OFFICIAL: Studio 17 Owner's Thread

Wow, you really had fun checking all those options boxes! I ordered mine last week (see post a few pages back) and likewise have EPP through my employer. Using AAA's EPP instead, I was able to stack a 6% AAA coupon discount and 4% DPA discount to reduce my total purchase cost.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/aaa?c=us&cs=6002&l=en&s=eep&link_number=75971913

http://ww1.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline.woa/4002?association=aaa&club=4&page=AAADell&sessionRedirect=1221510040096

 

I guess I caught bad luck. Everyone was having theirs shipped way before the est ship date. I ordered mine on 9/2 and the est ship date is 9/17 and it still hasn't been shipped.

 

I wanted to put as much in it as possible and make it so it can be upgradeable. Plus I like bells and whistles...lol

 

bigwhite1024,

i placed my order on 9/5, and it still says in production with est. ship on 9/22.

 

Hi all,

Two simple questions:

1, I've just ordered a 1735, due for delivery 1st Oct. Have I made an error in my choice of laptop?

2, I've so far avoided Vista, base on the views of others. This machine comes with Vista preinstalled. Should I replace this with XP? What are the benifits of doing this?

Thanks

 

Bohman,

Mine is in the boxing stage since yesterday evening and today is the est ship date. I called them and they said the est delivery date is the 24th.

 

Ultimately your going to end up with Vista. It is a pretty operating system and seems fine. It looks gorgeous on the 1920 x 1200 shiny true life screen.

 

a week late! that stinks. oh well, best of luck.

 

i hope so! i can't wait~!

 

i just checked back on my 17's schedule...

Shipping Method: Next Business Day
Shipped Date: 9/17/2008
Est. Delivery Date: 9/18/2008

YAY!!!!

 

I just recieved an email (my esp ship date was today) saying that the order was delayed and the new est ship date is 10/14. ***

 

Did anyone actualy receive a 17" WLED 1920 x 1200 screen? Has anyone successfully argued with Dell to either get a replacement or partial refund? My screen is a 1920 x 1200 CCFL despite my order saying it would be WLED.

 

It might make you feel better to know, that on my 1735 I actually do not run the screen at full brightness. This is the first time I have had a screen which I have not done this. It is the normal screen.

 

Sorry bout that Cougar, i've been swamped with work... and did not really check the boards in a while..

let me try to answer best i can...

i have not had the chance to try out WoW on this machine yet.
again, work taking most of my time...

what is this something odd that you found? bout the Studio 17 or the game?

you should get a bar mod... it will help you a lot in being able to get a lot of key bindings and all the funky things you can do... plus, you can make them fade out so it dont really bother you...

i use Bartender3

i make it a habit to take it out when i am not sitting in front of the laptop... kids, wife, books, shove here and there... but Logitech has good support.
i can see the attraction of the mini-dongle but i really did not like the feel of it. plus my numbness in my forearm, i've been told, is to excessive use of the mouse... early CPT?

ha ha ha...

btw, 70 prot warr... but lvling a rogue myself... love the action...
you can PM me about User Interfaces.. i'm an UI addict...

 

Wow runs ok about 28-35 fps in shatt not bad in a raid i can get down to 10-12 thow.

BTW: 70 lock,boomkin,resto shammy

 

's cool, I'd forgotten about this until five minutes ago.

The combination of the two, I think. It looks gorgeous, but it's ... choppy? No, jerky I guess, it's hard to describe. Maybe I'm just being picky though.

Yeah, I know about BT3, keep meaning to have a play. I use Autobar currently which fills a gap whilst being fairly lightweight.

For me the laptop is actually on my lap, so I'm concerned about catching a full-sized USB dongle on something. I'm more than capable of dropping the bugger dongle-side-down and making a right pig's bladder of a mess of the thing.

Ah, yes, that old chestnut... (-:

 

OF COURSE the precise time my laptop gets delivered my roommate is out.

now i have to try and schedule a pickup from the DHL storefront locally....

DARNIT!!

edit - just got of the phone, it will be at their storefront in 30 minutes. leaving work now!!

 

do you guys play in windowed mode or in full screen?

i hear that windowed mode gives much less FPS than full screen.

 

Full screen, though at 1920x1200 which might be part of the problem (-: I've created a new thread anyway, go see what I mean if you like.

