OFFICIAL: Studio 17 Owner's Thread

Hi all,

I am about to purchase a Dell Studio 17 laptop. The only thing I am confused about is the screen I should get. The options are:

1. 1400 * 900 CCFL
2. 1400 * 900 WLED
3. 1900 *1200 CCFL

I think WLED should give better brightness than CCFL, and 1900*1200 with single lamp CCFL will not make a good display. Am I right or wrong?

Many thanks.

 

I got the 1400x900 CCFL and wish I'd got the 1900x1200. Its a nice screen (now I've got the colours right), viewing angles are quite narrow but how often do you look at your screen from the side anyways? Can't comment on the WLED since I've not seen or used one.

 

Maybe I can sum it up.


1. 1400 * 900 CCFL (cheaper uses drains battery life faster has lead Hg inside very toxic if it breaks not as bright as LED backlighting not as uniform, will darken over time)
2. 1400 * 900 WLED (not toxic, uses minimal power brighter than CCFL more uiform lighting, better contrast and brightness reaches max brighness faster than CCFL)
3. 1900 *1200 CCFL (very small text at this resolution same as other CCFL but will eat up more power)

LED=better colors and blacks and whiter whites. Not to mention better for environment and saves battery, Always get LED

 

Thanks a lot Ice Cold. That almost settles it for me. Two quick questions...

--I guess 1400 *900 is not full HD. Will it make a noticable difference while watching Blu-Ray movies as compared to 1900*1200?

-- How does Studio 17 handle HD content? I hope I will be able to play DVDs and Blu-Ray movies without any trouble?

 

thanks Hill79, How difficult is this going to be? I mean if I erase all this stuff and then reload. What if I run into problems, drivers, etc. Then Im screwed. Don't know alot about these things.

How do you check for dead pixles? So far everything is working that I know of.
Yes, speakers are nothing to write home about, no bass..I love the keyboard!!!
Still checking out stuff.

Do you know is there a cover for the cd slot (to keep dust out).

Im impressed with the delivery time. Dell stood by their 3 business day delivery. They were right on time.

 

1400x900 is HD its above 720p and on a 17" screen no human alive can distinguish between 720p and 1080p.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...?EdpNo=3882112&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

I kinda regret not getting the Bluay drive on my 1737 because they are so cheap now. But I did try a buddies external Bluray drive, connected to my 1737, then outputting via HDMI, and it looks amazing. The 1737 I got with the T9400 2.53ghz Core 2 Duo 6MB cache basically laughs at Bluray.

the P8400 I am not too sure if it has enough muscle to chew through Bluray with ease there might be some stutter at times.

 

1. 1400 * 900 CCFL - Can play games.
2. 1400 * 900 WLED - Can play games.
3. 1900 *1200 CCFL - Cannot play games.

 

Why exacly you cannot play games with 1900*1200 CCFL?

 

Yes I was wondering the same thing

 

Why do you think it contains lead? I don't think there is a computer component sold today (and made today) that isn't RoHS (Restriction on Hazardous Substances) compliant. It pretty much bans the use of lead.

Back on topic,

It depends on your needs. I need a lot of viewing area being a programmer so I opt for the 1920x1200 and I'm happy Never had problems with CCFLs in over 10 years of dealing with laptops, but I don't have any experience with LED screens either.

 

The 3650 can't play games at that resolution unless you play at a lower, non-native resolution with all details turned down. If you plan on ever playing a game made within the last few years, get the lower res monitor that the 3650 can actually handle.

 

Heck few Desktop machines can play 1920x1200, no one would ask a laptop to play at 1920x1200 resolution, because of its native resolution.

I can't begin to name how many Games I've played on my 1737 ATI 3650 at various resolutions without a drop of slow down.

Command and Conquer Generals and 3 1600x1200
Counter Strike Source 1400x900
Crysis 1400x900 on max settings

huh just noticed my games start with a C

anyways I suspect the Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53ghz with 6MB cache has alot to do with it. Its a workhorse. Would not try them with a P8400 2.2ghz and 3MB cache.

 

im VERY new to this and i just received my Studio 1737 yesterday and today i found one of my media control touch keys are stuck and my audio sounds sucks, i read some suggestions for updating the bios but i have the A04 bios. is it broke?? what should i do??

 

Ha, yeah right. I am sorry but you are not playing Crysis at max settings and having anything but a slide show. Not even close. I hope no one researching this laptop reads that and actually believes it.

 

I have the A04 Bios as well which one of your media keys is stuck.?

 

the next key (>>|) if that illustration helps

 

I just saw a really nice Studio 17 at my local Best Buy for $750 (model S17-162B). The problem is that I can not find anything on the internet or even Dell.com about this particular model number. The store display said it had a T6400 and 4GB RAM. Has anyone heard of it?

