Studio 17 with MONTEVINA is up on US Dell Website......

Sounds great, WIseman. How many days did it end up taking them to get back to you?

And if your reason for return was merely "scathing", mine was downright accusatory...it wasn't intentional, I just didn't know how to word it any better. I didn't actually request a refund, I just said they should install it themselves before they ship the system...we'll see what happens, I guess.

 

WatchRandy - as an application developer, who uses an IDE like Eclipse, believe me, you want as much screen space as possible. A 17" screen makes 1920x1200 usable with a reasonably-sized font.

And, yeah, since I have a BluRay player (well, assuming I eventually get my Studio 17), then it's definitely best to have at or above 1080p resolution.

I had an S17 with the 1920x1200 CCFL screen earlier this year, and the color reproduction was an issue (probably just a defect with my particular unit), but, I can't wait to see how stunning the RGB-LED screen is. And after all this waiting - it IS going to be stunning

B.U.N.E. - Sorry to hear about your latest delay.

 

So the one you have on order is with the RGB-LED screen?
I think you will be very pleased with it. I just calibrated mine again the the Spyder 2 and it is beautiful but like I mentioned before it doesnt really need calibration. You can also tweak some of the ATI settings on the control panel.

 

Well, I initially waited a couple of days for an email/notification/update of their system. I think I contacted them about the order status Thursday, and they got back to me today.

Haha, my message was similar. I wrote "I was under the impression that "built to your
specifications" meant the laptop would be shipped with all parts
installed." I was actually trying to just return the bluetooth, but with this strange turn of events I'm going to order the new laptop without it and install it myself... since I have it here anyway (and also because the credit was for 13$ while bluetooth installed is $20... I guess there's a $7 fee for something I can do in less than ten minutes.)

I'm going to order another Mini 9 with mine I'm so impressed with it, though. Hopefully they don't come back and charge me $250 later... Were more than one available for purchase using that discount? I saw someone bought 5 googling it... but idk if that was an unintended glitch or what.

 

No such luck for me. The guy actually referred me to tech support, though I my complain made no mention of a technical problem. He didn't give me an RMA, either.

 

Alright so my system is up and running, formatted and 64-bit ultimate was put on. It screams, all software is up and running as intended, drivers were on dell's site and the ones that weren't were on the resource cd. It's nice the cd has both 32 and 64 bit drivers, makes life a lot easier.

Specs:
P8400, 3gig ddr2-800, Radeon 3650, LED 1440x900 Screen, Backlit keyboard, Bluetooth 2.1 compatible, 7200RPM 250gig, Intel 5100 Wireless, DVD -+ RW, E-Sata is on the laptop (lovin it), fingerprint scanner works like a dream.

Overall experience, WOW. The screen is so nice and bright i had to lower it most of the way at first. I also got the extended battery which raises the laptop up the perfect amount to ventilate and actually helps your hand placement. The first one that was working that i got didn't have the LED or bluetooth or E-sata or fingerprint scanner and i'm glad i got all of these options, for free or not

For the people that game, WOW runs amazing, even in dalaran at 1440x900 with most of the details turned up i'm getting 50 fps, so have fun!

 

Dell's explanation for shipping the bluetooth modules prior to building the Studio 1737s:

So there you have it: Ordering a customized system from Dell does not entitle you to a system pre-built by Dell. Don't bother reading the fine print, because it isn't there.

 

That's ridiculous.

I'd email him back, saying, in that case, I want to return both the module and the system.


I guess the reason mine went through was because they cancelled my order after I got it, leaving me with a useless module.


On a side note, no coupon code in my email yet... probably gonna have to call back again.

 

Glad to hear how WoW runs. My Studio 17 (which will hopefully arrive tomorrow) is also P8400, 3 GB, Radeon 3650, 250 GB 7200 RPM HDD, 1440x900 (not LED though). The main reason I bought a new laptop is cause my current desktop is 6 years old and has hated WoW since WotLK. Also, I turned my office into a play room for my kids - so another desktop wasn't really an option due to limited space.

