---> OFFICIAL: Dell STUDIO 14z Owner's Lounge <---

I wonder how they managed to miss giving you the 250GB drive? I think you should complain that they missed a chance to cut it down further!

 

Nope. 5400RPM...

 

Ok then you're totally right...they nailed it!

 

Java, take a look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEhNkzdKyrw and forward to 5:20 ... lol.

 

Ahahah. Video is full of fail.

 

Looking at Michael Dell speaking makes me want to close my dell account

 

Personally I am totally in awe of the setup that Dell has, regardless of what anyone else says. Having worked in the systems department for a large distribution company in a previous role, I can only imagine how much work had to go into the design and implementation of the systems behind their operation.

 

I agree. It's quite smart, how they manage to keep costs down yet deliver such a wide variety of products. That being said, their customer service needs work.

 

I guess it depends on how you define " exactly what the customer expected". Or maybe I need to change my expectations.

 

Agreed. From a business model, Dell is king. From a customer service view point, not so much.

Beyond the complete failure in matching the order to the shipment in my case, I had very bad customer service interactions (Live, Chat, IVR). Needs some attention from Mr. Dell...

 

I've noticed that my monitor flickers once in a while (not too often)...do you guys think this is an issue I should look into? (or have any of you experienced this issue?)

 

I remember some posts (maybe some here and some in the Studio 1555 threat) about flickering screens.

 

Nope, it was right here. I think I've heard of at least two others doing that, on the lowest brightness setting.

 

I had the same issue. You probably received an LG screen.. There's not much you can do about it except for returning it for a new one.

I sort of fixed my mouse lagging issue. I created a seperate partition for Windows 7 and it doesn't lag anymore in games. I'm thinking about using Windows 7 as my main OS until its release in October...

 

Just a second: you had Vista and had mouse lag problems in some games, then you installed Windows 7 and the lag was gone?

 

How's the webcam on 14z?

 

Look at this page:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

look for the T4200 and it is scored at 1,242 passmark points.
the T6400 is 1,319, the T6600 is 1,527, the P8600 is 1,580 and the T9550 ranks at 1,861 passmark points. The T9900 which I believe was mentioned earlier as being swappable in the 14z ranks at 2,494 points.
So.... thats why I mentioned the T6600 is the next step that is worth it. Looking at the T6600 and the P8600, cost-wise, the T6600 is best, but if you want to save on energy consumption, you can spend more for the P8600, which will give you negligible performance over the T6600.

 

I'm pretty sure he had Vista and Windows 7 in one place, so he moved Windows 7 somewhere separate; which freed up more space while playing games.

 

can you guys recommend any neoprene sleeves? I can't really seem to find any that'll fit.

It seems the 12-13" Built NY sleeve will fit (external dimensions of W 11" x H 15" x D 1") and the 14z is 9"x13.25x.8-1.2"

It just makes me nervous that it's built for 12-13 inchers when this is 14"

 

The T6500 scored higher than the T6600? Why?

 

That whole chart is wrong, IMHO. Some better processors score lower than weaker ones.

 

Well, you can't have 2 operating systems on 1 partition, that's why I was wondering what was the setup there.

 

Hey! So I called Dell today and was trying to see if I could still change the lid from black to the ruby red. Girl said yes but only way would be to cancel this order and start a new one; which would push the estimated delivery date even further!

I'm already dying to receive mine, so instead I asked if I could upgrade my shipping method from 3-5 business days to next day and asked how much it would cost. She put me on hold, got a hold of someone in the billing dept, and came back telling me that she only had "an estimate of $60-80 USD for the shipping method change"...I thought about it and was like...eh what the heck, "sure". Then I heard her doing something, and after literally a minute of silence, she comes back: "ok, the estimated delivery date is now august 5th, but there seems to not be a change in the cost, uh...I dont know...is that ok?". I said, "yea, that sounds nice".

So I was able to remove 5 days off the shipping and hopefully receive my notebook by August 5th with no delays; all for free (except the 15 minutes I lasted on the call with the representative).

 

what # did you call?

 

A number they posted like 1-2 pages back.

But it's this one 1-800-283-2210. It's the Order Status one. Just press option 3, then option 2, then option 1, and then option 1 again. I checked my status and then afterwards it asked if I wanted to check the status of another order. I said no. Then it asked if I wanted to speak to a representative, and i said yes...then waited for 5 minutes until I spoke with the girl.

 

I actually did all of this while driving home from work today.

 

What I said is based on tests on websites I checked to compare the two processors, not based on the Core 2 Duo hype; I'm aware the processors are the same other than the L2 cache. I will probably not really regret having gotten the T4200, but what I've read from tests shows the additional L2 cache does help and it reminded me that the 1mb of cache is split between the two cores, so each core is only running 512kb of L2 cache. Meanwhile even my 4 year old Dimension 4700 has 1mb of L2 cache.

