelty of it than the practicality - it's a nice toy to play with.

If you can do that then it would be more precise than a timed screensaver, because it would actually know when I'm no longer at the computer. I remember when i used to use those, I wouldn't touch the mouse or the computer because I'd be looking at something, and it would lock down on me and then I'd have to log in all over again.

 

I've found that the latest touchpad drivers made my mouse jumpy, so I uninstalled them (actually had to do a system restore, and I reinstalled my drivers 1 by 1.)

 

As for facial recognition, I've been using it exclusively, and have seen improvements in time. You need 2-3 per location for it to be effective, and have reasonably similar lighting. Eventually it should be able to go everywhere, as long as lighting is the same. It also recognized me with glasses (without first logging in with glasses) so.. this could be both a good and a bad thing.

Also, it seems that it takes the picture when you enter the password, so it lets me in as soon as I look down at the keyboard (as if I'm typing the password). I'm going to start looking at the camera as I press enter, so it'll be able to let me in without "acting"