New Dell Studio 17 announced (Studio 1745/47)

Every number I can ring puts me through to call centre in india where no one actually has a clue what they are talking about, and I dont think they`ll know or give me any other contact numbers, but I`ll try if this visit tomorrow doesnt go well. I`ll probably just get a refund anyhow.. Its really put me off buying dell again, just by knowing I might have to deal with people like these again... I have grey hair now The last couple of weeks have been an absolute nightmare and I`ve lost it once with one of them, which I feel a little bad about in hindsight, but trying to convince someone 1+1 =2 and not 3 just made me snap.
What is BBB?

 

BBB is the Better Business Bureau, a business regulatory body here in the United States.

 

Ugh, I finished setting up and prepping 3x 1747's w/ WXGA+ screens and they're flawless. I finally open up the 1747 + B+RG one for prepping and the screen has two cluster of dead pixels and a nice ding in the top cover.

Argh.....

Screen is beautiful though. I'd say it is on par with the RGBLED easily and most importantly it calibrates easier.

....except for those cluster of dead pixels. What a downer.

 

Can't you send that one back for repair? Although I have no clue how long would you have to wait for replacement screen?

 

Oh, they won't give a number out, but if you are insistent enough they should be able to get you to escalation. This may take some time though and a few different calls. For emails, google for them. For BBB, as stated by Etherized, that's Better Business Bureau, which collects complains against businesses from consumers.

 

I wish I could, but I don't think I have time and I am definitely of the mind that if a product arrives defective, it goes back. I'll sub in a WXGA+ for the time being.

But yeah, the screens are gorgeous. I actually prefer the B+RG over the RGBLED.

 

I got the damn screen FINALLY. all I can say is WOW.. the viewing angles are a LOT better and the colours are nice. Brightness needs adjusting a little but aside from that, THANK GOD....I would thank dell but it doesnt seem right after all the headaches and hassle and money in calls...

 

I'm returning my XPS 1645, and was looking at specs and configurations, and was wondering if at Studio 17 with an i7 720 1.6ghz, 6GB of RAM, and the ATI 5470 1GB would be good for gaming.

As most of you know the 1645 overheats completely. And the stats I just gave are what the 1645 I have now is.

Any thoughts? My other more expensive option is the Alienware with an i5 and 512MB Video and 3GB of RAM.

 

I dont see any %`s for colour/brightness in CCC ?
What values are you using?

 

I'm thinking of getting one of these 17 inch dell studio's with the ati hd 5680 but I wonder how the heat will be combined with a corei5 cpu. I know its suposed to be a multimedia machine but my sole purpose will be gaming ^^
It will cost me 1300€, with 3 years next bussines day warranty and a 17 inch neoprene case included.
I also want to know if the hd 5680 will be a big improvement compared to the ati hd 4650, otherwise I might just buy the hd4650 and stuff it in my good old acer

edit: I know the vaio F series are not 17 inch but since I count them under 'bigger than average multimedia' laptops, I also take them into consideration, and especially the nvidia gt330m vs the ati hd5680 performance is of interest to me.

 

So I have not ready the entire thread if someone could help me briefly catch up.

#1. Apparently the 1747 models get artificially slowed down because the CPU needs more power than the 90 Watt power supply can provide.?

#2. Some people were ordering the B+RG LED displays But not getting the right LED displays?


Can someone explain in short how the RGB LED 1920x1200 Diplay differs from the 1080p B+RG LED display??

my 1737 has a RGB LED 1920x1200 diplay and has always looked fantastic, plus a T9400 Core 2 Duo 2.53Ghz and I have not experienced slow downs or throttling in fact it throttles up to 2.66Ghz on its own.
And I do have a 90 Watt power suplly but it does not get warm at all.

I guess the 1737 series was not affected. During stressful Gaming the GPU heats up normally and the fans kick in but I can not tell that my games or CPU runs slower because the system is starved of power. How could I even tell?

 

#1. Dell is now supplying users with a 130w adapter which fixes the power consumption issue. All you need to do is call and request one. Or you can snag one on eBay for $25.00 shipped (or even go with a PA-15 150w model).