WOOT for WoW playing awesome. Are you all maxed except for shadows or what?

 

does the e-sata port work? I saw it on the laptop but it wasn't labeled... Thought they might have disabled it, stupid as that sounds.

Got my new laptop ordered, scheduled to get here the 23rd... I managed to get 2 day shipping free because of the mini 9 somehow. The manager called back, let me know the order had gone through and that he put a rush on it. I also received the coupon . So despite the initial insanity, they've taken care of things well (assuming I DO get the laptop this time...)

 

2nd order delay notice received.

I finagled a really good price for this system, I thought. If I let them cancel it, I might not find such a good offer again (it was pretty good).

On the other hand, if I wait a month and reorder, they may have some better component upgrades available (probably not, but who knows).

Any suggestions?

 

Another wrinkle:

I got the mini 9 deal with the Studio 17. I already received the mini 9.

BUT, Dell requires that I return the mini 9 if I return the Studio 17.

What if they cancel the order? Do I get to keep it, or will they not refund me the Studio 17 price if I don't return it, even though they cancel it, not me?

 

I received my Studio 17 on Wednesday. Thursday morning, I was typing and the plastic bit for the \ key popped off, it was broken. I called Dell immediately and told them that it shipped that way. A tech came to my house today and replaced my keyboard! Hooray. I've been playing lots of WoW and this laptop runs it great so far, albeit with a little chugging at 30fps.

My only complaint about the Studio 17, other than my broken keyboard, is the speakers. They are terrible. They certainly should use higher quality parts if the ever market this as a multimedia laptop.

 

WatchRandy - Congratulations! Well, on at least receiving the laptop. Sorry about the broken key. And, I'm also sorry about the speakers. Not to make light of the issue (and it is an issue) but, I thought that was pretty common knowledge. In fact, I think while Consumer Reports listed the S17 as a very good laptop - they pretty much said it had the worst speakers. Ever.

B.U.N.E. - Excellent, excellent question (about the Mini 9). Not that Dell cares about my opinion, but *I* think they'd have an awfully hard time forcing you you return it. They canceled, not you. They might conceivably try to charge you full price, but, that could be refuted (by you and your CC Company) as well.

Most importantly, come on - this is Dell. They can't seem to even install all the parts before they ship a laptop. What are the chances of them even noticing the situation?

Now Me... After receiving my second delay notice yesterday (complete with that mandatory auto-cancelation. ahem). Today I received word that my laptop should ship on Tuesday. Who knows...

Other than that news, my Dell Customer Service person has completely - harshly even - refused to offer any resolution to my emailed concerns about the "some assembly required" Bluetooth issue. But, as usual, every piece of correspondence always invites me to reply if I "have any other questions or concerns". Do they not understand how infuriating a disingenuous offer can be? "Disingenuous" - Word For The Day...

All my moaning aside - and forgetting the expected sub-par speakers - I'm still looking forward to getting this laptop. I mean, something this hard to get has just gotta be good - right?

 

Ditto: Congratulation, WatchRandy. Enjoy!

I noticed the same thing, Mark. After reiterating my concerns several times, and getting the same canned responses to each one, I started to realize that they aren't happy to answer any questions. They probably aren't even aware it tags that to the end of every message they send.

It would be totally uncool if they recalled the Inspiron 9, or if a surprise charge showed up for it on my credit card. That would just blow me away...I wouldn't put it past them at this point.

Anyway, I decided they can do whatever they want to do at this point. Cancel, don't cancel, I don't care. They haven't told me either way yet. I was seriously starting to regret not picking up the RGB LED anyway. Maybe when I've calmed down enough to place the order again, they'll have the P8600 available (fat chance).

Glad to hear yours is scheduled to ship soon. Every delay I've faced thus far has been set back an arbitrary 5 business days, which is a strong enough suggestion to me that they don't have any clue if/when they'll be able to ship it. With all the jumping back and forth between building, testing, and boxing over the past 3 weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if my computer doesn't exist in any form.

