OFFICIAL: Studio 17 Owner's Thread

Everything passes. Video is one bar above minimum, everything else is two.

 

If anyone is interested... I ordered two on 8/17 and received on both on 8/22 with the free shipping. I will let you know later if it benchmarks better with the 64-bit OS and drivers. I am not sure if it is legal or not but I may or may not have been able to sell the MS Office that came with it free for $75 as it is sealed and not registered and I have a better version.

The 64-bit drivers are now all listed and available on the Dell support site under the 1735:

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...mID=STUDIO1735&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en&TabIndex=

 

Emsley, you own bro! Thanks a ton =P What games if any do you play on it, and how do they run?

 

Great that they are making driver for the 64 bit Vista, I wonder if they will run some for XP Pro... I like Vista 64 and plan to install it but a dual boot with XP for gaming would be nice.... Good info tho Thanks

 

No problem. I am not running any games on it, it is a business toy . We ordered a couple of these for our office because of the price/spec combo. One will end up with Vista Ultimate 64 and Advanced Server 2003 64 if I can get it to run. It will probably then have to have Virtual PC 64 loaded.

So far they seem like solid machines. I was hoping there was a hardware RAID controller in them (unadvertised) so that we could mirror the drives for myself and some high level guys but nothing in the BIOS... It has a Matrix chip and a RAID service.. we'll see.

The amount of bloatware these ship with will keep the HDD cranking constantly... There are redundant services enabled and the version of McAfee has way too much crap for my liking.

Anyone want 15 months of McAfee? I run Enterprise 8.5.

 

One last thing...

I put a Class 4 SDHC card (slow) into the card reader and enabled Readyboost on it. There is a noticeable differeance in HDD access and system responsiveness when the HDD is thrashing. You can find these cards for $14 or less if you look hard.

 

Will a fresh install keep the hdd from constantly running? I swear the palmrest gets hot for me. My 1705 is always cool too the touch. And I am constantly experimenting with the speaker situation. Normally I am sitting on the couch so I won't have real ones running. Headphones are alright, but kind of a pain sometimes.

 

If you want Vista to run well you have to do a lot. Here is a good guide:

http://www.tweakhound.com/vista/tweakguide/index.htm

IS the HDD activity mostly at boot? During gaming or just during normal use?

 

I FINALLY got my Sutdio 1735 on August 20, Ordered on July 10, then they said there were problems with the money transfer and did a "modification" to my order on July 25 so it was as if I ordered on the 25th. I suspected they didn't have all the parts since: a) The transaction was verified by them on the day I ordered and by my bank. b) It's a new model.

Then It got pushed back even more due to problems receiving the 6 cell batteries (which supports b).

Anyway, spent the first 2 days installing Windows XP Pro 32bit and it works just great!, the hardest part was the video driver WITH the Catalyst Control Center utility, but it finally worked.

I only have 3 minor gripes:
- the poor quality of the speakers, they sound llike a cheap portable radio.
- it gets a little to hot to the right side of the touchpad for my taste (your right hand rest space).
- Keyboard function keys to adjust brightness but not contrast??

Yesterday I did some work on Lightwave 3D, Sony Vegas and Adobe After Effects and didn't have any problems at all !! .

I didn't event took time to check out the pre-installed applications before formatting to install xp, can anyone tell me if there is some kind of application to customize Function keys combinations (to get some contrast adjust keys).

 

OMG good news Gregorio anyways you wanna email me all the drivers? I'll make a torrent file and give you all the credit =P Man this owns


Also I'd like to add when I got home from Carowinds tonight I got my email saying mine was shipped!!!!!!!!!! YAY go me....

 

So I am not the only one bothered by the hot right-side. I guess I have to get used to that. If I could go back to a stable XP I might do that as well. Vista so far isn't bad..but awkward.

 

I believe the hard drive(s) are on the right side under the palm rest area. That would explain the heat. If its not the hard drives its the wireless card/bluetooth etc.

Edit: yes it is the disks.

