Studio 17 Screen Quality

My Studio 17 just arrived, and while I'm quite happy with everything else about it, the display quality is very bad compared to my old laptop (a XPS Gen 2, which also has a 6-bit LCD). It appears to not be doing any dithering at all, which leads to banding when displaying nearly anything. For example, this image displays perfectly on my old laptop:


On my Studio 17, this has very visible banding and is a bit splotchy in places. I've tried various driver versions, but the fact that even the initial startup windows welcome screen had issues makes me doubt that's the problem. Is this normal for Studio 17s with the WUXGA screen + Radeon HD3650, or do I possibly have defective hardware?

 

Since you are the first person to say something about it - defective hardware. Give Dell a call.






EDIT: Compare your screen to the pics in this review. The pics are on a 1900x1200 HD monitor.

 

There is banding visible in some of the pictures in the review (such as the top-right corner of this one), but I had assumed that was just a side effect of it being a photo. If that is what they're supposed to look like, I guess my expectations were just too high for the price range.

 

The laptop they reviewed was a pre-production - not a final product.

Have you even tried calling Dell? I'm sure they will help you out.

 

Morale - Interesting, you're making the exact same laptop switch that I am. This reply is being typed on my current XPS Gen 2, and I just (finally) ordered a Studio 17 (1920x1200) on Friday.

Earlier this year, I went through (as in, returned) three XPS 1530's. Long story, but, yes, sometimes Dell has (statistically minor - until you're the statistic) QC issues.

However, without a doubt (from my experience), Dell is extremely good about making their Customers happy. In all three cases, without ANY hassle, they accepted my returns and refunded absolutely all of the purchase price.

Yeah, it's a little inconvenient and a lot disappointing, but, if you're not happy, please call Dell - as frustrating as it can be, replace or refund, Dell will resolve your problem.

BTW - I went to the Dallas (Northpark) Dell Store today and they didn't have either Studio model. But, the Las Colinas Staples did have (one lonely) Studio 15. I'm extremely screen-quality-sensitive, and the 15's screen looked very nice. Additionally, the reviews I've read of the 1920x1200 Studio 17 have all remarked that the laptop has a very nice display.

So, if only for the sake of my currently-being-assembled Studio 17 Hopefully, you just received a rogue "bad one" and that Dell will send you a "perfect" replacement.

Best of Luck!

 

I'm still trying to figure out what that picture is -_-