OFFICIAL: Studio 17 Owner's Thread

Yeah still in production today aswell. Just another week to go until the 5th of November. Hopefully it will be here then. I just hope they don't delay it last moment, too many assignments to do online.

 

Is this a good setup for $1220? I can't seem to get it any cheaper than this. I think I will 86 the Sound Blaster Audigy software though. I mistankinl thought it was a hardware upgrade.



Here are the specs so far:

SYSTEM COLOR Ruby Red
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB
OS Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1
WARRANTY 2 Yr Ltd Hardware Wnty, InHome Svc after Remote Diagns
DISPLAY Glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1440x900)
MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2
HARD DRIVE Size: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
VIDEO CARD Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
WIRELESS Dell 1510 Wireless-N Card
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Internal (2.0)
WEBCAM Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
BATTERY 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ Advanced HD
KEYBOARD Back-lit Keyboard
FINGER PRINT RDR Integrated Finger Print Reader

DESIGNED FOR DELL AUDIO Notebook Accessory Bundle - (Laptop Cooler, Wireless Mouse, Portable Speakers

ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days

 

Arrived this morning, and a few hours using Vista reminds me why i uninstalled it off my desktop pc.

Is there an install guide for XP Pro on the Studio 17?

 

sominex, you should upgrade the videocard if you plan on doing any gaming.

 

It only gives me ONE option for a video card.

Is there a different link I can follow to get more video card options?

 

most folks here will reccomend the hd 3650 option over the x3100. I got this video card.

Im not sure why dell has taken it away, my guess is they are out of stock? I dont have a different link, but i would strongly wait until there is the option for another video card..

 

You could buy one from the Outlet which has a 3650. Even if you are wary of buying refurbished, you could still geta "previously ordered new". Would also save some money in the process.

 

hmm... will it be against the forum rules to let folks know, i have a 1month old studio 17 with a lot of options and aftermarket upgrades that i'm trying to sell?...

 

Has anybody figured out if there is a registry hack to keep the media buttons lit up all the time? Sure is annoying to try and use the buttons in a dark environment.

 

forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18
Make a thread there, and you're good to go. Just be sure to follow the proper format.

 

My Studio 17 finally went into delivery phase!!!!!!!! Just waiting for the phone call from the courier company to confirm a delivery date!!

 

Congrats! You should definetly have it on monday. I just got mine delivered 30 minutes ago. Need to sort some stuff out and later one I'll write my impressions compared with the Pavilion I owned before.

 

Now its in delivery. Still no call from Walsh Western but should arrive monday or tuesday. FINALLY!!!

 

Same here, I ordered only on the 28th but received an email saying it was shipped out yesterday. Pretty exciting, but I have to admit I'm a bit nervous about getting my first laptop. I'm completely lost when it comes to all things computer, so setting it up (whats bloatware???) will be scary!

 

I think mine is coming on wednesday or thursday. Not too sure.
Rach83, bloatware is all the useless programs dell stick on your computer when they send it out. Some people keep them some dont. Just depends on if you can live with them or if you want to just wipe everything off your computer and start fresh as soon as you get it.

edit: that should have been all companies, not just dell

 

What the hell is going on with my order than? I placed an order on October 15th and the estimated ship date is November 3rd. Its funny every time I called Dell to ask for an estimate they always gave me the same date (Nov 3rd). Now that its November 3rd, they are saying that its being held up due to an item holding up manufacturing, and the parts arn't estimated to come in until November 18th. This doesn't even hint at what time my laptop will go into production after that time. The only time I strayed from the default parts on the laptop was for the WLED screen, and the 3650 video.

I think its time to give Dell the finger and get an HP DV7. I can get Blu-Ray, Centrino 2, a larger hardrive, and an Nvidia 9600M GT for the same price. I know NVidia has been having problems with there chips failing at higher than normal rates. But this was first detected over 4 months ago. I can't see them selling the same faulty chips this much later in the game. What sane manufacturer would buy them?

Peace out Dell,

and to those who actually got their Studios on time, I am jealous!!

