Dell Studio 1555

Hey, just confirming the size of the hard drives impact the weight of the overall laptop? (500GB heavier than 320gB?)

 

No difference.

 

So the recommended action IRT the HDD is to just get the cheapest and then purchase an upgrade at a later date?

 

I have the LG 1080p and it is excellent. I can't directly compare it to the AUO screen obviously.

Color fidelity is great (unscientific observation), the viewing angles are great, there are no color tints or any of that, and damn is it bright, literally never have to go more than 60% of the max brightness. I've been using it in daylight on the terrace, and even there I only need about 70% of the max brightness.


I'm using Windows 7 RC (64bit) btw, and using 120dpi (125%) works great. Don't know how good that works on Vista, but I'm really impressed with how it works in Win7, everything looks "native". Using it at 96dpi is good too, but I keep my laptop at a greater distance than most people so this works better for me.

The screen space i get for 3d and cad applications with this screen is incredible.

 

Oh, and forgot to add my impressions on the gaming performance of this laptop. Never expected to be so impressed with this aspect of the laptop, this graphics card seems very balanced for a desktop replacement laptop.

I'm actually playing Dawn of War 2 at full 1080p res on medium to high settings. It runs extremely well.

But even at 720p, I guess due to the high pixel density, it looks very good.

Tried Crysis as well, and settled for a combination of medium to high settings on 720p there which gives me very good fps, and looks great.

On CoD4 (the only game i play more than few hours a month), on mostly high settings at 720p I get an average of about 40 fps (and it doesn't bounce around much, which makes it smooth) which is really necessary with all the CoD4 multiplayer madness.

 

Just a really quick question to people that bought a studio 1555 recently. The status for my laptop changed from in production to delivery preparation. Does that mean that the laptop is already in north america and being prepared to be purolatored, or does it mean that it's still in the factory in malaysia?

Thanks so much.

 

Thanks for the reply. How does the 1555 display compare with a decent external monitor display?

 

The 720p Samsung LED display is way brighter and more colorful than my 20" ViewSonic VA2026w external display, although the ViewSonic has better viewing angles.

 

Does the Power Brick get really hot for anyone else? I keep it on the carpet and accidently brushed it with my foot, it felt warm, so i tried to keep my foot on it for a few seconds and it was burning hot.

It's the Dell PA-3E Model DA90PE1-0 adapter.

 

My adapter does not get uncomfortably warm. I'm not sure of the exact model number, but it's the slim 90W adapter with the blue light ring around the plug.

 

Dont know... but my computer is still In Production....

When is your expected arrival now? Mine is the 15th again.... So 2 days.........

 

My ESD is july 22nd. For the order of my mouse, it went directly from in production -> shipped, so i was quite shocked when i got delivery preparation. I really hope it doesn't get stuck in the stage for like another week.

 

Were you always the 22nd? I Think i was the 22nd too... I seem to remember we were quite close in date... well mine is now the 15th... which i think is the original date they gave me.... but it's still "in production"


K.... Just checked the dell site... my order was canceled???? Calling them now.... !!! Shipped the wrong computer... and 2 orders canceled. Seriously?

 

Wow, that's a pain in the . They cancelled your order? That's ridiculous!

 

Yea... now I need to explain the case to every tech support guy so that they can see why it was canceled. What a pain. I hate this stupid hold music. WHy don't they ever change it!

 

lol, is it the lady saying like "we appreciate your time at dell, a representive will be with you shortly...bs music?" haha.

Yeah, i already had a small taste of dell's superb customer service. They sent me an invoice of someone else to my email address, and when i called they transfered me 3 times LMAO.

 

NIGHTMARE! They are going to put my order in again... they tell me 20-28 days because there are lots of orders for the computer.

 

No, that's not a normal nightmare; it's like being trapped in Freddy's sadistic killer version.

How do they expect you to wait another MONTH. That's ridiculous. Demand upgraded stuff. You should try to get them to express ship it and stuff.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what i can do?