#2. Classic ordering snafus....gotta love Dell.

The RGBLED offers a 112% (IE, overkill) color gamut. The B+RG offers 92%. At that point, as I've witnessed first hand, side by side, the difference is nil.

Before I packed up the 1747 to send back (due to dead pixels and case defects), I had a chance to compare to my boy's 1737 w/ T9900 and RGBLED.

The B+RG calibrated MUCH easier.
The reds aren't nearly as overkilled as they are on the RGBLED
The greens are much more balanced.
Both screens were 300nit powerhouses and had to be turned down.
Both are glossy.

The 4650 runs WoW like a CHAMP. The difference between the 3650 and 4650 is like night and day. This was at 1920x1080, details to max except shadows to zero. To get the same performance out of the 1737, he has to dial it back to 1440x900 and halve most of his eye candy settings (again, shadows to zero).

In addition, the 4650 runs insanely cool as does the CPU. The redesigned cooling system really does keep the 1747's cool.

In short, he will be selling his 1737 shortly and switching to a 1747.

If I had to pick between a 1737 RGBLED or 1747 B+RG, I'd take the 1747 in a heartbeat.

 

What about a Studio 15 with that Spec? You'll also get the added bonus of maintaining the 1080p screen (not possible with the Studio 17 afaik?)..

 

Thanks for the comparison, but I haven't seen the 1747 with B+RG since the end of 2009 in Dell's shop.
Too bad, cause I'd love to order one, but can't get one. Also, we have no Dell outlet store in .NL.
In fact, I noticed they are not selling any Full HD panels but the ones on the XPS16, the M4500 (WUXGA dual-ccfl) and the M6500 (WUXGA RGB- and WLED).

I've been comparing the XPS16 and the Sony Vaio F11 for a while now, because these seem to be the only equivalent configurations (Full HD and i7 720qm is a must) available under €1300,- in Europe.

The F11 has a numpad and better thermal design, but a weaker nVidia GF 330M, and throttles back to 0,9Ghz when it runs on battery. Also there are issues with wining vents and components sending out noises discribed as 'morse code'.
The XPS16 comes with a i7 820qm and HD4670 at the same price, but has some problems with the RGB screen (which gets stuck in 1 color or black sometimes, and seems to be hard to calibrate) and has problematic heat disposure as the exhaust gets blocked by the opened panel.

 

I bought the 1747 with the 1600x900 back when they had both available. Look back in the thread a few pages to see the nightmare that was my quest to ditch the abortion for the 1080p.. Dells pakistani call centres aged me greatly, but I got one...

 

Yes, I read about that indeed. No one @ Dell sales can get you one, but (against all odds) your call center employee 0wn3d them all and got you exactly what you wanted.
Praise people like him/her.
As I read about your intention to get the panel replaced by a Full HD panel a little while back, I didn't think you'd pull this off.

 

Congrats! It was worth the headache in the end. The difference between the 2 screens is simply amazing.

The 900p screen is something that I would expect to see in a laptop that is under $1000. I can not believe that is the only option on a Studio 17 now. If this is the future of displays they need to rethink it. My Inspiron E1705 and 1720 both have beautiful 1920x1200 displays.

 

Agreed. Having spent 2-3 days setting up three of the WXGA+ models then using the B+RG model the difference is like night and day. The B+RG panel is very, very beautiful.

The B+RG models do pop up on eBay on the regular, so you might want to check there.

 

Well it was the 'manager' (after I pestered them to speak to him) that said he`d sourced me one, but then it was the other call centre employees which didnt have the faintest idea of what a screen was.. I even let one of them take control of my pc and they fumbled around like my 7 yr old nephew does on his pc. Installing the same video driver already installed was apparently the way to 'fix' it... finally I got it through to them that I had the 900p not the 1080p...took a lot of hard work but they got there in the end.. also I`m in uk, so its clear these screens exist at very short notice, and it seems they just dont want you to have one, for whatever reason.

