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

Well I'm sure Dell won't mind too much since they already have your money. There is a section of these forums about dell customer service and delivery. The concensus there is that it's a smaller headache to accept shipment and send back rather than refusing delivery.

I had a similar experience with the online tracking system. I checked last night and it said shipped on the 23rd. I checked multiple times on the 23rd, again on the 24th, and a few times earlier in the day yesterday. All times it was reported as "in production". So the system took >48 hours to update...that's awful.

Yay mine comes today!

 

So in your opinoin I should accept the delviery and then just don't open the box and call to ship it back...... how long would it take them to credit my Dell Prefeered account back the money.

 

I'm not sure as I have not been in your situation. I suggest starting a thread in the dell customer service forum.

 

Basic 14z with upgraded CPU (C2D6400) and upgraded battery is getting ~5 hours while surfing with wifi on and screen on low.

Noise is minimal, although fan is audible if you listen for it. If not trying to hear it you will certainly hear the birds outside instead.

Heat is not a problem although some parts of the underside and the exhaust air do get warm under load.

I like the keyboard, although one of the media function keys appears to be the 'eject' symbol. Are you fraking retarded DELL??

3 GB ram and I'm playing CS:Source on high. Just installed the new ArmA2 also, I expect to have to play on low or med.

Speakers are EXCELLENT for laptop speakers, although there are obvious physical restrictions to low frequency production...but they are good enough that I didn't notice until I tried to listen for bass.

 

thanks quaid!

 

I can't wait to get my replacement. I never expected this to be such a good gamming machine for it's size! I mean games arn't running maxed out settings but they are running decent. i bought this for buisnes and traveling, now it has a whole new bonus purpose lol

 

how are you running games... most games I have need the cd or dvd media in the drive...... this computer does not come with a dvd drive....so how did you get your games to run even load for that matter

 

most of my games are on steam I will wait for them to come out on there before i buy so i don't have to keep up with all those boxes and cd keys and scratched discs. Left for dead was the most demanding game I tried and it was smooth playing at medium settings.

 

Its called an external DVD drive... you plug it into the USB port, see, and it reads the disc. Then, by a mechanism still poorly understood to scientists, it transmits the information along the length of a wire cord, which the computer then receives. Somehow, it reads the information as if it was actually built into the computer, like magic!

Seriously, man, we've told you about these external drives a million times, and you keep acting like the lack of an optical drive is the end of the world.

 

The eject key on the media functions controls the Dell branded external optical drive.

 

Look it was a legitimate question.. I know about exteranal DVD drives. The questions was for games like The Sims3 or any of the EA Sports titles you need to keep the Disc in the drive.... How do you play them if you are say in the airport or in the backseat of your minivan.......It seems that every locaion is not ideal to have the external dirve. (That was such a sarcasitc and aragant answer you gave..... but no harm done.....)

 

^ I'm with him. TexasEx7's sarcastic response was not needed and it didn't even answer the question. That post was pointless.

Anyway, thanks to everyone sending in their impressions and usage info. It has been really helpful. But does anyone know when/if this will even become available in the UK?

Also, does the touchpad heat up at all during normal use e.g. word processing, web browsing? That's one of the main problems i'm having with my current notebook. And how's gaming performance in Vista/7? Thanks again.

 

The touchpad stayed nice and cool on mine. No idea on availability outside the USA sorry. As for games, any game can be coppied to the machine as an ISO and the you use a virtual drive to load the image to install the game and play it. Personaly I use clone cd to rip the game and deamon tools to mount the ISO. I do this even when I had an optical drive as it saves having to lug around sll the discs anyway. And for the few stubourn games this didn't work for there are ways "no cd" cracks

 

impulse purchase or uninformed purchase ftw

seriously, next time you order a laptop, maybe think twice? I want the studio 14z, but I have been waiting 2 months already because I want to make sure the reviews are nice and there are no major problems with it.

If gaming is so important for you when you're at the airport or in the bus, perhaps this is not thecomputer for you. I personally will onlyplay games occasionally on my desk in my bedroom. +you can get no cd cracks for the games you own!

 

Mythzeph answered your question for you.

First off, nobody buys REAL gaming notebooks to play while being mobile. They get poor battery life (1-2 hours) and weigh eleven pounds or so. So therefore, most of the time people are playing a gaming notebook, they are plugged in at a desk or someplace.

Second, the 14z is not a gaming notebook. It might handle old games depending on settings, but you wont get newer games to run very well on it. So if you're concerned about not being able to play Sims3 because of the optical drive, prepare to be disappointed. Thats the least of your problems if you've chosen this notebook.

My response was sarcastic, but your question was vague as well. You asked how he uses an optical drive, and that was the answer- external. If you would have clarified you wanted to know how you could do it on the go, he would have probably told you he wasnt planning on using the external drive on the go.

