A couple of Studio 17 questions

I'm strongly considering buying a studio 17 laptop but if I could get a few queries answered that would be much appreciated.

Here's the system I'm thinking of going for-
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T8300 2.4ghz
2Yr In-Home Warranty (free)
17.0" Widescreen WUXGA+ CCFL (1920x1200)
4096MB DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
500GB (5.400rpm) Dual Hard Drive (2x 250GB)
256MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3650
Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery

With student discount and a voucher code that comes to £783.45.

My questions are-

I know that the full 4gb of RAM can't be fully used by the 32 bit Vista options offered.

1. Is it true that you microsoft will send you a 64bit installation disc for free if you have the 32bit cd and key code?

2. Would the 32bit vista key still be valid for a 64 bit disc even though dell has already installed vista using the code?

3. Does the studio 17 support 64bit vista well or would many of the components not have 64 bit drivers?

4. Is the more expensive CCFL 1980x1200 better than the WLED 1440x900 screen? I know the WLED would be thinner and possibly offer better battery life but do you think the extra resolution of the 1920x1200 screen would make up for this.

5 Would the text on the 1980x1200 screen be too small or does vista scale the text well with dpi settings? I've had bad experiences with XP dpi settings.

6. I imagine I wouldn't be able to play alot of games at 1980x1200 so does the screen upscale well from lower resolution?

Alot of questions I know but I'd like to be well informed before jumping in and buying it. I would greatly appreciate any replies and opinions.

 

1, I don't think so personally. 32bit and 64bit oses are very different things.

2, same as 1

3, not sure

4, I'm suing a 1440*900 screen, and tbh, I think a higher res would be alot better,

5, wuxga on a 17inch lappy should be fine. I have seen a 15inch wuxga, it's managable, but not pleasant.

6 a high-res screen can upscale better than a low res one. a hd3650 ddr2 will not be able to play current games at medium-high at 1440*900, so my suggestion is to take the wuxga panel, for better upscaling effect.

one more thing, I'm using 3 gb of ram, my ram usage tops at 60% when GAMING, so I don't see the point of going 64bit now. plus, 32bit os recognise about 3.5 gigs of ram, so you only get like 500mb more ram when you go 64bit due to chipset limitations. if your on desktop, it's a different story, most mobos now support 16gb of ram.

 

I don't have answers to all your questions, but I will respond to the screen resolution question.

I have a Studio 15 and the WXGA+ (1440x900) LED display was a MUST have for me. The WUXGA (1920x1200) was overkill for my needs and, because it was a standard CCFL display, it wasn't as appealing to me.

However, 1440x900 is the basic resolution for a 17" and I'm not even sure if it's worth the upgrade cost over the standard display with the same resolution. I'd love to see a WSXGA+ (1680x1050) LED offered on the Studio 17!

So, my advice is go for the WUXGA (1920x1200) option....the higher resolution is preferable to what the LED offers!

 

Go for the higher rez
I've seen a 17" at 1440x900 and it's to big.
I just don't think led is worth it without more pixels.

Microsoft will give send you a vista 64/32 for $15(Shipping)
64bit isn't needed my most average users. To avoid any compatibility problems just go with 32 and get 64 later if you need it for some reason which is not very likely at all.

Also how are you getting it with a 2.4GHz processor?
When I go to dell to configure this laptop it jumps from 2.1 to 2.5GHz, nothing in between.

 

Thanks everyone for the quick replies. Your comments and the poll are suggesting the 1980x1200 screen over the 1440x900. That seems to be the way to go.

Thanks erwallie for the answer to question 1. It's good to know that I have the option to upgrade to 64 bit in the future but from what tianxia was saying I probably won't even need use of the full 4 gb of ram made accessible by the 64 bit vista.

I live in the UK. Maybe the 2.4ghz T8300 is UK only or are you too from here? I'm guessing not as you quoted the shipping in dollars.

On another note I imagine I will mostly be using the headphone jack. Do you know if it's a good clear sounding jack or if it's got quite a bit of static/ background noise?

 

Here's another question to add to my ever increasing list. Knowledge is power as they say.

What is the max resolutions of the VGA and HDMI outputs?

Also would I be able to use the VGA or HDMI output to hook up a dual monitor set up or do these connections just output the image that is already on the laptop screen?

 

It should output 1080i.
Yes you can use HDMI and VGA
You can customize whether it shows exactly what the laptops shoes or if i only shows what you drag on to it ect.
Yes you can use HDMI and VGA

 

I have WUXGA+ on my inspiron 1720 with vista, comparing it to 1440x900, I would say it's a lot better. You get a lot of room on your desktop which is very useful. If the text seems too small you can adjust it using quickset.

 

http://www.eetimes.com/news/design/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201805563

Someone posted another thread where Dell has recently announced that at some future date all their notebooks would use the superior LED displays.

Can't honestly recommend CCFL display notebook if an LED display is also an option. Depending on how long you plan on using this notebook, the CCFL brightness will fade over time whereas the LED will not. Battery life is also increased in a LED display notebook since it uses less power than CCFL.

The slightly increased screen resolution of CCFL is not worth the trade-offs by not going LED...

 

Microsoft won't send you a 64 bit DVD, but Dell will. The keys are interchangeable.

 

1920*1200/1440*900=1.77777777

so the slight increased screen resolution is about 78% more space.
Not so 'slight' after all.

 

Not true I had a dell D630 and got a 64bit DVD from microsoft for $15 and it worked with my COA on the bottom of the laptop.
I don't know why you said that cause it isn't true.

 

Because Dell keys are OEM and Microsoft won't deal with OEM keys. I guess you just got lucky.

 

Hmm well one way or another you get it

 

Are there any advancement coming in the relatively close future that would be worth waiting for? For example are there a new series of ATI or NVidia notebook graphics cards coming out in the next month are so. I know that there will always be something new coming and eventually you have to just jump in and buy something. However, I would be annoyed if a month after I got the laptop ATI released a new line of graphics cards that steam rolled the hd 3650 in terms of performance.

 

It seems that UK buyers get some choices that we don't here in the U.S. and Canada! Thanks a lot DELL!

The jump from the 2.1GHz T8100 to the 2.5GHz T9300 was one of the first inexplicable configuration oddities I noticed with the Studio 15/17. Most Inspiron models have the T8300 as the top choice of processor. The T8300 has been considered by many as the "sweet spot" among Penryn processors (best value/performance ratio, aka 'Bang for the Buck'). The T8300's clock speed is only 0.1GHz slower than the T9300, so the primary difference is the T9300's 6MB L2 cache vs. 3MB for the T8300. The performance increase for average users is hardly noticeable (if at all) and doesn't justify a substantial price premium for most.

In the Studio 15/17, at least in the U.S. market, the performance difference between a 2.1GHz T8100 (3mb L2 cache) and a 2.5GHz T9300 (6mb L2 cache) is considerable (comparing benchmark results, at least). The T8100 costs $175 more than the standard T2390. The T9300 is a $350 upgrade from the T2390, which is $175 more than the T8100! For comparison, the jump from T2390 to T8100 also costs $175 on the Inspiron 1525. However, upgrading to the T8300 only costs another $50.

If I had ordered my Studio 15 new, I probably would have picked the T8100 rather than paying $175 more to get the T9300. I lucked out and found mine with the T9300 (and the LED display) on DELL Outlet and got an insane deal.

Hopefully, when the update to the Montevina/Centrino2 platform happens (very soon, we hope) this won't be an issue.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819111001&Tpk=t9300
the t9300 retails for $334.99, LOL.