I`m a tough customer hehe. It was either the screen or the whole laptop was going out the window...I couldnt use that screen

 

Thanks for your reply. I knew this but just wanted a comformation. I did install the bluetooth software and it did find nothing there. I had several devices listed as unknown after a fesh OS RE-INSTALL and that is why with the bluetooth showing as enabled in bios that maybe this was one of the unknown devices, is was not. Turned out to be accelerotomer and something else I can not think of right now. Anyway I did order the 365 module and I will say it is a big time mess to install in this machine. I agree with what you say about being hard to deal with. While this is my first laptop I have built many desktops and I would have thought that a laptop would have been easier than this turned out to be to do a simple module add-on. You will have to pull the hole MB just to replace the CPU. Evidently DELL does not want the public messing inside these IT SEEMS!!!

 

The 1747 sounds nice sadly it lacks a Bluray drive. Which it makes no sense for DELL to have been offering that on the 1737 and then said Oh wait lets not. And I have yet to see a 1747 equiped with an Intel tripple antenna 5300 N WiFi, which is another step backwards.

SO far the 1737 has been a champ. Really looking forward to a True 32nm Quad Core i7 with a 5xxx series GPU And sell the 1737. But the only way to get RGB LED a Bluray Drive and a NVIDIA GPU to to upgrade to Alienware which I will do I have had it with ATI no PhysX Support.

 

Yeah, I had to break down a few WXGA+ 1747's to upgrade their processors and it is a complete pain in the rear. Luckily, you don't have to pull the MB to install BT (it goes on the bottom of the MB which is the top when you pull the bezel), but it is ridiculously non user serviceable friendly.

 

You can order a Blu Ray and install it. The drive in there now is a Sony AD-7640S DVDRW. For a mere $116 shipped ($108 after cash back):

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-HL-CA10N-SA...C_Drives_Storage_Internal?hash=item2c53871e07

You get a BD Read/Write drive.

And the 6200 and 6250 Intel WiFi adapters work like a champ in the 1747.

Again, the major strike against the 1737 is the 3650 is just an awful GPU. I wasn't expecting much from the 4650, but the performance difference is great.

The B+RG I actually like MORE than the RGBLED (It was funny watching my bud eat crow as he compared them side by side) and 1920x1080 means no bars for HD playback.

I can't really find a positive with the 1737 anymore compared to the 1747. I used to think it was the RGBLED, but not anymore. Outside of that, the 1747 is a superior, slightly *lighter* machine with an upgraded audio system and modern technology.

I mean, true, your machine isn't *that* old, so it wouldn't make sense to lose out investment wise to upgrade to a 1747, but if I had to pick between a 1737 and a 1747 now, it is a no brainer. The 1747 is simply the superior machine with true quad core support (even 920xm's), a much better GPU (huge), better sound system, slightly less weight, comparable screen with true 1080p support and Dell is now sending out 130w adapters so there goes the power issue.

It's just a great machine. Having had a chance to break down, configure and use the WXGA+ and 1080P models first hand and compare them directly to a 1737 RGBLED, yeah, the 1747 is a worthy upgrade.

 

A08 Bios is now available in the UK. I haven't checked elsewhere.

 

Hmm
Fixes and Enhancements
Support Battery power consumption to 130W

 

Briefly catch up? You've been making basically the same comments in this thread for months.

 

I will wait to see waht the 1749 offers the 1747 is just tainted with the "throttling" concerns.

That plus no more ATI for me NVIDIA's built in PhysX support seals the deal.

Unless the 1749 can come with Intel 6300 and Bluray and RGB LED with an ATI 5xxx series then it would be in contention.

 

Yeah, there's no reason to abandon the $$ you put into your lesser 1737. i7 > Core2 and 4650 crushes the 3650. IMHO B+RG => RGBLED.

If you want to go Nvidia + PhysX, you might as well abandon your 1737.

The 1747 has no throttling now. 130w AC Adapter + A07 BIOS. A08 is icing on e cake. That is is a done deal. Can't use the throttling excuse anymore.

And like I said, you can put a BluRay R/W drive in the 1747/9 easily.

1747 = true quad core.

There just isn't a compelling reason to even contemplate a 1737 if you are choosing a Studio 17. It really is old now and slightly heavier to boot (which is kind of funny) with an inferior sound system.

