Dell Studio 1555

Looks just like my setup except for the N wireless.

Discounts don't stack
they had a labor day sale and it was like -$150. I added a -$15 coupon and it INCREASED the total $135.
I used
www.dell.com/may2 I don't see the same deal though.

2. It's a gimmick, I never look at my keyboard. But it looks nice and will be useful in the dark.

5. I guarantee WoW will run amazing on this computer

 

Dell is sending me a new Studio 1555 as a replacement for my defective Studio 1535. Originally, I expected a 1535/1537 'refurb' but they decided to send a NEW 1555 instead.

Here are the specs:

Midnight Blue
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
2.66GHz Intel C2D T9550 (1066MHz FSB, 6mb L2 cache)
15.6" 900p (1600x900) LED Display w/ Facial Recognition
3GB RAM
250GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
256mb ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570
Dell 1397-b/g wireless card
Bluetooth
Slot-Loading DVD-RW
Back-lit Keyboard
6-cell Battery
3-yrs McAfee Security

I'm planning to upgrade to a higher capacity hard drive (at least 320GB, probably 500GB). I may go for a faster 7200rpm hard drive, too. The wireless card will be replaced with either a Dell 1510-N or Intel 5100/5300 card.

Originally, I had planned to sell my Studio 1535 on eBay when it was repaired/replaced. But now I'm thinking about keeping the 1555, especially if it doesn't start falling apart like the 1535 did...

 

i get like 20-30 fps raiding in ulduar 25 man (1920x1080 resolution, max settings except shadows); the game runs very smoothly on this laptop

just make sure you get 64 bit OS to utilize all 4gb of ram

 

1. If you go to www.dell-sci.co.uk you can use the 10% code along with the 6% student discount, thats the best way to get a good price

2. i have order the backlit keyboard as i sometime use the laptop at night with out lights on

you will find that if you want to change your order they will have to cancel the orignal and start a fresh, that price your paying is well over the odds, look at my spec and price


have just speced your up on the site and comes in at £737.06 without the backlit keyboard, so made you a saving already

 

allfiredup, Which warrenty option you had in your 1535?

 

So can my dvd drive write dual layer discs?

 

Yes it will be able to

 

Studio 1555

DVD Player will read CDs and not recognize DVD disks including
DVDs that come with Dell Laptop i.e Dell Software, Windows software etc.
Data DVDs
DVD+R
DVR+RW
Movie DVDs

All these DVDs are recognizable by my other laptop with XP. So I am fairly sure that it is not the disks that are the problem.

It will read CDs but not DVDs. Any idea why?
BIOS? Windows Vista 32? Hardware issue?

 

Notebookjournal has said that the 256MB 4570 has DDR2 VRAM while the 512MB version has DDR3. I don't know if this is true though. Someone here said it was not true.

If it true, you may want to upgrade (if possible).

 

Do you get a error, or does it just not recongize the disks being inserted? can you see anything in explorer??

 

Studio 1555

DVD Player will read CDs and not recognize DVD disks including
DVDs that come with Dell Laptop i.e Dell Software, Windows software etc.
Data DVDs
DVD+R
DVR+RW
Movie DVDs

All these DVDs are recognizable by my other laptop with XP. So I am fairly sure that it is not the disks that are the problem.

It will read CDs but not DVDs. Any idea why?

BIOS? Windows Vista 32? Hardware issue?

When I insert a DVD Disc, I get no errors whatsoever except a message from Windows (saying to the effect) Please insert a readable disk.
Just ejects my DVD disc without a warning after about 1 minute or so of trying to read the disk. Any ideas why?

 

i had this happen with my macbook, turned out to be a drive issue, they replaced the drive, maybe call dell and see what they have to say

 

I just had the basic 1-year Mail-In Warranty on my 1535. I've been trying to get it fixed/replaced since January. Other users with the In-Home/On-site repair option seem to get things resolved quicker than I did.

 

It's like pulling teeth trying get technical specs on most Dell products. In the "Setup Guide" for the 1555, on page 53- LINK

It shows the Discrete Video:

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570
GDDR3 256mb/512mb

Hopefully, that means both versions are GDDR3???

Even if it is DDR2, it's a better performer than the ATI HD 3450 (256mb DDR2) in the Studio 1535 that it replaces!