 

mine gets a little warm under the palm rest too but nothing uncomfortable, also noticed that the computer doesn't get too hot even when its sitting on the bed for hours with no ventilation underneath which is good, battery is also a little wiggly but nothing to worry about, downloaded autoruns which is a little executable you can use to disable all the crap that loads with windows which is useful, if you're doing a fresh install yourself probably not a problem though.

 

Has Anyone tried testing Hd3650m with FSX?? If yes, how does it fare?

 

Seriously! I just got mine on Friday, spent Fri. and Sat. trying to get XP loaded and stable. Most devices do have XP drivers, but I could not find an XP driver for the IR and although the Vista driver loads, the IR is not functional, despite what Device Manager says. Also, I couldn't find a version of Quickset that would load, and could not get power management working correctly. However, for anyone who wants to try, there's more information and links to drivers on page 3 here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=270228

And please, if someone has succeeded in getting XP loaded and stable, and all devices actually functional, please post how you did it and (hopefully) links to the drivers you used. The IR and the inability to use the Media Direct button are minor issues for me, but the Studio waking up every few seconds from sleep mode is.

 

@ lihines (and anyone else who is interested on installing xp-32 on their studio 1735)


First off, here are the specs to my laptop so you can see what components I have.

Studio 1735, Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, 2.5GHz, 800Mhz, 6M L2 Cache
4GB, DDR2, 2 Dimm
Back-lit Keyboard
Hi-Res. TL widescreen 17.0 inch WLED display (1920x1200) w/ 2.0M Pixel Camer
Creative Camera SW
ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 3650
250G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini Card
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Integrated Finger Print Reader

As you can see, I did not ordered the bluetooth OR remote control, so I cannot say if the drivers on the page m3d0r suggested ( http://driver.zol.com.cn/list.php?keyword=studio+1735+xp&channelid=&x=14&y=12) will work those devices, BUT, all of the drivers from that page I did use worked fine.

Remember to FIRST go into your BIOS and do the following:
1-In the "onboard devices" section, go to the "flash cache module" and disable it.
2-In the "SATA Operation" change from AHCI mode to ATA mode.

I stayed with ATA mode and so far, so good. If you want to use AHCI mode I read somewhere that you can download a driver but I haven't, so that will be up to you.


------ ABOUT THE VIDEO CARD
I tried the video card driver from the same site and it worked fine BUT it does not include the "Catalyst Control Center" to access advanced settings, so you may want to try this page to get the complete driver package from ATI-AMD to work: http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool.php. I tried installing only the Catalyst Control Center but it didn't work, the setup does not finish because it doesn't recognize the driver already installed.

It took me a few tries because the AMD driver download "engine" is kinda weird: on the mobility radeon section, the HD 3650 did not appear on the list and the driver did not identified my video card , the HD 3600 series on the Radeon section did not identified my card either .
I ended up downloading about 4 different driver packs and ran the modtool until one worked. Here is the modified driver pack that finally worked for me in case you also have the same problem:
http://rapidshare.com/files/140149092/ATI_Radeon_Mobility_HD_3650.zip
---------------------------------------------------


------ ABOUT THE WIRELESS LAN
I couldn't find the post for this suggestion, so sorry for not given the credit to the poster . The driver is from the HP site and it works fine:

http://rapidshare.com/files/140150429/Dell_Wireless_1397_802.11g_Half_Mini_Card.zip

You have to install the driver "manually", so go to the device manager, right click on the device (with the yellow icon) and select "update drivers", when asked if windows should search the web for a driver select "no", on the next window select "install from a list or specific location", then choose "Do not Search, I will choose the driver to install", select "Network Adapter" from the list, then "have disk" and go to the folder where you unpacked the driver and select the .inf file. Press "next" until you finish the process.
-------------------------------------


------ ABOUT THE WEBCAM
The first time I tried to use it, I got a blue screen and the computer rebooted by itself, after that it has worked perfectly in skype and live messenger.
-------------------------------------


------ ABOUT THE FINGERPRINT READER
The rest of the driver installation had no problems. I have NOT tried to configure the fingerprint reader but the system recognizes the device, so any feedback on this would be appreciated.
--------------------------------------


Haven't tested the "Media Direct" function either since I don't need it.

