New Inspiron 17r Special Edition on its way

Hello board
Today I ordered my new Dell 17r special edition I am currently on an old 1720 with vista so it was definitely time for an upgrade
the system i have ordered is

3rd Gen Intel Core i7-3630QM 2
8GB,DDR3,2 DIMM, 1600MHz
8X DVD+/-RW Tray Load Drive
17.3" FHD WLED
Nvidia GeForce GT 650M 2GB
1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
32G SSDR mSATA Card
WIN 8 HOME,64,ENG,CSMR,DAO

So i was just wondering what tweeks or things i should do to this thing once i get it i have heard reviews say its full of bloatware how shall i get rid of this and i am not too sure how i will like the new windows 8 is it possible to install a new copy of win7 ultimate onto this if i want ? and tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

Hi, I too ordered an Inspiron 17R SE a few days ago (to replace an old XPS 15) & it should arrive in 2 weeks. As it has 2 HDDs I intend to check the machine as the build quality will be lower than the XPS. Once happy, I will ask Dell for a W7 Replacement DVD (as a downgrade), seeing that I dislike W8. I will remove the primray HDD (after disabling the mSata Cache) & replace it with a Samsung 128GB SSD. The old HDD (with W8) can be put away for a while just in case the machine has to go back to Dell for repair.

I will then boot from the W7 DVD & install direct on the SDD. Once up & running the 2nd HDD can become a Data drive, and the mSata Cache can be convered into a normal (fast) drive for apps that don't change much, like Adobe & Microsoft, etc. This will give me: C: 128GB (SSD boot), D: 32GB (Sata2), E: 750GB HDD (5,400rpm), plus F: 750GB External USB3 disk (via a simple case). If you only have 1 HDD in your build, you can still install W7 on an SSD, just move the primary disk to the other bay & ask Dell for a caddy if not present.

Note that you may have to make some BIOS changes to go from W8 (UEFI) to W7 with SSD (AHCI), so disable the Intel RST (Cache) first. Also do not upgrade your BIOS more than A10, as there are boot problems with higher versions. I hope mine is A08 or less. I hope this helps...

 

gtzhub, I'm curious, why do you think dell will give you a w7 replacement dvd?

Thx

 

Well it arrived yesterday so far its great havent really tried much yet still getting used to win 8 Its actually not as bad as i was thinking it was going to be but still takes getting used to I think I might just leave it for now . I think i still would like to add another hd other than that so far a nice computer only a couple things i noticed i didnt like . The charge cable is shorter doesnt reach from my couch to the outlet anymore the case over the screen seems flimsy but other than that happy with everything else definitely a big step up from the old 1720 shipping time was great i ordered on jan 31 and received it on the 7th

 

gzhtub, if you think W7 will improve your experience, you are sadly mistaken.

W8 is a superior OS with a simple minor tweak of installing classic start menu.

Actually give it a chance and you will see.

 

I'm also looking forward to trying win 8. I found a program called start8 that's supposed to make it more like win 7 for only $5 and there is another one called startisback that's even cheaper..... 2 licences for $3 or 5 for $5

 

You are right, they won't only W8 Pro has downgrade rights to W7 & too late to upgrade cheaply to that (31/1/13).
My new Inspiron arrived & died within 3m - defective power adapter on the MB. The MB was replaced & after a lot of BIOS problems (A11), machine is now up & running.
I fixed the W8 issue by installing ClassicShell, which is great, so I only work in the Desktop now, W8 is pretty quick & if you learn all the Shortcuts can be usable,
I would still like a W8 Reinstall DVD so that I can do a clean install on an SSD when I put one in the machine, we will see if Dell mails one or not...

 

Ya, sad, I missed that 1/31/13 offer too by a week. Oh well, I got to admit you are way more patient than I am, if that laptop died on me in 3 minutes I would have sent it back and told them send me another one. As to the win 8 ya, I own a membership at stardock and I get all their programs and they have a cool one called start8. I am going to do the exact thing and basically turn win 8 into a high performance win 7 lol. Dell told me for $20 they will send me a disk, I'm still debating just spending $99 on a oem win 8 copy for my desktop and just using that disk on my dell for a fresh ssd install.

 

So after many emails, Dell finally sent me the W8 Reinstallation DVD for free (this should be in the box). However, now that I got rid of the Metro/Modern UI, just living in the Desktop of W8 isn't so bad. The machine is as fast as the W7 on an XPS 15, so I think I'll live with it for a while. I even got a reasonable upgrade to W8 Pro from Amazon UK (even though I live in Switzerland) for £40, about $60? Surprisingly, with the 32GB mSata cache, even the 5,400rpm disk is pretty fast on USB3, I get copy speeds around the 60MB/s avg. mark, which is fast enough for me, so no need to replace a large disk (750GB) with a small SSD (128GB). Once the MB was fixed (and better to have a service tech on hand to check all is OK than wait months for the shipping), the only problem has been that the W Explorer window restarts now & again, but no crashes.

The 3D works great on the laptop, but I haven't yet tried SBS or OU movies in PowerDVD, the only issue I have is using it with my Epson 3D Projector. Not sure if it's really compatible with the Nvidia graphics card, but I updated the drivers & downloaded a trial copy of their 3DTV Play S/W, which after MUCH online support I got to work (but not as well as my PS3). But this is a 14d trial, and Nvidia want $40 for the S/W! I asked Dell for a free copy or at least a 50% discount, but the say this feature is only offered on high end XPS (I thought the 3D 17" model was gone?) and Alienware machines. I think for near $1.5K they could at least give me $20 worth of S/W to use the 3D feature on TVs & Projectors. Good luck with your machine, let me know how it goes...

 

Yes, you were right, once the Metro/Modern UI is gone, W8 is OK (never thought I would say that), I even upgraded to W8 Pro for $60! Thanks for the tip...

 

New problem with w8 & the Intel Centrino WiFi N2230 Driver, a recent Security update (not sure which one) is incompatible with the Wifi Driver & neither Intel nor MS will admit the problem or fix it (probalby M$ fault). Result is that ANY Wifi driver after c.V15.0.x will drop the wifi connection (often) by not being able to connect to DHCP - this is very annoying.

Only way round this I found was to buy a USB Wifi Adapter, run a long network cable from the router or downgrade to W7 or Linux. :-( None of these are ideal. I tried ALL the Intel Proset drivers & ALL Dell old Wifi drivers, NONE appear to fix the problem, which is also found on Lenovos & other laptops with W8 & Centrino. May try checking the Router firmware, but doubt it will help, all other PCs in the house work fine.

 

I have this very same issue on my 7720 W8. Pondering just downgrading to W7 or buying an Alternative WiFi card...

U.N.

 

Have you tried setting a static IP for your wifi adapter?

 

When I used the Intel Driver, it was acting up, but since I went back to the latest driver on support.dell.com, it has been ok.