 

well, i got it yesterday and it is awesome. i posted some pics HERE

great build quality, no real issues i can notice. arrived in great shape.

the seaweed lid is awesome.

however, i spent about 15 minutes swiping my prints and got only two to read. it says i have the most current drivers for it. is there anything i am missing? anyone else have issues?

when i get home from work i will work more on it.

 

hmm... i got pretty good swipes on most of the times...

it's a nice and steady swipe, not too fast, not too slow...

 

what velocity was your swipe (do you think)? a

pprox. 1/2 second is about what i was doing, from the top down, starting just at the top finger joint.

 

Your fingers are defective. Send 'em back to your mum for replacement.

(-:

That's a nice case, dude. Well done.

 

lol, yea check your fingers first...

secondly... well, a nice and steady stroke is more like it... perhaps the same way a person will stroke their cat? i dont know at what speed bro... lol

try different fingers...

you can setup any of the 10 fingers, or all for that matter.

btw, do you guys get that beeping noise cus the palm touches the fingerprint reader when using the num pad?

hmm... poor placement imo.

 

yeah, yeah, very funny guys!

i will try it more tonight.

it was strange getting two swipes correct almost right at the start, then like 50 bad ones.

 

thanks! but did you mean the seaweed or the 932?, lol.

 

The seaweed, it's a thing of beauty.

 

Does the studio 17 have a built in microphone and if so where is it located?\

Thanks

 

Yes, it is located next to the webcam, which is just above the screen.

 

I know UPEK has updated software that people have installed on the M1530's which made GREAT improvements over Dell's software on accepting swiped. Did anybody try it on the Studio 17, its version 5.8.2. I know that 5.8.2 is not the version they have on the Dell Downloads site (its like 5.4x or something), so this one had to be installed from UPEK's site.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3929060&postcount=5

Haven't had any problems with the reader on my Studio since I updated the drivers and software up to their latest versions. Others have not been so lucky and still report having problems though...

Not sure if the UPEK would even be compatible w/Studio since it uses a different OEM fingerprint reader...

 

Oops I didn't realize the Studio's used a different piece of software. I just assumed it was UPEK as my Latitude and XPS were.

 

how many swipes does it take for your fingerprint to read correct? i keep having to swipe about 10 times, which defeats the purpose pretty much.

 

Usually just once. Sometimes 2x but I'm using the middle finger of my right hand

If you are still having trouble with latest software/drivers, you may have to adjust the sensitivity setting down in the DigitalPersona app...

 

thanks, that may be it. i think the drivers are up-to-date. will check after work.

 

This is my first post here and I'll start with a question (eventually): First some background: I do a lot of photo editing and Dell sent me a very nice Studio 1735 to replace my E1705 - long story short I specifically asked that they make sure the replacement had the high end 1920x1200 LCD because I really liked the one on my E1705 - so no problem that's what they sent me. But I could not for the life of me get the colors calibrated correctly - I tried several times. The main problem was the blues and reds. Blue skies never quite had the colors they should have had and some red tones were off. I did get it close but it still bugged me. So did I get a bad LCD or has anyone else had this issue with the 1920 LCD? BTW I found the viewing angle and sharpness to be better than the (admittedly brighter) 1440 screen but rumour has it that the 1920 LCD is not WLED but CCFL... anyone have a comment on any of this?

 

the 1920x1200 is not LED backlit. i wish it was, to increase the brightness, but it is plenty bright, and the picture is amazing. i have had no issues with my colors, but i have not changed them either, nor do any high-end photo editing. good luck w/that.

 

It's funny a few places it says WLED but it is in fact not the case. Anyhow I ended up selling it and getting the laptop I have now. By doing so I now have the middle 1440x990 WLED screen (BL keyboard/FP reader and few other extras I did not have) But before selling my other laptop I compared the 2 screens side by side (same pics, etc..,) and no doubt about it the 1920 screen is off (color wise) in comparison. It is however sharper, better contrasted and the viewing angle is superior as well. As far as the 1440 screen: the colors (even at default ATI catalyst settings) are pretty much dead on (blue skies and skin tones are what they should be) - yes it's not as crisp (as the 1920) but it's still quite good and seems fine so far for photos/PS. I guess looking back I should have called Dell and got a replacement screen just to see if that was the problem.