 

Yea don't feel bad. Mine has passed it's ship date, and still hasn't shipped. My replacement that is.

 

Anyone know how to replace the Dell Wireless 1510 802.11n Half Mini-Card that came with my Studio 1735? There doesn't seem to be any PCMCIA slot to eject the card from.

If I decided to swap this card with another one, such as an Intel 5100 or 5200 AGN half mini-card, do I have to open up the laptop? Would this void the warranty though on the laptop? Thanks.

 

Oh? Why are you getting a replacement?

 

Ugh, I thought I had gotten lucky with the shipping but they just pushed back my delivery date.

 

Said back in this thread already. But basically the tech that replaced the fan screwed up and didn't hook up my speakers and damaged part of the plastic when he pryed it open.

 

Hi

I installed Ultra 64 bit and now the sound seems crackley, I have installed all the drivers off the dell website, any ideas why the sound has gone crackley?

 

I received my Plum Purple Studio yesterday, and so far I like it. The screen sort of sucks (have a Samsung instead of the LG) and there is a lighter band along the bottom edge but perhaps that is to be expected in laptops. I did spend 2.5 hours on the phone with Dell because no one could get my internet to work. After re-installing everything and resetting the laptop, and after 30 reboots and shutdowns, its working just fine.
The color is really nice but a little dark. Still pretty sweet looking though.
Anyhow, other than the monitor everything is working well and looking good.

 

just got my sea sky studio 17. so far its been pretty good, just a little keyboard flex but thats about it. will post pictures of the cover later on.

 

I'm dissapointed in the HD 3650 performance...

Right now the card is giving me a +2 fps boost in WoW compared to my older Mobility X1600. Ok, the new display is at 1920x1200 resolution and the X1600 is running on 1650x1080, but still, if I set the resolution of the HD 3650 to 1650x1080, the gain is still just 5 fps.

I expected a bigger difference.


Additional Info:

- Clean and correct install of Windows XP SP3 (yes running in AHCI mode)
- Modded ATI Catalyst 8.10 Drivers (Used Mobility Modder)
- Ati offcial mobile catalyst drivers don't work with the HD3650 and after modding them, they perform less well compared to the official desktop Catalyst version.
- I get a score of 20674 in 3DMark2001 SE
- On notebookcheck there's a listed score of 23000 points in 3DMark2001SE, but I recall reading somewhere that Dell used the DDR2 type of memory and not DDR3.

 

Increased resolution makes a huge impact. Too bad you can't see how bad the X1600 fails at that resolution to compare. You simply cannot increase your resolution that much then be dissapointed despite getting any FPS gain at all. Gamers springing for the 3650 need to get the 1440x900 Studio 17 pure and simple. Even that is a bit high of a resolution for notebook video cards in this price range.

I would download powerstrip and overclock the hell out of your 3650. I have mine set to 601/549 and it shows no signs of artifacts or instability. But I would seriously consider trading your notebook either through Dell or online, for the lower res screen unless you are cool with running non native resolutions lower than your actual screen resolution.

 

There is no need to mod the unified ATI driver as it is backwards compatible w/3650, 3450, ect.
Also, attempting to modify the signed driver may break Blu-ray playback for those Studios equipped with the Sony Optiarc drive...



Latest ATI Mobility driver avail at: http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/

EDIT: Just realized you've downgraded to XP...not sure why you are surprised that the performance blows...
http://ati.amd.com/online/mobilecatalyst/

Latest XP ATI Mobility unfied driver that requires no modding linked above...

 

Well, I did test playing WoW on my 1735 at 1650x1080 resolution (which gave me a smaller screen with black borders all around), so at that point it was a direct 1:1 test between the 2 video cards (HD3650 and X1600) at the same resolution and then still the 3650 gave me only a 5 fps boost...

Also, the difference between running WoW on 1650x1080 and 1920x1200 on the HD 3650 is also a mere 5 fps difference. I'm actually considering O'Cing the 3650 and probably will use some Artic Silver 5 along the way.