What I really want to know is what's holding these things up. Some people get them, some don't, what gives? Which is the magic component that prevents my computer from coming home? Which part shouldn't I have ordered?

 

Well I know that if you order Country-Fried Steak at a TexMex restaurant, you're in for a wait. Now, all we have to do is figure out what the Dell-equivalent of Country-Fried Steak is... Or, it could simply be lucky timing. *I* have terrible timing.

I totally understand your frustration. BUT - you know I'm going to be completely envious if you cancel, wait a month or so, and wind up with DDR3, a faster CPU and a better GPU

Amazing, in just two posts, I've gone from whining about a delay in getting my laptop, to already having buyer's remorse.

 

I read all the complaints about how the speakers sucked, I just didn't imagine that they could be as terrible as they are. They sound OK for gaming and whatnot, but are absolutely atrocious for video and music.

 

lol I can't decide how I feel about it either

I'm not holding out for DDR3, something tells me that's long in coming, same with the GPU. The only reason I have a flicker of hope for more processors is because they're offering studios with the P8600 and T9600 in some other countries...doesn't mean they'll ever do that here, I guess.

 

Yeah, that was my opinion as well. Until I experienced it first hand. Afterwards, I contributed to a "speaker bash" series of posts on another thread about 3 months ago.

I hate bashing for bashing's sake - it feels good for a second or two, but generally doesn't help much beyond that.

Still - as a courtesy for anyone else thinking about purchasing an S17: Dell prominently advertizes those external (color-matching) speakers for a reason - the S17's internal speakers are astonishingly poor.

 

Link? J/K I'll check myself, but its a tempting purchase lol.

 

I apologize for using the next three over-used letters, but, OMG! My laptop just shipped. On a Saturday, OMG. Should be here Monday morning. OMG, I've gotta figure out a good excuse for working from home now...

I'm, I'm just getting a little vaklempt. I mean, I've heard of this happening to other people, but, I just never believed it'd really happen to me. My new laptop is shipping. I'm crying real tears.

 

Uh oh...did I make a mistake allowing them to cancel my order?

Congratulations on your good fortune and good judgment!

 

You should have waited 60 days my sources and Dell moles say theres gonna be a nice spec bump after the Holiday stock is liquidated, After CES 2009

Studio 17's new Nvidia GPU 512MB GDDR3 and DDR3 RAM standard.

it only makes sense because the CEntrino 2 Montevinia is compatible.

As of Today I canceled my order will see confirmation in 3 weeks or so after CES 2009 first week of January.

not gonna have outdated old technology after only 60 days.

the second I canceled I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders I was so happy.

 

well...there's always the return policy...right?

 

its 21 days from purchase date right? So it takes about 12 days just to recieve it that leaves you 11 days.

Or is there some other extended return policy?

I'm gonna wait till they announce at CES 2009 on January 8th.

I kept thinking why haven't they spec bumped up to DDR3 Montevinea is by default compatible. And why are they running these crap almost 2 year old ATI 3650's which are like 90nm. When every single other laptop manufactuer has switched to NVIDIA units on a 65nm Die, which reduced power consumption by almost half, and you get better performance to boot.

ATI and AMD are about to file bankruptcy in 2009 anyways, no one buys their CPU's and they all but lost the GPU race, and have been crushed in the mobile CPU market.

AMD had a nice glory day, but Intel partnering with Apple and that branding, plus the Core 2 Duo's are just monsters low power at 45nm and 25W TDP.

 

11 days? Ha. As long as they're shipping components of the same order separately weeks apart, you'll never be able to return your entire order without pulling some teeth.

It took 4 email exchanges with the guy before he agreed to request to make an exception to the return policy so that I could return the bluetooth module if the Studio 17 arrived after the return period expired. When I was informed that the order would be canceled anyway, I requested an RMA for the bluetooth module...still no response to that one.