Backlit keyboard works fine.

Here are 2 .zip files with all of the drivers I found on the Chinese site for the studio 1735 (You don't need to download both of them to uncompress):

BE CAREFUL WITH THE BIOS FILES
dell_studio1735_bios_a02.zip
dell_studio1735_bios_a03.zip
dell_studio1735_bios_a04.zip
I haven't used these, but I assume they are the BIOS updates or flash software, so unless you know exactly what to do with these files, don't touch them.


http://rapidshare.com/files/140132326/Studio_1735_XP32_01.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140133506/Studio_1735_XP32_02.zip

Files in file 01:
dell_studio1735_amdvga_xp.zip
dell_studio1735_bios_a02.zip
dell_studio1735_bios_a03.zip
dell_studio1735_bios_a04.zip
dell_studio1735_bluetooth_xp.zip
dell_studio1735_camer_xp.zip
dell_studio1735_card_xp.zip
dell_studio1735_finger_xp.zip


Files in file 02:
dell_studio1735_hongwai_xp.zip
dell_studio1735_intelwlan_xp.zip
dell_studio1735_lan_xp.zip
dell_studio1735_sound_xp.zip
dell_studio1735_touch_xp.zip
dell_sutiod1735_intelvga_xp.zip

Most of the files are self-extracting .exe files.
I used winrar to first uncompress them and checked the included .txt file with a description to match the devices.

Here are the separate links in case you don't/can't download the 2 files:

http://rapidshare.com/files/140126020/dell_studio1735_amdvga_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140126056/dell_studio1735_bios_a02.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140126103/dell_studio1735_bios_a03.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140126136/dell_studio1735_bios_a04.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140127677/dell_studio1735_bluetooth_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140127791/dell_studio1735_camer_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140129629/dell_studio1735_camer_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140124016/dell_studio1735_card_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140124444/dell_studio1735_finger_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140124594/dell_studio1735_hongwai_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140124656/dell_studio1735_intelwlan_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140124859/dell_studio1735_lan_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140125115/dell_studio1735_sound_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140125229/dell_studio1735_touch_xp.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/140125700/dell_sutiod1735_intelvga_xp.zip

Hope this helps out, good luck!

 

Hi Gregorio,
This is the first I have heard these suggestions.
Are there issues with XP and the flash cache module ?
Are there issues with XP and AHCI mode ?


Thanks Again
Mark

 

Anyone having problems with the bios not recognizing the hard drive?
It says I don't have a drive installed. This happens with ahci on or off.
I even have a second hard drive (not purchased from Dell) that does work, and has worked in my 1735, that will not be recognized at times.

I'm using only one drive at a time right now. I wanted to keep one with Vista safe while I tried Ubuntu. I was ready to send it back to Dell last night. It took 40mins of power off/on, pull battery, check bios, etc to get it recognized for Ubuntu to load.

So, anyone else experiencing this?
Thanks,
davidk

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3772248

Posted earlier in this same thread.

 

Hi markr01000,

I don't have enough expertise to the answers of any of the 2 questions, but here what I know (or what I think it's the truth =)

The only issue with the AHCI mode is that unless you have the driver for xp and you use it during setup, you MUST run setup in ATA mode. You can later install the driver and switch back to AHCI. I haven't searched for this driver, but my guess would be to obtain the HDD model and manufacturer info and look in their website.

From what I've read, the flash cache module can only be used by vista since it's for a feature called "ReadyDrive".

Hope this helps.

 

Before I buy this notebook, I must ask you some questions:
1)Does this notebook have TrueLife display?
2)Does this notebook cause eye strain (because I red that glossy displays produce glare that strains your eyes, not sure about TrueLife)?
3)If it does cause eye strain, can it be reduced somehow?
Thank you in advance.

 

@ Cheaser

1)Does this notebook cause eye strain?
In my case, yes, 1920x1200 on a 17" monitor is a bit straining for me because of the small text.