 

probably an old model old components

I have seen the same spec machine at staples and Best buy but the Model numbers are different retail stores often ask DELL to do this so customers can't price match

 

Actually just the opposite. I went to a different Best Buy tonight who did not have it on display. They looked it up on the computer for me and they said that its a new model flagged to not be sold until Jan 4, 2009. This explains why it is not on Dell.com or BestBuy.com yet either.

So I went back to the first Best Buy that had (mistakenly put) the model on display, and they had already sold out.

It does look like a sweet machine: T6400 CPU, 17" 1440x900 display, 2-side rewritable DVD, 320GB HD, 802.11 a/b/n, bluetooth, memory card slot, lots of USB ports, and firewire. The only downside I see is that it has integrated Intel Express 4 series GPU which means is uses shared memory. Also, no blue-ray but I really do not expect that in a sub-$1000 laptop.

I don't mind waiting until the 4th to get it. By that time there may be similarly spec'ed competitors about the same price.

 

T6400 is a older CPU 2.0ghz and 2MB Cache and 800mhz FSB.

Thats bad for even sub $1,000

 

No.thei aren't sloderd on...check this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=322247 or http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=291918


The hd3650 isn't sloderd to the MOBO it's fixed with epoxy.

 

For anyone else interested in getting the AHCI hard drive controller mode enabled on the 1737 in XP ... I followed this post and it worked:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=332696

The packages are available here:

sp39316.exe
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp39001-39500/sp39316.exe

sp41383.exe
http://h50222.www5.hp.com/support/FZ633PA/more_info_soar_ob-65593-2.html

... now the bad news ... using HDTach to benchmark IDE vs AHCI mode, I saw no improvement in AHCI mode on my 320GB WD 3200BEVT 5400rpm Scorpio Blue drive. Performance in IDE and AHCI mode was just above HDTach's "SATA150" benchmark. Others with 7200rpm drives might see an improvement, I dunno. I'm seeing a 55MB/s avg read and a 140 - 170MB/s burst.

I decided to only install SP39316.EXE and keep the system in IDE mode. With all the weirdness and BSOD's trying to get AHCI to work, I figure I'll play it safe and stay with IDE mode, which seems to work with all generations of XP and other disk management apps.

 

Thanks a lot mate. That settles it for me.

 

Does anyone else find the amount of heat given off by the hard drive under the right palmrest uncomfortable? I ordered the HDD2 bracket kit from Dell parts, I'm going to try moving my HDD over to that slot and see if I get any relief from this thing roasting my right hand. It's a great feature for winter time computing, but I don't think I'll appreciate it in the summer

FWIW, I have the 320GB 5400rpm drive. I have the same type drive in my old Inspiron 6400, and it also runs pretty hot except on that laptop they put the hard drive under the PC card slot under the keyboard so the heat is not very noticeable.

 

I just purchased a Studio 17 from BB for $649, which is hundreds than when priced out on Dell.com. It has the T5800 processor with 3GB RAM, and 32-bit Vista. I've read a number of threads about bluescreens and required rebuilds due to MS updates as well as motherboard defects and other physical ailments. These seemed to be common a few months ago without recent complaints, from what I've been able to find. The low price is likely due to the new model coming on Jan 4 (based on previous post) but for what we need it for the processor should be more than sufficient. My question is whether these Studios are problematic and not well built. Are they ok with 32-bit Vista and just have problems with 64-bit? I was looking at the 1525 but was in the store and saw this one which seemed to be a good deal. Thoughts on whether this is a decent laptop in general? I don't want something that is going to require calls to Dell or Geek Squad or need frequent rebuilding.


Thanks

 

I've spent the last 2 weeks getting my new Studio 1737
loaded up nicely..just like I like it.

I love the laptop! It's very sharp looking and most
people are taken back by the design the first time
I show it to them.

It's quick and sturdy and the screen is awesome!

First thing is I deleted all the hard drive partitions
and created just two..one about 270GB (Primary)
and one about 50GB (Secondary).

I then installed Vista Ultimate on the primary partition.

Next I installed all the necessary drivers and updates
and all looks good.

I did not install the antivirus. I think antivirus
software is not worth the trouble the software itself
gives you. It often acts more like a virus than many
virus's do. It hurts performance and many times
gets in the way of doing even the most basic of jobs.
Not to mention the times even when you have an
antivirus installed, you're hit by a virus, anyway.
This is the reason for the 50GB partiton. I have
Acronis 10 installed and I have a snapshot of my hard
drive saved on that parition. I can easily restore back for
any catastrophic problems.

I also ordered a 250GB Sata drive that I plan on installing
and then I will use that as the new backup drive.

