I spent several dozen hours loading Windows 7 multiple times with multiple driver configurations while analyzing performance. I thought I would give back after finding this site a particularly helpful resource.
Hardware
Processor (T9800)
Memory (8GB DDR3): 8GB seems overkill and I would probably get similiar performance from 4GB
GPU (Radeon 4670)
Screen (1080P WLED): Good screen for those looking to save a few $$s from the RGBLED
Storage (Intel X25-M 160GB Gen2 SSD): This is a non-Dell upgrade. I cannot recommend this upgrade enough (see performance below). If you have the cash, it's a huge boost in the overall computing experience making a good laptop into an amazing laptop.
Media (Bluray RW): Video editing and burning blu-ray movies is a great use for this laptop
Wireless (Intel 5300, 370 Bluetooth)
Windows 7 Install
Pretty straight forward and I prefer a clean install in order to have complete control over the subsequent environment. Let Windows Update take care of your first set of drivers and you'll be 95% ready to go.
Note to any SSD owners, don't format or re-partition your drive if you want to see maximum performance. Also turn off defragmentation scheduling as an SSD doesn't need it. For more information see Anand's excellent SSD articles at anandtech.com. My testing showed no performance increase for any additional supposed SSD tweaks (i.e. turning off indexing, page files, etc.). After extensive testing, I recommend going with Windows defaults and benefiting from what these services give you. To be fair some of these tweaks are designed to maximize lifespan but I think they're unecessary (again see Anand's article). The SSD will also make you battery last longer and reduce your heat.....
I have Windows 7 Ultimate, versions 64 and 32... I would like to install the 32 bit on my Dell Desktop, which is 2 years old, but wondering if I can put the 64 bit version on my Studio 17, which is about a year old and currently running Vista Home Premium.
Anybody yet tried installing Windows 7 RC on Studio 15, I am thinking of doing an upgrade rather than an seperate install. Anybody done this or if just installed were there any stability issues.
I have been thinking of installing Windows 7 on my Studio 1535 and, at the same time, moving from 32 bit to 64 bit computing. Trouble is that I'll need more ram, so I at least need to buy a two gigabyte stick of ram, and I would probably like to get a dedicated sound card at the same time.
on upgrading and what particular items one might recommend for the aforementioned products and, equally important, any experiences that one might have on switching to Windows 7.
I ordered a SXPS16 and it should be here any day. I am currently on XP and I know the system comes shipped with Vista.
I don't mind Vista at all, but 7 looks amazing and I want to use that as my primary OS right away.
I have the RTM and a key, so is there any special steps I take before reformatting with Win 7? Anyone else done this already and have any advice they can pass along to me? Was it smooth or a lot of problems/conflicts?
I just recieved my new Studio 17. I noticed that there's a lot of trial software on it that I don't want.
Also, I want to partition the drive.
I know that there's a recovery partition on the HD. If I partition and reinstall, will the recovery partition still be there. Will it still work down the road if I need it?
Also, if I reinstall Windows 7 and the drivers and utilities, will it be the same as what I have now?
I just bought a new Dell Studio XPS 16. I got Windows 7 Professional x64 through my University, and now it's succesfully installed on my laptop.
However, there is something that's bothering me ALOT! Everytime when I get to the "Welcome" screen in Windows the "fade effect" lags. I mean, the very moment where "Welcome" fades away and you can see your Desktop.
It's a bit laggy and you can see tearing. My friends have the same Windows 7 installation, and they do not encounter an issue like this, because they have Nvidia GPUs.
Mine is ATI, Mobility Radeon 4670. Believe me, I have tried every single driver out there, none of them seem to work. I also tried to flash the Bios back to A08 again without luck
I had been running Windows 7 for 2 weeks on my 13 and I kept on getting lockups. It would just freeze up. Only bios functions would work.
I had dell replace the motherboad, heatsinks and processor and it still locked up, the laptop was running really hot too.
I spoke to dell and they asked if I was running windows 7, I said yes, they said the laptop did not support 7 (yeah right) and I was to test under vista. So I reinstalled vista and the freezes totally stopped. Been running for one day solid now without a hitch.
I think there must be some driver conflicts running 7 which makes the laptop over heat.
Since a lot of people will be moving to Windows 7 this weekend with Technet & MSDN now available, I thought it would be good to share experiences relating to drivers and what is or isn't needed.
What drivers, if any, will be necessary to load that aren't included in the normal Win7 setup?
Is a Win7 driver available from Dell at this point or does the corresponding Vista driver work perfectly?
Did a clean install of Windows 7 64 bit on a Studio 1537 and have a few questions. First off is how do I get the Dell backup software installed? My previous OS was Vista 32 bit so as I'm running a 64 bit os the disks that originally came with my computer probably won't be of any use.
I also require the Dell webcam software program. S Dell has a site where you can download this software but like a number of pages on Dell's site, it doesn't seem to work, does not recognize my service tag..
I also need software for the fingerprint reader. I found the driver for it, Authentec Inc but for some reason I can't find my previous software, Digital Persona Fingerprint Software.
Let me correct that, I did find it on their website but for some reason the program never fully installs itself. It says that it's now preparing to enrolling process but never does
I am almost hesitant to even bother with installing Windows 7 because #1. I use "tethering" to my Sprint 3G cell phone to use broadband data everywhere, not sure if that will work in W7.
Also should I do an "in place installation" over top of Vista 64-bit to Windows 7 64-bit.
or do a complete reformat install to Windows 7 which I imagine would be a driver hassle.
