Studio uses HD 3450?

isnt that a LOT worse than the 8600 in the M1530?

 

Yes.

This proves XPS is not going away.

 

its worse than geforce 8400 lol...what the hell

 

Hmm.... How much worse?

I don't care about gaming, but I do care about being able to edit AVCHD video.

 

You can do that with integrated graphics. You don't need a graphics card period.

 

That's not what I've read. Maybe with regular HD editing, but apparently AVCHD video editing needs a dedicated graphics card.

 

Or it proves that if you want to game, Dell has an Alienware to sell you.

But yeah, the XPS probably isn't going away...yet.

 

they definitely have an alienware to sell u.. but the gaming part(m1730) of xps is probably going the way of the dodo bird. but the xps m1330 and 1530 are probably gonna stick around

 

The Studio 15 Comes with either an X3100 or 3450, the Studio 17 comes with a 3650.

 

Will the HD 3650 allow for a dual monitor setup with an external monitor? I'd assume it does, but i'd like to be 100% before i place an order.

 

Omg! HD 3650! Its still junk. Yes, they all let you do dual monitor setups.

 

What makes you say that? Seems that card is comparable to the 8600GT from what I have read.

 

HD3650 is about equal to a 8600M GT, a little slower in some games and a little faster in others.

Hd3450 = crap.

 

You seem to kind of be a Studio-hater. You're making it sound like the graphics card won't be able to even support Vista Aero.

If you look at this quote:

It seems that the HD 3650 is about equal to the 8600M GT...hmmmm.... I think that's what's in your laptop....

 

There does seem to be a little bit of Studio Bashing (not calling out Forte here) based on what the Studio isn't, rather than what it is. It'd be one thing to moan about the ATI cards if Dell had puffed up the Studio line as a gaming line, but they've never done that. Seems to me the Studio is positioned as an upscale Inspiron with some nice multimedia features. Not sure why people need to complain about the graphics choice. If it's not what someone wants, Dell has another model to sell you.

Now, if the XPS M1530 disappears and leaves nothing between a Studio 15 with an HD3450 and the Alienware, then people can commence moaning.

 

I dont think there is any studio bashing, there are just a bunch of people saying "buy a studio over an XPS". They both have a reason to buy them, the studio should be a higher quality better equipped inspiron. But the XPS is another step up from that. If you dont need the higher end graphics card or the higher quality build of the XPS, the Studio would be a nice option...

The only thing the studio has going for it over the XPS is the backlit keyboard!

 

The average consumer buying a Dell Studio laptop does not know what a graphics card is, nor do they care.

 

For me, I've been looking for a 17" notebook.
The Inspiron 1720 seemed a little cheap and on the lower-end for me.
The XPS 1730 is just too much - price and weight wise.

So, I think the Studio 17 would fit the bill nicely.

 

This is exactly why they came out with a mid level design! I bet you wont see the big discounting on the XPS anymore now that they filled the $1000 gap with the Studio series!

 

I'm disappointed with the Studio line. The word Studio implies (at least to me) that it will be able to do "Studio quality" but it doesn't. They have the same junk speakers, cheap sound card and mid level graphics.

If you feel the same way feel free to vote for my idea on IdeaStorm. Maybe Dell will get the message.

 

Does the HD3650 they're using in the Studio line use GDDR3 or GDDR2?
The 8600GT that they put in the Inspiron 1720 has GDDR2, while the one in the M1530 has GDDR3. So if the HD3650 has GDDR3, wouldn't it be faster than the 8600GT in the Inspiron?

 

I'm not hugely disappointed in the new Studios, but I do agree that somethings could be improved - especially the GPU.
Try to get a lot of people to promote this idea on IdeaStorm and hopefully Dell will listen. This forum is about the best notebook forum so hopefully you can get a lot of people to go to it.

Good Question - I would like to know the same. Anyone know?

 

Thanks jpzsports. I often check in here but don't post often. I spend most of my time on IdeaStorm and other places.

 

lol what an incredibly raw deal for anyone that wants a 15" Studio

 

Can the HD 3450 play Blu-Ray? I ordered one because of this. Seemed like a good deal for multi-media sourcing HDMI. Back-lit keyboard will be a plus. But if the GPU is so crappy maybe I should cancel?

 

seeing as Blu-ray is an option, I'm sure it can. but the ability to do that isn't really indicative of quality, most cards can do it. it's if you want to do anything else with it that you'll probably run into problems.

 

If I don't care to game with it, what problems will I have?

 

then you'll be fine, maybe some bottlenecks if you're doing more than one thing at a time.

 

Anyone know?

 

is it me or does the studio line look thicker than the inspiron. and from lookn on here in the graphics part the gpu card seems to fall between the 8600gs and the 8600gt. guess will just have to wait for the reviews to hit,when ever that is. fromthe early pics of the studio line on engadget they lookt awesome,but they dont have that macbook keyboard anymore and they look thicker. id get one if they werent so thick.

 

if you're talking about the 3450 HD card, heh no. it falls more in between the 8400m g and 8400m gs.

the 3650 GPU in the 17" Studio is around the same as the 8600m gt

 

the 3650 GPU is ddr2 in the Studio 17

 

cuz it is thicker and heavier than inspirion line...

i'm glad dell ditched the keyboard design from those early pics... they looked gross.

 

I don't game much at all, but I get incredibly frustrated when I have multiple applications running and they bottleneck (i.e. lag).

so, lets say I had a torrent downloading, had a TV show playing on VLC Player and was surfing the internet at the same time (with MS Word) open in the background....with the 3450, am I looking at any slowdown at all?

Also, if anybody here DJ's, or uses Serato Scratch Live, will the 3450 be capable of running this program flawlessly?

How capable the GPU is the make/break point for me buying a studio

Thanks

 

people already complain about the 8600m gt in the 17" inspiron bottlenecking, and that's a FAR superior card to the 3450

 

I feel like I'm getting conflicting opinions on the 3450....

On the GPU Guide in the GPU section of the forums, it listed the 3450 as the top card in the "Mid-Range Video Card" class, and stated that it was more then adequate to play the most recent games and such.

Is that accurate? Cause if it is, shouldn't it be ok to handle mutliple applications like the ones I listed in my prior post?

 

well, you can call anything midrange but it's still not indicative of performance. here's Notebookcheck's page for the 3450, a couple of benchmarks and where it ranks among all others:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-3450.9593.0.html

yes it will handle multiple applications but you asked about slowdown and if people are bottlenecking with an 8600m GT (which people here also call midrange whenever it comes up) it will with the 3450. at what point, when and with what programs? idk

 

Just play Call of Duty 4 and see how well you can play it and at what settings.

 

Is it possible to disable the graphics card through BIOS and save battery when I am travelling? i.e., get the same battery life that I would get on a laptop with integrated graphics card?

 

doubt it because you need a graphics card for more than just gaming.
Windows Aero for example...

 

i'm confused too... from what i understand of the dv5z preview, he says the radeon 3250 (which is integrated) is almost as good as the 8400M gs (or most low-end dedicated graphic cards)... so then wouldn't the 3450 be much better than the 8400M GS?