New Dell Studio 17 announced (Studio 1745/47)

Yeap, I don't buy the theory that it can't handle more then 90W. I think they don't want to incur costs involved in distributing 130W PSU to everyone.

 

Don't see it happening. There has been throttling on a lot of different Dell laptops for a year at least (Precision M6400 for example).

POS1737 - you still need Throttlestop because Dell BIOS prevents system from drawing over 90W on power and throttles the box down.

 

Hmmm, interesting stuff.

I got my Studio on Tuesday (at last). Must say, it's a very pretty machine. Though I'm wondering: discussing the throttling issue is nice and important, but what practical value does it have? Basically, I have 5 more days to return the computer without giving them a reason.

It's a nice machine, decent graphics card, excellent sound for a laptop, decent-ish screen and even with throttling it seems powerful enough to play Crysis on maximum specs. One can reasonably customise the laptop when ordering (e.g. Windows version, hard drives). And it cost £890. My question is, even if I do return it, is there any other viable alternative for that price? The Sony ones are all £1100 and above and the HPs are more expensive with worse specs.

On another note, the 7 beeps issue. I put my computer to sleep overnight with the power supply in and it woke up just fine. Do the 7 beeps happen only on battery power or am I one of the lucky ones without the issue (so far)?

Edit: By the way, oddly enough, the Studio is now not offered with the i7 in the United Kingdom unless ones gets a touchscreen.

 

Unreal, with less than 15 min left in the 24 hour window where no response from me cancels the order, it ships!!!! So now they shipped a laptop they know I clearly do not want...


Now I guess I need to call and tell them I don't want it, and of course they will try to charge me restocking.

Since I have the email and I clearly never responded maybe I can just tell my CC company not to pay and keep it.

 

I might be wrong but I believe the problem only happens when it is on battery power and it goes into hibernate, at least that is how it happened with mine .

I honestly doubt they will try to charge you a restocking fee since you clearly did not respond to an e-mail that they say required your authorization for it. If they do just mention that and I am sure they wouldn't push it.

Has anyone here been looking at any of the Asus alternatives? They are around the same price for the same specs (sometimes slightly better.) I am seriously considering a few laptops from them but I am unsure of Asus build, I never owned one, or knew anyone that has. They aren't as stylish in my opinion but the specs and price being similar might draw over a few people to it.

Maybe someone can give me their advice? The Asus laptops and specs I am looking at are as follows:

1. Asus N61JQ-A1 16inch
2. Asus N71JQ-A1 17.3inch (most comparable.)

Thanks in advance guys!

 

There are some threads here on nbr about the n61 (not the n71 apparently):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=454696
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=454556
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=419712

But doesn't look like there are any reviews on the internet yet.

I've had the n71 also in sight as an alternative. Still I'm not really an Asus fan when it comes to laptops. Some friends complained about the mediocre build quality, bad battery life and screens.
Anyway, that was more than 3 years ago. Some say they've improved lately. But I prefer seeing one in real before I'd buy one.

I don't know why, but I'd still prefer going for a Dell. I've got that strange feeling

 

Those Asus ones do look interesting, however, both have a 90W power supply. Correct me if I'm wrong, but considering the problems with the Studio, wouldn't that imply a throttling possibility for the Asus laptops?

If not, do they ship to the Uk (4 days left of my return-without-questions warranty)?

 

Yeah I know what you mean, I have heard many different things about Asus some good some not so great. I have heard about many issues with drivers and certain things not working properly such as card readers and small things of this nature.

But I must say that Asus makes a big stand on customer satisfaction or so I have heard, if you live in North America Asus gives you one year of complete care warranty (drops, spills, etc.) as well as a two year parts and labour. They also have two way shipping (they pay for all costs in warranty period.) You also have the option to upgrade to a two or three year complete care. That basically puts them above Dell in my books as they only offer this at an extra cost to the consumer.

Asus also has approved technicians available at select locations, meaning you can just drop it off and pick it up without waiting the week of shipping there and a week of waiting to get it back. I like this because I have had a few issues with Dell sending back a 'repaired' computer that was still fu*ked.

I am interested in knowing the same thing actually, if the problem exists there as well I would go with the Dell.

 

its almost perfect, but i cant find a 1900*xxxx resolution screen, so that kills it for me completely

 

What are you looking for 17.3 inch 16:9 1920x1080 FHD LED glossy? If so you want a better model.

That will cost you a bit more, here is a link to it.

