OFFICIAL: Inspiron 1720 Owner's Thread

I think there's two differences my monitor has the resolution of 1920x1200($139 dollars more) and I got the lojack. The EPP is Employee Purchase Program, many companies offer it to their employees.

 

See sig for the Big Daddy itself.

I ordered mine on 6/30 and it says estimated shipping date is 7/24. Just called that 800 number though and it says my 1720 is in the boxing phase of production. I assume this means it's about to be shipped? I'm pretty sure it'll ship way before the 24th. At least that's what I hope.

 

Well heres my model which i ordered 7/7 and estimated to arrive 8/2, hopefully it will arrive before then, i called the number and it said that it was in the production phase though.

1 222-8602 Inspiron 1720, Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, 2.0GHz, 800Mhz, 4M L2 Cache $1094.00
1 313-5473 Jet Black Color with Matte Finish $0.00
1 466-8374 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm for Inspiron 1720 $0.00
1 320-5503 17.0 inch Wide Screen XGA+ TL LCD, Inspiron 1720 $0.00
1 320-5468 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600 $0.00
1 466-8379 160G 5400RPM SATA hard drive 5400 RPM $0.00
1 420-6556 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, English $0.00
1 313-5195 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,INSP1720 $0.00
1 420-5769 Internet Search and Portal $0.00
1 420-5924 Icon Consolidation Application $0.00
1 420-6436 Vista, PC-Restore, Dim/Insp $0.00
1 420-6995 DELL SUPPORT 3.4,DIM/INSP $0.00
1 463-2282 Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access $0.00
1 420-7026 Media Direct 3.3 $0.00
1 420-7244 Dell Support Center 1.0 $0.00
1 430-0493 Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron $0.00
1 341-4716 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive $0.00
1 420-6464 Roxio Creator Basic $0.00
1 313-4783 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0 $0.00
1 430-2307 Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card $0.00
1 320-5681 Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam $0.00
1 412-0968 Creative Earbud EP630 $0.00
1 420-6594 Network Associates McAfee 8.0 English, 30-Day Trial $0.00
1 312-0519 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, Inspiron 1720 $0.00
1 412-0148 No Internet Service Provider Requested $0.00
1 412-0915 MS WORKS 8.5 $0.00
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty $0.00
1 960-2780 Warranty Support,Initial Year $0.00
1 987-5457 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Return To Depot, Initial Year $0.00
1 983-3120 Type 12- Mail-InService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, Initial Year $0.00
1 987-8119 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3 $0.00
1 466-7740 Thank you for choosing Dell $.00
1 412-0943 Basic digital Music,Photo and Game experience $.00
1 420-7091 DataSafe Online Dim/Ins/XPS $.00
1 420-7092 DataSafe Online Dim/Ins/XPS 1YR-FREE $.00
1 987-4817 Insp Datasafe 3GB,1YR(Incl in price),DHS $0.00
1 320-5798 Basic Black Matte LCD back color w/ 2.0M pixel Camera Insp 1720 $.00
1 310-8319 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor $.00
1 310-8628 You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System $.00
View My Orders

Sub-Total : $1094.00
Shipping : $.00
Tax : $91.62

Order Total :
$1185.62

 

thanks for the pics dj. but i was wondering if you can give us some details on the weight and perhaps the dimensions? because looking at your side pictures it looks thinner than the 1520 - thanks!

any word if we can just install a 2nd hard drive on our own in there yet? dell is offering dual hard drives now!

 

well, i'm at my job right now, but I will be sure to do that tonight, fookwin

EDIT: fookwin, how would I approach the weighing and measuring?

 

You could download the manual and read the spec for him.

 

thanks, exe

here they are:

EDIT:

Height: 44 mm (1.7 in)
Width: 394 mm (15.5 in)
Depth: 293 mm (11.3 in)

From balancing it on my hand, it's about 8-9 pounds (I have 9 cell batt)

 

He could do the same himself as well

 

I too am curious as to wether we ourselves out install a second hard drive, if thats the case than this laptop completely replaces my desktop, if anyone have the internal schematics of the 1720 or knows the space configuration within pease shed some light. Thanks guys

 

djatomikbomb how is the screen... i see that you got a 1440*900.. ???

 

Are most of you American? I'm from Canada and ordered mine on June 27th, and it says I won't be receiving it until July 29th!! It also just entered production today. Seems a little long, no?

 

you'll probably get it in like 3 weeks ... mines stuck in customs.. how sweet is that... hehehe

 

Damn.
It's strange though, I ordered a system on June 25th right before they rolled out the new inspirons. The next day I realized better notebooks were out, so I went to cancel my order but the rep said it had already shipped! I received it within 3 days !?! (and was able to return it full refund). It's wild how production times can vary so much.