 

First of all, if there is a spec bump with the Nvidia graphics, no thanks, because according to an outspoken website, I guess called theinquier.com, even the new Nvidia 9000 series graphics have bad solder bumps. ATI cards don't seem to have problems in this area. Nvidia themselves still have not admitted to which cards and why they went bad.

PLUS, is anyone else getting a message from Dell over the phone for Customer Service being closed on a Saturday? Is there a special number to call? Thier website says they are open today.

 

Good points but I would much preffer nvidia over ATI anyday, besides AMD and ATI will soon go belly up, sell your stock while you can. No one is buying machines with AMD chips let alone ati cards. That company is off in limbo somewhere. Sell the stock buy Intel instead Intel stock is practically being given away, but at least it has value and will make you money. Someone has to make CPU's and it won't be AMD for very long besides when AMD emplodes INtel stock will double in price.

As far as Dell Customer Service being down I am guess you are calling to cancel and order haha smart move. If not they are probably Flooded by last minute holiday shoppers trying to get last minute orders shipped in time.

Or cancelations like me took me 2 hours on Hold to cancel my order. Its as if they somehow know I wanted to cancel and were trying to do everything to stop me.

Heck even calling the Order Status number entering my Purchase ID, all of a sudden the automated voice said that my order had Shipped!!!.

When the online status says in Production. Thats a Little trick DELL's system do to try and trick you into Not canceling your orders when they see you are calling into cancel.

Finally got through and canceled

 

Yes, actually, I did want to cancel. ANYWAY to get to them??? They claim they are closed, that is what the AUTOMATED system says. This happaned to me last weekend too...

 

21 days from Ship Date - Nvidia better? yeah maybe, but tell my 8 month old m1530 with the 8600m and solder bumps that - guess that's why I get an extra 1 year warranty on graphics card defects?!

 

Ice Cold - I'm not refuting your advice, but, there's always something better "two months from now". And, honestly, I kinda like that. Given, I'll still be envious in two months when you get that better configuration, but, I really - really, really - need to be happy now.

In fact, right after my last post (up until about 30 minutes ago) my current laptop pretty much died. If I'm lucky, I've resurrected it long enough to make sure that all my most recent files have been backed up, and, to make the post.

Other than that, I've just gotta make it through the weekend - and keep thinking good thoughts - this time, Dell really has to send me a problem-free product.

Ice Cold & B.U.N.E. - I can (unfortunately) confirm that Dell's return window starts at the ship date (if not the delivery date) of the specific item. It's one of those bittersweet things, Dell's been fantastic at accepting returns this year - it's just that I really wish I hadn't had to do it so often.

 

Im as happy as you are that your notebook finally shipped. I really want to hear your review on it mainly the RGB-LED display.
I have yet to hear anyone do a review on the RGB-LED display.
Please let us know after you receive it.

 

Just my opinion on all of the upgrades. Unless you use this notebook for gaming the CPU and GPU are really irrelevant. You are not going to notice any difference with these upgrades and in fact the way Nvidia has been with the notebook GPUs recently Im glad that I have ATI.
I normally do use Nvidia but in my home systems which I do use for gaming.
I have 2 homebuilt systems with Nvidia 8800GTX SLI and the 9800GTX SLI.
I would never expect a notebook computer to have nearly the same performance. I have an older Sony 17" non-LED/Xbrite-HiColor with the T7200 CPU ATI 1600 256MB and the picture quality is just about the same as the Studio 17 RGB-LED.

If you are buying a notebook for gaming you should be looking at the XPS 1730 (8800GTX SLI) or other high performance notebook computers.

Also there have been rumors floating around about them dropping the XPS M1730 and coming out with an XPS 16" notebook so Im not sure where the Studio 17 will fit into all of this. Some manufacturers are dropping the 17" completely for the 16" screens. Regardless it should be interesting to see what happens.

 

Watch Apple at Mac World drop the 17" MBP as most PC OEM's as well DELL just so many configuartions and lines it will take them longer.