 

Cipher_Pipe - 7 beeps issue does not happen on all machines. It's fairly uncommon. It's still good laptop for it's specs, especially at that price. If you need 2 HDs and decent res with your i7, especially so. Yes, Asus N71 series can compete, but who the heck knows the build quality of the thing, and Asus screens are usually subpar (a few people did have issues with Dell's 900p screen too). If they have 90w PSUs, it's likely they will experience similar throttling issues, and at least Dell's can be resolved with PSU and ThrottleStop

POS1737 - Asus G73j is no doubt an awesome specced system with interesting design (it's quite large even for 17.3" laptops). However, it's not being sold right now, and nobody really knows when it will arrive. Maybe end of Feb, maybe March, maybe Q2.

The only reasonably priced i7 laptop with 1080p or better screen is currently Sony F series, as strange as that sounds (unless Dell got BG+R screens back in stock).

 

That website is already selling the machine, yes I know it is a pre order but they expect a delivery date of February 10, 2010 not too far away .

As for the seven beeps issue the only people I know of that this did not happen to are those that disabled hibernation or have done something to correct the issue. I would say your claim of it being uncommon is not accurate.

I have still not decided which laptop to purchase, I am waiting on a friend that works for Dell to give me an update. Still I like Asus warranty (in North America) as well as the specs I am going to look into it a lot more over the next few days. There are a few shops near me that have a few Asus in stock including the two I mentioned in my first post. There is also an authorized service/sales centre near me which I plan on checking out. Again the warranty and close proximity to a service centre make an Asus laptop much more appealing to me now.

 

hey does your friend knows when is the new ATI 5000 card comes out for the studio 16?

thanks

 

Not so, at least in my case. The two times I had the 7 beeps problem, both were when the computer was plugged in to the adapter.

I have had the A05 bios installed since the day it was released (about a week), and so far haven't had another occurrence. It still has the same weird behavior on waking from a long sleep though:

Open the lid and the fan runs for a moment while the keyboard lights flash, then nothing. I have to hold the power button in until the system shuts off, then pressing the power button again brings the system up from hibernation. So it takes two power button presses and a lid open to get the system up again.

One strange thing I have noticed since the A05 bios update was installed is that the system will wake up by itself from sleep. I'll open the lid and the screen is on already, when normally it takes a second or so. The palm rest is quite warm when this happens. I've tried looking through event logs but have not been able to figure out why this is happening.

 

Wow, Feb 10 shipping is great for the asus. Can't wait to see the reviews, that should be simply a great machine. For the 7 beep issues, I am simply not sure. I am the only one that I personally know who has the laptop , and you can't really judge by online forums such as this one since people mostly come to post on issues. I thought A04 resolved it.

Heck, if I was having that problem and wake from sleep issues, I would have sent it back long ago. To me, sleep + hibernate is a requirement.

 

I have been looking at the N71 with the multi touch key pad as I have wanted the touchscreen... (multitouch key pad could exchange for that want.)

However I do want the backlit keyboard and tht option does not exist with the asus n71..... That is the only thing keeping me away from it !!!

 

The only reason why I am still stuck with Dell is they will send a tech to my house...... If I read the warranty right you send the computer out by mail - and you only get to do that twice within the warranty period.... Dell will come to your house and fix it at your house..... They have done this in the past for me..... I could by an Asus at BestBuy but still have to give them my computer...... I still like the fact that DELL come to me ( at my house or to my work - No mail turnaround time and computer is always with me.) I live in North America California... Can anyone tell me of a warranty that is as comparable to DELL's where they will come to my house ???? I bought a Samsun plasma 40 inch from Fry's and a service guy came to my house and replased a board within a week... I like when they come to me! I don't have a power trip I just like that service.....

 

Hmmm...

Well, I placed my order for a Studio 17 on Nov. 20 and it had been "In Processing" all this time and nobody could tell me what was happening with it. Today I logged in and noticed that the order status is now "cancelled".

Would have been nice to get an e-mail or a phone call or some kind of communication about anything to do with this order, but given how its been going so far that's likely a big expectation.

 

Yeah that is because you paid extra for such a service, the complete care and two year parts and labor come free with Asus. Also there are many other services that send a technician to your home such as Geek Squad from Best Buy. Even if the Dell guy goes to your home I doubt he will have every spare part on hand most of the times.

You get what you pay for basically and the warranty with Asus costs no extra.

