New Dell Inspiron 14 7000 / 7437

The color reproduction on the Yoga 2 just flat out sucks. I have this machine and I don't see anything you are talking about.

 

You have "what machine" exactly? If you have the Dell 7437 14-inch notebook, please do one thing for me: Sitting in front of it, move your head from a normal viewing height down so your nose is heading towards the touchpad. Not that you need to exactly go down that far, but tell me please, does the screen darken as your head moves downward?

Or, while sitting in front of your notebook, just push the screen back a few degrees. Again, does the screen darken as the screen angles farther backward?

On my 14-inch 7437, the screen darkened MASSIVELY when I did either of these. The same goes for when I viewed it off to the side. Whenever I would move my head either vertically or horizontally, the screen would darken in a gradual nature (i.e., it just didn't "go completely dark in an instant") in conjunction with my head movement, with the darkness moving across the screen.

This is the nature of TN screens, pure and simple. IPS screens should not do this, but I have found several so-called IPS notebook screens that have this same "TN shadow effect," so it looks like the industry has come up with some half-baked form of "IPS" technology. Proper high-quality IPS screens just plain don't do this -- they might darken just a tiny bit as you go to extreme angles, but it's hardly even noticeable. I have been using a high-quality IPS screen on my desktop for years, and I've had a half-dozen notebooks with IPS screens -- and this is the first time I have encountered a so-called IPS screen that had this kind of TN screen-style darkening.

The Y2P may have color issues, but they appear to be power management related, and Lenovo has already released a BIOS update that addresses the issue. Meanwhile, the Y2P screen was just massively better than the 7437's screen -- just far clearer and sharper, with more even brightness, and no "TN shadows" moving around as I moved my head around.

In the end, nobody can really know what screens are in the notebooks we buy, until we open up the boxes and power the notebooks up. You might indeed have a 7437 with a better screen than mine had -- perhaps Best Buy ordered the notebooks with a cheaper screen than Dell sells itself. That's certainly the kind of thing that can happen with manufacturing these days. Dell could build the things with whatever screens are available at any given time, and thus the screen you might get could be completely potluck. Again, anything like this could happen. All I can do is honestly describe to you what I had in my hands, and that is what I have done.

thoots

 

That's the gorilla glass and has nothing to do with the screen. My plasma does the same thing when you look t from an extreme angle. The reason you don't see this on the Y2P is because it's not glass. If you notice when you do the angle the colors don't actually change but the glare is what causes it to go darker.

 

If you're on the fence about this laptop, forget everything that "Thoots" is saying about the screen. Anyone who can write a 15 page dissertation in a forum post about viewing angles and TN vs IPS should generally be discounted as one of those anal people who won't be happy with anything.

I've had the laptop for 3 weeks now and I love it. Once you get the drives updated (specifically the touch pad and window 8.1 going to sleep fix from intel) and then install a shell for windows 8.1, this laptop is great. I can type very quickly on the keyboard and it's pretty easy to get used to.

The screen itself is amazing. I was concerned about going from a 15.9" laptop to a 14" screen. Between the increased pixel density of having a high res screen and the general quality of the display, I made the adjustment quickly and I'm really happy. The screen is bright and personally I have had no problems with viewing angles. I may be an odd ball but I like to look at my laptop directly rather than sitting beside it so that I have to turn my head to see it .

I haven't yet done the SSD upgrade but the included hard drive is at least reasonable for a 5,200 RPM drive.

I did a lot of research trying to find a laptop that was light, had at least a 14" screen, a high res screen, had a good i5 or i7 haswell processor, and at least 8gb of ram. On top of all of that, I wanted reasonably light and portable with good battery life. Tough to check all those boxes for around $1,000 but this laptop does exactly that. If you're on the fence I recommend it.

 

I have a hard time believing this. The effect of the darkness on the screen looks exactly like what you get with every TN screen you've ever seen. Glass might be "reflective," but I'm not talking about "reflections."

thoots

 

How charitable of you. I was really quite happy with the 7437 in many ways, but its "IPS" screen simply has substantial viewing angle issues. I have mentioned the Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 partly because I have one, but also because anyone who might be concerned about the issues I have raised can go to any Best Buy store and compare the 7437's screen to the Y2P's screen. All you really have to do is look at each screen while you angle it backwards -- you will see the 7437's screen darken substantially, but you won't see that on the Y2P's screen. It's as simple as that. Of course, you can do this with any other IPS screen in the store, and see what you get.