But Apple will drop the 17" MBP and come out with a 16.4 inch 1080P MBP with Bluray drive 1920x1080, and everyone else will follow suit.

HP has Toshiba, LEnovo, its just they don't start any new PR advertising till after Holiday 08, The units are out.

All CES will be is the new 16:9 Notebooks with 1080p. While everyone who bought during christmas does the ole face palm happens every year.

I am very curious about Battery life on the new Centrino 2 Monteviniea chipset with LED. NR.com review was Centrino 1 and non-LED.

Its just DELL said well we have $5 million dollars worth of DDR2 RAM we can spec bump the Studio 17's up to DDR3 or get rid of all the DDR2 stock.

Its smart business, My cancelation is also smart business.

Sure I wanted a new toy in time for Christmas (its more of necessity still rocking a Celeron 2.6ghz 1 core from 7 years ago+)

This way I'll use my Obama stimulus/ bail out money we should all be getting $600+

And I would rather put it on my Dell Preferred credit account before ALL credit dries up. Scary that one guy who Dell canceled his order and dropped his credit in half.

I canceled one order, the my second one placed someone called me to verify it and I told them it was legit and he said its going into production as of right now.

But God willing knock on wood no more desktops for me. South Florida Miami I had to pack up and evacuate 2x last year, thankfully storms missed.

I don't mind lossing an LCD desktop monitor but, 200Gigs of life and data emails etc. must be mobile.

 

So after a fairly heated and unsolicited rant from me, I received a response from the customer care telling me that my system would probably ship within 24 hours, as a service tag had been generated for it...interesting, considering I never gave them consent to not cancel the order after the second delay notice. These guys just don't do anything by the book, do they?

On the other hand, I'd take bets that this guy is full of it and they end up spontaneously canceling my order within the next few days anyway. It seems this guy will say anything to get out of giving me an RMA for the bluetooth module.

If I had known this was how it was going to be, I would have waited for better configurations.

EDIT: Aaaaand they canceled it. Wouldn't you know?

 

Woo Hoo - My S17 just arrived (exactly 1 hour and 5 minutes ago). Of course, Dell still ways to push my buttons, but, it's here. And I just wanted to post that.

(Extreme) First Impressions - It's not "flawless", but, it looks really good. And, Dell seems to have dropped the "topo" imprint on the palm rest. Had I known that, I wouldn't have ordered that grey "topo" lid. NOT A BIG DEAL!

I've only just got it up and connected to the internet. It's very quiet, and seems to be "fine" on speed (I haven't de-bloated it yet).

Screen-wise. Well, so far, so WOW. I haven't done much with it at all, but, during our time together so far. It looks good - really, really good.

On a very personal note - the kind of note that's not even remotely on-topic. I found out this weekend that I've got a friend battling what might be untreatable cancer and two other friends who just ran a marathon to raise money for the children's hospital (responsible for their son's artificial leg).

I'm just saying that my obsession over getting the perfect notebook suddenly sounds a little self-indulgent. I'll try my best to keep that in mind before my next rant over a $20 Bluetooth module.

 

Congratulations, Mark!

Deeply sorry to hear about your friend

But before you write off your concerns as trivial...

My brother-in-law purchased a new computer for himself while suffering from brain cancer. The next day, he lost his eyesight to the disease.

Time is precious. Dell has no right to waste any of yours.

 

Well Im glad to hear that you like the screen so far. Someone else who just received theirs on this forum was mentioning they didnt think it was so great.
Just curious if they are using different manufacturers? Maybe when you have time you could check and see who made yours. It should be LG.

 

Well, I'm willing to believe that I'm maybe just a little over excited right now - so, there is the possibility that I'll be less impressed in the morning (I really hope not).

As of right now, aside from some more-annoying-than-expected bloat-ware, after two more hours with the screen - I'm even more happy.

