Dell 1735 - Keyboard & OtherStuff

Hey. I got my Dell 17 in October (Specs are below). But stupidly I did not see the backlit keyboard option. I need this for late night gaming sessions LOL.
So I was wondering how easy it is to swap keyboards if I purchased this:-



Via ebay for <£20 ?

Is it a quick job, or is it time consuming, and can anything go wrong? Also..how do you do it? Is there a guide? Does this invalidate warranty?

Aside from the above, I also need to complain about a few things.

1) Sound sucks. It's appaling. IDT drivers are rubbish.
2) Underclocked GPU. Why Dell..Why? (I understand that it may compete with XPS laptops etc). Anyway this problem is solved by using AMD GPU Clock tool.
The card can easily handle any game you throw at it. COD 4 / 5 on 1440 Reso etc, with no lagg. Crysis on medium is fine too. etc
3) It gets very hot (But I use a laptop cooler).. Anyone put thermal paste on CPU?
4) Battery life is rubbish (It's plugged in most of the time..and due to this battery capacity charge is only 60% .. In little over 6 months its lost 40% charge capacity!!!)
5) Dell touch Media panel. Volume buttons flashing. Flashing bios does not help, so Dell said they will collect and return, and replace panel / motherboard. I will send it off after my exams.

Apart from that, everythings fine & I'd purchase another studio. Hopefully next Studios have better GPU's, Processors & Decent built in speakers with Subwoofer. Dell studio XPS is kind of pointless imo.

 

The keyboard is very easy to replace. I did the same thing with my Studio 1535. On the 1735, a few screws may be placed differently, but it shouldn't be any more complicated.

Here is Dell's official guide to removing the keyboard and replacing it:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/1735/en/SM/keyboard.htm#wp1179891

I don't think the 3650 in the Studio 17 is underclocked, where did you hear that?

The speakers are not very good, it's true, and the IDT drivers don't help. But you can uninstall the IDT drivers and let Vista install its own, and it will sound much better.

My Studio 1535 CPU was never very hot, but I did install thermal paste a while ago instead of the standard thermal pad Dell installs. My temperatures did drop a few degrees, especially under load.

 

Thanks for the helpful info. I was order and replace the keyboard asap.

I have uninstalled the IDT drivers, and Vista's are now installed.

@ The thermal paste..was it easy to get to CPU etc?

& @ the GPU .. according to AMD GPU Clock tool.. default settings are

109.68 - Engine
252.00 - Memory Clock .. These figures are well underclocked. I googled the correct figures, and they are much higher.

Underclocking helps save battery, and also stops the Studio range from denting sales of the XPS. My friend has the XPS 15 and his 8600GT is 3 below my 3650 on http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-3650.8839.0.html. Yet his performed better (according to his Vista score and in game FPS). So I did some digging, and overclocked my GPU to
550 Engine & 510 Memory. Temp increases a couple of degrees, but FPS increases but a very large margin, and in game graphics are very smooth, and lagg free on high settings.

 

Awesome. The whole process of taking the keyboard out and installing the new one took me 10 minutes on my 1535.

Not sure about the Studio 17, but it's very easy on the 15. Just remove the bottom panel, and the heatsink/fan unit is secured by 7 screws.

Dell's official guide to removing the heatsink:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/1735/en/SM/cpucool.htm#wp1084976

Keep in mind that this does void your warranty if Dell finds out that you did it.

That's exactly what my 3450 is clocked at when I check the AMD tool. However, that's not entirely accurate. The GPU has a throttling feature much like Intel's SpeedStep for the CPU, so that it underclocks to save battery when you're not doing anything graphically demanding.

Download GPU-Z to get a more accurate reading of what your clock speed is at full speed. According to GPU-Z, my 3450 is clocked at 550MHz on full, and the default is 500MHz, meaning it's actually slightly overclocked when it's in full performance mode.

It's hard to directly compare the Studio 17 and XPS M1530, but it's good to know you got your overclock working, although it's slightly unnecessary due the reasons I explained above.

 

The actual stock memory clock speed of the Mobility Radeon HD3450 is supposed to be 700MHz, I am assuming dell lowered it due to heat and size constraints. It would be nice to get that 200MHz back, however it would require voltage adjustments. Which, put simply, isn't an option. Memory doesn't get dangerously hot in the first place so I don't know why they lowered it.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-3450.9593.0.html

 

Well that's just weird. Why would they nudge the core clock up 50MHz, and then take the memory down 200MHz?

 

Exactly, the core clocks are where all the heat is. I just don't understand. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge than I can shed some light on it. For now:

Dell is laaaaaaame......but I still love them.

 

Yeah, well...they already have our money, we have no choice but to love them.

 

Hahaha I can see it now.

Dell:

BOW TO ME! MUAHAHAHA


Us:

 

Yeah, basically. They own us now!

 

How'd you manage this? Every time I try to overclock my 1737, the clocks reset and don't change. I even tried a ridiculous number like 900mhz and it just reset the clocks back to default (which is listed as 450 in GPU Clock Tool and GPU-Z, but in GPU-Z's "sensor" tab, my core clock is listed as 222mhz, so I don't know who or what to trust).

 

Thats because you are using a new driver. I had that problem too, till I went on the Microsoft website, and got the Windows 7 3650 Beta drivers.. Modded them..and it works. However catalyst control centre doesnt open but this is a minor niggle.

My driver version:-
8.477.0.0

Driver Date:-
07/04/2008

Its Microsoft signed too.

Never had anything go wrong with driver. Every game works fine, and no crashes etc.

Hope this is of use to you buddy.