 

Look I didnt' say monster gamming. I am talking about an occasional game of the sims 3........as for impulse... I assure you its no impluse purchase. it was difficult to get concrete info on some aspects of the machine. The Dell rep gave me incorrect info..........And I figued if you are selling the machine you must know what the internals and upgrade options are..........If I ask one of you about your pet dog... "shouldn;t you know more about it than the person asking "I mean it is your dog" LOL you make a big deal of nothing. We come to forums to voice out opinons and ask questions .... get more info... isn't that what its all about..... if you dont know ask a question.... anyway.......

 

P.S.. also on a side note..... the issue was not that laptop it was the long ship date and poor customer service.....

 

I used to work for dell sales before the whole india switch and I can assure you the dell reps have NO IDEA about the machines other than what you see on the website. The laptops launch and they see them on their order system almost the same as wee see the website. When you call in they are there just to fill in the options you were to lazy to do online LOL. The only difference was that there was someone to call back if you had an issue, but that is fake as well cause they just inturn get ahold of whatever department actualy handles it (ie you can do it yourself and not have to play phone tag with a "sales rep") And I cannot tell you how many times a rep has filled in things wrong....

 

Oooh. Neat.

Played BioShock on high settings today.

RE: trackpad, no. During games it (and the whole laptop) got warm but not uncomfortable.

 

For anyone wondering about the screen, the 720p is beautiful and bright. I used it outside yesterday and could still read things fine. Sunlight washes out screens like mad, and you could certainly see a difference, but the screen was still legible.

It also makes for a good text size, not uncomfortable at all. I have no doubt that the 900p screen would be even nicer and do not imagine it would be too 'fine', although that is just speculation.

RE weight, my system comes in at 4lb 11oz. That is with the 8 cell battery.

 

Does any one know if hardware virtualization is enabled? I know the processor supports it but, some vendors don't enable it and don't have a setting in the bios to enabled...i.e. lenovo y650..

 

I went to bestbuy yesterday and they didnt have the studio14z, actually, they didnt even have the studio 1555! They had the 1537 selling for like 800$. They say Dell sends custom configs to them and they rarely ever receive stuff. I'm in Canada and it kinda sucks that you can't buy the latest stuff. In seems canada is screwed when you want to buy a computer in store. All I see everywhere is HP, sony and apple. No asus, no lenovo(the canadian online store does not even have all the models) no nothing.

My girlfriend's scholarship allows buying a computer, but it has to be bought in a store inside the province of Quebec. Stores can't even get custom configs from Dell. She'll probably have to get some outdated model for the price of the new ones.

 

The 14z is now listed on BestBuy.com:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9358009&type=product&id=1218090589869


Just FYI
~Aryq~

 

I went to bestbuy and checked it out. Its a great machine. I tested out the sound and it was very good for a laptop. I dont think it was running the soundblaster software. I dont know how necessary that software is. Anyone know?
The laptop is very lite, the screen (even though it was 720p) looked great and it did not run hot and I didnt hear the fan, (although I was in a noisy bestbuy).

Any thoughts about the soundblaster software additional for 25 dollars? Is it a rip or would it be beneficial for someone who wants the best sound? Can that software be downloaded elsewhere?

 

Wished they had the black model on the 14z. I don't like red personally.

 

Don't know, sorry. However, I have read that only the higher end C2D support it.

The black is sexy and also a fingerprint magnet.

 

Thanks for the info on the 720p screen! Everything I've read is about the 900p screen. The 900p would have too fine of a ppi for my old eyes. I've had a 1680x1050 15.4" screen for almost 3 years now which is 128.65 PPI and I've regretted getting it every day since. It's great for photo editing, but is too much of a strain on my eyes for daily use. The 900p screen would be even tighter at 131.13 PPI. The 720p will be just right for me at 111.94 PPI.

Do you have the "rattle" that J33g talks about here?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4997553&postcount=6

VVarwick

 

Still waiting on my 14z to come in. Unlike a lot of the early buyers I'm still happy with my purchase now that more solid information's coming in. My only regret is that I picked up the 6 cell battery assuming that the 8 cell would stick out. Big mistake given that the Dell reps I've spoken to have indicated that I can't change my order after the fact. Oh well, I'll be plugged in most of the time anyway and it'll be nice to lose the extra few ounces for portability.

 

I ordered mine on May 28th and tried to change it to the 8-cell a few hours later with no luck, I was told the order couldn't be changed or cancelled. Then 10 days ago I found my order cancelled and re-entered, proving to me it's quite possible to cancel an order.

I spoke to the sales (not customer service people) and they had no problem cancelling my order and entering a new one with the features I wanted (added the battery, bluetooth and went from the 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM). This was Dell Canada, not Dell US, so I can't guarantee it will work for you (although in both cases it's speaking to India).

Give it a try - if you succeed you'll pay less and get a free Windows 7 upgrade to boot!

 

Thanks for the great advice. I got my order cancelled and resubmitted with the 8 cell battery. I originally ordered my laptop on the 21st because of the Days of Deals discount, but was worried I'd have to bite the bullet on not getting a Windows 7 upgrade. Now, I've kept the Days of Deals discount and had my order submitted clearly within the W7 upgrade timeline. I couldn't be happier with how this turned out.

