Studio 1555 -vs- Studio 15 Spcial Edition

** EDIT** i moved this to the Studio 1555 thread, probably more appropriate there. I would delete this thread but i don't know how.

Hi all, I've been reading the threads for a while and wanted to get some more opinions on the 1555 vs SSE. I know the SSE is basically the 1537 with the edge to edge monitor.

I placed my order for the SSE last week with an estimated delivery date of 6/15
I could cancel my order and go with the 1555 with an estimated ship date of 6/01. what do you think. I have ~$1000 to play with.

I really like the edge to edge on the Special edition but i don't know if it's worth it? I don't play computer games at all, and don't plan to watch too many moves so i'm not sure how important the upgraded graphics card on the 1555 will be.

The main conflict i'm having is deciding between the 15.4" (16:10) edge-to-edge or the 15.6" (16:9) displays. The other concern i have is considering the problems people have had with the 1537 and 1535.

So... sorry for being all over the place on this first post, this has all just been building up inside me over the last week as i'm getting more anxious for my computer to get here and the starting to wonder if i made the right decision on the model i chose. Any help/opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
G

 

I have a three month old 1537 and really like it, it has the 1440x900 monitor, and I haven't had any problems with it.

15.4 or 15.6 really isn't much of a difference, and the edge to edge is a joke, it's not edge to edge, it just has a black flat frame around it, instead of a grey thicker frame around it.

For what you need, don't blow your hard earned money on unnecessary cosmetic things.

 

thanks for your reply, i actually went to a few stores to see if i could compare a 15.4 side by side to a 15.6 but like others have alluded to, it seems the 15.4" displays are disappearing. I think you're probably right though, not much of a difference.

I'm hoping the edge to edge is nice though... it's only on the studio 15 special edition (and studio xps), not the regular 1537 of even the new 1555.

I'm glad you're happy with your 1537, i hope mine's is free of problems.

Anyone else have an opinion on the Studio 15 "special edition" vs the 1555?

thanks,
g

 

I would get the Studio 1537 Special Edition. For one, the lid and palmrest design is way cool, and it's not available on the 1555. Also, the Special Edition has a 16:10 display, which in my opinion is way better than the 1555's 16:9, since you effectively lose vertical space with the 1555.

Also, the Special Edition still has the touch-sensitive media buttons, while the 1555 replaces them with keyboard shortcuts. And then there's the "edge-to-edge" display, included on the Special Edition but not the 1555.

The only advantage the 1555 really has is the graphics card; it has the ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4570 with 256 or 512MB DDR2 memory, instead of the HD 3450 256MB available in the 1537 Special Edition.

Put it this way: if someone offered me the ability to replace my 1535 with either a certified refurbished 1537 S.E. or a new 1555, I'd take the Special Edition in a heartbeat.

 

Mastershroom, I'm glad you commented! I was honestly getting ready to PM you since i see your posts on all the threads i've been reading. No joke, I was going to ask you "if you had a choice between the two what would you do".

I'm glad I chose the SSE, I don't do any gaming so the video card wouldn't matter too much, and i agree with you about the 16:10 being better (seems more natural), not to mention the fact that i might have needed to get a new bag to fit the 15.6" (not sure about that).

As an aside, it seems like they got rid of the back lit keyboard option on the SE sometime this week, I'm lucky i squeaked through while they still had it.

Does anyone know if there's plans for a 1555 Special Edition?

 

I know you were about to. I read minds.

Sounds like the 1537 SE is right up your alley, then. And 15.6" bags aren't exactly commonplace, at least not yet.

That's good that you got it, then. For the record, though, the keyboard replacement surgery is extremely simple. I actually did exactly that with my 1535: I got the standard unlit keyboard with the system, and later bought the backlit keyboard from a third party vendor for $50 and installed it myself. The whole swap took around 10 minutes. So if anyone you know is considering one but wants the backlit keyboard, let them know they still have the option.

None so far. The 1555 itself is a pretty new model, just released in the U.S. last month. It took several months to go from the 1535 and 1536 to the 1537, and then more for the 1537 SE. I'm sure the 1555 will be on its own for a while.

 

Realistically it will takes 4-5 months until most bugs in Studio 1555 has been fixed.

 

What bugs are you referring to?

 

every type
it is typical for every new machine to have some bugs related to driver and bios issues.
typically after 3-5 months the BIOS and the drivers are on good enough level.
It was the same with 1535 - it takes to Dell probably month to realize crackling sound fix - wireless driver. and when I brought my Studio it was on the market from 3-4 months.

 

Yeah, I know it's typical, but what specific issues are common with the 1555?

 

Another difference is the special edition has the edge to edge display, but the 1555 has the optional 1080p display.

I won't be running any games on my laptop, but I will be connected to a 1080p monitor probably 75% of the time. So I'm wondering if I were to get a laptop (the special edition 15 for example) with only 720p screen, what would the image quality be like on the monitor? Is there some way that the GPU can produce a higher resolution? I think that the ability for the laptop to produce the best image on my monitor will be the deciding factor for me.

 

i don't think the studio 15 Special edition has an option for "720p"

but you bring up a good point in that the 1555 does offer the 1080p display which the studio 15 SE doesn't. The reason i didn't think that was such a bid deal is because i thought the 1080p screen would be too much for a 15.6" display and it would be tough to read web pages and desktop icons... etc (i know you can mess with fonts and text settings but it didn't seem worth it to me since i don't watch movies)

Does anyone have any experience with the 1080p on the 1555... how's the text?

 

it's 1440 x 900 which is higher than 720p. and the only reason I would care is because I would be using a monitor most of the time so I would want the highest resolution to match my monitor. and yeah, without changing the font sizes it might be a bit small to deal with for an extended amount of time. although i was looking in the 1555 user's thread and there is a guy who has 2 videos of him using his 1080p screen and he loves it... so it seems to be personal preference.

 

The GPU will be able to run up to 1920x1200 via the VGA port, which means it will run 1080p (1920x1080) just fine, regardless of the laptop's own native resolution. The only difference in resolutions is in the display itself, it has nothing to do with the GPU.

There will be no difference on a 1080p monitor whether you're using the natively 720p or 1080p version of the notebook.

The 1555 is 16:9 aspect ratio, which is different from the 1537 SE, which is 16:10. There is no such thing as 720p or 1080p for a 16:10 display.

The common 16:10 resolutions are:

• 1280x800
• 1440x900 (used in the 1537 SE)
• 1920x1200
• 2560x1600 (only seen in 30+ inch displays)

16:9 common resolutions include:

• 720p (1280x720)
• 900p (1600x900) (not really a true HD resolution)
• 1080p (1920x1080)

So, for the most part, the 16:9 resolutions are slightly vertically shorter vertical resolutions than their 16:10 counterparts, with the exception of 1600x900, aka 900p, which is a slightly horizontally wider version of the 16:10 1440x900.

So, the 1440x900 display in the Studio 15 Special Edition will have more space than the Studio 1555's 720p, it will be pretty comparable to the 900p, and less than the 1080p. Personally, I think 1440x900 is the ideal screen resolution for a 15.4" notebook, giving the perfect balance of readable text and amount of stuff you can fit on the screen.

And don't get me started on why 16:9 is inferior to 16:10. That's an argument for a different thread.

The highest resolution on the laptop has nothing to do with the resolution displayed on an external monitor. A 720p laptop will look just as good on a 1920x1200 monitor as a 1080p laptop will.

 

THANK YOU!! This is the key information I have been looking for! Just to clarify though, I can use HDMI instead of VGA correct?

 

Of course, assuming your monitor has HDMI input.