CPU wise I think I am covered a dual core T9400 2.53Ghz with 6MB cache and 1066Mhz FSB. 4GB RAM.
Sorry if this is posted in the wrong area but I tried one 2 days ago and had no reply's (which I know is not indicative of this fine forum ). To the ppoint. Adore my new laptop.
Not so fond of Vista. Like that is news. Anyhow I just want to know if any xps 1640 owner has achieved an install of Win 7 and managed to get all the various dell additions to work, ie dell camera facial recog, pinch touch pad, fual monitor etc.
Personally I try to run out of a standard user account (instead of an administrator account). It’s the most secure way to go and just plain good form IMO. But I realize that most people do not because windows defaults you into the administrator account. Well I just noticed that the ACEeventLog (an event log created by the Catalyst Control Center that you can find in the Event Viewer) spews out a stream of events/errors when I run out of a standard user acccount. These events/errors stop as soon as I go into my administrator account.
I have a feeling that these events have been causing instability in my system when in the standard user account. If its true that its Dell’s video driver that’s doing this it would be crazy. Dell is an IT company and should know that LOTS of their users will be in standard user accounts (any good admin will do this). Well to make a long story short, I’d like to pose a question: How many of you run out of a standard user account? If I'm in the minority then it might explain the instability issues I’ve been having that few others are not.
I'm interested to hear from those who are experimenting with Windows 7 on their Studio XPS laptops have you had any issues with drivers or anything, is everything working ok?
Also what program do you recommend for dual booting say vista as your primary os and then a partition for windows 7?
I'm new to experimenting with beta OS's but I most certainly will have a look into windows 7.
I really want to order the New XPS 1645 with the i7 Core Processor. I was wondering are they pre-installing Windows 7 on any of them yet? I mean they just came out with the 1645 and anyone who orders like now will receive after the 22nd after Windows 7's general availability. I'm getting so sick and tired of waiting for them to start pre-installing Windows 7. NO ONE WANTS anything to do with Vista anymore and especially shipping as the default OS on pc's when its successor is less than 3 weeks away.
asked over at Dell forums but I expect I'll get better responses from the fine minds that browse these boards
I bought the 1535 last year with Vista Home Premium 32-bit. I will be getting Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit on October 22 - assume I'll only have upgrade media for the time being. Here are my questions:
1. Where would I find the correct drivers? Should I just use the Vista 64 drivers for Studio 1535?
2. If I had to format my HDD for some reason, would I be able to re-install Windows 7 with Upgrade media? I've read that the installation will ask for my Vista install disc - will the one that Dell supplied work for this?
These drivers are intended for the Studio 1745. The intended use is for a fresh installation of XP_Pro_SP3 32bit. All files are Zipped, and safe. (But always scan any files you download with a good Virus Scan program such as BitDefender, Kaspersky, and Norton)
The links should allow you to just download them without any aggravation. If you notice anything wrong with links or files, please let me know. I don't mind correcting mistakes. After all, that's when you learn.
These files and links could be updated, and replaced accordingly to updates I come across. When reinstalling XP, I recommend installing the below drivers & software in the order of the listing....
I upgraded my Studio XPS 13 to Windows 7 Pro RTM and Im using the latest NVidia drivers for my 9400M. Problem is that occasionally, going into or coming out standby does not work. Going into standby,
the screen may blank out and there is constant hard drive activity, but the system never powers off. Or, coming out of standby, the screen is just blank. Most of the time it works ....
Sometimes, for example, when I open a new tab in Google Chrome (not beta) and enter a web site, or click a link etc. the notebook locks up. This sometimes happens with other softwares, or just Windows softwares, or browsing files randomly.
When it locks up, hard-drive is flashing and hard-drive activity not stopping. I am able to move the cursor, but I cannot click anywhere. Even I cannot open task manager, the ctrl-alt-del also doesn't work. I have to push the power button to reset the notebook.
Notebook's specifications are:
OS Version 6.1.7600 (Win7 64-bit RTM) Mobile DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo P8600, 2400 MHz (9 x 267) 3840 MB (DDR3-1066 DDR3 SDRAM) NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G (2x256 MB) IDT 92HD73C1/92HDW74C1/92HDW74C2 @ nVIDIA MCP79/7A - High Definition Audio Controller WDC WD32 00BJKT-75F4T SCSI Disk Device (298 GB) Dell Wireless 1515 Wireless-N Adapter (192.168.1.10)
I recently installed Windows 7 on my studio 1555. I found a bug very irritating, I don't know what causes this.
Here is the way I noticed it:
- I setup my screen to shut down after 1 minute of inactivity. - the mouse on the desktop (taskbar hidden) with no window opened, I let my screen shut down. After 5 minutes, I wake up my screen by moving the mouse. - I can't take the control of my computer until 1 or two minutes as if my computer was working in background (the fans run a lot faster during this time)
For those of you that have a 1640 and have upgraded from Vista to 7, how long did the install take you? And my second question is...did you run into any complications with the upgrade process that I should be aware of before I start it on my wife's laptop?
i just did a clean install of windows 7 on my studio 1555 and was having some issues with the audio drivers. i found and installed the idt audio drivers from the dell website,
but it didn't seem to install the idt audio software with it. i know the idt codec is installed because when i go into device manager it shows up,
but i really liked the nifty idt software that came with vista that allowed me to switch between headphone and hdmi output quite easily as well as turn off all of the stupid SRS sound enhancements.