What's up with Dell Media Direct? I wasn't going to
install it but back when I was installing the
drivers, I had a problem getting my remote control to
work. So, I installed Media Direct thinking I needed it.
But, it turned out I did not need it for the remote
to work. I resolved the remote issue but decided I
would give Media Direct a run and see what it can do.
I tried playing a Blu-Ray disc but there was an audio-video
sync issue in the playback. So, for Blu-Ray discs I think I
will keep with the WinDVD9 I have also installed. There are
some updates for Media Direct and I have ran the updates.
I do like, however, the interface for playing local video and
audio files so I will keep it around for that.

There are a few minor cons with the unit. To start with,
I think there should be a CD/DVD light on the upper
panel next to the CD eject button that glows when a CD/DVD
is inserted. Sometimes I forget if I have a disc inserted
and I press the eject button. The more I use the button,
that's one less time it will work. As with all things
mechanical The speakers are also kinda wimpy and its sad
that I have better sound on my old IBM Thinkpad. Lastly,
I would have liked a clasp to hold the lid shut. When carrying
the notebook around, it feels whimsy in my hands because
the lid is not very secure. Oh, and I almost forgot. There
should be separate bluetooth and wi-fi buttons on the side.
I have a bluetooth mouse but I switch back and forth often
from wired ethernet to wireless and I don't want to switch
off the bluetooth when I turn off the wi-fi radio. To
correct this I just disable the wireless driver in the
device manager.

All in all I am tickled purple with the unit and I
am looking forward to many years of laptop bliss

 

I moved my 320GB 5400rpm HDD over to the HDD2 position hoping to reduce the heat level on the palmrest. Didn't help much. It looks like the internal metal frame of the laptop comes right up underneath the palmrest area and acts like a big heat sink sucking a lot of heat from components in the center/rear of the laptop.

Also notice the white charge light flickers when I move the screen back and forth. I wonder if this is normal (some kind of hinge movement sensor?) or an intermittent connection.

I have the extended battery and gave it a drain test today. I got a pathetic 1:45 out of it. Not gaming, just checking email and browsing the web. (320GB 5400rpm drive, 1920x1200 RGB LED display, WiFi Link 5100 connected, Bluetooth on but not being actively used, Verizon mini PCI card not being actively used) I'm afraid if I was on Verizon broadband actively transmitting I would get even less out of it!

Has anybody "calibrated" an S17 with RGB LED display and can tell me their ATI control panel settings? Out of the box the display seems to have the "chroma" really cranked up. Reds are eyepoppingly RED.

 

I have tried different settings with the RGB-LED and have it set pretty good right now although Im still tweaking alittle bit. I even used settings that someone posted on the Sony forum for a RGB-LED display that they had calibrated with a Spyder 3 and those also looked good.
You have to go to the ATI control panel to make adjustments.
Try these:
Under "Notebook Panel Properties" and then "Avivo Color"
Hue.....-2
Saturation...........65

Then go to "Color"
Gamma..........0.80
Brightness.......3
Contrast ........122

 

What is "RGB LED display"?
I have LGP (LG PHILIPS) on my Studio 15 - LED DISPLAY 1440x900
Am I affected by this "color" issue?

 

We had a discussion regarding this issue not so long ago:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=334227

Briefly, this RGB LED display is a wide gamut display and to display colors correctly it has to operate in Adobe RGB color space. The Windows and most of applications work only in standard sRGB color space and will display shifted colors. If you do calibrate monitor with newest calibration tools (such as Spyder3Pro) colors will be accurate, but only in color managed programs - PhotoShop, LigthRoom, FastImageViewer, and even in Firefox3 if you enable color management in about:config.

Anyways, I sent my system back and will re-order a notebook with same specs but with CCFL WUXGA (non-wide gamut) screen.

 

How much was the kit, and what's included?

Can you not just move the hardware from the HDD1 slot to the HDD2 slot if you want to move the drive? Or if installing a second drive, are you unable to just plug the drive in without the kit, or is the kit only for mounting?

 

These are the parts:
1 X662C Assembly,Carrier,Hard Drive,2 PACINO
1 XK231 Assembly,Connector,Board To Board,22P,Gilligan/Yebisu Great Belt

Total cost about $15.00

It does NOT come with the screws, but you can use the screws from the HDD1 tray if you are moving the drive and not adding a second drive.

There was another kit that cost more money, maybe that includes the screws, I dunno.

The HDD2 bracket and connector are completely different from the HDD1 bracket and connector.

 

This probably isn't it then

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...&cs=19&sku=U589F&mfgpid=197353&chassisid=8526

Either way, $15 isn't as bad as I expected, thanks!

 

Not sure about that part you quoted - since it says interposer AND cable, it might be for the HDD1 slot. The interposer/cable assembly is completely different than the HDD2 interposer (no cable needed). ("interposer" is the little thing that converts the SATA port to the motherboard connector)

 

So I opened Photoshop, made a white image. Turned on color management in FF3. Don't see any difference in the bluish whites vs. the bluish whites on the XP desktop and other apps. Do I need to specify a color profile in Photoshop or something?

