New Dell Studio 17 announced (Studio 1745/47)

RED ALERT!!!,, you had a system with an ATI 4650 1GB but DELL sent you a 3670 with only 512MB #1. Is the 3670 DDR2 or DDR3 and they downgraded you an entire generation of graphics cards THATS NOT RIGHT!! you need to FIGHT THAT!!!

 

1 quick question. Does the 1080p screen have webcam/mic? Because if it does, then its yet 1 more problem with my laptop I`ll have to sort out, as they arent even detected...The 900p had them,

 

Oh believe me, they got a piece of my mind! It took two attempts t explain to them why I do not find that acceptable. I told them I am not keeping that system and that's the bottom line. They're sending me another replacement, but chances are I'll be getting another 1640, which will be going back. If I wanted a 16 inch laptop, I would have purchased one. The thing that pisses me off most is that I see there are a bunch of studio 1745's on their outlet now. Dell needs to get their act together before I get fed up and take my business elsewhere.

 

The 1080p screen on my 1745 has both a webcam and mic.

 

This thread makes me sad .

 

I`m assuming its supposed to... Oh FFS.. Here comes another nightmare.. Lost count of how many problems Ive had

 

Personally, I got Studio 1747 because of 2 HDs, better cooling, and slightly larger screen that's still very good (1080p one). I would have loved to have cooling and 2HDs of 1747 combined with build quality of XPS 16 (I'd rather deal with Studio 1080p screen as well since it's easier to calibrate).

ATI 3670 card is going to be quite a bit slower then ATI 4650. Amount of video ram does not matter much here due to the cards being somewhat slow, but the speed does matter.

 

That's the neat thing about the 16". 1080P is 10% less than 1200P, but the screen itself is only ~6% smaller so your PPI is lower and looks bigger on the 16" vs. the 17" Of course going from 17" 1080P -> 16" 1080P you take a PPI increase. If given a choice, I'd take the 17" 1080P, but the system is due here on monday, so I'll get a good chance to really compare/contrast while verifying its 920XM support and seeing how it handles under load with the mother of all i7 mobiles in it (along with the 55w).

I love tackling overheating issues from desktops to laptops. Like I said, I was both delighted and disappointed that the 1747's cooling as is was more than adequate for handling even a 920XM which under load and even playing WoW, hit 65w on the regular in congested areas, so I know a 720/820 or an i5 must run ice cold in that thing (ba bump bump).

I like the fact 1080P is not only is great for full screen 1080P HD content, but 10% is still decent in regards to giving the GPU a slightly lower resolution for more FPS and eye candy on top of the 4670 being decently powerful for a mid range laptop.

Like I said, the 1747 I found to be near perfect. Definitely felt lighter than its size makes you think. I like that it is a smidge lighter than the 1737, the keyboard also has wider, flatter keys I liked better than the 1737. Obviously the 3650 is garbage and running WoW on it versus the 4650 was like night and day. I was very impressed. I have yet to use two drive bays in any laptop pretty much. The improvements in the sound system were a welcome surprise too. In short, I was very impressed with the 1747. After reading all the horror stories (even some saying it overheated?), I found the cooling top notch. The B+RG screen is gorgeous. I really couldn't find a problem with it and unless you are running seriously computationally intense programs for prolonged periods of time for personal productivity, even when it was throttling hardcore, it was more than powerful enough IMHO. The system, to me at least, is attractive in looks.

The only cons would be the time it takes to disassemble it to upgrade or tinker with anything. The system board has to be removed to get to the CPU and you are a few steps away from removing the system board to install the 365 BT module or swap out the Optical drive. As always, the 3 WXGA+ models I yanked apart had classic Dell craptastic thermal application to the GPU and CPU (I swear they apply it with a fire hose).

 

Edit: I'll say the nice things first - Thanks so much for giving all this detailed info on the Studio 17. I'm very appreciative of your efforts

Cranky rant: OK now I'm getting annoyed at Dell again ... because the Studio 1747 is sounding like the machine I want, but I can't have it.

Because of the way I have to order my laptop through work, I have to get a machine direct from Dell. I have to generate a quote from the available online options, which currently do not include a 1080p screen at all, let alone the B+RG version. If it doesn't have 1080p, I won't buy it. That is the annoying part - I want Dell's machine (the 1080p B+RG version), and they won't give it to me.