Yeah customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

 

I have spent time reading this extensive treat.
I have spent time on Dell US, Dell UK, Dell Canada, Dell Australia.
It seems that it is not possible to get:
Full HD with RGB LED, BluRay, Backlit keyboard, CPU i7 neither with DELL and nor with ASUS.
So an idea maybe : Sony Vaio.
There is a new VAIO F with 16.4" Full HD RGB display, bluray, backlit keyboard and much more.
And it is available NOW. I have seen it today in Sydney Australia.
Just waiting for my bonus and I will get this one.

 

ahh thx, problem is that those are almost impossible to get in the Netherlands as far as i can see. But yes thats a pretty good spec'd laptop

I see that in the us you can pretty much make your own laptop for asus. Why is it still that you still has to go for some endless types of models of the same type and then you can alter it again? Why not just have 1 model and alter that one....

 

Yeap, the new VAIO is pretty sweet. Not sure if sonystyle.com type site exists for AU, but you can also get one custom built there. Not sure what your reqs are, but keep in mind that VAIO only has 1 HD.

Edit: I don't think VAIO has RGB display. Also, Asus G73j can be customized with Blu-Ray hardware.

 

The Vaio F11 comes with a dual-lit ccfl panel that does 100% Adobe RGB. In Europe it has a matte finish. In the US you 'll get a non-glare screen which is different from the EU versions. Also the palmrest is plastic in the US, and rubber in EU.
The Vaio F11 is a sweet deal, but it comes with the GeForce GT300M GPU which is a dealbreaker for me.


I want to use it for CAD and rendering, and the Nvidia GPU's have a serious lack of OpenGL support as can be seen in table above.
Keep in mind that hd5xxx series GPU will even have 20% better performance in OpenGL.
More GPU benchmarks here.

 

Sure you can. I just bought a 1747 from Dell Outlet for $1300. I decided I might as well try out the 1080p screen and couldnt' resist at that price. It will be here on Tuesday.

 

Have you checked out HP Envy 15 then? It has ATI 5830 card and the new Asus G73j has ATI 5870. Not sure about screen quality of either but 1080p is available. That said, screen on Studio 17 is very very good. I'd imagine XPS 16 is even better.

 

HP has not released the Envy 15 series for Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg yet
The Asus G73J will arrive next month, prices from €1775,- ($2480,-) and up...

f.y.i.: the Sony Vaio F11 in basic i7 720qm trim goes for € 1280,-.
I'm getting this awkward feeling I should have gone with the XPS 16 with RGB which was offered for €1250,- last week.

 

Wow, electronics is quite a bit more expensive over in Europe. Of course you guys get paid in € and not $ and tax/VAT is included, but still. Can't believe HP hasn't released the Envy, it's pretty nice laptop (i5 version, i7 is too hot, IMO).

 

Ok dell is really pissing me of a bit

We ordered 1st of December 4 Core I7 laptops with 1920x1080 screens..
At the middle of January my current order was canceled and a new order was added (so replaced the "real" order)

I already send an email to my sales contact that he should check that order immediately because this is what i had before when i ordered my Vostro 1700 2.5 years ago. Also there it went wrong i didnt get what i exactly ordered.

But it was a bit silent on dells side after that. And i couldnt view the actual order that was now in the system

Today they came in. And yes big big big surprise... What i did get was 4 1747 laptops with 1600x900 screens! And the HD's where also 2x320 5400 instead of the original order 2x320 7200...

this is getting pretty annoying..

 

the sony F serie is a nice one but that one isnt good enough..
My request are in my eyes simple

Core i7 or i5 with 17" 1920x1080 (or 1200) and dual bay's so that i can have 80GB SSD and a 320GB+ HDD...

The rest is of no importance and should be pretty standard like Wifi N, graphic cards also are of no importance not meant for games or big 3D apps just development machines.

 

If the 1920x1080 screens are indeed EOL'd for the Studio 17 1747 series, your only recourse may be to send back and refund your systems as is or ask for a partial refund as compensation.

 

i think sending back is the only option
Because a 1600x900 screen is not acceptable.
Those are used for development and to quote a certain line: "pixels,pixels,pixels,pixels" (instead of developers,developer,developers)

 

Well, you could go for Precision M6500, but that's pricey. Asus G73j is 17" with 2 bays. I "think" Sager/Clevo 17" i7 model has 2 drive bays, but it has battery life of an hour on "power saver".

