FIRST EVER! Dell Studio 17 Laptop, Model 1737 Blu-ray Review

[onehothemi]

HERE'S THE REVIEW AND GALLERY OF PICTURES!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzZaLG_QNAM

http://img8.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=17371.jpg

I googled, yahooed, and youtubed, and no where, did I see a review on Dell's new Studio 17 laptop line, with the slot loading bluray drive. SO! Here's the exclusive! My laptop will be ariving tommrow via FedEx, and as soon as it does, I will do the video review, and make it a blu-ray.com first! I will benchmark the laptop at first with the factory software, settings, and so on, and later next week I will wipe it clean update the OS, and redo the review to see if it makes any benchmark differences. I will also take suggestions, comments, and so on along with test any bluray you have to offer to determine the compatibility of this new unit. I have just ordered a bunch of new softwares as well, including AnyDVD-HD, WinDVD, PowerDVD and give benchmark reviews for processing capabilities as well. Here are my system specs as well to give you an idea what kind of power this thing is pushing out!

Intel Core 2 Duo / Intel Centrino 2 T9550 2.66GHz/1066Mhz FSB 6MB Cache Processor
Vista Home Premium SP1 64 Bit Edition Operating System
Ultra Bright Hi Resolution Glossy 17.0 inch RGB LED 1920x1200 Screen
8GB Dual Channel DDR2 800MHz Ram
320GB SATA 7,200 RPM Hard Drive
256MB Ati Mobility Radeon HD 3650 Video Card
6x Slot Loading Bluray Combo Drive CD/DVD +-RW BD Read Disk Drive
Intel WiFi Link 5100 a/b/g/n Half Mini Card
Sprint built in cellular mobile broadband card
Intel Bluetooth internal card Version 2.1
Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
85 Whr Battery 9 Cell
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Sound Card
Back-lit keyboard
NO Finger Print Reader (I thought this was a joke for $25.00)
4 year warranty on site service

[dadkins]

Looks great!
How much?

[onehothemi]

This setup was pricy, but now as my only computer for the next 4 years I think it was worth it. Priced out on Dell, it was a bit more than $4,200.00, I had a bonus Dell card that I used, and American Express points, got the price down to $2,769.94 shipped Next Day service.

[BLindsay]

Very nice, bet that 8GB of ram cost a pretty penny though lol. My Dell is on the way soon hopefully (said its gonna take 2 weeks though XPS M1530, i cant wait either

[rod442]

Hi. Looking forward to your review.

I just ordered a studio 17 last week. Mines still in the "boxing" stage, with a projected delivery date of April 21 uggg . Hopefully thats wrong.

I am regretting not ordering it with a blu ray drive, and am looking for one I can order and install myself. When you get yours, can you let me know what drive dell puts in them?

Enjoy!

[onehothemi]

My original order date was cancled, then I reordered it, two days later, 03/29/09 and had next day shipping on it, the original delivery date was 04/14/09 but its on the truck now and I'm just waiting for it to get to the door. A few side notes...

I thought it was funny, how they only offered Vista Home Premium, I guess their lack of faith in vista a preping customers for Windows 7 is coming, hopefully they give a cupon for the new OS as vista sucks.

The camera, also has face regonition, so I thought it was stupid to get the fingerprint reader when the camera does the same thing.

The 8GB of ram was a kick in the dick, but I figure if I get the max, and it's under warranty and I have a problem I'm covered.

I'll be running The Chronicles of Riddick to see if that disk, which seems to have a ton of bugs, will run smoothly on my new laptop.

I'm guessing the slot loading internal drive is gunna be a ***** to install, I'll take a look and see how the drive is configured, if it's completly internal or a slide in unit.

I HATE WAITING! HURRY UP FEDEX!

[RiseDarthVader]

Wouldn't the slot loading drive already be built into the laptop? I am actually intending to get this laptop or a future model of it if I go to a film school or something requiring one.

[pmac]

Originally Posted by onehothemi

My original order date was cancled, then I reordered it, two days later, 03/29/09 and had next day shipping on it, the original delivery date was 04/14/09 but its on the truck now and I'm just waiting for it to get to the door. A few side notes...

I thought it was funny, how they only offered Vista Home Premium, I guess their lack of faith in vista a preping customers for Windows 7 is coming, hopefully they give a cupon for the new OS as vista sucks.

The camera, also has face regonition, so I thought it was stupid to get the fingerprint reader when the camera does the same thing.

The 8GB of ram was a kick in the dick, but I figure if I get the max, and it's under warranty and I have a problem I'm covered.

I'll be running The Chronicles of Riddick to see if that disk, which seems to have a ton of bugs, will run smoothly on my new laptop.

I'm guessing the slot loading internal drive is gunna be a ***** to install, I'll take a look and see how the drive is configured, if it's completly internal or a slide in unit.

I HATE WAITING! HURRY UP FEDEX!

Completely built in. I have been using a Studio 17 for about 2 months now. Not as stacked as some of the units here though, i didnt get 8G ram. and I passed on the full 1920 screen. Budget was my issue ohh and no fingerprint reader either.

We used this laptop at a Casino for movies late at night brought a few blu-Rays with us and it was flawless not a hiccup whatsoever in playback.

EDIT: very important (nice for a change): I ordered the upgraded WiFi card for an extra $10 or something like that. It is 802.11n <--! I verified that on my router about a week ago when I was locking the security down assigning specific IP's for every device in the house. That was a pleasant surprise especially since there was no mention of this when ordering.