 

yeah guess the response was so good and they weren't able to handle so many orders....

 

Ha, no, I didn't. I just called and he kept on adding stuff that I wanted and didn't necessarily need, and he said, "Hey, im just trying to help you get a good deal." And he got the price down. Really nice guy.

But make sure your college has a deal with Dell so you can get the discount.

 

Anyone comment on the Truelife 1440*900 screen?

 

hope you guys with your new 1720 don't forget about us! write a review =) thanks

 

I know this is for 1720s but this affects them as well...

Did anyone see they changed the deal on the 1721s today? Automatic AMD TL-56 1.8ghz processor as the lowest option, and free bluetooth. All for $20 less. Any idea why this is? Those are the only changes. I went ahead and modified my order, but for some reason I'm slightly worried now. When places start changing deals after I purchased something, I just get a feeling....Thoughts?

 

Anyone get their 1720 recently?

 

why did the title change?

 

its back! Admin fixed it ...Deal bot screwed up the title!

 

Chocolate, T7300+4MB, 2GB@667, 160GB@7200, Bluetooth, webcam, ultra glossy screen. It will cost me nearly 2 months of GI Bill benefits, but man is it worth it.

Almost ordered an E1705 - in my cart for a couple days, kind of a cooling-off period. Need a new laptop for school. Old Inspiron 5160 getting loud, slow, and hot. E1705 wasn't everything I wanted - no num pad, and I hate black keyboard.

Decided to go ahead with E1705 purchase on 6/28, but when I hit the Dell web site, there it was... a thing of beauty, wrapped in chocolate. I found I could get everything I wanted (a num pad is very important to me) for about the same price as the E1705 that was lacking.

I jumped on it. Ordered on 6/28 with standard 3-5 day shipping. Dell said they shipped it via DHL on Sunday, 7/8 and DHL delivered on Tuesday, 7/10. That's 12 days from order to delivery - not bad.

The good:
Huge screen - easy to read at 1920x1200.
Bluetooth
Numpad
Light colored keys you can see, even when you get old.
Extensive bios settings
5 USB ports
wi-fi catcher
Chocolate (or if you prefer, pink, blue, green, black, silver, etc)

The bad:
A little heavier than I hoped - 8 pounds. But it feels sturdy too.
Windows Vista is only option.
The CD drive is making a horrible noise and vibrating all to hell. This will have to be replaced.

I tried downgrading to XP, but couldn't find drivers for several things. I slipstreamed SP2 and all the drivers I could find into my install disk, but still no luck. I had to change the bios setting for the SATA drive to put it in a different mode and then XP detected the disk. After all that trouble though, still no drivers for several things.

Then I had some trouble re-loading Vista. Came with Dell's re-install disk, but it kept sticking at the "Completing Installation" screen. I'm not sure which of these fixed the problem, but it was definitely one of these:
1. Re-install Media-Direct first. This re-creates your partitions to exactly the right size.
2. Load the SATA driver from the driver disk during the partition selection process.

I would prefer to have XP Pro to connect to my Win03 server at home - policies, Symantec AV, WSUS, shared network drive, etc. I guess I could upgrade to Vista Ultimate for an extra $160 or so. But, I don't have any software that takes advantage of Vista... in fact, some things may not even run on it.

Maybe I should put Linux on it instead. What are the chances it will have all the drivers?

 

Hey I was considering the same screen, the 1920by1200. Things read pretty well on it? I know it would be excellent for Blu Ray or just regular DVD watching but I wasn't sure whether it would be hard to read for day to day things like Internet use.

 

And I am typing on it now

 

My specs are in the signature

 

1 222-8604 Inspiron 1720, Intel Core 2 Duo T7700, 2.4GHz, 800Mhz, 4M L2 Cache $1776.93
1 313-5473 Jet Black Color with Matte Finish $0.00
1 311-7217 1GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm $0.00 (I upgraded to 4GB from Newegg)
1 320-5504 17.0 inch Wide Screen UXGA+ TLLCD, Inspiron 1720 $0.00
1 320-5468 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600 $0.00
1 341-5009 80G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive $0.00 (I upgraded to 200GB 7200RPM drive from Newegg)
1 420-6556 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, English $0.00 (I upgraded to Vista Ultimate)
1 313-5195 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,INSP1720 $0.00
1 430-0493 Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron $0.00
1 341-4716 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive $0.00
1 313-5014 Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy $0.00
1 430-2337 Intel 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini Card $0.00
1 320-5681 Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam $0.00
1 412-0968 Creative Earbud EP630 $0.00
1 312-0520 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, Inspiron 1720 $0.00 (Don't get this if you don't want a huge battery sticking out of the back!)
1 310-7253 90 Watt Spare AC Adapter, for Inspiron 9400/E1705 $23.92
1 430-2348 Dell Wirless 355 Bluetooth Mod $16.50
1 320-5798 Basic Black Matte LCD back color w/ 2.0M pixel Camera Insp 1720 $0.00
1 310-9348 Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor $0.00

