OFFICIAL: Studio 17 Owner's Thread

Haha... Not me. I wouldn't carry my Studio 17 to campus. It barely leaves my apartment room.

 

So I guess a messenger style backpack might not be good?

 

Not for a 17". The weight imbalance is pretty extreme unless you switch shoulders every 10 minutes or so.

I would definitely recommend a typical over-the-shoulders type backpack.

 

Has anyone heard if the studio 17 is getting any upgrades soon (like the 15")?

 

You mean like a Studio 17 Special Edition or a Studio 1755? I haven't heard anything about that.

 

I have a Studio 1737 and am quite pleased with it so far. It seems that I have lost the pop up that should appear when you adjust the audio volume with the touch controls above the top of the keyboard. The volume icon in the taskbar in the lower right corner of the screen changes, and the volume controls work, but no pop up. Has anyone else experienced this problem and have a fix? Thanks!

 

It is controlled by Dell Quickset. Did you uninstall it or stop it from loading in your startup?

 

I have not heard/seen anything official, but in various driver updates that I have done for my 1537, I have seen both a 1745 and 1747 listed in the "compatible models" that are listed before a driver is upgraded.

 

Hmm, nice to know. I think you can guess from my "Ideal Laptop" sig that the studio 17 would be a good fit. Even if they upgrade the GPUs to 4650 level stuff, it would be great. That's about the power of my desktop anyways.

 

So,should we expect a new studio 17?

 

How is the battery life on your guys laptops?

i have been reading crappy 85 Whr reviews and I believe that is the 9-cell [or 12-cell?] that is also in Studio 17. The reviews were on the dell site of people using inspirons.

I have read that battery goes out in within an year and people's laptops have become a desktop essentially. I know this is a "big boy" when it comes to laptops but again the reason I am getting a laptop is because i have the option of mobility regardless of electric outlets.

 

Just ordered a Studio 17 here in Australia.

CPU: T9800 (2.93GHz 6MB L2 Cache 1066FSB)
RAM: 6GB DDR2-800 (will replace the 2GB stick with another 4GB soon enough)
HDD: 2 x 320GB 7200RPM
DISPLAY: WUXGA CCFL (1920 x 1200) with webcam
OPTICAL: Blu-Ray Reader/DVD Burner
COLOUR: Plum Purple
BATTERY: 9 cell
O/S: Vista Ultimate 64bit
WIRELESS: Intel WiFi Link 5300 & Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth module
WARRANTY: 2 Years, on site (plus an extra 2yrs via my Credit Card)


Can't wait for it to arrive. It will be a massive step up from my 4 year old HP nx7010 (Pentium M 1.70GHz) with a DEAD screen. Finally, I can get the monitors I've been plugging into off my desk at home and work.

 

I'm just going to give it a shot and ask. Have anyone tried to play World of Warcraft on a Studio 17 at 1920x1200 resolution with a processor equal to or better than a P8400? (granted that the graphics card is an ATI Radeon HD 3650, 256MB DDR2)

I would REALLY like to know how the gameplay is!

 

I know a guy who plays WoW at 1920x1200 on an old Latitude model with a single core Pentium 4, 1GB of RAM and some nVidia Quadro graphics card, and I can play it at 1280x800 (my native res, otherwise probably higher) on my Studio 15's Radeon 3450, and this was with my old T5750, which is inferior to the P8400.. WoW is not a very graphically demanding game.

 

Hello. I have a question about the 9-cell battery in dell studio 1737, do you have the same problem?

 

Ok I received my refurb Studio 17 and I don't the design is that bad [sturdy than my HP].

My concerns lie with the slot loading dvd drive [has worked flawlessly up to now] but mostly with the sound and webcam.

The webcam has noise in the image and is worse than my older HP. Also, the sound doesn't seem "real" when I played the movie and it sounded very good when I used the headphones. the image quality was better than my hp.