[pmac]

Originally Posted by rod442

Hi. Looking forward to your review.

I just ordered a studio 17 last week. Mines still in the "boxing" stage, with a projected delivery date of April 21 uggg . Hopefully thats wrong.

I am regretting not ordering it with a blu ray drive, and am looking for one I can order and install myself. When you get yours, can you let me know what drive dell puts in them?

Enjoy!

For april 21st, call them and cancel it then re-order, but you have to cancel it over the phone. I had a delay on our mini we ordered so I cancelled to update a feature or two, we received it sooner then the original estimate was expected. Or if cancelling doesnt work, just refuse delivery if it is really bugging you. then re-order. Getting these apart is not an easy task with all the wires I was unable to comfortably open the mini. So I just left it. but i think they forgot to install the Bluetooth adapter, so I need to send to the repair depot to verify or its a dud and in which case needs ot be replaced anyways.

[rod442]

Found out it shipped today, 04-04. Glad the website isn't all that accurate . Delivery looks to be happening on the 8th now. So, 2 weeks from order to delivery.

Thats a bummer about how difficult it is to replace the dvd drive. Hmmmm. I still might do it, if I can find the right drive at a reasonable price. Looks like they use a slot load optiarc 5000 (sony-nec?), or whatever.

Thanks for the info guys.

BTW, my build is a Studio 17, blue cover, P8600 2.4ghz, 4gb memory, 250GB 7200 rpm drive, RGB led screen, ati 3650, bluetooth, 5100 wireless, 9 cell battery. came in at 1167 plus tax.

Price was decent, I do wish there was a better graphics card option. I looked at a lot more choices, and anything that had better video, and the same features was $400-500+ more.

Also, I thought I had selected the 64bit OS, but my build sheet doesn't say. Ive got a copy of vista ultimate I can put on it anyway. I might do that the 1st day.

[BLindsay]

yeah i hope i get mine sooner, ordered it the 1st and it says i wont get it till like the 14th, its listed as in "production" right now. Pretty psyched to be getting a blu-ray burner in mine

[onehothemi]

Video's are going up tonight, I've been sick, so it sucks... Pictures as well. The unit is flawless. I liked the Dell media center software, but with the video card maxed out the interface for it was way to slow so I bought the latest version of powerdvd ultra and I've been running that for the past night and its sweet.

[Bobby Henderson]

I was interested in the Studio 17 notebook a few weeks back. The 1680 X 1050 display in my now old Dell Inspiron 6000 notebook died. So I went shopping around for new notebooks and the Studio 17 was high on the list.

One thing I don't like about that model: no eSATA port. Oddly, the Studio 15 has a combo USB/eSATA port. So it's extremely strange the higher priced 17" notebooks lack similar capability.

As luck would have it, a friend had some "decommissioned" Dell Latitude notebooks with 15.4" displays compatible with the Inspiron 6000. He shipped me a 1920 X 1200 part. It worked great.

Hopefully Dell will improve the kinds of connectors offered in its notebooks over the next 12-18 months. By then I'll probably be getting a new one loaded with Windows 7 64-bit and lots of hardware goodies, like a Blu-ray burner and a ridiculous amount of RAM.

[onehothemi]

The 1737 has full powered ESATA port on the left hand side and works perfectly along with 4 other USB 2.0 ports and a firewire port.

[onehothemi]

REVIEW IS ALL DONE, CHECK THE FIRST ORIGINAL POST!!! Thanks!

[pmac]

What I do not understand....Why you have options available that are not available to us in Canada. Kinda sucks. You upgraded to things I didnt have the choice. I would have loved to have a 2.66 CPU for example but canada only has the 2.0 processor available on the options. Boooo Dell. Jealous

I think the rest was available to me. Maybe not 8GIG ram. I only have 3GIG anyways the next step up was not worth it to me $ wise.

I still remember my first 486 desktop that came with 4MB ram. Cost me $250 to upgrade to 8MB (200 for the upgrade and $50 for them to install it.

[onehothemi]

You mean as of right now they only offer the 2.0 option? That's horrible. Double check the screen... I've found dell to be shady at times, listing one machine in small business section for a lower price than the home buying section, or one day clicking options exactly the same and the next day the price is different. Oh well.

After further review, wireless, bluetooth, ram, video card, processor, hard drive, and bluray drive are all upgradable via removing the single full bottom panel and it can easily be done, with delecate hands.

[pmac]

They offer a 2.4 right now that is the max. I will browse around to compare what you are saying to see if they have differences.


Regards,

[pmac]

Originally Posted by onehothemi

After further review, wireless, bluetooth, ram, video card, processor, hard drive, and bluray drive are all upgradable via removing the single full bottom panel and it can easily be done, with delecate hands.

I never noticed the single panel. I was trying to look for a Bluetooth card on the mini, and I had no luck getting to the area, it had wires from the keyboard to the main board, and the touch pad to the main board etc., i could not reach in to detach, and I would surely not be able to get them back together if I could seperate them

Are there 2 slots or 4 slots for RAM? do you remember?

[Bobby Henderson]

Originally Posted by onehothemi

The 1737 has full powered ESATA port on the left hand side and works perfectly along with 4 other USB 2.0 ports and a firewire port.

That's a notebook model from the XPS line, not a Studio 17 model. The Studio 17 doesn't have an eSATA port.

I would new connectors like eSATA and Display Port (along with the usual supply of USB ports, Firewire, HDMI, various flash card slots, etc.) incorporated into my next notebook computer.