Dell 17r N7720 SE - user review

That exceeds my budget , so can't go with it . Besides i won't use 3D at all ..

So if you say warranty is world wide , what if they do not have parts in India .? Will they import from US .??

 

well, you misunderstand one point..............i dont care about the 3D feature either..i never use it..........BUT the screen itself is amazing. awesome colours & sharpness.

thats why it cost £200 extra.....the screen is drop dead gorgeous.

about the warranty....yes !
when i was living abroad they fixed parts to me from that country i was living in.

 

You're giving this panel more credit than it deserves. The panel on the one I'm about to return has a warmer color temperature on the left side then the right. Have you seen the anti-glare screen in person before? How are you so sure the 3D panel's that much better?

 

I put a 6235 in mine since I needed 5ghz, too many 2.4ghz routers near me. Earlier in the this thread there's a link to enable 300 mode on the base card, it's just a setting disabled by default

 

@steven.....i would replace my screen directly if it showed different colours on left to the right.

my screen have same colours on both sides (of course)...whats the point otherwise ????

and YES ! i have seen the standard anti glare screen..........its good. but not as good as the True life.......no doubt about that.

 

Using the Generic Windows Audio Drivers that install themselves when you remove the IDT ones there are no audio issues. (As opposed to the terrible crackling I had before) Am I missing out on benefits of an IDT driver if I just continue with the generic?

 

I disagree here, but it is only personal taste.
I've seen side by side two 7720's. One with true life screen and the other with mate screen.
The reflections on the true life screen killed any desire to go on and turn them ON. I only said: glossy screen? No thanks.

 

(you have no clue what a real high glossy screen is like). according to DELL tech support, the 7720 True life screen have a new type of half matte half glossy coating.

and they are totally right...........besides very high colour gamut and sharpness on 7720 True life screen........it also not anywhere near a real high glossy screen.
i have no issues at all watching movies outside (of course who like the sun hit directly at the screen...only a moron would enjoy that)




exact same screen as 7720, BUT different type of coatings.....(about same angle).....the different is so BIG its nearly silly.

 

Personally I don't have any issues with glare or reflections on my "glossy" screen in a brightly lit office. It's the least reflective glossy screen I've seen and I now find matte screens a little washed out.

 

he he....well said...staring to get pretty dull this conversation :SLEEP:

 

Yeah, dull as a matte screen. There is no point comparing two pictures you provided. Different angle, different brightness, different background, different lighting conditions, different camera settings. It is misleading at best.

Dell 17R special edition Review (7720). Part 1 - YouTube

One has to watch the rest of your video review and make up their mind how good or bad the reflections are. If you can get used to them, that's great. Other folks might not be so lucky.

 

I just told you that i've seen both screens on 7720 and you come with the bull that i quoted above?
Pff... my point was that after a glossy 3d screen on G53JW and a glossy screen on M11x I didn't want another one on 7720.

Now, since you posted those pics in a truly biased manner (they are not from the same angle and lightning conditions), just take a look at the mirror you call "half mate half glossy" - it's from the same youtube movie you extracted the screenshot.

 

Hey guys, just ordered my own Inspiron 17r 7720 a couple of days ago, and I was wondering the following concerning upgrades and overclocking:

1. Can I overclock the CPU in this laptop? I heard from somewhere that the i7-3610qm is not overclockable, but the 3720 and above are. Is this true, or did Dell lock the bios?
2. Can I upgrade the CPU to a better one in this laptop and overclock it?
3. Can I overclock the GPU?
4. Can I upgrade the GPU to a better one and overclock that one as well?
5. If overclocking is possible, do I need to swap out my bios for an unlocked version? If so, where would I find it?
5. How many HDDs can I have in this laptop not including the 32gb mSATA SSD (which I don't have)? Like for example, could I have a 256gb SSD along with a 1TB HDD?
6. RAID. Yes? No? I guess that would depend on the answer to question 5.
7. Can I go back and get an mSATA SSD installed on this laptop? If so, can I only get the 32gb one from Dell? I heard that was my only option.
8. Would it be of any use to install a SATA III SSD in this laptop and have and have an mSATA SSD used as a cache drive or would that not really be of any use since the main drive is already an SSD?