 

I'm not sure if this will help, but there's a Firmware Update from 4/16/09 for the DVD-RW drive- LINK

Also, make sure you have updated to the most recent BIOS (A06 dated 06/02/09)- LINK

 

Thanks for all the useful responses folks, really helpful and apprieciated.

I've got to the same price on the Dell-Sci site, but i'm going to throw in the 3yr (pay for 2) warranty, just because one never knows when something's gonna happen. Including this will put it up to £830, but it's still a massive saving considering i'm still getting more for less.

Don't think i'll bother with the backlit keyboard.

FredTo, somehow I guessed by your avatar you may be able to provide some input re: wow!

Edit: I just rang Dell to cancel the original order. I'm going to wait until I get confirmation of the cancellation before placing the new order.

 

What do all the 1555's touchpad's options mean?
touchcheck? draglock?

and why is it sometimes I'll be typing a letter then things pop up like the open command even though I didn't press ctrl + o?

 

TouchCheck is a feature that recognizes accidental brushes of the touchpad and ignores them, so you don't accidentally move your cursor around if the edge of your finger or palm brushes against the touchpad while you're typing. You can adjust the sensitivity of this feature, so that it will only block extremely light touches, or firmer touches. If you set it too high, it may inadvertently ignore deliberate touches as well, though.

Draglock is good if you do a lot of "click & drag". If you double-tap the touchpad and then move your finger, it will function as though you are holding down the left mouse button while moving. I leave this one off, because I don't do much click+dragging, and it sometimes gets set off accidentally.

 

Hi, guys!

What about displays in 1555? I would like to order model with 1366x768 in UK. Any сhance to receive really good display? Are FullHD Displays better than standard?
And can somebody provide photo of UK keyboard. Is it many different from US?

BR

p.s. Sorry, for my poor english

 

For display quality (everything other than resolution) we are wondering about that too.

Until now there have only been reports on particularly bad quality (compared to other laptops) on some 1366x768 resolution screens.

 

Sofar the 1366*768 Samung is the most common and it's mediocre quality.
The 1366*768 AUO is said to be brighter and have better contrast.

The 1920*1080 screen seems to be AUO. Based on the reports I believe it's good.

If I would order now I would choose the 1920*1080 screen.

 

I´ll report as soon as my 2 1555 with 1366x768 will arrive.
But that may take... 1 or 2 weeks, according to Dell.
One user of our german forum will receive his 1555 with 1920x1080 Display in 2 or 3 days - if you are interested, I´ll put his links with fotos in here.

 

I am wondering to, after much consideration and waiting I finally managed to purchase my Dell. After countless research on laptops, I came to settle on a 1555.

So when I came back here today to see that there has been an issue (quality wise) with some of screens... I got slightly worried as to what model of screen I may be getting.

It is a 1080p screen so I am not sure if these are affected , it seems not... but I have my reservations. Some more insight to the matter is eagerly awaited.

Dell Studio 1555......Pre Production Stage
Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHZ | 320GB 7200RPM HDD | 4GB RAM | 1080p Screen | 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon 4570 | Intel 5300 | Blu-Ray | Backlit Keyboard | Bluetooth | Default Black | Windows Vista 64bit | 3yr Warranty | Total £850.00

 

1920x1080 not too small for 15.6" diagonal? What about text readability? Or Vista (regadring Win XP) have good possibilities to scaling?

 

I´ve used a 15.4" with 1680x1050 a few days and I must say... for me, it was all too small.
So, 1920x1080... would not be my choice.
Maybe, if you´re into CAD and Photoshop and others, it´s a nice solution.

Back to the 1366x768:
there were a lot of discussions about the quality.
An interesting point was, that one user has 2 Studio 15, one 1537 with the SEC5441 panel, and one 1555 with the same panel.
But he is using the Intel Onboard solution (4500).
He said, that after he has calibrated the monitor with a Spyder, both models has shown an identical, clearly picture with high contrast and brightness.

So, it _could_ be, that the darker and not so brilliant picture of the 1555 with the ATI 4570 is driver-dependent and it _could_ be that a possible solution would be to just "play" with the drivers and the settings of the driver to get a good picture.

 

Just reordered my system with a three year warranty for £34 less than what I was originally going to pay having consulted this website first. Great find.

The last order was due for delivery around the 19th, so maybe this one will be 22nd/23rd!

