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

UPDATE: just got off with Dell Tech Support again. They say now that it's the AC Power Adapter and Mother Board, and that both have to be replaced. Greeeeeat. Clearly the other guys didn't know what they were talking about, and here I wasted nearly a month waiting for this friggin' BIOS update that was supposed to be coming. If all goes well, though, it's supposed to be fixed within a week. Just hope it works.

 

hey everyone, i installed battery bar to check it out and my battery wear is at 19.9%! what can i do to with this? i thought my batter was being weird but i thought i was just being critical. help guys?

 

Does anybody have issues with the hard drive suddenly stopping/spinning down?
It happens to me quite often, no matter how I'm using the notebook. I can hear the specific "click" the drive makes when it stops and everything freezes except for the mouse, but if I wait 1 or 2 minutes it comes back on and everything goes back to normal. No data loss so far but it's very frustrating.
I have the 250GB WD2500BEVT HDD and Windows 7 32bit with all the latest drivers. The thing is I can't remember if this happened with Vista...

I checked the connectors and everything seems fine. SMART data is not available, I tried Everest, SpeedFan and WD's own Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows. I also ran a Quick test and an Extended test but no errors were found.

Any ideas? I'm thinking about removing the drive again to check if RPS (Reduced Power Spinup) is enabled by jumper. Can anyone please tell me what's their jumper setting?

 

@igus, I have an 8 cell and inside win7 I was getting about 4hrs.. but I was not pushing the laptop at all.. just sitting in class not doing much on it. Inside OSX thought it is more like 3.5hrs.. So I can say that Win7 is more efficient than OSX.

I also have the T6600 cpu, not the P8600 which maybe makes the different? I also have 900p and an SD expresscard slot in all the time. Also I imagine users that have 5gb of ram will benefit some in battery usage as well.

 

don't you wanna wait until arrandale v.2? v.1 that is already out has ZERO % battery gain. but v.2 promises lower power consumption.

 

It would be far smarter if we could set the laptop to automatically switch to discreet graphics when plugged in and then switch to integrated when running on battery.

 

What exactly do you do: movies, graphics, etc.? For an 8-cell those 3.5 hours of normal/heavy usage is normal, I think. I get on average about 4-4.5 hours on mine, I bought in July. Actually, I used to get, because lately I haven't been using it on battery at all, only AC, so i don't even know the real numbers currently. Usually the battery wears out with time, and in about 3-5 years will not be able to hold the charge at all. That's just the reality. Batteries wear out faster when they are near some heat source, so the hotter the notebook runs, the faster the battery wears out, even if running the notebook only on AC. Another thing, you don't necessarily have to alternate between AC and battery every other day, that doesn't help. If you are near an outlet, just run it on AC, because modern Li-ion batteries simply don't run the charge through when they are fully charged, so you are not wearing them out by having the computer plugged in all the time.

 

i think winamp is better than itunes, it starts up WAAAAY faster! and there's a plugin that lets you sync up your ipod w/o having to setup stupid partnerships. neway, this plugin works great for winamp:

http://www.whitsoftdev.com/inspiron/

 

I'm pretty sure that 1gb extra is being used by the integrated gfx. I just hope Dell includes the 64bit versions of 7 with these 5gb systems.

 

@krap101

Dell's "quickset", an application add-on to windows mobility center, allows you to toggle the primary behavior of the function key row (from multimedia to function). Ensure that quickset installed and have the multimedia keys selected as primary behavior. I believe this option is also located in the bios options.

I'm still running Vista. Media buttons work in Pandora, only when I have the browser tab "in focus", but I believe they'll work on wmp regardless. I haven't seen options that enable you to control programs in the background with media buttons- it seems to vary by application

 

I purchased a refurb. My battery (8cell) seems normal. To conserve I usually turn off bluetooth, dim the 900p, and select power saver from battery plan options (tray icon). Idling, I've seen estimated life reach 6hrs, but I average 4.5-5hr with normal browsing.

I'm still in Vista. I've read users reporting a decreased battery life in windows 7, sometimes down to only 3hrs.

 

@kkreiger

You made a decent buy for the price. You choose more RAM over upgraded processor, display, battery, and/or keyboard. That wouldn't have been my first choice, but still a good price (esp compared to new).