The reason I 'downgraded' to XP is that -on paper- XP should outperform Vista. Now, it could be, that indeed the drivers are crappy for Windows XP, as it's not officially supported by Dell, so I could do a test by installing Vista and see if the FPS increase, but I have serious doubts.

And about the Official ATI Catalyst Mobile Driver, let's have a look at the "CX_69998.inf" installer file contained in the "8-10-mobile_xp32_dd_ccc_enu_69567.exe" package:

[ATI.Mfg.NTx86]
"ATI MOBILITY FireGL V5200" = ati2mtag_M56GL, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C4
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600/9700 Series" = ati2mtag_M10, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50
"ATI Mobility Radeon X1300" = ati2mtag_M52, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_7149
"ATI Mobility Radeon X1400" = ati2mtag_M54, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_7145
"ATI Mobility Radeon X1600" = ati2mtag_M56, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300" = ati2mtag_M22, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5460
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600" = ati2mtag_M24, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_3150
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 SE" = ati2mtag_M24C, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5462
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON X700" = ati2mtag_M26, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5653

The Mobility HD3650 is not supported.

But I could try using the MS Update service and hopefully that will work, thanks for that.

 

You have to take apart your entire laptop to get to the GPU unfortunately. The CPU is easy to find, but the GPU is not only a real ***** to get to, but it uses those raised pads to connect to the heat pipe. So you can't even put any kind of thermal past on it anyways.

 

Bah, I'll have a quick peek when I get back home after work.

 

Hi, can anyone help with any of these questions?

1). If I order the S17 with dual channel Celeron now, could I upgrade to a blistering fast C2D cpu in a year or two when their prices have dropped? I mean is it the same socket, for instance ?

2). Which screen is best for a bit of gaming ?

3). What are delivery times like in the UK at the moment ?


Thanks,
Dottir.

 

Hey, i ordered mine on the 8th, about 10 at night, and it is currently in phase 4, delivery preparation. Not sure how soon it will mean it will be delivered, the estimated delivery date was on or before 21/11/2008.

(im in the UK by the way)

 

Thanks for that Samski.

So they're saying 12 days. Would be interested to know the actual time.

Thinking:

Double Celeron
3G ram
Ati 3650 video card
1440 * 900 LED screen
Vista Home Premium
Big battery

 

They just changed my replacement laptop order which I have been waiting for 3 weeks to the 1737 and they upgraded the screen. hd, processor for free.

Quantity Item Number Description Unit Price

1 224-1673 Studio 1737, Intel Core 2 Duo T9400, 2.53GHz, 1066Mhz, 6M L2Cache $930.00
1 313-6990 Blue Paint with Black Trim $25.00
1 330-1800 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP INSP 1737 $.00
1 420-5769 Internet Search and Portal $.00
1 420-6436 Vista, PC-Restore, Dim/Insp $.00
1 420-8223 Dell Video Chat $.00
1 420-9100 Dell Dock Consumer $.00
1 420-9103 Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition, English $.00
1 463-2282 Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access $.00
1 320-6899 Hi Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920x1200) $150.00
1 311-8624 4GB, DDR2, 800MHz 2 Dimm $100.00
1 341-7835 320G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive $75.00
1 320-7274 ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 $100.00
1 313-6256 8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive) $.00
1 330-2350 Media Direct 4.0 Compact Diskette $.00
1 420-8159 Roxio Creator 10 Dell Edition,Factory Installed $.00
1 420-9763 Media Direct 4.0 $.00
1 430-2953 Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11AGN Half Mini Card $35.00
1 430-3209 Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1) $20.00
1 320-6653 Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam $.00
1 312-0708 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery $40.00
1 313-4783 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0 $.00
1 330-0560 Back-lit Keyboard $50.00
1 311-9426 Integrated Finger Print Reader $25.00
1 420-8312 Finger Print Software $.00
1 320-7625 Hi-Res. TL widescreen 17.0InchWLED display (1920x1200) w/ 2.0M Pixel Camera $.00
1 420-8310 Creative Camera SW $.00
1 310-8628 You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System $.00
1 330-0255 Intel Centrino Label $.00
1 410-1883 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE $.00
1 467-7316 Dell Remote Access Basic Email $.00

