OFFICIAL: Studio 17 Owner's Thread

Things happen, that's why warranty exists. Call Dell, get them to replace your faulty parts.

 

Dell quality control sucks period.

As soon as they update the 1737 to DDR3 and a new Ati hd 4650 I am selling my 1737.

maybe even getting an hp 17.3" or a Lenovo I am done with DELL

 

Well having read the many posts here, I can say there are a good deal of positive as well as negative comments.
Personally, I really like mine. It has worked flawlessly for months now.
I even ordered a lighted keyboard from Dell and installed it in place of the original and it works like a charm. I hate black keys at night in the dark.

Never the less, I love it.

 

ohh except for the speakers and black controls for volume etc. Those suck.

 

Yeah, leaving the media buttons unlit by default was rather a silly idea. Luckily they've made them the right way for the Studio XPS series.

 

Well this is a new one my 1737 fans have decided never to stop runing, no matter what I do cooling putting a fan right on it, restarts nothing fans never stop.

at most they will stop for 30 seconds then kick back in.

and I have done nothing to it, not dropped no dust, brand new behavior started today.

 

Have you checked your temperatures? It could be a hardware problem leading to components overheating, leading to your fans going mental.

 

The fans are set to automatically come on after a certain temperature threshold. What are your temperatures in HWMonitor?

 

Hey guys . This is my first post and i am very computer / forum ignorant.I tried searching to no help.
I just bough this
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9150562&type=product&id=1218036668331
as my first home computer and have just started using it. My question is while watching a DVD when I turn the sound up the picture freezes for a split second and then resumes play, if I turn down volume it does the same. This is my first laptop and my only experience with a computer is a work needing only to know what I need to know. I realize you won't learn a thing from me but I am hoping to learn a bunch from you.
Thanks,
Ray

 

That's a Studio 17, specifically the 1737 model. When your volume adjustments cause the DVD to pause playback, how are you adjusting the volume? Are you using the touch-sensitive controls above the keyboard, or clicking + dragging a volume slider in your media player? What media player are you using? E.g. Windows Media Center, VLC, etc.?

 

I am using windows media and I was also using the touch controls above the keyboard. Thank you for any help.
Ray

 

In that case, I believe the playback stuttering might be caused by the on-screen volume display that pops up when you use the touch-sensitive volume controls. On the desktop, you should be able to see a small popup volume bar when you use these controls, correct? I'm sure this little popup is what interferes with your playback for a few seconds.

If you want, you can uninstall the Dell QuickSet software, which is what causes that on-screen display to appear. It has some nice features, but it's not a strictly necessary piece of software.

Out of curiosity, have you tried any other media players?

 

There is a pop up volume bar when using the controls. As for other Media players, nope this is my begining.
So are you saying thee is no issue with the volume but interferance caused by the pop up?
Thank you for your help with this.

 

If it is the volume popup causing the playback stuttering, then you can uninstall QuickSet, which will remove the volume popup entirely.

 

thank you again

 

Any time.

 

Sometimes the windows media player skips not in video but in sound as they become jumbled for a 2-3 seconds.

Is my media player corrupted? I can't get it to upgrade [or delete the current media player as I don't have "control" of it ]. God I hate Vista!

 

99% of times, things like this are not Vista's fault. What exactly are you watching in Media Player? Is it a DVD or Blu-Ray movie, or a movie downloaded from the internet?

 

DVD

Another question: Are the dual layer dvd drives able to play blu ray? How do you know what is blu ray capable?

 

DVD-R DL and Blu-Ray are completely separate things. If you didn't upgrade to the Blu-Ray player (an extra $150, I believe), then you will just have a regular dual-layer DVD drive.

If you don't know what you got, tell us what model optical drive you have. Go to Start, Control Panel, and Device Manager. It should be listed as "CD/DVD Drive" or something similar.

 

hl dt st dvdram gsa t20n

 

Yeah, that's the regular DVD drive, not Blu Ray.

 

My 1737 came in from Staples last night. I was pleased to find out that it did actually have the BD player in it. Also has a backlite keyboard. Not a bad deal for 699.00!


I didn't even finish starting up the Vista bloat fest and put Windows 7 RC on it. So far seems much better the Vista!

I love it.. the Studio is a very good looking and fun to drive laptop.

 

Got my 1737 from ebay (refurbished) for $499 after 18% off with a 10% off coupon and 8% live cash back. So far I really like it. It came packed as brand new and was able to get warranty till next May.
Specs: T6400, 4GB, 320GB, 256MB ATI HD 3650, Vista 64bit, Backlit KB, etc.