I stalked the outlet site for a couple days and found my system. ~$669 shipped after tax and -15% coupon. (i saw a -20% coupon a week later, go figure). Purchased 9/2009

I was satisfied with my purchase nevertheless. Everything seems to be in order. Only wishes would be the 4gb ddr3, 7200rpm HD over 5400, and perhaps a midnight blue casing--willing to trade my blackchain link with any takers

There is a guy who customized his case in an earlier post. It looks awesome, but I don't have the courage or the tools to do something like that

 

Wow! Thats a sweet system you got there.

I chose the 5GB RAM because i use Virtual machines quite often. But unfortunately i did not observe that the processor t6600 lacks virtualisation.

 

I received the laptop in perfect physical condition not even a nick or scratch.

But after booting i observed that there was a problem with screen, the screen has a lot of random flashing or flickering pixels. I mean like the image is displayed but there are green and red pixels being displayed all over the screen.

They are not stationary but pop in and out of existence. I contacted dell and they told that i would have to ship it to them for replacing the screen. I argued with them and they offered to sent a technician to my home even though i had a mailin service.

 

Anybody have a similar problem with their laptop?

I did some research and i think it's a graphics problem as the pixel corruption is not at the same place every time.

 

Havent seen this problem, but it's likely hardware related. Somethings to try...

a) removing your 4gb sodimm chip (and/or trying another memory chip). I think Win7 will boot with just 1gb.

b) checking for hot temps. perhaps the gpu (or cpu) is overheating.

c) check for loose wires connecting the lcd. this is pita because u need to disassemble the lcd (i've done this, not easy, but doable, be careful).

d) try a different Nvidia video driver.

Customer service can also do a refund or exchange. The difficulty of getting either varies, just be persistent (and don't wait).

 

That's funny because my LG 900p screen has a little red push.

Where in Win7 / Nvidia Control Panel can you calibrate the colors?

 

I have the same problem. Its like the computer freezes but after a few minutes everything is fine.

 

And the saga continues. To their credit, Dell Tech Support had a local tech contact me the next day and he came to my office with the new MB and a new AC Adapter but, despite the fact that I specifically requested it, they did NOT send the AC Adapter socket piece that is inside the case. Well, the tech tried the new AC Adapter and, not surprisingly, it didn't work. When he cracked it open he saw that, just as I had told him, the AC Socket (I'm using that term for lack of a better one) assembly is NOT soldered to the MB but attaches via a ribbon cable. Still, he had to replace the MB but, surprise, surprise, when he got it all back together again, it still didn't work. Sooooo, he called Dell and ordered the AC Socket part which, he was told, is physically attached to the plastic bottom of the casing. He'd have to replace the whole thing. Still, whatever.

This morning the tech calls saying he has the part and is on his way. He gets here, shows me how the AC Socket assembly is attached to the bottom casing, cracks my laptop open, removes the old one, begins to replace the new one and only then discovers ... it's too big. It's the part for the wrong freakin' computer; the 15", we assumed. He tried to see if he could remove the socket assembly and just use that, but it's slightly different and attaches differently in the 15" as compared to the 14". So, here we go again, and here I am for yet another weekend without my laptop.

It's just been a comedy of errors.

And I'm sorry to take up column space here, but I'm hoping to be of help in the event (or eventuality) that someone else runs into this same problem, to hopefully help them get to the bottom of it more quickly than I. And secondly, I'm writing as a cautionary tale about dealing with Dell Tech Support. I try to be understanding and patient, I really do. But, this has been a joke from beginning to end. What ticks me off even more is that, after getting information myself from the Dell Tech Support website, I told them the most likely cause of the problem almost a month ago, yet still, here I am. Argh.

Okay, and I guess there's a little bit of venting going on, too.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled BBS.

 

Have you contacted Dell Technical Support? They told me they can't give me any assistance because I'm using a retail version of Windows 7 instead of their OEM Vista/7
They were also kind enough to offer me a brand new HDD with the original OS and drivers preinstalled, but I can't accept that as I don't live in the US...

What do you use iguss, Vista or 7?

 

Well, I used a Spyder2 express to calibrate the screen, but if you want to do it by eye, you can do it in control panel -> color management -> advanced -> calibrate display.

 

Windows 7. I don't really want to deal with a new HDD b/c then I'd have to transfer all of my files.

 

And do you have the same HDD as I do, WD2500BEVT?
L.E. I also would like to add that so far I've only used the notebook with the AC adapter. Did it happen to you while running on battery?

