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 just wanted to see if anyone has gotten the chance to check out the new SE Studio 15 from Dell.
Link is here! [url]
My mom wanted to get me a Dell Mini for my b-day and I was like mom, let me configure one and you can tell me I can or can't have it. I just about tapped it out and came in a little over $1,700 with all the goodies, a travel ac/dc charger, and blue tooth wireless remote.
The laptop itself is not found on the site when you go to setup a Studio 15/17 but it is in the gray drop down menu towards the top it says special edition.
I really like the Studio 15/17 line but it has always looked plain to me even with the top and side accent colors... I was looking for something different but my mom did not approve the $2,400 configuration of the Studio XPS 16.
Spec's are as follows... (From the Dell Order Status Page)
Studio 1537, Intel Core 2 Duo P8600, 2.4GHz, 1066Mhz, 3M L2 Cache Back-lit Keyboard 15.4 inch ETE Panel with WXGA+TL (WLED), W/ CAMERA 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 320GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with Free Fall Sensor, Seagate Casey Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition, English Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0 Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11AGNHalf Mini Card Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, 3 Year Limited Warranty Blue tooth Fingerprint reader
All of the software to go along that comes standard, no MS Office package. I have a 07 version that will be used when I get this, and I opted to get the microtrend internet security over the norton/macafee counterparts.
The thing that sucks is it will not be here until 04-14-09, so I will have to wait. But with every laptop I customized on Dell's site it was maybe 6-8 days sooner but it was not "everything" that I wanted. And it was the "blah" colors and the configuration was not as good as I wanted. I wanted a XPS 15 but the hard drive choices where meager, a 500gb 5400rpm drive, a 128gb SSD, and a 256gb SSD, "COMMON DELL WHATS UP WITH THAT?". I had to have a eSata port and this one has it, the top usb port on the left side is a usb port but it doubles as a eSata port, sweet! I have a 1tb WD triple interface usb/firewire400/eSata drive and I wanted the speed of internal sata drive with an external use.
The only thing I may have problems with later down the line or in the days/years to come is getting newer games to play on it. Before my old desktop's videocard crashed I was playing TF2:Source, DOD:Source, CS:Source, and a sweet racing game called ToCa Race Driver 3... best racing SIM I have played, I love it. From what I have read this laptop should blaze through all of these games without a hitch but if I wanted to installed like COD4, Fear2 or something newer alone those lines I would have to run far lower settings than standard/default.
I spent three days during my spare time trying to get the right configuration and stay below $1,800. I kept going back to the SE Studio 15 and I think I will enjoy it. It's got about everything I need other than maybe a better video card I could want or ask for, and from what I hear the nine cell battery not only helps it run cooler because it is raised up higher in the back for air flow, but it gives you at least a 1/3rd longer battery life over the standard six cell.
Dell has officially yanked the Studio 1537 SE from their website. It hasn't been an option on the actual Studio laptop page for several weeks, but you could still access the model's page by searching for "Studio 15 Special Edition" on Google, or Dell's own search.
Today, though, that page no longer exists. The Google and internal Dell search links just redirect to the main Studio laptop category page.
It was a good machine, and if I had my way, that's what the Studio 15 series would have become, not the 1555. The edge-to-edge display and that unique black and red finish were fantastic. T
his now means that the 1555 is the only Studio 15 model available from Dell anymore, and there's no way to get any of the 15.4" models with media buttons brand new.
here's the skinny. After what seems like an eternity I've finally got this bad girl in my hands. The screen will blow you away, well for me at least. The edge to edge display looks just beautiful and at full brightness it has enough light energy to power 25 homes for 2 years. The hinge design is awesome. Other than the paint job and the edge to edge display I'd assume it's pretty much like a regular studio.
Speaking of which....it's a fingerprint magnet, but that's to be expected. I'm afraid somebody will end up lifting one of my prints with a piece of tape and logging into my computer. I like how the black and red meshes together, not too bland but not too extreme either. Besides the keyboard and the red bezel around the screen the entire surface of the notebook is glossy, I'd describe it as piano black.
I'm surprised at the level of crap. It's actually minimal. Right now I'm contemplating doing a clean install, but I want to go x64 because I don't like having 1gb being wasted. But the average user won't need to do a clean install.
