New Studio 15 Owner

I just got my Studio 15 and so far I really like it! I kind of got a standard build - Tangerine Orange, T5750, Home Premium, 1280x800 screen, 3GB Ram, 250GB Drive, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450, 1510 wireless card, 6 cell, back-lit keyboard, and finger print reader. Just some thoughts:

Overall I think the build quality is pretty good although my one year old Dell 1505 might be more solidly built even though I like the design of the Studio 15 better. The sound quality of the 1505 is definitely better! It's really hard to believe Dell put such a cheap speaker in the 15, they should be ashamed.

The Media buttons need to be lit up or something as they are pretty useless in their current state, again hard to believe this wasn't caught in the design stage.

I got the standard 1280x800 LCD screen because of my budget but if I had to do over again I wish I would have bought the newer LED screen.

I love the Tangerine Orange color and also the texture Dell used for it, here's hoping it doesn't scratch easily and holds up.

Dell's 1505 was my first experience with Vista Home Premium and I came away unimpressed because I thought it took way too long to reboot and come out of hibernation, I longed for XP Pro. My Studio 15 has a Dual Core 2 vs the 1505's Dual Core and a little more ram but for whatever reason Vista Home Premium runs so much faster on the Studio 15 I feel I can live with Vista now.

Some Questions:

1. I'm a little uneducated to updating drivers and such but when you go to Dell's Driver site for the Studio 15 should I pretty much download most of the updates offered?

2. I cannot get the finger print reader to consistantly work with Firefox do I need to download some sort of a Add-On?

3. I didn't opt for the Bluetooth 370 card but should I decide to add it to the Studio 15 is there a small Bluetooth speaker available where you could use it instead of listening to the crappy Studio 15 speakers? Something small and portable but better than the Studio 15's speakers.

 

1-regarding download drivers u pretty much nailed it. u can download for the hardware you have. up to you if u want tp update them . never hurts to have everything up to date just have a quick readon here to make sure drivers function ok before u do. in other works no problems posted.

3-make sure u have the blue antenna wire for the bluetooth slot before u buy . i read not every screen has every wire (would be a first for a dell) but it said so in their service manual. also headphones on a couch beside you sound better than the built in speakers lol

 

Regarding (1) That's kind of my problem I'm not sure I know which drivers I can safely download and install for my particular configuration.

 

as of yet there havent been any issues posted. so seems ok to download any that you want for your system. but if your systems ok and you have no issues feel free not to DL any right now so u can enjoy it a bit more stress free

 

Well actually I like new features that sometimes come with updating drivers.

Just a followup question, there is an update for Dell Dock which says under "Fixes and Enhancements" - Initial Release... so does this mean any driver updates listed on Dell's website under "Drivers and Downloads" are newer than what came installed on your computer?