After talking to the Manager for an hour.... They are putting in the order for the 3rd time. She was going to get back to me as to who canceled my order and why. I couldn't get them to upgrade anything. (mind you i'm coming from a 3 year old computer... so whatever) but did manage to get the 64bit OS instead of 32 bit. I also will probably get it in Red or Green because I rather not have a glossy finish.

Anyways... suggestions?

PS: Does anyone have pictures of the Red or Spring Green laptops?

 

My Hard Drive temperature is hovering around 40-42C idle... seems kinda of hot considering the both CPU cores are 34C. Shouldn't the HD temp be lower?

 

It depends on what else is physically close to the hard drive. The GPU on the 1555 is closer to the hard drive than the CPU, and it tends to run much warmer than the CPU.

 

It will depend a lot on what display you're comparing it to and how well you can spot differences in contrast.

Most external displays have much higher contrast and brightness than the large majority of laptop displays.

 

Contrast, sure, but this 1555 LED display is way brighter than my desktop's ViewSonic.

 

It will depend on what LCD you compare it to, but most dekstop LCDs are brighter than 250 nits, while the 1366*768 panels are less bright than 250 nits.

 

Sorry for being vague, I'm asking about budget LCD monitors ($100-200 refurbished, 19-20"). I have a 1555 on its way (too good of an outlet deal to pass up), but I'm starting to consider buying a notebook with a smaller screen (T400, 14z, etc.) along with an external monitor for desk use. I'm a little concerned about taking the external monitor home for breaks and back to school on the plane. I already have a cello to carry, and I'm not sure how much more I can hold. Would the monitor require its own box or case? Or could I just stow it away in my luggage?

I guess I'm just a little concerned about the 1555's weight and size for college. I won't be taking it to every class but I'll definitely be bringing it to the library and possibly rehearsals (planning to use the laptop as a loop pedal). And, as I mentioned, I have a cello to carry around much of the time. Mastershroom, you're in school, right? Is this easy to carry around campus or is it a chore? If the 1555 was an extra pound or two lighter or a few square inches smaller, would it make a big difference?

Thanks

 

The 1555 is very portable. I carry mine back and forth to class twice a day in a backpack. Most of my textbooks weigh more than the 1555, and I often have to carry two or even three of those at a time.

Get a good laptop backpack with nice cushy shoulder straps, and you probably won't realize it's any heavier than your texts and papers.

 

When it comes to laptops approx 15 inches and around 5-6 lbs, for me, personally I can't tell the difference. I carry it around in a backpack and it's not a chore for me at all. I would much rather carry a laptop that size and weight versus carrying 2-3 textbooks like I've seen many college students do. I am more concern about size than weight when it comes to taking it to class because some classrooms have a smaller "desk", and that's when a laptop becomes, well, a laptop.

Anyways, according to FedEx I might receive mine tomorrow!

7/03/09 - Order Date (Preliminary Ship Date: 7/27/09)
7/03/09 - In Production
7/10/09 - Boxing Stage (EDD: 7/21/09)
7/13/09 - Shipped (FedEx picked up; EDD: 7/14/09)

1080p midnight blue edge to egde, P8600, 512 Ati, 4GB, 500GB, blacklit keyboard, Vista 64 bit.
Got it for $997 after tax and California fees (which charged me double $32 =/ )

 

I upgraded the Toshiba 7500 RPM HDD with Intel X25-M SSD. I have a P8600 CPU, 4GB RAM, 1080P LG screen and 256MB ATI card. Together with Windows 7 this makes a world of difference. I can start browsing in ~25 seconds after a cold boot, which includes time taken to type the password and logging on to a domain. This is on a wireless network with battery power. Launching apps is heaps faster. The laptop feels snappier all around.

The Intel SSD is very costly but if you are using this laptop for anything disk intensive (I know it's not a business laptop) then it might be worth the upgrade. I am using it as a secondary development machine for compiling large .NET projects in Visual Studio.

I think this says more about the Intel SSD than it does about the laptop. I am guessing that if you were to put this MLC SSD in some business class laptop (DDR3 RAM and T series CPU) then it would perform even better. I can only imagine what the performance is like with their SLC SSD, which is faster still.

On a side note, I do find the laptop very heavy with the 9 cell battery. I might have to order the 6 cell battery as most of the time I am near a power source.