I actually went to my local Best Buy store today and checked it out, and I have learned one thing: I'm probably far more concerned about this because I work in a very low-light environment. I have very minimal lighting when I'm using my computers, and after doing a little playing around, it's clear to me that the "darkening" effect I'm seeing is far more visible when the screen is providing a lot of light compared to the room lighting, as compared to an environment where the lighting is very bright -- such as in your local Best Buy store. When I got home, I cranked up all of the lights in the room, and the darkening effect was definitely less than it was when I lowered the lights back down to my usual levels.

But the fact remains that the 7437's screen, at least in the configuration that Best Buy is selling, just doesn't have the same kind of IPS qualities that other screens have, such as the ones Lenovo is using. This may or may not be an issue for anyone, but I'm just calling things as I see them. I just plain don't expect to see the same kind of off-axis darkening from an IPS screen that I expect to see in a TN screen. Otherwise, the 7437's screen is nice and bright if you remain on-axis, and I thought the colors looked quite accurate. I think you can get better screens, but you could certainly get screens that are far, far worse from any of the TN displays on the market.

To respond to a couple of things, let me add the following:

Like everyone else, indeed I try to stay on-axis most of the time, but the kind of darkening the 7437's screen has can give you uneven lighting, even on-axis -- usually, you'll notice that the bottom of the screen might be darker than the rest of it, if you don't have the screen precisely dialed into the "sweet spot" that provides the most even lighting. Again, this just is an issue you shouldn't have to deal with in an IPS screen.

And otherwise, I also "recommend" the 7437 -- it is an attractive machine in many ways, and I liked its configuration. If I hadn't gotten utterly frozen in place by the problem I had with the Windows Update, I would have debated long and hard about whether my disappointment with the screen was worth bailing out of the thing or not.

In the end, I have honestly described my experiences based upon having three high-end notebooks currently available from Best Buy sitting side-by-side with each other -- the Dell 7437, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 2, and the Sony Fit 15A. The differences I have described should be obvious to anyone who could compare them side-by-side in anything resembling "normal room lighting."

Personally, none of these are "the perfect notebook" for me, but any of them can do the job I want done to a satisfying degree. I'm just writing this in hopes that I can help other folks get an honest opinion regarding the differences amongst these machines, just like I have been doing in the Lenovo and Sony forums here.

thoots

 

I have to agree with the majority, the screen is one of the best I've seen. The other IPS equivalent screens I have are the lenovo x220 and the Samsung NP740U3E-K01UB from best buy and my ipad air.

 

I looked at the keyboard layout and saw that left key is combined with Home key into one, so is the right key. As a IT guy, I just can't figure out how that works. Can anyone help solve my doubt?

 

Its like most combo keys, you use the home, end, and page buttons with the function key...

 

Fn + End
Fn + PgUp
Fn + PgDn
Fn+Home

 

Just found this topic... and man, this machine is beautiful! Love it!

 

Hi, gus6464,

Thanks for your picture. My new Dell Inspiron 14 7000 will arrive on 12/02 and I already got the 256G mSATA for it. But my mSATA only shipped with one tiny screw. Can you tell me for the mSATA slot for this machine, how many screw I need to tight the installed mSATA? If it's two, I have to try to find another one somewhere else. Thanks!

Another question: instead of cloning the HDD to mSATA, may I do a completely new install with Win 8.1 Enterprise? Thanks!

 

I have ordered the 14" here in my country. I'll be getting the "Asian" version with 500hdd+ 32ssd anytime hopefully today! Thoots' concern may be valid, it is possible that screens were made by different manufacturers, will keep you posted if I see any darkening on my 14" Inspiron.

 

Hey, all. A lot of good info on this thread. I was seriously considering buying this notebook over the new ProBook or Sony Vaio Flip because it's just so beautifully made, but then I read the part about the 5mm HDD. *facepalm*
Dell just couldn't go the simple route and include a 7mm height HDD, or put in a 1.8" one if they *really* wanted to save space that badly.