But if you already HAVE a 1737, I would wait to maximize my investment and skip the next few iterations of the Studio 17 even if the 1747 is the superior machine.

I think you know the 1747 is the superior machine, but be happy with your 1737. It is still a very capable machine.

 

I thinks its time to splurge on a decent gaming rig I have been waiting for the Alienware with 6 Core i7 980x, that type of machine would be the only thing out now capable of even hoping to run Crysis 2 respectably. So instead of a Alienware laptop, the 1737 will stay and I am going to go with a really nice home gaming PC to go along with the 23" LED XL2370 that Samsung dropped off today. DELL/ Alienware finally announced their machine shipping with Intels 6 Core i7 980x today much sooner than I had even hoped for. No more Laptop gaming dreams for me. If the 1737 and its 3650 can squeeze out StarCraft 2 thats more than all I want in terms of gaming on the go.

 

Yeah, at a certain point it makes sense to realize and accept the limitations of technology. If your 1737 and the 3650 will play SC2 fine and gets by, take the $2-3k for a decent real gaming laptop and pour it into a killer desktop.

I have a 30" Apple Cinema Display, so I tend to do the bulk of my gaming on that.

The 24" HP Dreamcolor is pretty wicked though. I might downsize real estate wise for that lush piece of heaven.

 

Thats HP sounds nice glad to see its an IPS panel just like my Panasonic 10-bit TC-L32S1. IPS is where its at for gaming. And since that HP is an IPS panel it should be great for gaming for almost zero input lag but its unlikely any gaming test would be done on that HP dream color sure would love to hook up a PS3 or 360 to it. Wierd how the best HDTV's are billed as having 10-bit panels and 10-bit processing like the most expensive SONY's but they never come close to 30-bit color. Nice an expensive but lacks 120Hz so most likely not great for movie TV watching. Not sure why you say 112% of the NTSC color gamut is too much for the RGB LED display but then really want the HP Dream color which has 133% of the NTSC color gamut. I say the more the better. And after proper calibration with a Spyder Pro 3 it look just great to my tastes as well as my other LCD's. I still would lik eto see one of those HP Dream colors up close but for daily use I am thining thats over kill.

 

The A08 Bios is out for the 1747. It takes advantage of the 130 watt power adapter. Just flashed mine.

 

I see it up. Still running A06 with throttlestop. Works perfectly. Going to hold out a bit before downloading it.

 

Nice. Going to go download right now and check it out.

 

I'd take a 24" or 30" version of the B+RG if they had it, lol. 133% is overkill too, same as 30-bit which is well beyond what the human eye can differentiate from 24-bit, and 16-bit is pushing it. Same with 120hz->240hz.

Then again, the IPS panel in my 30" Apple Display has more than paid for itself. Games great, looks great. I can't really complain. It has been chuggin along for over 5yrs now and still gets it done. 5yrs is about my average display upgrade cycle though (Before that, I had run the classic Sony 20" GDM-F520 for 4-5 years).

Like I said, after seeing the B+RG (92%) vs. RGBLED (112%) and smugly watching my photo and graphic designer bud by trade calibrate the screen and run the spectrum , coke can and custom photo image calibration tests (Testing for accuracy but also flexibility for reduced need of icc profiles depending on situation/app) , running WoW and seeing real frame rates at native resolution with details to max (shadows to zero) and gruffly admit he might switch to a 1747, I couldn't help but grin. I had told him before to not get a 1737 because the 3650 was garbage and outside of the RGBLED as an option it wasn't a good choice for what he was looking to do (rendering, photo editing, WoW) due also to its lack of quad core support. So now he eats a big 'ole bucket of crow. In addition, he complained about the RGBLED anyhow with its over saturation issue especially with reds and somewhat with greens when trying to color match print. For comparison, he is also using a 30" ACD and 24" LED ACD and loves 'em (but refuses to pay the prices for Apple's macbooks).

I owned two systems with RGBLEDs previously (M6400) and even with multiple calibrations, that oversaturated red and neon effect overall threw me off. *Very* bright and beautiful for the most part, but still would get strange looking and the slight red tinge to some fonts and text depending on profiles was annoying. There's looking at the numbers (92 vs 112) then there is actually calibrating and using the systems and seeing which actually turns out best.