There are a couple of quirks though. The touchpad takes a bit of getting used to, it felt kinda rough and hard to use at first. I'm noticing a bit of keyboard flex across the board.
So yea, overall I like how it looks and feels. It runs like a bat out of hell with minimum tweaks to the factory install. I'd recommend it over a regular studio 15 any day.
I am about to order a Dell Studio 1555 tomorrow. It is a graduation present and I plan to be using it (hopefully) for all of college..........................
I got it in November, sometimes when i go to ANY of my browsers to view pages with flash. The whole browser freezes and crashes, so i start it up again and go to the page, and crash again.. so i try to use another browser (i literally have chrome, Firefox, safari and IE) all of them do the same exact thing.. and once it crashes there's no way to get it back up unless you restart. It gets very annoying having to restart my laptop about 5 times a day. I've done everything, uninstalling flash player, reinstalling it, reinstalling browsers.. I've even reinstalled my OS because nothing else would work. I don't understand why this laptop has so many issues. Randomly freezes, crashes etc. Its basically brand new and i shouldn't have these issues. My old Compaq presario cq60-215dx NEVER ever did any of these thing this Studio laptop does. This laptop is about 400 dollars more than my Compaq.. Also, i dual booted Vista and Windows 7 and Vista is a hell of a lot faster, it boots up faster and never crashes.. It just seems as if Dell did something to this OS to make it a piece.. help?
I just received my new Studio 1555 with Core2 P8600, 4GB RAM, Windows7 64Bit.
It freezes up on me at lease twice daily. I can't spot the problem, it has froze once when using excel, many times watching youtube videos and once using a tax software.
Everything just hangs and freezes. Can't do anything, have to hold the power button down. A few times when youtube froze, the sound stayed but in a frozen state.
What can it be?
Dell sent me some additional ram to upgrade to 8GB but that hasn't helped.
I have updated all drivers.
Please help. I'm tired of waiting on the phone and going through with Dell for hours and hours.
On first look i found that the build quality was better than expected, I had read a fiew reviews by owners that thebase was flimsy and so was the keyboard. I have found this to be quite solid and i can see no flex at all. The keyboard is very responsive and a pleasure to use, although i find that some of the keys give a slight squeeking noise when pressed. I intend to get a backlit keyboard sometime soon so that should fix the squeeking problem. I bought this from the outlet as refurbished but it looks brand new and i saved nearly £300 this way instead of self configuring the system. What's in the Box: Dell Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit installation dvd, Works 9, Driver and Resource Disk, 90w Power Supply Design Nice design and a sturdy construction, has a kind of wedge shape. Screen: This WLED 720p screen is far brighter than anything else i have ever seen, the picture is nice and crisp and colours are very vibrant. There is no ghosting at all and HD movies are a pleasure to watch on this, its a 15.6" 16:9. There is an option for a 1080p screen but i did not have that option getting this from the Outlet. Under sunny conditions the screen is quite reflective but i plan to use it indoors 95% of the time so it will not be an issue. Keyboard The keyboard is a pleasure to use, I did not get a backlit version but i intend to as soon as I can get dell on the phone, I find the keys very responsive and well laid out. The multimedia keys are on the top of the keyboard along with the F Keys, to use the F1 Keys ect you have to press the Fn key. Touchpad At first i did not like the touch pad as it has a textured feeling and not a smooth finish like im used to , after a while i have got used to it and its not as bad as i first thought, there is a scroll pad on the side although the touch pad has no indication of this, when playing games this area gets quite hot. Features: Multimedia Keys The keys are on the main keyboard and shared with the "F" Keys. LEDS One of my main complaints abot this machine is there are no LEDS for hard drive activity or wireless ect. The only light is on the power button on the side of the screen hinge. Wifi – My system has the Intel WiFi Link 5300 AGN card and the signals are strong and i have not suffered any drop outs or interference. Just a pity this laptop has no Wireless LED. Speakers The speakers are of a decent quality, i had read about the previous Studio 15 which had poor sound quality but this is more than acceptable and a subwoofer is included. Input and Output Ports Front There are no ports on the front of the machine Webcam Pictures The screen has a 2.0mp camera in and the quality is very good, the best i have seen in a laptop. Pictures are good with no noise or distortion. Right Side: 1 x USB 2.0, Slot loading DVD-RW Drive 8 in 1 media card reader, ExpressCard 34 and Power Adaptor Left Side: VGA, HDMI 2x USB 2.0 (1x USB/E-SATA combo, 2x standard) IEEE 1394a/Gigabit NIC (no RJ11 – via dongle for USB External Modem) 1x Stereo in, 2x headphone speaker out. Rear: There are no ports on the back. Bottom: There are 3 ventilation grills and the usual opening for the memory and Hard drive access. Benchmarks I have had time to do 2 benchmarks, 3dmark06 and Super PI 3dmark Vantage would not run with the resolution on this laptop. 3DMark06 Scored 4193