Is there any hope for the sound? Some drivers perhap? I tried the audio enhancements provided by Dell like they do a test and then adjust for your room but didn't notice a whole lot of difference. If the sound problem could be solved, then I can get a cheap webcam to hook up.

 

The built in speakers are pretty much crap, even among notebook speakers. You're better off with good headphones or 2.1 external speakers.

If you still have the IDT audio drivers, uninstall them. You'll lose the ability to use the center headphone jack, but the other headphone jack and mic jack will still work. Windows Vista will install its own default audio drivers after you reboot, and the integrated speakers will sound much louder and clearer than they ever did with the IDT drivers.

The webcam isn't fantastic, it's only 2.0 megapixels. Unless you intend to film HD movies with it, though, I wouldn't worry about it.

And why are you worried about the slot-load drive if it's worked flawlessly?

 

I play at 1920x1200 on my 1720. My settings are mostly medium and I get 29 fps in heavy areas like Dalaran.

My 1720 has a T7300, 4 gigs, Nvidia 8600GS.

 

That seems about right. Helped me settle things, thank you.

 

lcd screen looks even better when i changed some ati video settings, i upped saturation and brightness both to 20.

 

Since cars have the same mechanism and I have how the car CDs get scratched. Also, since there is no external button or any way to pry open the drive, what if the DVD got stuck in there?


I played a flash file [you can download from youtube] and teh video quality and speed was crap compared to the older HP I have. Sadly, this notebook might be on its way back.

I don't think I will go dell again!

 

By highflyingbull at 2009-04-25

 

By highflyingbull at 2009-04-25

 

What's with the giant pics distorting the thread, nomoredell?

 

This showed up on the 1737 page a few days ago.

Studio 17
Upgraded 512MB Discrete Graphics! 2 Years Service and Support!

But it isn't available yet. Does anyone know when it will be out?

 

Dell's quality has gone down the gutters.

THe webcam and the speakers are garbaged...

 

the speakers is really bad but considering how heavy and bulky the studio 17 is, it is not too hard to buy and carry a portable laptop speakers to give u better sound. I have a travelsound 250 which is light and sounds ok.

I am thinking of buying a better one. Since this is a problem for all studio 17 users, I wonder if anyone of u has any recommendations for good portable speakers?

 

Yes you can get them but since it is a higher end notebook [at least expensive than my HP] and a desktop replacement, I was expecting something better especially from a name like Dell.
But I can somewhat *understand* this but what about the webcam? They can't put a better one in...


I have a small ASUS now and will get logitech speakers. Lets see how they work out.


TO ADD: I used HP earbuds and the sound was good but then it is a pain the &**$ to wear them on long movies. Somehow they don't fit in my ear perfectly..

 

It seems that studio 1755 it's on his way

 

I see a lot of people here complaining about the speakers, but they're fine to me. I was expecting a garbled mess after reading posts here (before I actually received the system), but they're fine. They aren't very loud, but I have external speakers for when I want to watch a movie or something.

 

Pick up some nice Sennheiser HD280's

 

Are you saying you have the saturation and brightness set to 20 on the ATI Control panel? That gives you almost no color. I had to calibrate and adjust this display (RGB LED) when I first got it because the colors are oversaturated.
I ended up with the Saturation at 52 and the brightness is at -13.

 

Is this your first notebook or do you have an actual comparison to make?

 

It is my first, but there are three other computers in my house, two of which are laptops purchased within the last two years that I used frequently before having my own.

 

Do you use external speakers on those other laptop(s) or did you do a laptop speaker to speaker comparison?

I shouldn't need to buy speakers and webcam if I am getting a rather not cheap brand like dell.

Now if I picked up some cheap acer or something from some outlet then I can see your point about speakers etc.

 

Hey guys,

Are they any common issues or annoyances with Studio 17? Will be looking to buy this weekened. From what I've read, the screen is pretty good.

