OFFICIAL: Inspiron 1720 Owner's Thread

I didn't before, but I installed and it works. I don't know if it works without it installed. But I can always try a bit later.

 

I think it only works with QuickSet installed, as it's not working for me right now without it.

 

The wi-fi light on my 1720 works only if the system is shut down. If I slide it to the scan position when the system is actually running then a Wi-Fi Catcher dialog comes up instead. I assumed they are all like this?

 

Yes, it is used to find if a WiFi connection is present when the system is switched off.

 

mine didnt used to come-up with the dialog before QuickSet was installed so I guess you need it for the light to work.

 

Put in a request for an Inspiron 1720 throguh US Cellular last week. Waiting on payrool to approve it! Specs are:

Jet Black
Hi-Res Display
T9300 2.5GHz CPU
4GB RAM
Blu-RAY 2x optical drive
320GB Drive
Vista Home Premium
Dell Wireless-N
256MB 8600M
9-Cell Battery.

If anyone has the Blu-RAY drive, how does it look on the Hi-Def screen?

 

pretty high spec man, make sure you do a clean install once you get it. it'll be like a rocket

 

yeah I will. To clarify the Inspirons now come with a Vista installation DVD or the equivilent (sp?) right?

 

yeah, they send you everything. vista disk, media-direct, drivers etc. here's an amazing thread on how to re-install vista and keep media-direct.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838

 

Awesome! Thanks. How are you liking the laptop?

 

No worries. I love it it's brilliant. The only thing is that I've got the black version because they screwed up the blue and you get fingerprints very easily on the lid cover. that's the only thing I don't like but I suppose you can just wipe the lid once a day.

 

Yeah I'll take that into consideration. I'm trying to get back into gaming again (HL:2, Doom 3, and a few SLIGHTLY older games, plus Doom95 ) and heavy web use. My mom has a Velocity Micro that she loves, but everytime I get on it I get the strange urge to wteak the daylights out of it and I don't want to screw it up. So I'm getting my own.

 

cool cool, I'm recently bought C&C First Decade and gonna work my way through that I've only completed Red Alert 2 so far and that was a while ago. and btw on the link I gave you there's a tweaking guide at the end of the first post in case you were interested.

 

Yeah I noticed that. I'm gonig totake full advantage of it. Still no word on how the BluRay looks on either the HD or SD displays.

 

no idea, i went for the normla DVD-RW. but I would imagine it will be pretty impressive.

 

Well if I'm the first to get a Blu-Ray drive I'll report in on the quality. I'm looking forward to it like crazy (hopefully Payroll approves of it, though.)

 

i remember when i was waiting for mine. so is your work paying for it?

 

They are doing payroll deductions. Over 26 paychecks (one year worth) at about $72 per each. The bonus is I don't have to pay financing charges, and we get discounts through a partnership between Dell and TDS Metrocom (who owns US Cellular, my employer.)

 

so you get discount from work, and then they take the money straight from your wages?

 

Yeah basically. The downside is I can't purchase from just ANY vendor. it's CDW, MPC (Formerly gateway's laptop division) and Dell (unfortunately not Alienware, though.) and it has to be less then 10% of my annual wages (about 30K ± 1K.) But overall a good program.

 

cool cool, dell make good laptops when they aren't messsing up completely and run out of parts/colours.

 

Hey Stoy! How's your cool new machine? You're enjoying it I presume?

 

Yeah true. Apparently for my machine there is a 1 week wait on the graphics cards. Oh well, could be worse.

 

hope you get yours soon VPR.

yes, I've got it now. It's amazing!!!! It was worth the wait!! and there was nothing wrong with it either Glad I got it!

 

Ordered my first Laptop from Dell on June 30th and recieved it in the mail July 7th even though it said wasn't estimated till end of July. Very fast.

Inspiron 1720, Intel Core 2 Duo T9300(2.5GHz, 800Mhz, 6M L2 Cache)
1 313-5473 Jet Black Color with Matte Finish
1 311-7220 4GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
1 320-5504 High Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920 x 1200)
1 320-5468 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600
1 341-5454 320G 5400RPM SAMSUNG Hard Drive
1 313-5195 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,INSP1720
1 420-5769 Internet Search and Portal
1 420-5924 Icon Consolidation Application
1 420-6436 Vista, PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 420-8566 Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition, English
1 420-7026 Media Direct 3.5
1 420-7622 DELL SUPPORT CENTER 2.0
1 463-2282 Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access
1 430-0493 Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron
1 420-7468 ADOBE ACROBAT READER 8.1 DIM/INSP
1 341-4716 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive
1 420-8183 Roxio Creator DE 10
1 430-2337 Intel 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini Card
1 320-5681 Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
1 461-8389 No Virus Protection Requested
1 312-0519 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, Inspiron 1720
1 412-0148 No Internet Service Provider Requested
1 420-6589 Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition
1 950-3338 2 Year Limited Warranty
1 412-0360 Soft Contracts - Banctec
1 900-8221 Warranty Support,1 Year Extended
1 960-2780 Warranty Support,Initial Year
1 987-5378 Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Extended Year(s)
1 960-7171 Type 3- Third Party At HomeService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, 1 Year Extended
1 987-5447 Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Initial Year
1 983-3100 Type 3- Third Party At HomeService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, Initial Year
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks
1 466-3921 No Preinstalled Software
1 320-5798 Basic Black Matte LCD back color w/ 2.0M pixel Camera Insp 1720
1 310-9348 Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor
1 310-8628 You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System
1 987-4817 Insp Datasafe 3GB,1YR(Incl in price),DHS
1 420-7092 DataSafe Online Dim/Ins/XPS 1YR-FREE
1 420-7091 DataSafe Online Dim/Ins/XPS
1 988-0099 To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Pro

Also with the upgrade on the sound card. Think I got a pretty good deal. Also got $421 off.