 

is anyone else's fan on like 70% of the time? what determines when the fan starts/stops? i'm just browsing the web lightly and opening up a few pages and it just starts spinning...!

 

Usually the fan starts at a certain CPU temperature.

Undervolting can help a lot. Also check if your performance is set at a lower profile like Max. Battery.

 

even at idle it'll still power the fan :/ i'm going to try the undervolting thing. I have T9550 and I don't really need all that power haha.

 

Yeah definitely try the undervolting. I've heard it works extra well with T series CPUs.

 

For me it almost never comes on when not plugged in. When it is plugged in, it's nowhere close to 70% of the time when doing normal stuff. It only comes up when doing something cpu/graphics intensive (though not when playing movies for example). You can change some settings though, like whether it should be in battery saving or max performance for the graphics card, when plugged in.

edit: oh, I see you have a T series CPU... mine is a p8600, so that might explain it.

 

Damn!! One of the keys (dot) of my 1555's keyboard came out.....!! And i'm facing lot of problems while typing... Will i get my keyboard replaced by dell..? Or will i have to replace it by myself???
Can a single key in the keyboard can be replaced??

 

josangel555 -- clearly a warranty item. Call Dell.

 

Can you take some pictures of the edge to edge display, i am very curious on how it looks on the Studio 1555. So far i didn't see any pictures of it. Thanx

 

I second that! I'd love to see what the edge to edge looks like.

 

oh man...this is almost exactly the same computer i configed (except i got the 900p screen instead) and we both ordered on the same day. we both went into the boxing stage on the same day (7/10) but mine is still stuck there!

perhaps it's because i'm on the east coast...dunno but i'm hoping to get mine in before the end of the week!

just curious streetmagus, did you upgrade your shipping or did you stick with the standard 3-5 days?

 

So i received my 1555 today.

First thing i noticed is that the bezel which surrounds the screen fits kinda loose. I can create 1 cm of space between the bezel and the screen if i produce some pressure on it.

Anyone noticed something similiar?

 

Dont know... dell's build quality isn't superb.....
What specs do you have dynames? Can you take some pics?

 

Dell Studio's build quality isn't that high. Latitude and Studio XPS are better.

 

ughhh, that doesn't sound promising from the laptop i'm supposed to get soon too.

Maybe you should call dell, it might be a defect. (or wait for someone who has a studio1555 to answer to this thread haha)

 

There definitely should NOT be a full centimeter of space. The bezel should stay pretty much touching the display. Get Dell to replace that for you.

 

My Studio is here! Hooray! The 1080P screen looks amazing.

One quick question: I want to do a clean install. Will the Vista disc that came with it do that, or will it still install all the extra crap?

 

You can use the discs... and then choose what to install... it will install some junk.... but not all of it.... What are your specs wzilch?

 

The restore disk is a pure Vista disk. No bloatware or anything is on the actual Vista recovery disk.

 

Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 2.0GHz, 800Mhz, 2M L2 Cache
4GB, DDR2, 800MHz 2 Dimm
Back-lit Keyboard
15.6Inch Full High Definition (1080p) High Brightness LED Display with TrueLife and Camera
256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD HD 4570
320G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Black Chainlink
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition, English
8X Slot Load DVD+/-RW (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive + RAM support)

Here's a question: What's the best to remove the intel and Vista sticker on the palmrest? I don't want to hurt the surface.

 

Just peel it off. You might need to attack the edge with a fingernail for a bit, but it will not scratch the palmrest. Once you get one of the edges to come up, the rest will come easily. The glue residue left over can be easily taken care of with high percentage rubbing alcohol (I recommend 90 or above) and a Q-tip or rag to rub it out.

 

Similar system to what I will have. How is it? got time for some pics?

 

I stuck with the free 3-5 day shipping. But it seems like it was next day lol!
It was in Reno, Nevada on 7/13 and I received it this morning 7/14 at 10:14 AM

I will take pictures of the Edge-to-Edge display later today. I'm still at work and I don't have my camera with me etc. But so far, I love the laptop! Screen is...beautiful!

Edit: I just checked and it says I have the AUO10ED