 

By the way, the Studio 14z is working well. I was playing music from shoutcast.com and it sounded pretty good, noticeably better than through my Inspiron 5100's speakers or through the bigger speakers at work. I don't understand the speakers under the touchpad area; they seem to be literally under the computer. The wide screen is taking time getting used to (keep in mind this is my first widescreen) and the size of things seems small compared to the Inspiron 5100. Screen quality for the 720p seems good but not amazing like people are saying about the 900p. I do notice better resolution in some things but others look blurry, but that's probably because the masses don't know how to take or edit good pictures. Touchpad is a little weird, but I got it pretty good in the settings. Loaded up CCleaner, disabled a bunch of junk and stuff at the bottom right and other startup items. Running Avira AV and Windows Defender. Face detection worked the first time but not after that; granted, it was dark the last time I logged in. I thought it was cool when it worked the first time and logged in. I just hope the camera and microphone don't have a mind of their own, if you know what I mean (I did disable the webcam software so it doesn't load up at startup).

Edit: The back-lit keyboard is a must-have option, IMNSHO

 

Hi guys, i just recently got a studio 14z like 2 days ago but i just wanted to see if anybody had the same problems i have. Right out the box, the computer was constantly freezing to the point where i couldn't move the mouse or press any buttons. Screen flickers (i have the 900p screen) and once in awhile i hear these weird speaker popping sounds. Also another weird thing was sometimes the computer fails to boot. After the Dell logo screen, it would scroll some errors about Realtek something i forgot. I recorded part of it with my phone if anyone's interested. So right now i'm debating if i should return this laptop or not...

 

I'm really beginning to regret buying from Dell. Their website says they (finally) shipped my unit via FedEx Next Day. But, when I follow the tracking link, the FedEx site says it was shipped Ground ... for home delivery ... on Saturday ..., when I explicitly told them it was a business address where no one was present on the weekends.

Looks like more delays because I'll have to wait for their second attempt to deliver next Monday.

If I didn't have family obligations on Saturday, I'd consider camping out at my office building and waiting for the damn thing.

*end of vent*

 

I installed Windows 7 as the only OS straight away. You can install all the Dell Drivers and software from the support site, except for the facial recognition.

 

driving while talking is unsafe, but i suppose driving while on hold is acceptable.

 

I was planning on doing the same thing. I wasn't planning on using facial recognition anyway, so I suppose no harm done.

 

exactly! lol

what about being on the computer while driving?

 

MY LAPTOP SHIPPED!!!! Estimated arrival: tomorrow before 3 PM!!!!! I'll let you all know about my experience with it after I play around with it ALL DAY tomorrow. lol. I was thinking about making a YouTube review since there's only one. I know I would have liked to see more before I bought mine.

 

Half-congrats on your order being shipped! (I'll give a full one once you receive and actually was a correct order )

A YouTube review will be nice as well. I only did find two YouTube videos going in-depth about it. Both were from the same reviewer though (unboxing and then the review actually).

I'm just hoping Dell has manage to fix the wobbly base issue by now and any other little (or major) defects they were sending to their customers.

 

ugh - just called today. It's been delayed to the 14th. Dammit. I'm calling them up now.

 

just got off the phone with them. She told me that my laptop has been made already but it's in transit to the U.S., meaning that it was made outside of the country, and it's in transit. While that would partially explain why i have a weird ship date, i still smell shenanigans. Anything similar for anybody else?

 

Your original date was, the 5th?

 

They're ALL made outside the US, but they're shipped in bulk by air to the US. It's not like they're coming by camel, donkey and barge! (OK, well maybe the Inspirons, but not the Studios )

I've bought 3 systems from Dell this year, and they all showed as "in production" until they shipped, and delivery was very soon afterwards.

What's the status showing for yours online?

 

My base is rock solid when on a flat, solid surface. Of course it spends most of its time on my lap, and occasionally on my stomach.

 

I was under the impression that they were mostly produced in the states and then shipped. I had no idea that they imported them in full. But hey, that's their call.

The status still shows that it's in production, and my original delivery date was the fifth.

 

My guess is that as long as it moves out of production by the 2nd you'll get it on the 5th. (I know the 2nd is a Sunday, but one of mine flipped status on a Sunday)

 

Here's hoping you're right. Still I'll probably call in again later on today and see if the first one I spoke to was just making stuff up.

 

So yesterday I learned that my 14z was finally in "The Final Stages" and that it should ship within 2-3 days. I checked its status online earlier this morning and the delivery was pushed back to 8/11. Now I just received a second delay email saying delivery is pushed to 8/6, but that I have to notify them that I want to keep the order or it'll be canceled. The old phone status line still says that it's in the Boxing Stage. Do I ignore this second delay? What's going on?

 

I had the same thing this morning MrC. I sent the email anyways to continue with the order. I figured that it wouldn't hurt to email them anyways.

 

They probably count as two delays, so they're legally required to get your permission before continuing. Even though the new date of 8/6 is earlier than before, it's a delay over the initial date, and so they need to get your permission. That being said, it could just all be nonsense - try to talk to someone human to figure it out for sure.

 

Being that they are produced out of the States, who knows how our typical Sunday's off is in whatever country they are in. They might work on what is our Sunday...

 

Apparently they are produced in malaysia. Anybody know about their work habits?

 

Ya, I talked to a couple of reps about it and they said it still looks like everything is fine and to ignore the delay notification. My rep sent an update to the notification team that I still want the order anyways. So it appears to still be on track. Good.