 

the speakers in studio 17 is REALLY REALLY bad. I mean the speakers on my N95 is even better. common I am talking about handphone speakers vs a 3.5kg laptop....

I got the creative travelsound 250 and the sound is very thin with totally no low end. The advertised freq response for that is 150hz-20khz. In the end I bought a yamaha nx-u10 which is supposed to start from 90hz. That sounded soooo much better. The yamaha is not really heavy and is quite slim. Looks well built too. I mean if I have to carry speakers, I might as well carry something that is going to give me ok/good sound.

 

Screen resolution is only one of the few good things. The dell dock has region code issues though you can play the movies in media player and it works.

Funny thing was that after I played the movies in media player, the same dell dock also played them [region code issues disappeared... ].

I believe if you are getting a new one then it is in the 900 range, right? I would advise to get something else like maybe HP or even sony even if it costs a little more as you would get more bang for the buck.

or you could try the dell business line as I think they also sell to regular individuals.

 

there are areas studio 17 definitely needs improvements.
i would want a better sound system with a subwoofer like studio 16's; an nvidia gpu g series;a not so jumpy touchpad and a keyboard has no delay.
there are more: slim down the computer to 7lbs with battery from current 8lbs; higherclock cpu option to t9900; and cool lid colors( i dont like solids, especially pink); brighter backlit keyboard( like xps m1730's).
i think thats it for dell studio 17 series successor.

 

About the only thing that it needs is a speaker upgrade. For a so-called "media laptop", the speakers are junk.

I'm not having any issues with a jumpy touchpad or keyboard delay. Also, it's a 17 desktop replacement laptop. If you made it lighter, you'd have to replace even more with plastic and it would be as flimsy as cardboard. Dell also offers a lot of different patterns and such you can have the lid painted with, and have you seen SkinIt? You can make a custom skin for your laptop's lid using any images you want.

 

Iv had my Dell 1737 for a several days now & i love it to bits. It feels sturdy, runs quickly and the LCD screen is excellent. That being said, over the last day or two iv noticed a low pitched whine coming from under the bottom of the keyboard to the left (under the caps lock key it seems). Whilst working in quiet environments it is really annoying/distracting. It can be heard over the fan spinning up to cool the laptop down, from about 12 inches away, and with the fan idling can be heard quite easily from a normal sitting distance.

This is a refurb'd laptop with a 3 year Dell on site warranty. Im planning on calling Dell tomorrow about it, but in the meantime, has anyone had an experience with this sort of thing? Or suggest what it could be?


thanks

edit; it does seem to be the fan underneath. The laptop arrived in perfect condition so i doubt it had been used long enough for dust build up, looking closely seems to confirm this. Is there anything that could be done? Would Dell's cover replacing a whining fan?

 

is it from the hard drive? i had a noisy hard drive when it arrived. a replacement made the noise go away.

 

RE the poor speakers, someone above said to remove the Dell driver software, and let Windows use the standard driver. How does one *remove* a driver without prompting for a different one?

 

your a 1st time vista user? vista update drivers automatically except wireless , gpu.

 

You can try this, but I don't think it will work:

 

Use the Device Manager to uninstall the driver. Put a check in the box to delete the driver.

Windows will then install its own drivers on the next boot.

 

It's not the hard drive. HDD is on the right under the wrist rest.

I'm thinking the Studio 17 just has a noisy fan. When the fan is off, my laptop is silent. It ramps up to a low level and is barely audible. But when it kicks on full speed, it sounds like a 747's Mini-Me is strapped to the bottom of my laptop.

 

The whining doesn't sound like this right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Pmqy4T8JM

 

yep, that's the same whine i get, from the CPU though?! Its not doing it now though, so ill have to wait & see if it comes back sometime over the next few days!


Still adore the laptop though!

 

There isn't much you can do about the whine. You can try to get dell to replace the motherboard but for the most part you're stuck with it.