 

7/4/08? That driver's almost a year old. Performance is great in everything but Saints Row 2, so I'm going to stick with Catalyst 9.3 even though my clocks show weirdly.

edit: Thanks though.

 

Yeah thats the only bad thing, but I have not had any errors or anything, and no games say the drivers outdated, but I will try and change it soon and see if I can still overclock it

 

How did replacing the keyboard go? This is a mod im looking at doing.

Does it invalidate the warranty?

 

Replacing the keyboard will not void your warranty.

 

Thats good news, im struggling to find a backlit keyboard though. Even ebay isnt bringing many up & calling dell i get told you cant buy them unless you buy a whole new laptop!

 

Here's one on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Studio-17-...hash=item360106980193&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177

 

Hey I haven't had time to fit it in.

Will do it soon, and let you know

kthnxbye

 

ouch, that much for a keyboard replacement (+£14 for delivery)? Is that the general price for this sort of thing? Esp as Dell do it for £30 on the studio 17. I was expecting it to be round that sort of price.

thanks for the link all the same mate, & thanks jUsT2eXy.


edit; Just re-read the thread, and jUsT2eXy you said you could get the keyboard for <£20? I dont spose you could post the link could you?

cheers

 

The backlit keyboard for my Studio 15 cost $50 US, plus like $5 shipping.

 

yeh, that's only about £35 over here, which makes the previous link of £80+ seem a bit daft - even if it is marginally bigger.

Im very interested in seeing if it can be bought for cheaper out here though!

thanks

 

yeh, that's only about £35 over here, which makes the previous link of £80+ seem a bit daft - even if it is marginally bigger.

Im very interested in seeing if it can be bought for cheaper out here though!

thanks

 

Parts People has the backlit keyboard for the Studio 17. They have an A-grade (brand new, mint condition):

http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=5864

They also have B-grade (refurbished, possible visible imperfections, but considerably cheaper):

http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=5864

They're a pretty good retailer, and I'm fairly certain they'll ship to the U.K. I've bought a few odds and ends from them before (palmrests, bezels, etc.) and never had any bad experiences. Even the B-grade stuff I've ordered was in pretty good condition.

 

I also got my 1735 at around the same time as jUsT2eXy. My only complaints are that the numlock light is already dead, and the seam of the black plastic shell where the hinge is was loose, although it is fine now. Sound is abysmal, but there's a fix for it mentioned somewhere here (installing default drivers instead of IDT's drivers), although I did not hear an improvement like everyone else did. The single USB port with the wide plastic hold is a little annoying, but I don't mind it too much. Using BatteryBar, it says I have lost 8% of my battery capacity, although I was mainly using it with the AC and battery in most of the time and I didn't have BatteryBar installed to calculate the battery's lost capacity until just a few months ago.

I'm curious, are you using the Windows 7 Beta on the Studio 17? Is that why you can overclock the 3650 so easily? Or are you using the Windows 7 drivers on Vista?

 

Iv found this ebay store which has several keyboards (backlit and normal) for the 1735 & 1736. Iv e-mailed the seller and he says these keyboards arnt for the 1737 though.

However, the link you sent me Mastershroom, they advertise the backlit keyboard as for the 1735 & 1737, making it sound like both laptops use the same keyboard?

Would there by any reason as to why the keyboard (link below) would fit the 1737? It seems daft that Dell would change the keyboard layout for a slight revision of laptop.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DELL-STUDIO-1...3|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

 

The keyboards are universal. The one you linked mentions all three (although it's non-backlit), but even if you get one that only says 1735/1736, it will fit.

This one should do nicely:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DELL-STUDIO-1...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

 

Sounds very good to me, my only concern is that looking at the picture of the keyboard you posted above (thanks 4 that) and the picture posted by the OP, they look to have slightly different clips on them, and the keyboard you posted Mastershroom there seems to be a tag/wire attached below the arrow keys, that's the keyboard in post #1 doesn't have.

keyboard FOR the 1737;



and the cheaper ebay keyboard, for the 1735 & 1736;

 

That smaller wire is for the power to the backlight LED's. The non-backlit keyboard will not have this extra cable. The wider ribbon cable on the left is the keyboard data cable, and is common to both versions of the keyboard.

The "clips" that are used to hold the keyboard in place with screws should be identical. Judging from the pictures, they are in the same places. They may look slightly different, but rest assured it is fully compatible.

Also, the main difference in those two pics you posted is the actual key layout. The top picture is a standard U.S. keyboard layout (with the smaller horizontal enter key). The bottom pic is the U.K. layout, with the L-shaped enter key. It's entirely up to you which one you're more comfortable with, there won't be any compatibility issues, but it's something you might want to consider before you buy.

 

Hi. Sorry for delay in replying.. busy with exams and stuff... you seem to have beaten me to the link. It was on ebay uk..with search term dell 1735 back lit keyboard...and there where like 20 or so..ranging frm £10 used / damged to..£30 new and £20 .. used.

 

Just to help others out, the keyboard i did buy WAS correct (thanks Mastershroom, wouldn't have bought it without your advice).

Fitting it was easy with the instructions posted earlier in this thread. Prying back the plastic was a tad nerve wracking, but using a PLASTIC thin tool and sliding it along very gently brings them all up easily enough. The connector is at the front of the keyboard opening, running parrallel to the screen. ( i only mention this because there is another connector, slightly smaller that runs at 90degrees to the screen - out fo reach of the keyboard cable mind.

Took me about 20mins to do, and it looks great!


Would advise anyone thinking about it to go ahead, as long as you take care and are patient with the fascia removal, your gd to go!

edit; as for exams I know the feeling. A new laptop is far too distracting from university work (even though the work was my justification for buying it in the first place!).

 

Glad to hear the surgery went well!