The system seems to run much faster than my friend's HP with P7350 C2D. I love the backlit keyboard and would never settle for anything not backlit. The only thing I don't like is that I could be typing something and it would just start typing someplace else. Maybe I need to look more into the mouse settings but overall very happy with the laptop.

 

anyone running Vista SP2 64-bit? on their 1737???

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...4a-55ec-4972-a0d7-b1a6fedf51a7&DisplayLang=en

 

Yeah. I am running Vista 64-bit SP2on my 1737. Why?

 

And perhaps more pertinently, why did you post a link to Windows Server 2008?

 

I wanted to post this, I was using the newest MacBook Pro at the Apple store and did a comparison test on this website, and I think you will like the results.

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/gradient.php


If you have a 1737 with the RGB LED screen. the tests on this website most striking the Gradient banding, are perfectly smooth.

Vs a very expensive 17 MackBook Pro's LCD, I saw clear gradient bands. where the colors were not smoothly blended.

I wanted to share.

 

I have since installed a new 7200 rpm HD and Win XP Pro and everything seems to be running fine with a few exceptions. Thanks to samsware.com. The few exceptions are:
In my device manager I get a "!" next to 1394 Net adapter.
I also get a "?" next to SMS Bus controller and also next to "Unknown device".

I would really appreciate anyone's help if you can assist me.
Finally, there was a way of checking a box somewhere in Win XP to make sure both cores of the CPU are being utilized. Any ideas where I may find them? Thanks.

 

Try with everest or go to task manager then go to processes and right-click a proces and click set affinity or something like that it should show you core 0 and 1 marked.

 

I have underlined your problem.

Right click taskbar, hit task manager, click "Performance" tab.

 

Thanks hgfdsa and raduque. Both the cores are checked.
raduque, I cannot click on the underlined "xp pro".

 

If they are both marked it means they work

 

NickSS. You're not meant to be able to click on the underlined XP Pro. Raduque was saying that using XP Pro as an operating system IS the problem

Cheers,
Maxy

 

aah, I thought only Vista could be the problem (LOL). Thanks.

 

I have ordered a Studio 17 that is coming with a 320 GB 5400 hard drive. I noticed that it could be configured by Dell with two hard drives, so I am assuming there is a second bay easily available. Can someone confirm that? If true, I'd like to buy from newegg a 7200 rpm 320 GB drive to plug in as a second drive. Also, what interface does the drive bay have -- to make sure I get a compatible drive? Or will any SATA laptop hard drive fit? Thanks in advance for your help.

-- Michael

 

Any SATA laptop hard drive will fit however you need to buy a special metal cage mounting bracket and a little part called an "interposer" that goes between the SATA connector on the hard drive and the Studio's motherboard. I got the bracket and interposer from Dell Parts for less than $20, IIRC.

 

Thanks for your reply. If I instead just swap the 7200 rpm 320GB drive for the 5400 rpm drive (not hold both), will I be able to reinstall the various Studio 17 drivers from something that comes in the Dell box? I have a separate unused licensed CD of Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit, so that part is taken of. Thanks again.

-- Michael

 

All the drivers (and Vista) will be in the box. The drivers are also available online.

 

Yes and it works fine. No problems that I am aware of.

 

Paule123, could you please give me the part numbers and the place where you ordered it from? Thanks.

 

When I ordered mine, the interposer and caddy were separate parts. However it appears you can buy this kit that includes everything including screws:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...=19&sku=341-7101&mfgpid=197353&chassisid=8526

 

Thank you. That saved me lot of time.

 

I am a bit confused as of late how can I double check to see what type of panel or display my dell 1737 RGB LED has?

do I check model numbers or what

How can I tell if it does truly have an RGB LED display?

 

If Dell says so then it must be LED. I had a hard time telling the difference between the LED and LCD but an LED is supposed to have tiny amount of small LEDs that light up a given area unlike an LCD which can have slightly darker corners.
Do you find your LED to be brighter compared to other LCD screens? Maybe a call to Dell will put you at ease.

 

i ordered mine 7/14 and im still in production.... is this normal?

 

It's barely been a week...yes, it's normal. What is your estimated ship date?

 

its 8/14 as i stated on my thread

 

Then it's definitely still in production; you have almost a month before your ESD.

 

Between VISTA crashes I continue to get this message:
"dell advanced networking service." do I need this, if not
how do I get rid of it?
I crash so often I can hardly bear to turn it on.
Any one know where I can get a good deal on Windows XP?

frustrated Studio 17 VISTA owner.

thanks