2)If it does, can it be reduced somehow?
Yes, I changed the size of the font to something bigger and I am ok now.
In winxp: right-click on your desktop, select "properties", "Appearance" Tab, "Advanced" and go trough each item on the "Item:" list, underneath you will see the font propierties for that item, I simply made all the fonts size 14.

I have no idea how to do this in Vista, but I imagine there should be a way.

 

Thanks Gregorio,
I am a system developer but have avoided Vista like the plague.
Thanks for the tips.

 

Anyone else have banding on color gradients? This screen looks too hot, way brighter and vivid than my E1705 1920x screen..and I can see banding.

 

No banding on my Samsung WLED 17'...

 

how do i know which i have?

 

My screen looks like garbage. This is a replacement system and everything is all banded. Why am I cursed.

I turned the gamma up all the way and I see huge garbled boxes everywhere.

 

Is your resolution set to whatever your screens max res is? 1920x1200 according to your sig. If you dont have it set to that res, what you describe will happen.

 

The res and color are both maxed out. I am trying to update the driver through ATI's site, but having a hard time.

 

Can someone post pics of the Studio 17 from the side and other angles?

I was very interested in this laptop due to some of the top line specs including the very high resolution but based on the pics on Dell's website I just don't find the laptop to be great from an visual standpoint.

From the way it opens up to the way it looks like it's rocking on the ground from the side view.


Anyways any owners want to tell me how it looks in person?

 

Should be getting mine today! I'll post some pics if you want. Man, I was so tempted to go for that red swirl, but at an extra £40...ouch.

TwilightVampire - about the screen resolution, why would not being at max res cause blotchiness?

 

Because running an LCD below its designed resolution causes it to blur and blotch the image from pixel extrapolation. Since an LCD has only a set number of vertical and horizontal pixels, it has to blend pixels together to make fewer ones, so on a lower res than recomended, 1 pixel can be made up of 4 of your monitors pixels or however many necessary to make up the resolution you set.

 

Ah, ok, thats makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

 

It's a fairly attractive machine in person.
it features a wedge shape that tapers toward the front. The lid colors are nice but are that rubberized paint thyat Dell has traditionally had problems with peeling. The lid doesn't have a latch, but rather just stays closed by hinge pressure. It feels pretty light for it's size. The 1920x1200 screen is beautiful. The speakers unfortunately have all the fidelity of a cell phone. Very tinny and EQ only helped a bit.

Beyond that, I'd suggest finding a retailer in your area that carries the Studios (Best Buy, Staples etc) and see it for yourself.

I'd definitely recommend the 1920 display and the ATI video upgrades.

Hope this helps.....

Mark

 

Have a look at: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4471 - there are some pics later on that show the sides & back.

 

If I understand correctly the graphite gray might be a glossy plastic? What about the designer covers? Are they rubbery?

Has anyone tried getting a different lid? It's not exactly a "user replaceable" part so they might not sell it separately?

Anyone?

 

So pissed off. I doubt Dell will care they sent me a faulty exchange system.

 

Rec'd studio 17 less than 1 week ago...Good news....rec'd it within 1 week of order. Bad News: Faulty motherboard/processor (after 5 days of use)...computer down. Symptom: error code indicating that the computer is overheating, despite fan being on, no fan obstructions, sitting in 65 degree room, and being cool to the touch. Not a happy camper!!!! Supposed to have a tech out in 2 business days.

 

Can I ask, what is the Media Direct button supposed to do? I thought it just started up media Centre to play DVDs/music etc. However, after I shut down, i pressed it, and it just booted up as normal, and started Media direct. Is this normal? Also, why is there Media direct and Windows Media Centre on the Studio?

 

How do you determine the brand of LCD in Studios?

 

1) It is supposed to do that. There is a special bios hook that when you press that button while powered down, it launches Windows and goes straight to MediaDirect

2) Dell supplies MediaDirect for both XP and Vista systems (3.5 XP, 4.0 Vista) and has for some time. Yes, MS Media Center is redundant.