I guess mSATA would work just as well. But does anyone know if this Crucial 480GB mSATA would work with this? Or is 256GB the limit?

Or maybe one could just remove the cover from a Crucial or Samsung SSD and use it bare; would it cause any issues?

Thanks.

 

Can't speak for the 14, but the 15's mSATA is maxed at 256GB. Likely the same.

 

You only need 1 screw for msata ssd. When you flip over the top mainboard to insert the ssd into the slot you will see the screw hole. I did not do a cloning of the hdd. I made an EFI Win 8.1 usb stick and installed with that. I made a post a couple pages back on how to make a proper EFI 8.1 usb install stick and how to remove all the partitions on the hdd including the hidden one.

 

Dammit. -_-

Well, thank you for the info.

 

Hello,

I received my 14" on Friday and I'm liking it so far. Seems like the machine that ticks the most checkboxes from my list without having to go MacBook Pro route (which doesn't offer the best Windows experience).
However, I noticed some minor warping on the panel, as opposed to my mother's 15" which is barely noticable (and closes a bit more flush too).

Have you noticed something similar on your unit? I don't think I want to bother exchanging it because I might receive another that isn't any better. I don't think their factory tolerances are as high as Apple, and that's understandable because it was way cheaper. Besides that, the display is awesome (definitely seems like IPS to me), hinge doesn't wobble too much and I like the minimal thickness.

 

Don't wanna alarm you but that looks kindda bad. My 7537 doesn't have that issue luckily. Agree with ur comment, i really liked the thinness of the 14 in. If it was the same price, I'd have bought it instead.

 

Thanks for your help!
I have successfully installed my mSATA and installed a clean Win 8.1 Enterprise on it. It's amazing!

Have several questions:
In the BIOS, should I reset all the settings back to default?
SATA Operation: should I set to AHCI or Intel Smart Response Technology?
Secure Boot: Disable or enable?
Boot List Option: Legacy or UEFI?

Last problem is about the "stmicroelectronics 3-axis accelerometer", my system showed the following for it:

This device cannot start. (Code 10)

STATUS_DEVICE_POWER_FAILURE

Anybody knows what's wrong?

Thanks!

 

Problem with stmicroelectronics 3-axis accelerometer was solved, I didn't install the right driver.

 

This laptop is so good. Love it!

 

First day tinkering with the Dell Inspiron 14 7437. Loving the sleek premium design, however, I think that they should have made the keyboard bigger, and made separate buttons for PgUp PgDown End and Home.

Windows8.1 is taking forever since svchost.exe is hogging my internet bandwidth! Any tips on how to get rid of this background program?

 

same here. the travel of the key is too short

 

EDIT: Never mind, I guess the webcam connector wasn't seated properly. I played with it and Windows recognized it with a generic Microsoft driver.

So I just wiped my system to lay down a fresh Windows 8.1 installation, and I realized that Dell's driver list on their Support page for this system is woefully incomplete. Beyond what they provided for 8.1, I needed the card reader driver (available under Windows 8, but not 8.1 for this system), the Airplane Mode Switch driver (not available at all under that system, but Google turned up a hit on Dell's page that also listed this system as supported by the driver).

 

Here's a side by side of a Dell Inspiron 14in 7437 vs a MacBook Air. Both are non-IPS screens at maximum brightness. The difference is noticable. Viewing angles, contrast, and brightness are much much better on the MacBook Air; and take note that this photo was taken after I calibrated the Inspiron's screen.

 

Correct me if I'm dead wrong but the full HD 7437 has IPS panel. I personally prefer the darker tone on the 7437! Maybe I'm just being an Apple hater :hi2: By the way, what did you use to calibrate a laptop screen or any screens? I've heard about it but I never actually imagine the process. Thanks

 

Perhaps I got the 14" non-IPS model with 1366x768 resolution? I think the 15" has the IPS panel. I just want my screen to appear bright and vibrant.

I only used the Intel built-in graphics control panel.

Aside from the minor issues with keyboard layout and screen brightness. I can say a lot of good things about the Inspiron. It is one beautiful machine.:thumbsup:

 

oh, I didn't know the 14in had HD option. All of the 3 models here have full HD. Anyway, yay for an issue-free Inspiron and a happy customer.