Screen is awesome
Very fast
and running very smoothly.

Also there wasn't much info out there on running Autodesk Inventor 2008 on an Inpiron 1720. It runs it great with Directx. We'll see when I get for involved with that part but so far so good.

 

gdgd, pretty good set-up

 

btw i forgot. it'd be worth while to do a clean install to boost performance. here's a link below

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838

 

Alright, order approved by payroll. Dell predicts a ship date of July 30th, 2008. Hopefully the shipping won't take so long. Woohoo

 

yay!!! good news then!!

 

Nice thread. Stoy I ordered basically the same 1720 as you did but without the extra hard drive and ram. When did you get yours and when did you order it? I ordered it on 7/8/08 but it says ETA 8/2-8/5!! I hope it doesn't take that long.

 

Mine is kinda complicated. because I ordered mine blue, but after 4 weeks of waiting they emailed me and told me that they cancelled the order because they didnt do the colour anymore. So I re-ordered and it came 8 days after ordering. I dont know if that's cos they messed up the 1st one or because they actually had the colour.

 

Oh ok. So do most people wait almost a month for the 1720 to come (like my order status page says) or do they get it in about 15 days after the order is confirmed?

 

i remember when i got my 1720 last year i waited more then 30 days. lolz

 

Oh ok. The wait is ok I guess. After all I got it for $774.

 

774$ wow lucky you

i paid more then 2000$ lolz.

 

Maksa and Stoy, since you've both had your 1720s for some time now, has the performance deteriorated at all?

 

i am using it from almost 1 year. and my daily use is like 12 to 14 hours. i have never face any problem yet. built quality is really good. and the best thing is keyboard. once u use 17" laptop u will not feel good with smaller one.

only 1 think it's bit bulky and hard to carry. but that is not problem lolz afterall it is 17"

i also use my 1720 with Dell 2408WFP 24" monitor and it works well too.

 

Ok that's good to know.

 

Performance is brilliant. the only thing is that you get finger marks on the cover lid. everything else is perfect!! and it did look huge when I 1st got it compared to my old one. But I've got used to it now. lol

 

that is problem with almost all laptops lolz

 

There was one time my machine was on for 24 hours for 1 week long, doing CAD drawings for my school work, never sleeping, work and rush like hell, opened nearly 50 cad drawings and 3Ds Max files at one time, worked on then for countless of hours, still works well. But of course, there are limits, I don't expect the best out of it though. A lagged a little here and there, but never had any overheating problems or BSODs.

 

24hrs usage 7 days a week, gosh i remember when my graphics card (8600m gt) died on me and it refused to start, thankfully its been covered by the warranty...
i wouldn't recommend that sort of usage to anyone unless your room is freaking cold all the time, which was not the same in my case

 

Damn straight. It's real torture for both myself and the machine. I noticed a performance drop after not turning off for a week. Damn, that's why I'm hoping at the end of the year I'm looking something that can handle what I'm doing all the time. The new systems (We're using the new Dell workstation desktops) has yet to arrive for my school during that week. Now that we have desktops there, fortunately I don't do that anymore... I hope it doesn't happen again. But again, unfortunately the desktops in my school are always used and I'm always outside all the time. So the use of a laptop is important. My family is now using my desktop all the time instead.

 

Ok I am still waiting for the 1720 to get out of the in production phase. It has been in that phase since 7/8. Usually, how long does an inspiron 1720 build take? I think 8 days is a lot of time to build a laptop. Also, I saw somewhere on this forum that all 4, 6, and 9 cell batteries are delayed. But the person who said that was in Europe. Is there a delay for the U.S? The only delaying part I remember that is in my laptop is a 8600M GT.

 

Mine has 8600 GT, wireless card and battery as delay part. But It only took about 9-10 days for my laptop to be in boxing stage and 3 days to be delivered. Don't worry, you will receive yours soon.

 

Dell doesn't say in manual you have to turn off after some hours.
They boast all the time how reliable these Inspirons are so what is problem ?
No need to turn off. Simply return when fails so they can have chance to improve something.

 

I didn't even read the manual and I don't have to.

What you saying? I didn't complain about didn't I? It's a sign of reliability of the machine itself. And it's good. It never had problems or any performance drop. It was probably me who is tired and thinks of it so as I didn't slept for a week doing nothing but CAD renderings. So cut me some slack and sorry for the typo.

 

Just finished the cleanup from installing Ubuntu Linux 8.04 ...

I have to say that at the moment I am quite impressed.

Overall feel is that it boots, and completes tasks far faster than XP, or Vista. Seems to function very well, and the only driver that I needed to install was the video driver. Even the webcam was recognized correctly.

No system panics yet....

Only time will tell if Ubuntu is as stable as I have heard.


What is everyone else's experience with Linux?

 

hey where did you get the video card drivers for ubuntu, planning to install it too

 

Installed Envy, then allowed Envy to install the video driver for me;

http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html just go to that link, and follow the basic instructions for installation. If you install Ubuntu linux 8.04 you will need the NG version of Envy.

Really straight forward, and easy installation.