I could track down the machine i want thanks to your useful suggestions, but this is unacceptable with the laptop ordering guys at work.

very cranky

 

Just grabbed a 1747 from outlet for about 1120 USD after tax about 1244 USD.

The config was pretty good for price it seemed:
core i7-720, blu ray read / write + dvd, 1080p B+RG screen, 4gig ram, backlit keyboard, face recognition, 9cell, etc...
sadly, no bluetooth or tv tuner

one question is that when I looked the config in the order ID, display description says " MOD,LCD,17.3,FHD,WLED,90%,AUO "
is this the one ? the B+RG? why is it saying WLED?

 

Nice.. that is the right one.. the 'crap' one would say HDF+ not FHD

 

Thanks duffydack
Hopefully I will like this screen... been looking for a laptop for very long time, one thing that was holding me back until now was all these "glossy , glassy" screens...which I really don't like so far.
I was actually hoping for a laptop with switchable graphics and anti glare RGBLED screen or maybe IPS screen...
but this price was so good. Oh well in worst case, i can always return.

 

oh, you will like the screen
i was totally stunned when i got mine. this has to be one of the best laptop-screens ever!
the only downside: red is too intense. but you can correct that by scaling red down by about 10% in CCC

 

I was browsing outlet some more time and found xps 16 with similar config for 1300 after tax... also ordered it, will compare them side by side and return one of em

spec was i7 720, 4gig, rgbled, bluray rewritable, etc...

 

sure it has, and both the cam and the mics run out of the box in win7 (pre-installation from dell) and ubuntu 9.10
no problem at all

 

I thought so..but I dont know if I should bother, after all the hassle ive had...I dont want any more bs and I can just imagine them sending a replacement screen and it being the 1600x900 and oh god not again !! lol..
the only reason I`d like it working is if I sell the laptop later on.. less than fully working will lower the price somewhat...
you dont happen to know how the webcam/mic are connected to the screen? like could it be they just arent connected up proeprly or is it basically a new screen to fix it?

 

you can get some nice information from this doku (original dell files for the 1747)

 

ah so its just a module. is the mic part of this module too? I cant see any mention of it in the docs. hmmm..

 

Thanks for sharing your insight and experiences.

One thing though; You may have overlooked that the 120 lines are in the vertikal direction, while the screen size is measured in diagonal direction.

According to wiki:



1920x1080 on 16" would be aprox. 137ppi.

 

can anyone tell me if I can add in AT&T wwan (gobi?) card after I receive studio 1747?
is antenna already installed in the laptop?
or do I have to get and install both the card and antenna? how does it work?
I really wanna use my iphone sim card without tethering if possible
what about TV tuner, can you get the built in TV card aftermarket?
thanks alot in advance

 

True, you end up with ~137.68 on a 16" and 133.19 on a 17" RGBLED.

So you end up with a ~3.37% (!) increase in PPI which imho is negligible (especially after having viewed 16" 1080P and 17" 1200P both on RGBLED's) .

17.3" B+RG @ 127.33 is a ~8.1% decrease in density which is noticeable.

Windows 7 does have better scaling than XP or Vista, so that's a plus.

 

Well, LOTS of calls and hair pulling, 5 engineer callouts and 1 return to base for a week later.... I told them I want a replacement for this 'devil' machine...and Im getting one, but I expressed my concern on getting the same screen I had so much trouble getting, again, and he checked on its availability because as you all know its not really an option anymore, and he said my fresh built laptop will have the same FHD screen. I`m just glad its (hopefully) over. Does make me wonder though how 'hard' to get hold of these screens are really... thats 2 of them Ive had..

 

Dell are really strange creatures. They are now offering the ATI 5650 for non i7 studio17`s, which is reportedly a good 30% faster and DX11 card. What logical reason is there to offer 1 card for i7`s and another for the other base systems?
*hoping I get the 5650 in the replacement laptop Im getting in 10-12 days, but not likely*

 

Ok I now have both studio 17 with B+RG and xps with rgbled, and this is my first impressions

Screen: Both are pretty good, Colors on xps is more vivid(saturated?) and I like the colors on xps more maybe its just me. Also the xps screen uses glass like macbook pro which you can't see ripples on the reflections while the B+RG screen is like normal screen with some ripples on the reflections if it matters any.
B+RG screen is very good as well and its color is pretty damn good too, screen is one or two steps brighter than xps. I like bright screens =) So screen wise, its tie to me.