 

I understand what thoots was complaining about earlier in this thread. But see for yourself. Here are photos taken indoors in broad daylight showing different viewing angles:

 

Weird, I thought the 7437 only came in 1920 x 1080. Mine is definitely IPS. If yours is 1366 x768 then probably not

 

what's the native resolution of your screen? Even with HD, it shouldn't be that bad. Maybe it was set at a lower res or the scaling might not be working properly

 

Turn on ClearType to smoothen the text. Mine's 1366x768 too.

 

I just bought the i7 model of this laptop.

3 questions:

1. I want to replace the HD with a 7mm Seagate 600 SSD, anyone have any luck with this model (really want the case to be seamless)?

2. I know I can remove the SSD from the case (which I've done before) and use it bare if it does not fit in the 5mm z-height socket. Has anyone tried this with their SSDs yet? I'm a little worried that it might bounce around...any way to secure it (can I use the holes on the bare SSD)? Also, the seagate 600 has an aluminum plate that contacts the bare drive (I'm assuming for heat dissipation). Anyone have issues with using it bare?

3. Does anyone know the type of wireless card in the laptop and whether it is replaceable? I really would like dual band, preferably 802.11ac for future applications.

 

I'm running the Samsung 840 evo bare without the case. I broke down and ordered the pentalobe screwdriver set from amazon to open it up. Its running fine but does bounce a little but I haven't had any problems. Just to be safe, I put electrical tape below and above it to isolate it. I'm sure you can put the tape to cover over some short of cushion to lessen the impact. Haven't had an problems with heat.

 

Can any 2.5" be used without a case? I have my eye on the Intel 530.

 

If you haven't bought one yet, I would just go with an mSATA SSD. I had already purchased the 7mm Seagate SSD and didn't want to deal with the hassle of returning it.

 

Hm. Well, though it'll be hard to access, might as well just do that. Not too comfortable with doing surgery on a new machine but the instructions in the manual are pretty clear. Thanks

 

Hi all,
I've bought this notebook some weeks ago..
I have the model with 1366*768 resolution and it's really bad. Too much "mirror effect".

However, I need to install Ubuntu on this laptot but I have a sea of troubles. Can someone help me? Someone have tried to do?
Hardware isn't all supported, even if ubuntu.com say this is a Ubuntu-Certified laptop..

I'll really appreciate your help.

 

I'm using Debian testing with the 3.12rc7 kernel and everything is working. What isn't working for you? Have you tried upgrading the kernel to a more recent version than what is shipping in Ubuntu these days?

 

I've tested live ubuntu 12.04. No wifi, no touch, no touchpad, no fn-buttons (no volume regolations, no screen light regolations, no keyboard light regolations, no wifi on/off). Pratically none =)
I've used 12.04 because is the latest lts with the original kernel..Maybe latest release is better.. I don't know.

How do you have installed it? How managed the mSata and the Intel RST. Online I don't found a precise guide to install it..

 

I just installed a Samsung 840 EVO in the case w/o any problems in my daughter's 14 7000/7437. It seems to fit fine. The cover went back on and I don't see any bulges. It also made a big difference. The Samsung data migration s/w made it easy.

 

Hi,

Anyone else notice that the lid doesn't close "flush" on their 7437?
There's a gap on the right side for me.

 

Yes. I have the same issue. On both side. The lid closes good only over touchpad.
It's a production defect.

 

Yeah, that's going to be way too old for a brand new laptop. You could get by installing it and then using an external mouse to update the kernel but it would be easier just to go with 13.10 or some other flavor of linux distro.

 

Can anybody tell me where "Insert" button located is on this laptop?

 

No insert button on this keyboard..

 

Fn+PrtScr is insert.

 

This is ridiculous.

Fn+PrtScr is insert.
Very dubious decision for usability.

 

No kidding. The keyboard is the only thing that hold me back from saying this is my favorite laptop of all time. The short key travel I can sort of understand because they wanted to make it super thin (doesn't mean I enjoy it though!). Merging all the Home/End/PgUp/PgDn/Arrow keys and putting insert on the Print Screen button? C'mahn!