The reason I got the Studio 17 was pretty much for what you put in there, dual HD bays, 1080p (1200p would be better but very few companies have that in non-pro laptops), i7 quad-core and an ok video card. Oh, and I wanted 3 hour + battery life which Studio surprisingly provides with 9 cell battery (can get about 4 with good power management for web browsing/typing/etc...).

For the Sony F or Dell XPS, you could take out the DVD caddy and replace it with a hard drive bay, and then use the DVD with external caddy through USB.

 

Actually, the M6500 is quite reasonably priced in the EU. Right now there's also an extra 10% discount (before tax).
i7 720QM, 4GB RAM, 1920x1080 WLED goes for €1730,- minus 10% = €1557,- (before tax) where the Asus G73j would be €1420,- before tax (when it is released).
For the Dell M6500 this is including the basic 3 year NBD warranty.

In a business situation, I know where i'd put my money..
(Nvidia 8600GTX gpu in my 2,5 year old Dell Dimension 9200 workstation died last friday, called tech support, and I'm expecting a new gpu in the mail tomorrow! For business use I love Dell's standard 3 year NBD warranty.)

Joco could even ask his account manager for a small discount as a gesture from Dell for the inconvenience.

 

This just does not make sense. It's completely reverse in US, G73j is around $1600 and M6500 with any kind of decent specs is about $3000-4000. Just ordered a few for work and they ran us $4000 (well, that was with our corp discount and i7 extreme, RGB screen and dual 256GB SSDs). I would definitely get M6500 (video card upgrades surprisingly aren't outrageous and even the default is equivalent to ATI 4860).

Edit: Forgot to mention that if you will be ordering M6500 for a business, call sales, they should be able to beat the online price. Especially if you tell them that you are evaluating this model and will be ordering bunch more in the future .

 

Well, got my 1747/i7/1080p/1333mhz/BluRay LT yesterday.

Bios A05.

Quick Notes:
Does it throttle?
On 90w PS.. YES. Batteries....NO 130W PS...NO

Screen is absolutely stunning.. awesome, awesome..awesome screen.

Did I mention how much I love this screen?!?

BUT.....
Fan is fairly loud. Even at idle, with core temps around 45-48, it will kick in for 30 secs.. then stop for 30-60secs.. then run again.

I'll have to call tech support.

Oh, after 1 hour or so gaming.. the bottom get's hot enough that you are a bit uncomfortable if it's in your lap. You need a lap pad for this lap top.

 

Just got my refurbed unit today. Same specs as yours but without bluray. The screen really is gorgeous. I'm glad I took the time to haunt the Outlet until the right system turned up! I was worried about ordering again after my first one was a disaster (it had the 900p screen).

My fan is doing the same thing. They must've changed it in the new bios.

I haven't even checked for throttling. Been too busy setting everything up and playing. Everything runs faster than my 1720 so I'll give Dell some time to come up with a fix and if they don't I'll get the 130w adapter.

Keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get any beeps!

 

Those fans would drive me batty. The notebookcheck review said the fans are fairly loud and under load are extremely loud (46+ dB), which puts it neck and neck with the Sager 8760 which is reported to be one of the louder notebooks under load (IE gaming).

So far, out of all the i7 notebooks they've tested, the MSI 1727 is the quietest under load (~37dB) and the only one, outside the M15x (which is ridiculously quiet) to stay under 40dB under load.

Have you tried playing any taxing games yet to get an idea?

And yeah, it is reported to get decently warm too.

 

Would you please tell me how did you get the 130W adapter? Mine throttles on 90W and under battery too

 

SO I guess all that talk of the 1080p screen being EOL was false.

 

Maybe, maybe not.
The Studio 1747 can't be ordered anymore in the many countries (UK, NL, BE amongst others) so I guess EOL might be true. Haven't seen an option for the 1080p panel anywhere in 4 weeks.
We'll have to wait and see...

Would be great to see the 1747 with i7 quadcore and 1080p come back to the Dell.nl store as the quadcores supposedly will be dropped when 1749 comes in. ATI hd5xxx would be great though.

When did you order? Before or after december 14th? Dit you get it from the regular Dell website or callcenter or via Dell Outlet store???

 

Don't feel too bad about it.

M6500 with: i7 820-QM, WUXGA RGB, 4GB 1333MHZ, 160Gb sata (7200rpm), Quadro FX3800M = €2777,-

upgrades as you mentioned:
i7 920 Xtreme: not available
2x 256MB SSD €1360,-

bet you upgraded the RAM too (presumably 8GB (4x2GB)) €132,-

That's €4269,- or $5969,77,-ish before VAT/TAX

But it's business right, deduct from taxes etcetera...