build quality: xps hands down, xps uses metal like casing for the bottom part and it feels sturdier. although when the speaker volume is loud or when there is disc in the optical drive, laptop starts rattling alot, other than that I like xps more than studio.

speakers: studio 17 for this one, it sounds just fuller compared to xps, and it won't rattle your laptop as much as xps does.

sadly I had very bad gaming experience on both of these laptops, they stutter too much and I lost several ranked games because of it. I'm gonna have to consider returning them

 

sounds like throttling

 

Straden,

I'd make sure to:

Update BIOS on both
Make sure both are using 130w or greater PSUs
Reinstall Windows 7 with newest drivers from the OEMs when possible

I had a spare 150W here, and BIOSes were updated immediately as both the refurb 1747 and 1645 shipped with older BIOSes and 90w PSUs. New installs are mandatory (or we have cookie cutter clone installs).

I had zero problems using and gaming on both once updated. I'm impressed my fps are consistently 50-60 on the Studio 1645/1747 in WoW maxed out. Even in Dalaran they stay 45+ with heavy player congestion.

I pretty much agree with your opinions having compared both directly too.

I also found the 1747 slightly louder under load.

The build quality of the 1645 is very solid and luxurious feeling. I really like the build quality of the Studio XPS 16.

The pros of the 1747 are the dual HD support, larger screen, and the extra space gives it slightly better cooling (albeit both handled a 920xm). Better bass.

Pros of the Studio 1645 are the build quality, keyboard, mildly faster GPU (4650 vs 4670) and slightly smaller size. 1645 also supports 3x3 WiFi (5300, 6300), where the 1747 only supports 2x2 (5100, 6200). Getting to the internals of the 1645 are also MUCH easier, as everything is pretty much there as soon as you take off the bottom panel.

 

I will talk to tech support tomorrow for 130w adapter and give a try before I return. hopefully i get this done within return period.

if you guys have any questions about any of these laptops or comparisons on certain thing, i will be happy to answer them.

 

I'm slightly confused. I bought a 5300 for my previous laptop, and I figured I'd add that to the 1747. When I opened it up, there were two wires connected to the Dell 2x2 G band card in the laptop, but there was a 3rd gray cable running with the black and white cables, which was in a plastic sleeve (to prevent electrical conductivity). I assumed this was for a 3x3 antenna array; am I incorrect?

 

That's for the WWAN or TV Tuner I think. The Studio 1747 only officially supports the 2x2 cards and their Studio XPS supports 3x3. You can always add an aux compatible antennae from eBay for the middle (3) lead.

 

I just looked at a pretty nice deal for a Studio 17 with 1080p screen, blueray player, i7, 4 GB Ram, and 500GB 7,200RPM for 1469 with taxes and what not. Do you guys think this is a good deal?

I want a back lit keyboard but that was not an option on it. I know I can buy one and install it myself. I think I asked this before but can anyone point me in the right direction for a keyboard. How hard would it be to install it? I know my way around a computer but I am no expert.

Thanks.

Edit: Also is there any sort of cover for the lid? I will only be able to get this in black chainlink (if you read my earlier posts I dislike it quite a bit.)

 

well, most of this thread is about the problems with the 1747 (throttling, freezes, ...), not about the screen!
only a few people actually do have the 1080p screen as it was available on the dell page for only about a month
but i have to say you are right, the screen is absolute fantastic!!!

ps: you should go in CCC and reduce red to about 90% as it is too strong by default. after that it really is the best screen out there

 

I was curious since there was a fourth lead by the TV Tuner card, and I checked on Dell's support site, and they do not sell any 3x3 cards, but they are wired with 3x3 antennae (at least in the 1747). I think it's odd though that they don't offer the 3x3 cards; that should post a nice margin for them based on what they charge on their other machines.

 

I've been following this thred since I ordered mine (11/09) and a majority of the threads fall into the following areas

1. Delays in receiving it (often due to parts delay - parts inculding display)
2. People not able to order it with screen
3. People canceling orders (and in some cases wanting this screen on otherbrands)
4. Posts about using a diffrent (more powerful power supply)


Your right the red is extreme but also sharp and rich.