I've downloaded QuickTime and played the trailers that looked horrible on my last S17, and played "The 5ifth Element" on Bluray using Dell's MD. In both cases, the screen didn't just look "better" - I was stunned. And, now... It's time to update our TVs

There is maybe a little more light bleed than I expected - just right above the "DELL" logo. But, it's truly not an issue.

As for color reproduction - again, I'm a programmer, not a graphic designer or artist - it's amazing. I noticed shadings and colorings (in "The 5ifth Element") that'd I'd never picked up before - and it's been my favorite "reference" movie for years (as in, I've seen it dozens of times).

What I'm trying to say is that, other than being able to subjectively judge it against other notebooks and HD displays that I'm familiar with - I don't think I'm qualified to say anything more than: So far, the screen blows way past my expectations.

And, yes, it's an LG.

One more thing. This time, the speakers are merely "not horrible". They're not in anyway comparable to the screen. But, in the previous S17 - they sucked. Period. I don't know if it's an improved driver or different hardware. There's no "pop" or crackle. Again, they're nothing to brag about - but - at least they're not offensive.

 

So when you boot up your S17 RGB LED display does the black boot up screen look true black? mine looks more like a dark grey.

 

Ooh that is a good question. How does it render black? Is the lowest brightness setting really bright enough to view indoors? I'm thinking about getting the RGB LED when I place a new order.

 

mine has the RGB LED and I'm sending it back because.

#1. I can not color calibrate the screen no matter what I do.

#2. It will not render true black, for some reason the blackest is a dark grey.

#3. My 7 year old Celeron desktop is twice as fast on boot up and web use than a 2.53Ghz 6MB cache CPU running Vista 64, vs my Desktop which is a Celeron with 128kb cache.

unless I can make some changes fast this machine gone.


My first use of Vista and its beyond garbage. Everything is hidden under 3 layers of menus. And it asks for permission before doing anything so It takes longer to do anything.

 

I'm sorry i haven't been on the forum in about a week i just have one thing to say to this quote.

Please oh please get your information straight and if you're going to be a fanboy atleast do it respectfully. Your information is very far off what is true as far as specs and who is doing what and who leads what. Maybe Preface it by saying, this is my opinion.

I purchased my S17 because the p8400 is a great processor, and the HD 3650 works great for gaming and everything else. However, if they had an AMD option i'd be all over it when the next generation comes out, but the turions are lagging. I'll leave it at that.

 

if you have a studio 17 try checking your blacks on this page.

I have the RGB LED and I can only see 4 sqaures. I doubt Dell will offer any help with color calibration

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php#blacktest.png

 

Hello everyone. Well I'm new here, and I've been reading this thread for a few days now. I ordered my S17 on 12/6 and it arrived today! I can't wait to get home and see what I got...the good, the bad or something in between! I did get the RGB LCD screen so I'll test it with your link ICE. I'll let you know what I find tomorrow.

 

I havent seen that caibration chart for awhile.

I have 19 of the black squares right now with my calibration which isnt too bad.

Have you gone to the ATI control panel and looked at the adjustments?

Here is where Im at right now and you should have the same results:


Under Color:
Gamma: 1.00
Brightness: 0
Contrast: 100

Under the Avivo Color:
Hue: 0
Saturation: 66

Some of these can be tweaked alittle to your taste on how much color and brightness you want.

 

Thanks for the info, jet757f. There are so few people posting about their experiences with the machine!

 

if jet sees 19 of those black sqaures then my machine RGB LED is Fubar.

 

Lucky you - reordered on 12/4, got delay notice yesturday - new ship = 12/26...

 

I fixed it !!!!. Man this is a nice screen, finally got the color tones adjusted.

why can't Microsoft just include a simple 4 step calibration tool like Apple sheesh.

It was the avivo color Hue and saturation settings.

Went from a send it back to a keep. No back light bleed, very uniform lighting, still need to adjust for Blacks and blacks levels and no dead pixels

Thank you.

Still not sure what benefits if any the RGB LED provides over the Standard LED or even if a normal human could ever tell them apart if they didn't know which was which. I just saw a better option and went for it.