Anyone here with Win7 and WD2500BEVT who doesn't have such problems?

 

Not sure how to check my hard drive model.

 

Just go to Device Manager and it should be listed under "Disk drives"

 

I have a different model #

 

If you suspect that the problem comes from that specific harddrive, then why don't you swap in another model to verify that?

 

Because I don't have another one...

Anyway, I think I found the problem. First of all, WD hard drives have an Advanced Power Saving mode that spins down the drive after x seconds of inactivity. The problem is that the drive won't come back on immediately, and this could be caused by 3 things:

1. The drive itself, perhaps a firmware bug. I have emailed WD about this and I'm waiting for an answer. However, I don't think this is the issue, because after searching the internet I found a lot of users complaining about this APS thing being noisy and bad for the drive's health, but none of them said it freezes their system. To be 100% sure, I'm gonna run some tests in a DOS environment and see if the problem persists.

2. The nVidia chipset is unable to bring the drive back on, either due to incompatibility or a driver bug. It's a long shot, but still possible. To verify this I'm gonna install the drive in a desktop system with an intel chipset.

3. A Windows 7 bug, same as above, either incompatibility or driver issue. I'm really not in the mood of installing Vista again, so I could really use some feedback from users with Vista and 7.

Keep in mind that those of you who have a 7200RPM HDD shouldn't be affected, because those are Seagate drives.

 

is there anyway to have two finger scrolling for this alps touchpad?

 

I was experiencing that with my 14z running OSX... after two weeks of debugging OSX I found that it came down to Adobe Flash.. Firefox ends up calling a debugger due to Flash crashing, but Flash does not entirely crash.. it simply goes into debug mode which effectively causes my entire system to have for 1-3 minutes and then I never have another issue for the rest of the time the system is on.. until I reboot.

Now I run some flash blocker addon since Flash appears to be so buggy in OSX.. although Flash is actually supposed to be fairly stable on Windows..

 

Well I spent a couple hours on this...
I have 2 nice (sRGB) lcd monitors (and other laptops) to compare with...
I used a variety of high-res images, was careful of viewing angle/lighting...

The 14z looked great except blues have a touch of purple. Viewing a pic with a nice blue sky always looks purple. Lowering blue level helps (so I guess I was wrong on the red push) and increasing Nvidia's "digital vibrance" helps, although this gizmo also destroys details over 10% or so (currently set at 4%).

I ended up calibrating with the Nvidia Control Panel because it gives finer control over the RGB channels.

Your ICM profile did improve things, but not enough (at least for my screen).

Now it's improved but blues still not as blue as my high-end IPS lcd display of Studio Xps laptop. You can see the diff right on the desktop in the Win7 "my computer" icon, which should be a nice medium blue but on the 14z it's a darker, purple leaning blue.

If you have any more suggestions lemme know!

 

I hate to say it, but... buy a calibration tool. It is hard to get calibration right by eye.

 

I'm pretty proud of this one I just got at the Outlet with coupon -- $483.65!!

Studio 14z - 1440 Laptop, No internal DVD or CD Drive
65W AC Adapter
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6400 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
Silver palm rest
Ruby Red
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G
64BIT Operating System CD
8 Cell, 74 Whr Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
Dell 1397 802.11B/G Wireless Mini Card
2 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (1 DIMM)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
Back-lit Keyboard
Facial Recognition Version 2.3
Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Module
250 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Integrated Memory - 1 GB
14.0 inch High Definition+ (900p) Bright LED Display with TrueLife

Popped in a Samsung 256GB SSD, and like Glitchbit, I'm running that "fruity" OS on it, and I must say that the 900p LED display is awesome! I had a black 14z with the 768p LCD, and it was very average. The 900p is bright, sharp, and vibrant! Plus, I love the 1600x900 resolution on the 14" panel!

Although RED isn't my favorite color, I do like the fact (and I didn't expect this when I ordered it), that the colored lids are that non-glossy finish, unlike the Chainlink black that is just a fingerprint magnet. I could not keep my previous black 14z clean! With the RED, there's no more fingerprint worries!

I'll pop in more RAM and am patiently waiting for the "deal" on a P8600 CPU to upgrade it. It makes an awesome "Dellbook" now, but with a P8600 (or P8700) it'll be even better!

 

Out of curiosity, does the Studio 14z work with the P9000-series of CPU's or just the P8000 series?