 

hmm, you may be right. i've been following this since november too but i'm also following some other forums regarding the 1747 so i may have mixed some things up. sorry about that

did you ever watch a picture or video with fire on it on the 1080p screen? it nearly burns the eyes... way to intense...
but if you like it... enjoy it

 

I just thought I`d post an update to this question in the ubuntu specific FAQ on first page
"Does Ubuntu handles the Intel Turbo mode technology?" As of 2.6.32 (default lucid kernel) it does support turbo mode and can be checked with a tool here http://code.google.com/p/i7z/
To test it you can run this to stress 1 cpu... md5sum /dev/zero &

 

How do I know if I have the B+RG LED display. I have a 1080 screen that Dell came out and replaced since I wasnt happy with the 900p screen. They replaced the screen with a 1080 LED screen but not sure how to tell if it is B+RG or 1080p

This was the model number of the screen B173HW01

 

If the screen resolution is 1920 x 1080 you have the 1080p screen.

 

B173HW01 = B+RG AU Optronics.

You got the good stuff.

 

good deal...thanks for the clarification guys

 

Hello everyone, hope im in the right catogory...
I just bought a Dell Studio s1745-3691MBU.
it was an open box deal at best buy for $394 in box with warrenty and all paperwork.
is that a good deal on this or should I bring it back?
It works great..Just wondering what you folks think..thanks

 

$394 sounds like a deal but please tell us more about the secs

1. video card?
2. Screen type?
3. Hard drive size?

etc etc

 

It is the one with the Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 / 2.2 GHz ( Dual-Core ) processor and the Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics. Most of the other specs are the same.

Anyway has anyone actually changed their keyboard from the normal one to the backlit one? It seems really easy from the manual but I am looking to see if anyone has some practical experience doing so. I am fairly confident I am going to get the Studio 17 I mentioned on the last page. The price is great for the specs, I cannot even get it for that price purchasing directly from Dell.

Also they no longer have 1080p screens, so does anyone have any idea what will happen if my screen becomes damaged or has a defect in workmanship while still under warranty? It is one of the only things currently holding me back. I called Dell but they aren't as good at helping you when you aren't going to purchase the system off of them.

Thanks in advance guys!

Edit: Also I know the throttling issues are solved by Dell, but I am sure some still exist so do I need to use that program that was a 'fix' to stop the throttling, or should the new BIOS already do that? I know I have to get a larger power supply unit but I plan to get Dell to upgrade it soon after my purchase.

 

I got my replacement Studio 1747 yesterday, for all the trouble Ive had and the 1080 screens colours are a lot different. There is definately more red and not enough blue and bright coulours like orange really stand out too much. Ive tried to dull the red down and boost blue up and contrast a little but im not sure its enough for my 'fussy' eyes.. also on the packing list it says MOD,LCD,17.3FHD,WLED,90%,AUO now what is the 90% for?
Or could the gpu be affecting the colour ouput?

 

Intel core 2 duo processor t6600
(2.20GHz, 2MB cache, 800Mhz FSB)
4GB memory
500GB hard drive
slot load dvd+/-rw
wireless N minicard
integrated intel graphics media
accelerator4500MHD
intergrated webcam
6-cell battery
midnight blue

Thats what the box says!

Im not even sure I will keep it. Im used to the 15.4" size laptops. This thing is huge to lug around.

 

you might want to try a hardware color calibration device.


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._Spyder3Express_Color_Calibration_System.html

 

Sorry if this has already been posted!!

A load of Studio 17's (1747) hit the UK Dell outlet today, still quite a few left if you want to snap up a bargain.

I got a 1747 with Core i7 720, 4gb RAM, 500GB hard drive, 1920x1080 screen, Win 7 Pro and Blu-ray drive for £578+VAT. I think that's a pretty good price? Especially as you can't get the 1080p screen any more.

 

how did you get that for so cheap :O? i was looking at getting the £699 option with the i5 for £679 but how the hell did you get that thing so cheap? What GPU did you get?

 

Note that it's +VAT, so £679. Full spec:

Studio 1747 Processor
Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
Windows 7 Professional (64 BIT)
4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
500GB Serial ATA (7200RPM)
Graphics 1 GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650
Optical Drive Blu-Ray Disc (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM) Drive
17.3in Full High Definition (1920X1080) LED with TrueLife
Black Chainlink
Camera Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Camera
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard
Dell Wireless 1397 (802.11 b g)Base

 

The Studio 17 Touch does not come with the 1920x1080 screen anymore....wth?