 

1) My roomate Lisa got her 1735 in Black and it is glossy plastic.
2) A friend at work ordered her 1735 in midnight blue, and it is rubberized paint.
3) You might be able to order a replacement cover as a service part, but probably not as an accesory part order.

Mark

 

If you install 64-bit Vista in ATA mode you CANNOT switch to AHCI no matter what you read. LOL I have tried. You have to load the Intel Controller driver during the initial install with AHCI enabled. I do not know if this applies to XP as well.

 

what are you talking about? of course it can be done. I've done it, as have many others.
I'm guessing you can't run the 100 meter dash in under 10 seconds, fly the space shuttle, or perform brain surgery. But it doesn't mean these things can't be done either.

hint: it's a simple registry edit.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

 

I set it to 0, rebooted, re-enabled AHCI... Blue screen. Did you have SP1 on there before you tried? I did not.

I did do it after I installed all of the updated drivers though...

 

have you uninstalled the old driver, and installed the new AHCI driver?



edit:
-----
I just did a google and found others who've done it and posted about it:
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-hardware-devices/886748.htm

 

I don't think so, all I put on there before I tried were the chipset drivers and the NIC driver. Is it part of the chipset driver install? I was just going to wipe it and use the old F6 like many in the link you posted.

It is not as simple the MS reg hack set to "0". Read the responses in th elink you gave me. They reinstalled with an F6. No one responded to the large .reg file at the end...

Did you just set the reg key to 0? If you did it can you tell me which way you went?

 

actually I've done it. I just figured that you had already installed the AHCI drivers - after that it's a (relatively) simple reg hack to patch Window's cdddb (copy the patch to a file with a .reg extension, then double click to merge with the registry).

If you feel squeemish about doing the manual install procedure, I would suggest that you load the IAStor driver to a USB thumb drive (extract it if compressed), and re-install the OS from scratch this time selecting AHCI at install time and hitting F6 to load the driver.

 

So the correct thing to do here is:

1. Copy the Intel Matrix drivers to Windows\system32\drivers

2. Save this to a .reg and run it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor]
"Tag"=dword:00000019
"DisplayName"="Intel AHCI Controller"
"Group"="SCSI Miniport"
"ImagePath"=hex(2):5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,6 5,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33 ,00,32,00,5c,00,64,00,72,\
00,69,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,73,00,5c,00,69,00,61,00 ,73,00,74,00,6f,00,72,00,\
2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Type"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000
"BusType"=dword:00000003

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parameters\Port0]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parameters\Port1]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parameters\Port2]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parameters\Port3]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parameters\Port4]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parameters\Port5]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000000
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\Criti calDeviceDatabase\PCI#VEN_8086&DEV_2681&CC_0106]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="iaStor"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\Criti calDeviceDatabase\PCI#VEN_8086&DEV_2682&CC_0104]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="iaStor"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\Criti calDeviceDatabase\PCI#VEN_8086&DEV_27C1&CC_0106]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="iaStor"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\Criti calDeviceDatabase\PCI#VEN_8086&DEV_27C3&CC_0104]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="iaStor"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\Criti calDeviceDatabase\PCI#VEN_8086&DEV_2822&CC_0104]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="iaStor"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\Criti calDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2829&cc_0106]
"Service"="iaStor"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\Criti calDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2922&cc_0106]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="iaStor"

3. Enable the AHCI driver per MS: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

4. Reboot and enable AHCI

I will give it a whirl. Wish I would have just hit F6.

 

Hey guys,

I bought my Studio 17 without a Bluetooth mini card. I want to buy one and install it myself. Has anyone done this?

Ive read the service manual and it sounds doable, though the manual isnt very descriptive. It basically says take off the bottom and plug it in to a WPAN slot.

Also, I can only find the card for sale on the canada site and not the US site:

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/pro...l.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=430-2935

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/pro...l.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=430-2936

and it says for Studio 15 and not 17, but I thinl it should work.

Does anyone have any info?

Thanks