I'll also be using mine for CAD and it will have the 1080p screen, so can do some design work on it and report back.

 

Glad to hear that the site has helped you out, mine is due for delivery on the 18th, but still sitting in pre-production

 

Has anybody managed to overclock the ati 4570 yet?
Been looking around and not seen any reports of this yet

 

You can adjust the font size of Vista / XP or applications if it is too small for your eyes, and take benefit of the hi-res screen when watching FullHD movies / photos / ...:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=208434

 

It is very small and scaling of Vista is not 100% perfect. Add on No Squint works perfect in Firefox though.

Still i wouldn't want to risk getting a Samsung display with low contrast and a very narrow vertical viewing angle.

 

A small update to the 64/128 bit discussion, Notebookcheck now says "AMD specifies a slow 64 Bit memory bus, but some GPU-Z variants state a128 Bit bus (should be an error)."
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4570.13885.0.html
Previously they said dell 1555 have a 128bit gpu...

 

I have a 1920x1200 display for my Dell Inspiron 6000 15.4inch and its amazing. I will never get any laptop that isnt full hi-def. After having it I would not be able to put up with a lower-res display. I do have perfect vision though so I dont know if that matters...

 

Its hard to say for sure though because Dell often has parts built specifically for them that are not the standard. I have read a lot of comments from ppl that have the card that say that the info they get from the software on the computer tells them its 128bit.

 

I don't really care if it's 64 or 128bit. It does 4300 in 3dmark06 that's all I need to know.

 

I havent kept up with video cards much. Is that pretty good? How is it compared to other cards that are considered to be better?

 

It's a lot more than Ati3470 and Nvidia9300/9400

It's less than Ati 3650/Nvidia 9600 GT.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

 

Well my expected date of delivery was June 15th 2009. I got a call just right now stating that the processor I chose the T9550 is not available anymore and I'd have to reorder?! . Well guys what do I do now..they also stated that they would expedite my order since I've already waited 3.5 weeks for this. They offered me a other processor P-something thats rated at 2.51 ghz.

 

It shows 2654 there?

 

But wouldn't 1080 give u better visual for gaming and blu-ray movies? or is there no noticeable difference on 15 inch screen?

 

Yeah I know, it's wrong. Unfortunately it's not the most reliable list. If you hover over the score you'll see how large the sample is.

 

Oh yes it would, as long as you're close to the screen.

 

Yes it does. I have a 1920x1200 WUXGA screen on my current 15.4 laptop and its amazing. totally crisp and clear and video and games are amazing looking. It may seem a little small at first but after a few days you will be used to it. I always suggest UXGA to everyone I know!

 

That sucks. I would go with that new CPU thats offered! My current delivery time is 6/25! Hopefully it comes before that though!

 

Yeah always try to get the P CPU over the T CPU.

 

Well looking at the site now for configs of the studio 15 the only option for a processor is:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8700 (2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3MB cache)

crappy that they change things after your order and expect you to just change.

 

P series is less power consuming then T but this P8700 has 3MB of cache whereas T9550 has 6MB. Notable diference and worthy of a discount...

 

Great Tip- I just downloaded "No Squint". It should work better than the CTRL & +/- that I've been using.

Vista scaling seems to work better than it did in XP. I've used a custom DPI (105% on a 1440x900 display) and 120% (the default 'larger size')on a 1920x1200 display. I've noticed very few oddities on either of those.

I've heard that others have ran into issues when scaling beyond 120%.

 

There's also an option to only scale text or text & images. I also like setting the increments to 2%.

 

If you go into the detail (by clicking on the specific GPU), there are four different samples showing for 3DMark06-

GDDR2- 3170
?- 4314
DDR2- 2654
GDDR3-4593

The performance ranges from 2654 up to 4593, dependent on the type of graphics memory used. The Dell documentation shows both the 256mb and 512mb versions of the HD 4570 are GDDR3. If that's the case, performance of the 256mb should be close to 4000 (give or take).

 

I can confirm this. In a previous post I mentioned the answer I got from AMD support telling that and 64 and 128bit is possible on this card. It all depends on the custom order of Dell, like martouf said.
When I spoke to the Dell technical support here in Belgium, one could confirm me they deliver 128bit for both versions (256 and 512ram) here in Belgium.
That said, you can be quite sure it is the same in every other country Dell delivers too.