But like I said, YMMV.

 

So does this mean all the issues with throttling and the seven beeps is over with?

I really hope it does so I can finally purchase (and this time keep) one. I have been shopping around and while others do compare they usually lack the backlit keyboard or the 1GB grapics card. It is usually replaced with bluetooth and/or a blue ray player. My only concern now is the 1080p screen which everyone is saying is needed on the machine.

 

The 7 beeps was solved quite a while back. The 130 watt adapter and the new bios have helped the throttling but no one has said if it stopped it completely. But the adapter doesn't overheat and I've got plenty of power so I'm happy with it.

I don't think you are going to see another B+RG 1080p screen on this model. The 900p is the only option available.

 

ring them up and ask, ask again, dont take no for an answer, worked for me

 

Hello Dell boys and girls I was at best buy the other day while they was moving stuff around. I spotted a brand new dell studio 17 inch model:S1745-3691MBU. Apparently it was a customer return, Marked down at a good price so I grabbed it. Any way it has a slot load DVD drive and sometimes it works and sometimes it just keeps ejecting the disc. Dose any one else here have this problem with the slot load drive? I think I'm going to hate this drive because it looks like hell to change. It looks like you have to open it or disassemble the laptop to get to the drive. Has any one else here done it yet, Not that its a problem for me because I repair and build computer just want to know if any one else had this problem sorry, Too lazy and tired to read the whole thread and I could not find anything threw a simple search. I'm enjoying the new touch pad gesture feature and the multi touch pinch to zoom feature. One more question did anyone get the touch screen option and use the dell touch zone software how do you get the dell touch zone feature to work? Is there really a touch screen option I don’t quite get this, Its on page 34 in the set up guide manual book.

oops never mind about the touch screen question i found it.

 

I read that it didn't completely solve it, but made it better.

"Re: Studio & XPS Users experiencing video lockups and freezes / Throttling issues
16 Mar 2010 04:18AM

Hi there,

I flashed my ST1747, core i7 820 QM, 1080p screen, 6GB RAM, etc. with the latest A08 BIOS. I am using the replacement 130W PSU.

I can see some improvement when running both FurMark and Prime95, monitoring the whole thing with throttlestop. It is to say that there is no throttling (multiplier x13) with the dimmest backlighting. However, with anything brighter, the multiplier starts decreasing and reaches between x11-x12 with my standard brightness. I forgot to max out the brightness to check but you can guess the multiplier further decreases with an increasing global power consumption. It really feels like the maximum power drainage allowed by the BIOS is already reached with the dimmest backlighting setting, when stressing both the CPU and GPU.

So there is some improvement but still throttling, I'm affraid. Not too bad and better than before, for sure. Just too bad you still have to choose between brightness and performance.

I did not take screenshots this time, as I am fed up with doing R&D for Dell. Others will confirm. Maybe I'll run the same test later with the 90W PSU just to compare (too bad I did not think about it).

The good point is that the 130W PSU does not run too warm even under full stress. It just does not compare to the 90W one even unstressed."

from the dell forums

 

The Studio 1747 uses a 7640S slot loading DVDRW, so replacing it is really straight forward. The annoying part is, as you guessed, disassembling the laptop to get to the drive. You will need to remove the keyboard, bezel, media controls and card reader to the right of the unit (facing) to remove the three screws which hold the Optical drive in place.

As for the A08 BIOS.Did you try testing and running real world apps and games and see if any throttling kicks in versus synthetic balls to the wall testing. You can also give the PA-15 a try for 150w of fun.

B+RG isn't "required," but with its standard 900p panel, the Studio 17 is just another ho hum laptop with an, "ok," screen and you have much better options price wise elsewhere.

 

Dell had me debating between the 1747 and SXPS 1645/47, but as soon as they lost the B+RG screen and a 1080 option I stopped caring. You can't have a screen that big and not offer high resolutions. Even the Studio 15 does 1920x1080 ... why not the 17?!?!

so weird

 

So....................