 

I have also had some issues with my FP reader especially when starting Vista. You can't always scan your finger right away - somtimes 2-3 seconds before it takes the scan (from the PW screen) and finally moves on to the Windows screen. Also the scanning surface is to small IMO and it means going slower and being more precise to get the scan 'to take' most times. I sometimes think it would be faster to just type in my PW -but- when it works it works well (FP reader) BTW I'd assume I have the newest drivers although I did have to update my BIOS to A04 (from A03) so who knows.

 

My finger print scanner works everytime pretty much. Just make sure you pull your finger through in a straight stroke that it isnt leaning towards one side or the other and it usually reads it everytime. Mine comes in pretty handy. Also, I think middle finger probably works the best, index finger seems to pull at an angle.

 

It's like giving your laptop the middle finger (figuratively speaking) - LOL - but hey if it works best then that may solve some scanning issues. I use my pointer finger but I guess I could try programming with the middle 'digit' instead.

 

On a totally unrelated note: Why are all the hard drive options 5400RPM? what happen to the faster 7200RPM options? ... just curious

 

I agree (about the beeping noise and reader placement) but I'm not sure where else they could have put it that would make any more sense. I noticed that it can also bring up the FP login setup box in the top left of the screen when you are using the numeric keyboard. I think it's a nice feature but it's more fun than helpful or quicker than the regular way.

 

Got my Studio 17 on the way

• Studio 1735 : Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.5GHz,800GHz,6MB)
• Palmrest : Fingerprint Reader Biometric Standard
• Display : 17in Widescreen WUXGA with Truelife - CCFL
• 2.0 mega pixel Camera - CCFL
• LCD Back Cover : Topo Pattern Blue U Trim
• Memory Dual Channel 4.0GB (2x2048) 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
• Hard Drive : 640GB Serial ATA (5.400RPM) Dual Hard Drive (2x 320GB)
• Optical Drive : Blu-ray Disc (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM) Drive
• Battery : Primary 9 cell 85W/HR LI-ION
• Graphics: 256 MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3650
• Wireless : Dell Wireless 1510 (802.11n) Half Mini Card European
• Wireless : Dell Bluetooth 370 Card Europe
• Internal Dell Wireless 5530 built-in 3G/HSDPA / NO SIM
• Keyboard : Internal UK English Qwerty Backlit Keyboard
• Operating System : English Genuine Windows Vista SP1 Ultimate including Media
• English Microsoft Office 2007 Basic
• Software English Adobe Photoshop Elements 6
• 3 Year Hardware Support - At Home
• + a case / wifi router / headset etc

Its replacing my awful XPS m1330 which has been nothign but trouble since the day I got it...

Quite looking forward to this laptop

 

i dont know what happened to the option. i guess they wanted to reserve some things for XPS?

but i used it as a bargaining chip when making my deal with the sales associate, so it worked out for the better, kind of.

 

I actually had a 160GB 7200RPM in my first Studio 1735 so I'm just now starting to get used to the slightly slower hard drive performance of the 2x320GB 5400 drives.

 

1735 fan noise
Hello everybody. I want to ask again how your fan is running. After about 10 minutes mine is running all the time and it is running loud. In a quiet room it is very annoying. I do nothing else than surfing the net. Dell offered now to exchange the notebook but I want to make shure that there is a change to get a better (quieter) one. Thanks for your reply.

 

my fan is running as designed. high for high load, low for low load, off for very low load.

 

i think i just set the record for shortest time as an owner of a studio 17. not sure if it was just my system or its an issue but I didnt want to start a new thread and make it seem like a huge issue. i received my laptop around 9:30am (picked up from d-h-Hell) opened it right up in the car. set up windows went on youtube by about 9:47am ( free hotspot nearby) heard the bad speakers. and i mean bad in that they sounded bad AND rattled like they were blown out by a previous owner (outlet refurb) and the backlight would just get dim and bright while I moved the screen (as in on and off not color changes cuz I only moved it like 3 inches to test for hinge play). maybe it was shipping damage. would not be surprised. dhl in my area is not very good.

anyhow, I called dell at 9:55am and they emailed the return label to me at 10:03 (per my email) I work by UPS so I dropped it off by 10:30am. so I owned it for an hour before it left my hands for return.

I like dell but maybe DHL is not a good move by them. I would hope it did not leave dell in that condition and that it was damaged in transit.

 

Same here. I'll admit it comes on a heckin' when it's in high but otherwise it's actually quite quiet.