 

Maybe you know the best way to go about this, then. I have data on an IDE drive that I want to access from the HDD2 slot. In an ideal world, the HDD2 slot would be big enough for me to fit the IDE drive and an IDE to SATA converter in, but that's not going to happen. I guess my options are buying the second drive pre-installed by Dell, or buy it and the mounting hardware separately, and in either case I'll have to copy the image of the IDE drive to the new SATA drive. It looks like the cheapest 2-HDD option for the 1737 is $150 over the cheapest 1-HDD option, which obviously isn't a good price if the bracket kit is only $15, so it would seem I should just configure a 1737 with one HDD and install a second later. Am I missing something?

 

There's no way you'll be able to install the IDE drive with an adapter inside the HDD2 slot. There's no room to spare.

What size drive comes with the $150 option? newegg.com has 320GB 7200rpm for $99.

I agree your best bet is to copy the image of the IDE drive over to the new SATA drive. I usually use Ghost 9, Ghost 14, or Paragon Disk Manager to do things like that.

 

It's a 320 gb 5400 rpm, so that's definitely a better deal at newegg.

Thanks for the advice!

 

How did you order it? Do you have to order it over the phone from a representative, or can you buy it at dell.com?

 

maybe you can get some type of heat spreader or heat shield for the hdd to stick in there.

 

I ordered it online. FWIW, I got the part in a couple days, a lot quicker than the ship date they quoted on the site.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/DellPartsFamily.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

 

Question for any of you that have installed XP on a 1737. What did you do for drivers for the following devices.

1394 Net Adapter it has a yellow "!" by it
*I have researched this on the net and it should have been installed with the Richoh SD readers, but it will not install.

Unknown Device - Device ID - ACPI\PNP032\0
It is the Direct Application Launch Button for Direct Media application launch

Blue Tooth
on my configuration it is a 370 bluetooth mini adapter

Just curious where you got these drivers from. I have been looking for a week to get these off of my list. The only one I care about right now is the Bluetooth the other two don't matter much to who is going to be using them.

Thanks.

 

I ignore the 1394 Net Adapter - I've seen that on other systems and I don't think it does anything. My card reader works fine, I did not install any special Ricoh drivers.

I don't think anything can be done about the ACPI\PNP032\0. From what I've researched it's only available in Vista.

Bluetooth 370 automagically worked for me with my XP SP3 install disc. But I can't be sure, since I already had some Bluetooth development stuff installed from my old laptop and copied the HDD over to the Studio, then did an XP SP3 repair install. When I tried to "improve" things by installing the Bluetooth software suite that comes with the Studio, it totally hosed my bluetooth and also gave me some crap about not being validated/activated.

 

How did you get the Bluetooth to work then since the Dell drivers messed it up?

I bet thats what happened to mine. I just went through all the drivers on dell and wanted to get everything up to date. I guess that was my first mistake. If it works don't fix it.

 

I screwed up the system so bad with Dell's bluetooth driver (and some other chipset drivers I was messing with) that I just re-imaged the hard drive and skipped the bluetooth on the second go around. It seemed to be automatically detected in XP SP3.

 

Well I didn't want to reinstall Windows XP the guys that are getting these notebooks are getting restless for them.

I went and looked through Dells website for another model of notebook that has a 370 bluetooth adapter and found a E6400 that had driver/application support for XP. I installed it and everything is up and working for bluetooth now.

I'm so glad that Dell and Microsoft make it so hard to find drivers for devices. If you install the wrong one then you have to reinstall Windows. Makes for an exciting day.

 

the t6400 is new for 2009. (available to Manufactures in late 2008)

here are the facts:

Check out the processor benchmark list on notebookcheck.com it has the t6400 listed. It is definitely a 45nm entry penryn chip that is replacing the t5800. The advantage of the 45nm will of course be better efficiency ie battery life. Speed should increase slightly. Penryn chips will also include SSE4 instructions to speed up streaming data and multimedia performance.

SSE4 made 47 new instructions available with the Penryn processor. Most of the new instructions are related to vector operations, which are the staple of graphics and multimedia processing. Also included are primitives that increase the speed of streaming and improves access to device memory

wrong.... it is a sub $750 Laptop. about half the price you paid for you over priced Studio 17

 

Does anybody know if you can upgrade the Studio 17 Laptop to the optional video card (ATI mobility 3650) that Dell shows on there web site? I have the stock one that is built into the motherboard. An Intel 4500MHD to be more specific.

 

NO you can't upgrade an integrated video card maybe the dedicated one.

 

are you sure about that? I mean have you looked at the mainboard yourself to see if there is a way? like an empty slot for the card?

I guess the only way would be to upgrade the entire motherboard.