You went with the 1645/47?

Go grab a refurb 1747 B+RG off of eBay and save some serious coin.

 

well, i decided on the 1645 a month or two ago, waited to hear about the throttling solution, then waited to see how the 1647 would go. Have pretty much decided on the 1647, but haven't ordered yet. Have to organise quotes and do it all through work etc, etc.

refurb 1747 from ebay ... interesting option - harder to find in Aus

 

Well I've finally figured out why my computer freezes for 30 seconds at a time. I looked at the Event Viewer and this is what I've discovered...

Source: iaStor
Event ID: 9
Level: Error

The device, \Device\Ide\iaStor0, did not respond within the timeout period.

Does anyone else have this problem with their Studio 1745? Is this common with all of these running the Intel Gm45 chipset? I really need to find a fix or I'm gonna have to sell this and try another brand.

 

Update (or replace M$ drivers) your Intel Matrix Storage Manager (IMSM) drivers here:

Vista/XP (x86 / x64): http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=17412&ProdId=2991&lang=eng

Windows 7 (x86 / x64): http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=17882&ProdId=2991&lang=eng

 

I've dealt directly with MerkAmerica http://stores.ebay.com/MerkAmerica-Electronics, as they deal with Dell equipment and they are a very honest, straight forward bunch and they have a few B+RG models for sale. If someone is looking to track down a B+RG and can't seem to catch one on Dell Outlets, they have several for sale.

I worked with a few 1747's recently (900Ps and one 1080P B+RG). I also have a 1645 coming in next week (i7-720 / 4gb / RGBLED / 4670 / 500gb / BT / BR ), so I'll have a chance to compare/contrast.

I thought a 920XM (55w) in the 1747 would run hot, but the 1747 cooling was very surprising and the temps stayed under 90 even under Prime95 max heat 8-thread. If anyone is complaining, it most likely is a craptastic thermal paste job (I replaced the Dell splatter fest with MX-2 on the CPU and GPU) I was ready to go mod happy on a 900P 1747 but didn't need to. I was so disappointed. Had my tools, dremel, heatsinks, and plastic mold kits at the ready only to find out the 1747 has great cooling so I reluctantly delivered it as is to a fellow WoW addict (We're EVERYWHERE).

I'll give the 1645 the same treatment (tear it apart, reapply pastes, note where vent modifications could be made, beef up the heatsinks, have the 150w psu ready) with a 920XM and see what comes of it. I'm curious to see what 1080P RGBLED looks like on a 16" screen, as 1920x1200 on a 15.6" was just too extreme.

 

Already installed the latest drivers, made no difference.

 

Very helpful info, thanks a lot I'll be looking into this over the weekend.

Would love to hear your opinion on the comparison between the studio 17 and the SXPS 16.

I'm also curious about the resolution - have been using 1920x1200 on 17" laptops for 4+ years so I'm not sure what I'll think of the slightly smaller screen and loss of 120 lines of pixels on the 16". The 17" would be fine @ 1080p, yes?

 

The build of the XPS 16 is much sturdier. Dell claims it is faster with identical specs because of some discrete motherboard. That's what they tried telling me anyway when they sent me a replacement system that had all the same specs, but a 3670 ATI card card with 512MB of RAM as opposed to my Studio 1745 with a 4650 1GB ATI video card. I'm assuming they're right though, because it did score a bit higher in benchmarking tests. The keyboard had less flex on the XPS 16. The speakers were louder on it as well, but the bass from the subwoofer on my 1745 sounded better. I think Dell underpowered the 1745's speakers so they wouldn't run into the problems of distortion the XPS 16's sub suffered from when the volume was maxed. It's a shame that you can't independently adjust the sub's volume like you used to be able to in Windows XP. Also, the infinite display on the XPS 16 was even more reflective than the glossy LCD on the 1745. The XPS 16 lacks a second hard drive back as well. With the 9 cell battery, the XPS 16 felt heavier than the 1745. The RGB LED LCD seemed far more over saturated than the 1080p LED LCD on the 1745. Bottom line, I'd take a 1745 over the XPS 16 anyway, even if the 1745 feels like a plastic toy.