 

Oh, makes sense, and yeah, upgraded the RAM to 8gb. These are going to be portable VMware servers, so yeah, need some RAM. Was going to go for 16GB, but Dell charged through the roof on that.

 

I would bet on Dell phasing out Quad Core support for the 1749's (as evident by the CPU support list from c-mattic). All it shows is i3, i5 and dual core i7's. In addition, the 5650 power consumption levels are ~19w versus 35w for the 4650.

So 25-35w CPU parts + 19w GPU will effectively solve the throttling issue IMHO. Luckily, for those with them, a simple 130w (PA-13 /PA-4E) or 150w (PA-15) adapter along with throttlestop will have your system purrin like a well oiled machine.

I suspect the 1747's with Quad Cores will dry up soon enough and 1080p's are on the endangered species list (especially with BlueRay and BR RW).

 

During games, with the audio at a normal level, it's not really noticeable.
It's while sitting down when it's quiet, that it bugs me.

I wish there was a fan control.

 

Got mine from Ebay.. Mississauga(Ontario) based company. $30.00, free shipping.

Dell OEM (Big Brick)

They have all kinds of Dell PS.

Just search ebay.ca for "Dell PA-13", "PA-4E" or "PA-14" (150w)

 

Dell.ca website, Dec 15
EDD of Feb 22, 2010.
Arrived Feb01, 2010

 

Ordered mine from the US website Dec 9. Same as yours minus the Blu Ray. Hope mine comes in soon.

 

Hi,

found Throttlestop 1.9.3 today. Knows anyone the differences to 1.8.0? Thanxx!

 

Hi,
I have a question for you
What is the différence between this (17.3" HD+ TL LED DISPLAY W/CAM) and the Wled?
I got diffrent things on my command thing on dell.ca page and the thing on my invoice.
thanks.
Is it the same thing?

 

Well Dell (UK) have really done a nice one to me.

Before I ordered the laptop, I spoke with sales (23 Dec) and customised things a little more (1080 screen, twin hard drive at a better price, bluetooth, 802.11n etc). They emailed me a quote while I was on the phone and it said if I ordered that day, the EDD would be 20 Jan. I placed the order and the sales rep promised that it would arrive on second or third week of Jan.
Later on I received the confirmation email and details for the online status. Checked online and it showed EDD as 8 Feb.
Rang the sales rep back the next day and he insisted that it would arrive on the second or third week of Jan
I then committed myself to a venue for the last week of Jan and was going to be using the laptop as part of my equipment
20th Jan came and I rang up the rep again. He said that he was sorry, but once the laptop has reached the production stage, he can prioritise the order. I asked why I had not already received the laptop (as promised) and he said that he had been off work because he had been poisoned and therefore had not been able to prioritise the order to get it in to production. (Yes, he did contradict himself ). I explained that I had booked my self out to a venue for the last week on Jan because he had insisted that the laptop would be here in time. He said sorry again, and explained that there had been a delay in the screen being delivered and that is why I had not received the laptop, but rest assure he was making the order a priority as we spoke and I would defiantly be receiving it on or before the 8 Feb.
Checked yesterday morning (about 7am) and it was still showing as "Work In Progress" so I knew there was no way Dell could built it, test it (which the rep told takes about 1 week) and ship it 3 days.
Just checked it again and now it shows as 7 May.....

I had got the price to £1,160 (ex VAT and shipping) with 3years accidental damage, but the closest thing I see that Dell has is the M6500 at £1,660 (ex VAT and shipping) including the current 10% discount and I still dont get accidental cover, but it does have the 1200 screen (it was either that or the 900).

The money has already left my bank, so needless to say, im not the happiest of people at the moment.

I think a call to Dell in the morning is in order, and Im also going to seek legal advice, as Im sure that slipping the EDD that much will be in breach of contract. Dell have taken the money so they have agreed on the sale and a contract has been entered in to.
The way I feel at the moment, I dont think I will ever buy another Dell either personal or for my business

The question that everyone is now asking... Do I cancel and take my money else where and what do I get instead.

As a side note, Play now list the G73JH at £1,739
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/13605547/Asus-G73JH-TZ008V-Core-i7-720QM-1-6-2-8GHz-8GB-1TB-Blu-ray-BD-ROM-Combo-17-Windows-7-Home-Premium-64-Bit-Laptop-Notebook-Black/Product.html