I ordered this on 6/28 and received it 7/11. So far I love it, except for the big ass battery sticking out from the back. Nowhere on their site did they say the bigger battery would look like that. :-(

Also, I bought it with the minimum RAM and hard drive, and installed my own that I bought at Newegg. MUCH cheaper! Dell would have boosted the price an extra $1000 for 4GB RAM, and I bought 4GB for $250! Kind of a pain to install since you have to remove the keyboard for access to one of the dimms, but the manual had clear instructions on how to do this.

 

That's the 1920x1200 screen, right? How's the text size on that? Is the screen grainy (like some have reported with the 1520)? Have you tried any games at the res yet? How's the weight with the big battery? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just an anxious future 1720 owner. TIA!

 

I ordered the 1720 on 7/6, it was shipped earlier today, and will arrive on Monday due to my free Next-Day Business upgrade. It's being shipped by FedEx though, and is coming from Nashville, TN.

 

WTf this is pissing me off so bad...how are you getting yours but yours was ordered two days after me?

 

Probably a particular feature of your order is holding it up, like a high-end screen or high-end processor. You know how it says "may delay your order" and that sort of thing for certain selections.

I'm anxious to hear more of the 1920x1200 talk also. It's a huge selling point for me, though I'd love them to add HDMI also.


The RAM...exactly. It's insane!!! I asked a Dell representative about that online. HP charges only like $500 or so (even that is excessive) but Dell asks $1000 extra? What are they thinking?

I would just get the $250 at Newegg except I'm not sure I want to tear apart my brand new system so I can install the RAM...haha. It went smooth though yea? Everything comes apart easily enough?

 

man sort of off topic --

but i was just in the asus c90s forum and sort of glad i didnt get it. i was planning on it until i saw the new dells and got a better deal. seems like they are having some issues.

anyone with the 1720 at least tell us of any issues?


i might really be the first one to type a review??? haha (still in boxing stage - same as one hour ago - /cry)

 

I've seen both the 1920x1200 (glossy) and 1440x900 (mat) screens side by side. The higher resolution glossy screen seems noticeably 'crisper' and more vibrant to me. Having said that, I've ordered the lower resolution (mat) version because I found the reflective nature of the screen to be irritating. I recieved the computer a few days ago and overall I am very happy with it. I think you only feel like you've ordered the lower quality screen when you can compare them side by side - over time you get use to whatever you use!

 

Reading text on the 1920 by 1200 glossy is very refreshing. For comparison, I put it right next to the Dell 19" 1280x1024 at my server. The difference in pixelation is stunning. Every letter on the server's screen is clearly composed of pixels, while the 1720 looks like it was typeset. If I used a magnifying glass I could make out the pixels, but from a standard viewing distance, not at all.

I didn't get the blue-ray drive. I just can't justify an extra -what was it? almost $700? - to watch movies on a 19" screen. But the standard DVD I tried last night looked great - better than any 19" TV I've ever owned. And the sound quality on the standard built-in speakers was pretty good too.

I should also point out the MediaDirect feature is pretty cool. Without booting windows, you can watch DVDs, pictures, and listen to music. Although, I'm not sure how often I will use it to listen to music and look at pictures. The front-edge DVD controls are helpful too. I was afraid I would keep bumping them while I type, but that hasn't been the case.

Somebody in another post pointed out the bulbous battery sticking out the back on the 9-cell. I agree this is an ugly distraction from what is otherwise a very aesthetically pleasing design. I don't think I would have changed my mind if I had known, but I would have liked to know in advance. I really like - and need - the 5-hours of battery life. Come to think of it, I wish my cell phone had a big bulbous battery hanging out the back of it too.

 

Yes, it's the 1920x1200 screen. I LOVE IT! Granted, I had an Inspiron 8600 (15" screen but same 1920 resolution) so to me this resolution looks amazing on the 17".

Text is very readable. Here's a couple of pics as I'm writing this post




I am in the process of installing some games, but I don't currently have anything I can really use to show off this system's graphics yet. So I can't really speak to the gaming side yet, although Second Life runs and looks beautiful with all graphics options maximized.

The weight...I guess it's pretty heavy, but I'm a big guy and don't mind lugging it around in a backpack. Granted, it won't be easy on long trips, and is probably too big to use on a plane if you sit in coach

 

I was going to get the 1720 with 1920x1200, which is the same resolution of my 24" monitor and I love the rez but I'd like to play some games on it and afraid the 8600 GT wouldn't cut it. So I got the 1520 with 1440x900.