I'm looking to upgrade, and apart from the cache size difference, don't really see the difference between the P8700 and the P9500 (both 2.53Ghz/1066Mhz FSB).

What I want is low power consumption, coolest running, yet decent speed.

I've been looking for the P8600, since the speed difference between it and a P8700 isn't significant, but the price sure is!

Anyone have any recommendations between the P8600/P8700/P9500??

Thanks!

 

I've been thinking about attempting an OSX install on my 14z ([email protected] Ghz CPU, 900p display, 5GB RAM). Do you get everything running?

Thanks.

KC

 

A cheaper upgrade to this laptop for it to run cooler is something like Arctic Silver for the gpu and cpu, but I hear there is something slightly more effective by 2-3 degrees, diamond something that works really well. I will probably open mine up and apply that stuff during spring break. I mean really if it keeps it running cooler then the fans won't be running at as much and I will probably see a noticeable increase in battery life I'd hope. (might only be 5-15 minutes, but at least I would know that my laptop would be less likely to over heat in the future because of some 5 cent pad dell put on there)

Actually when I first got the 14z I stuck it on top of my leather cased macbook and the leather from that thing is cushioned slightly but enough to effectively cover the vent holes on the bottom and it caused my 14z to overheat. It did take a few hours or so though before my 14z shut itself off (and admittingly speedstep was not functioning properly at the time with the OS I was running, so that did not help either). Regardless it is not good sign when a laptop shuts off on its own.

 

Well, I really want a P-series processor because of the power savings, and cooler temp. While my T6400 is adequate, I can sell it for $50 (at least) and put it towards a P8600 and wind up only costing about $70 more. Plus, the P8600 has more cache, etc. I think it's the perfect upgrade. Of course, when the time comes to take apart the 14z for the operation, I'll be using arctic silver 5 since I have tubes of it!

 

It's against forum rules here to speak of such things, but there is a discussion about it here.

They're free to discuss such things over there!

 

im trying to install vista on my new 14z and i load into the setup and it cant find the hard drive. I need the SATA driver but i cant find it

 

I figured it out the hard drive was set as dynamic

 

I have seen many posters on this thread reference the fact that they were able to purchase from DELL a new lid for their 14z. I am not talking about having the upgrade done while their order is still being processed. If anyone has been able to make that purchase could you please send me or post a link as to whre and how to do so. I have tried calling dell a number of times since I received my 14z which is the chainlink black. I did not know of the piano or glossy nature which I hate. I am eyeing the Midnight Blue, but have not been able to purchase it from dell. Every time I speak to dell it is like I am speaking a foreign language. I get no help. Maybe I can find that help here.
Appreciate any suggestions.

 

Look at this thread

Yes, you'll more likely to get help here (than Dell)!

Again, we can get you the part, but installing it is a whole other can of worms!

I'd be happy to do it for you but shipping around the laptop makes the whole thing too expensive.

 

hey u guys know if i can replace my 800mhz FSB (T6500) with a 1066mhz FSB (P8600) without having to worry about replacing my motherboard?

does anyone know who i should contact at dell to get a backlit keyboard?

 

I did just the same thing (look at my signature below). Apart from having to take the whole darn thing apart, the CPU swap worked flawlessly. The P8600 is a supported CPU, so no worries. Just update your BIOS FIRST!!!

Good luck!

 

Did u see any big changes in battery life, fan activity and heat with the new CPU?

 

No big changes, unfortunately. I thought with the P-series I would get significantly less fan, and cooler running. I wound up undervolting the CPU and then I noticed less fan and about 10C cooler temps.

 

hmm.. 10C is a lot. wat did u underclock to? did u also undervolt it?

 

Sorry, not underclock. UNDERVOLT!!!

I wouldn't underclock it!! That would be just reversing the gains of upgrading to a P8600!!

10C isn't bad, but like I said, I didn't really notice much difference going from a T6400 to a P8600 with regards to temp/fan. It was the undervolting that gave me what I wanted. But, I am very happy with the P8600. I'm keeping an eye out for a good deal on a P8800...

 

Hi, i have the t6500 with a 35W TDP and I would like to undervolt. May i ask how you undervolted? With software or in bios? If software which one? Thanks.

 

Depends on your OS. If Windows, you could use RMClock (although I haven't tested it). But I use a different OS (see sig below) and use a program called Coolbook.