 

just bought dell studio 17 with t8100 cpu, really love this laptop screen is brilliant, problem i am having is that the fan switches on and off every minute or so, only using the net, very distracting is this normal for this laptop or is there a fault? even when starting up it does this is not even warm. any ideas does anyone know if fan settings are wrong. any advice should i contact dell or is this normal,

 

Your response was answered already before you posted in here. Again, more powerful CPU means it gets hotter. It is normal for it to come on more.

 

Can someone give me a reccomendation on a good Studio 17 setup for VIDEO EDITING & DVD AUTHORING?

My first question I am torn on is this:

1. 64 bit Vista Home Premium with a 320GB SATA (5400rpm)

OR

2. 32 bit Vista Home Premium with a 250GB SATA (7200rpm)

I'd get 4GB of RAM with either option. What do you guys think?

Also, is it worth the extra $25 USD each for the Web Cam w/ Facial Recognition, and the Finger Print Reader?

 

My T8100 never gets hot and I have to force the fan to turn on with I8KfanGUI to make the thing spin up to max speed. I don't think it has ever went to max speed on its' own even after hours of playing different games like Fallout 3.

Sominex. I would get the 7200 rpm configuration if you are going to be editing any kind of multi-media. I would ask Dell for the 64 bit disk and use that so you can use more than 3.2 gb of your 4gb of ram.

The fingerprint reader is a complete waste of time and easily fooled. Unless you store very critical data on yoru computer and don't know how to encrypt it or are afraid of the 10% performance hit by totally encrypting your entire system with the free program trucrypt, the facial recognition seems like a waste of money.

 

Thanks for the quick reply!

You think Dell will give me the 64-bit disc with the Laptop?

Why do you think they wont just install it on the system?

And lastly, will it be hard to install the 64-bit OS onto the laptop?
(It seems like there might be problems or issues, otherwise they would just install it)

Thanks again bud!

 

I'm about to pull the trigger on a Studio 1737 with the 1920x1200 RGB LED screen. A couple questions:

- has anybody done side by side comparisons of the RGB LED screen vs. the other types of screens available for the Studio? My main concern is even backlighting although it seems RGB LED technology eliminates this issue?

- Does the 85Whr battery protrude out the bottom? how much weight does it add? I might stick with the standard battery if the 85Whr battery is going to be a big "bump" sliding in and out of my laptop backpack.

- any problems downgrading to XP on this? I assume I can do the same thing I did with my Inspiron 6400 and find all the necessary drivers on dell.com

- I didn't see the Verizon mobile broadband EVDO Rev A option on the 1737 (it's there on the 1735 though). I assume I can buy and add this later, since it looks like you can buy the mini-PCI card ala carte, direct from Dell for approximately the same $125 price.

 

I was wondering the same thing. If anyone has the LED RGB screen and how does it look compared to the regular screen?

 

Yes I had the 1440 LED screen and the 1920 CCFL side by side and the biggest difference is contrast and viewing angle - the 1920 screen's viewing angle is much better than the 1440 screen. The brightness on the 1920 screen is fine - the only issue is color calibration - the 1920 screen is very warm/saturated with colors so expect a calibration if you work withphotos/editing. The 1920 screen is crisp/sharp and great for photo editing/viewing but for games the 1440 screen will be better as some won't have the highest frame rates with the 1920 screen. As far as even backlighting: the 1920 screen shows uneven backlighting only on dark backgrounds and at certain viewing angles but for normal use it's a non-issue IMO.

As far as the battery goes: it makes the laptop sit up a bit in the back - one plus is it helps with ventilation but it does as you say also stick out the bottom more than the standard 56Whr battery.

 

Does anybody know how to get the backlit keyboard to work??
Thanks for any help.