 

Yea but couldn't you just turn down the resolution for games if you wanted? I mean just play at a lower and more appropriate resolution. I figure Dell will offer the higher cards in a few months anyway though which are more likely to support any resolution.

 

We ordered ours Wednesday with the 1900x1200 screen. Thanks for the info and pictures. We also ordered the larger battery and are concerned about the size. Could you post a photo of the battery?

 

does it have gigabit nic/eathernet ?? what chipset ?
do need it for remote desktop, network drive, and backup,
otherwise, think , I'll need to swap drives for backup and large file transferes,...

is the fan always on ? how quiet,
thanks, Rob

 

the glossy screen, for work, how much of a problem is it ?
is there maybe a place to send it in to remove it ?
thanks, Rob

 

Yeah the resolution can be turned down but on LCD screens if you aren't playing at your screens native resolution in games they will look blurry.

 

Here ya go! You'll notice also that the matte black finish on the cover does gather fingerprint smudges.




As you can see, the battery sticks out the back quite far. I plan to call Dell and complain that nowhere on the site does it say that would be the case. I tried calling their sales department to order a smaller battery, but they said they are not available for sale yet.

 

Thanks again for the photos. That does seem to stick out quite a bit. I went back to the sales rep with this concern and I was able to order the regular battery as an extra,for $29.00 since my order is still in production.

 

I specifically asked Dell support if the battery sticks out on the 1720. No they said, only on the 1520. I guess it wasn't really true (that either).

 

Same here, stupid support team

 

Hey, could one of you lucky 1720 owners post a photo of your keyboards from directly above it? Can't seem to find any photos that clearly show the key layout on these notebooks...

 

How's this?

 

That's a good keyboard shot. How do you like using the keyboard? Seems like it's large enough for comfortable typing.

 

Took me a couple of minutes to adjust to the fact that the main keys are not centered on the laptop, like my old 8600. But it's very nice...keys feel very easy and fairly quiet

 

Just ordered the following on the 8th. It's still in production though. :/ Really hopeing that it can out perform my 9300.

1 223-0966 Inspiron 1720, Intel Core 2 Duo T5450, 1.66GHz, 667Mhz 2M L2 Cache
1 313-5477 Midnight Blue Color with Microsatin Finish
1 466-8374 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm for Inspiron 1720
1 320-5500 17.0 inch Wide Screen XGA+ LCDInspiron 1720
1 320-5468 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600
1 466-8379 160G 5400RPM SATA hard drive 5400 RPM
1 420-6556 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, English
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
1 420-6995 DELL SUPPORT 3.4,DIM/INSP
1 463-2282 Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access
1 420-7026 Media Direct 3.3
1 420-7244 Dell Support Center 1.0
1 430-0493 Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron
1 341-4716 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive
1 420-6464 Roxio Creator Basic
1 313-4783 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
1 430-2334 Intel 3945 WLAN (802.11a/g) Mini Card
1 320-5681 Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
1 412-0968 Creative Earbud EP630
1 420-6591 Network Associates McAfee 8.0 English, 15-Month Subscription
1 312-0519 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, Inspiron 1720
1 412-0148 No Internet Service Provider Requested
1 412-0915 MS WORKS 8.5
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty
1 412-0360 Soft Contracts - Banctec
1 960-2780 Warranty Support,Initial Year
1 987-8109 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1 987-5447 Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Initial Year
1 983-3100 Type 3- Third Party At HomeService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, Initial Year
1 466-7741 Thank you for choosing Dell
1 412-0943 Basic digital Music,Photo and Game experience
1 420-7091 DataSafe Online Dim/Ins/XPS
1 420-7092 DataSafe Online Dim/Ins/XPS 1YR-FREE
1 987-4817 Insp Datasafe 3GB,1YR(Incl in price),DHS
1 320-5807 Premium Deep Navy Blue with Soft Touch 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

 

Hi Linus,

I just spec'd out a system IDENTICAL to the information you psoted for the Dell your waiting for above:

Dell 1720 Jet Black
17" Screen 1440x900
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2 Ghz 4MB Cache
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 RAM
Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT
160GB 5400RPM Cheapy Hard Drive
Total: With Tax $1,111
Shipping on:7/30/2007

If you didn't list it, I went with whatever they had as "stock" for the 1720... At any rate, I came up with a price of $1434 BEFORE taxes ( did this because having already played with a few 1720 configurations at the Dell site, your price sounded a bit low to me for a 1720 with a 7200 processor).

How on EARTH did you get that good of a deal on that configuration of that system? If I could get a deal in that neighborhood (I'd want a few "extra goodies" you didn't list, I think I'd DEFINITELY be inclined to go that way.

Let me know, PLEASE!
Jeff