and Super PI took 48 seconds to do 2 million count. Size and Weight The laptop is light about 2.61 kg and is easily carried around so its very portable. Heat and Noise Under general use the laptop does get warm but nothing to worry about, when gaming it gets quite hot so it will be uncomfortable on your lap if you game alot. The fans are quite quiet i have found and do not cause any disturbance when on. Battery Life Under general use with a 6 cell battery i get around 3 hours 30 mins, I do not feel that a 9 cell would of been benefical to me. Software The software that came pre-installed was Roxio CD Creator and Windows Live. Accessories All that came was the power supply (it has a nice blue led on the power jack) Pros: Great Screen Fast Processor Light and Portable Long Battery Life Cons: No Activity LEDS Gets quite hot under Gaming Backlit keyboard not standard. Conclusion: A great all rounder laptop that should full-fill the needs of most, Not to over priced and has some good choices when configuring to buy.
When configuring each machine as closely as possible, is the only real difference form factor? Is 1920x1080 on 15.6 vs 16 that big of a deal? Are there features in the 1640....
I am still having problems with FPS drops in games, I have tried everything and have come to the conclusion it must be heat related.
By running HWMonitor I can see the sensor for my GPU has reached 94c!!! I think at this temp its downlocking and causing my FPS drops.
Could anyone else with a 1555 run hwmonitor (its free) then play a demanding game for a while and check the ACHI temps? http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php
You can see my temps in my other posts regarding the poor HS and Fan Dell Studio 1555 Pics Mobo/Heatsinks/fan/GPU
I will be performing the following hardware upgrades in the system:
1. HDD 320 GB 5400 rpm -> HDD 320 GB 7200 rpm
2. Intel Wifi 5100 card -> Intel Wifi 5300 card
Now my question is since I will be doing these upgrades myself, will doing this void my warranty in any way. I have 1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis.
Also, if tomorrow I have 2 send the lappy 2 the Dell Service Centre for any reason and they find out that I have upgraded the machine, then will it have any effect on my warranty?
i recently bought a Dell studio 1555, i have been using it for 10 days now and just yeterday i installed tom clancy's HAWX on it, after 5 minutes of playing the game it froze (crashed) and the screen turned from white to purple to other colours untill it went back to white... i thought it was the game so i tried playing COD 4, COD 5, Rainbow six V2, GRAW 2 and Far cry 2......they all run smoothly on high/medium graphics settings......but after a couple of minutes like 4 or 5 it crashes and the screen goes white and then fades from white to blue to purple then white.
the specifications of my laptop are as follows -P8600 2.4ghz core 2 duo -3GB RAM -512mb dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 -320GB 7200rpm HDD the problem only happens whenever i play games for a few minutes!
Wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar...
I got a studio 1555 about a month ago and for the most part it works great. However....
Occasionally the computer stops responding - i.e. I'll be browsing the internet in Safari/Firefox and all of a sudden it will hang - I have to go to task manager to quit out of it. When I go back to open Safari it wont open, nor will any other application. I can double click on them but nothing happens.
Also, when this happens, Windows Vista refuses to shut down - I have to turn the computer off manually - i.e. hold the power button down for several seconds.
Also, and perhaps this is unconnected, I've noticed that when I go to the control panel, Windows Explorer crashes the first time I access it and I have to go back to the control panel to access it again.
I'm stuck between getting a Sony Vaio FW and a Dell Studio 1555...
Unfortunately, the only review I've found on the 1555 was on Youtube but the guy doing it had a thick combination Australian/Chinese accent and it was hard to understand most of what he was saying....