 

Also, to boot, my new estimated delivery date is 10 days earlier than the old one .

 

For screwing up my order (wrong color) and cause windows 7 discount is now going on as my machine was being rebuilt, they gave me a 50.00 discount but no windows 7 elegibility. I took the 50.00 and preordered windows 7 from amazon but i feel I should have gotten some thing more for all the delay this is causing me not to mention all the time spent on the phone sorting this out ( at least 4 hours) This is what I feel is the biggest disadvantage to ordering a dell. The reps are trained in english but don't seem to care what happens. The stick to thier scripts and thats it. So as long as you get what you order no problem, the machines are great and parts are plentiful BUT your in trouble if you have problems with your order or even worse need tech help lol.

 

My new estimated ship date is July 22! My original one was three days ago. But I'm hopeful it will turn up before then, as a new identical system ordered today would have a much earlier one.

It's a bit crazy that "customer service" will swear up and down that it's absolutely impossible to cancel or modify an order, even though not modifying it will obviously cost Dell a lot of money. I guess the sales people get some commission and are therefore more willing to go the extra mile for customers.

Glad I was able to help.

 

well if your talking to a different sales person than the one you ordered from then yes they will cancel it right away and re enter (thus they get the commision not the original salesmen) Cust service gets nothing out of it and are told not to cancel systems cause those orders are already at the production plant getting assembled. You think the sales guy cares? lol he's just looking for a better paycheck

 

I wouldn't have minded so much if my system actually WAS in production. But it's crazy not to be able to change an order placed a couple of hours earlier that's weeks away from being built.

 

The SAGA CONTNUES:

Guest what everyone...... The Studio 14Z arrived at my door today... My wife was happy as she is taking this purchase for herself since I have the macbook now.....Anyway everything was looking good until I opened the box and found there was NO BATTERY.... ................... Yes i can plug it in and it powered on but the rep on the phone was rude telling me it had to be there. after about 1.5 hours of being bounced around on the phone... i was told that they will check with DHL for the package weight and guess what the weight of the package was off by almost a pound..... how can a battery weigh a pound.... I don't know but the rep aplogized and said they would send me a battery in 2 to 3 days...... Can someone tell me is this normal... what happnened to quality control.... this does not make me fell warm and fuzzy something is wrong here.

 

Do you want someone to tell you it's normal?

I've never had that kind of experience with dell. You should consider yourself "lucky" lol.

 

well it must be normal the rep told me the shpping weight wah 7.1 pounds and that normally the ship weight is 8 pounds..... thats alot of pounds for a notebook that is stated to weigh 4.8 pounds or something like that

 

Well don't forget the AC adaptor (.64 LB) doesn't count in the 4.8 pounds. Add in all the discs, packing materials and 8 pounds seems reasonable.

 

Alynch... that is a very normal weight. Batteries usually add almost a full pound to the laptop. The laptop weighs 4.3 with the 6 cell battery, so probably closer to 5 with the 8 cell.

It sucks they forgot to include one with your machine. Maybe they read all your posts on these forums whining about how you had to wait for it and decided to tick you off just a little bit more?

 

well at least you only have to wait for a battery. I had to send the whole system back and wait for another one. still in production

 

hahahHahaha! Not constructive! -1!
funny and I totally would have if I worked for Dell +1!

 

now that was funny do you reallything dell reads these forums.....if they did ther service wouldn't suck so bad

 

And if Obama came and had a beer with me, all the world's problems would be solved.

 

Hi guys, I just received my 14z today in the mail up here in Canada. If you need any pics or info I would be happy to respond. Overall I find my 14z to be quite amazing compared to my $400 Toshiba satellite I got last year which now gets about 45mins on a full charge.

My specs are:
Black chainlink
P8600
900P display
8cell battery
No backlit keyboard

 

Pics of the screen please

Do you notice any loose parts rattling about inside the screen? Battery life tests for the 8-cell would be appreciated.

 

janahan,

Pics of the "Chainlink" black, from a distance and close-up would be nice. Also, a close-up of the chainlink pattern on the inside. Does the black exterior collect a lot of fingerprints? Also, if you have the Dell wireless n card, how is its performance? Dropped connections? Range? Thanks!

 

If any of you 14z owners feel inspired to upload a video of your new system to youtube (or wherever), I'm sure people here (including me) would appreciate it.

 

On the contrary... it would explain why they don't have time to fix it.

Serioiusly though, the Dell forums are full of complaints similar to the ones here.

 

WHY anyway.... as most of you have seen my rants on the forum... in any event my wife is going to be the primary user of the laptop so it does what she needs it to do. We are just waitinig for dell to ship up a batter y. go figure a laptop with no battery is not a laptop at all............if someone can point me in the right direction I can upload some video and pics of the laptop..........for all you movie buffs..... my wife watches alot of movies on her ipod.... i am gonna use somethign called cucosoft to put the movies on our home server and then transfer them to the laptop so she can use them... it has 500gb hard drive (upgraded it) it seems to have great build quality... its the dark blue ..... too glossy for me.... anyway.............