 

Does anywone knows when the studios,will get video card updates,the hd3650 it's relatively weeak.

 

I was asking about the 1920 RGB LED screen - not the 1920 CCFL screen. I would hope the RGB LED screen would show no uneven backlighting at all.

I ordered a Studio 1737 tonight with the 1920 RGB LED screen. Due to ship 11/25.

 

Hi msjaneoly,

Hitting both the Fn Key + the Right Arrow keys gives
you this backlit keyboard action each of the 3 times

First- turns it on High
Second turns it Low
third turns it off

you can adjust it in Quickset, which MUST be installed & on for it to work!


Dagra

PS. here's my Studio 17' and my Sons and Fiances'

We love them for Media , Movies, Music, Home video, Editing video, backing up movies(On mine i make a copy, to keep my original pristine)


2 Mike Ming (Extreme) Editions
1 Mike Ming Red Swirl Studio 17

Specs:

Mine

Seaweed
Vista Ultimate x64(Retail)(working on getting XP SP2 functioning, with Audio)
(came with Ultimate x86 Retail standard)
T9300 2.5Ghz 6MB L2
4GB 2x 2GB DDR2 667(G. Skill aftermarket) came with 3GB DDR2 533
(bumps up Memory subscore to 5.2)
2 x 320GB Scorpio Black 7,200 (aftermarket) RAID 0
(using Vista Disk managment)
came with a single 320GB 5,400rpm which I'm using with a Thermaltake BlacX
Storage P/N: ST0005U using eSATA (keeping partitions intact in case I sell it)
256 ATI HD 3650 Hypermemory(Uses up to 1768MB of system Memory)
1920 x 1200 Backlight LED HD display
Back lit Keyboard
Blue-ray BD-RW
Dell Bluetooth Heaphones
Dell Irda Media Center Remote (works with every app [except VLC player])
I replaced the speakers with a 5 watt Altec Landsing set, from an HP Pavillon, that was run over.last summer(no complete warranty lol)
85Wt hr battery(I like how it clears for cooling.)
CRYO LX 3x 120MM notebook cooling


My Sons, has everything same as mine except, his is SeaSky. Plus he doesn't
have a Thermaltake BlacX.
We added a second 320GB WD 5,400 to his and no RAID
his has the stock speakers. He said those I put in mine are to loud.
(he likes the Dell bluetooth headphones better anyway
He thinks it's fast enought to play the games he puts on it, FEAR, COD4,
Bioshock, Orange Box, WOW

but we do have a M17x for hardcore gaming. Crysis, Dead Space, FarCry2, Fallout 3, (plus many from last year
Mirrors Edge,
(He's getting my M17x when my new M17 comes after X-mas)

My Fiance' surf the web, she wanted the X3100 intel, with stock everything,
Ultimate 32
T9300
2 x 250GB
4 GB ddr2 533

so she can use it on her lap.(her's lasts over 4.5 hours to. Over an hour more on the same battery, then mine *& my sons(and she hasn't tried extended battery yet!

Well, We love the Studio 17. I'm glad to have it to hook up at hotels when I'm traveling, and watch blu-ray movies(Well Marriot, and hilton have them)

I agree the HD 3560, needs to be upgraded. I'm surprised they even sold ANY
Studio 17's with the Intel 965 Video chipset(2 years old) shame on Dell)
I read a guy's rant on Dell forums, & dell2blog

 

You don't need quickset to enable your keyboard back light. I refuse to install anything I don't need, and quickset is one of those things I don't need. But my backlight still works without a problem.

 

I wonder if that screen would work in a 1735? (is it the same bezel/etc..,)

 

Im getting concerned about these orders if we are going to get the famous order delayed email. Mine is supposed to ship on 11/24 but I have a bad feeling about it. Has the RGB LED and the Montevino CPU.

 

Today I got an order delayed email on the Bluetooth module (now shipping 11/28), but as someone else mentioned earlier, the Bluetooth was broken out as a separate order after I placed the order for the laptop. Fingers crossed that they still come through on the main laptop on time.