I tried asking Dell some of these questions, but everyone I spoke with is either incompetent or won't give me a direct answer. They told me OC'ing wasn't possible, but I'm seeing evidence that is telling me otherwise in this thread, so I'm just trying to get straight answers is all. Thanks.

 

well.........just go ahead with the screen type you like......im not really bother............end of story !
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1. no (if you go for the i7 there is really no point),,,,,,,,,,besides it turn up the heat extremely much because its Ivy bridge. (the only overclocked laptop CPU chip i have is my core 2 duo M1710 T7600G....it actually still performance insane good

2. YES.....very easy. done it myself on older models.....there is just one condition.....you must pare the mobo/chip so it gets right

3. yes...very easy............again...higher temp, higher current floats inside the chip..(i dont see no need for that....you can play BF3 in 1080p with 40FPS anyway.

4. yes...under one condition......must be same MXM type. (again, putting in a GTX 6XX card will need better cooling)

5. finding new BIOS is no issues......

6. two real Hard drives fits (2 bays)....+ 1st 32GB Msata3................you can also take away the optical drive and make a third HD.

7.here is the tricky part..............if you order a the cheaper model with NO msata3...im not sure you can install msata3 later (dont think so)....so buy a model with msata3 from start

8. there is no point having a SSD with msata3 pushing up the cache ...msata3 should run a with ordinary hard drive to gain best result.

if you really want SSD...just have a SSD in bay2 (for data) and then a 7200rpm + msata3 (bay 1) with windows on.. WAY smarter/better.

or buy a big msata3 and have in bay 1 (windows) and then a SSD (bay 2)

or...forget the msata3....... and have SSD bay 1 and SSD bay 2.

 

Put the operating system on the SSD. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

Yeap, Do what Steve said above.
I did the same, 180GB SSD (ordered separately) + 1TB hdd (came with the laptop).
Also for your point 7. with bios A08 - you will find the link few pages back - you get the option to put sata controller in the mode that activates msata cache mode. So you don't have to get the top config from Dell to achieve that anymore.

 

Thanks for responding! You were very helpful! Just so we're clear, I want some clarification on a few things:

1. So is it that I can't overclock ANY CPU that I have in my Inspiron or just the i7-3610qm? Like for example, if I were to put an i7-3820qm in the laptop, could I overclock that? The reason why I ask this is because I heard that the i7-3610qm has a locked multiplier whereas the i7-3720qm and up do not.

Here is one source where I heard it: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...t-upgrades/670671-3610qm-vs-3720qm-again.html

It more specifically says that the i7-3720qm has a "partially" unlocked multiplier, meaning it can go up to 4x more (or 400mhz) on each core before hitting its limit. I'm guessing the i7-3820qm has the same overclocking limitation of only being able to raise its overclock 400mhz more through a 4x higher multiplier. However, I believe that the i7-3920xm and i7-3940xm have completely unlocked multipliers. That may be an option as well.

Is this true? Could anyone go into more detail on overclocking the CPU for the Inspiron on whether or not it's overclockable, and, if so, under what conditions and with which processors? It sounds like it's only a BIOS issue, and if the BIOS can be unlocked (and some are), then couldn't the 3720, 3820, 3920, etc. all be overclocked as long as heat is kept under control?

2. If I can't do any overclocking with my CPU, why is that? Is it a heat issue or a bios issue where it won't allow me or what? I heard that I can just up the multiplier and possibly be ok with the same voltage.

3. So for upgrading my GPU, a GTX 660, 670, 675, 680 etc would all work?

4. You never answered my RAID question. Can I do RAID?

5. You also only answered half of my question 8. So you say that it's compatible in that I can have a SATA III SSD working with the mSATA 32gb cache drive. Ok then. Part two to that question is this: Would that be any faster than just having an SSD and no cache drive?

And btw, I think that you can go back and get the mSATA cache drive. I think I read that from a response from one of the Dell people on the Dell forums. I'll have to look into that, but if anyone can confirm this either way, that'd be great.

 

Would that really be better (faster) though than just installing everything on my SSD the normal way? And wouldn't I also lose the option of storing data on it?

 

There's not even much sense in buying an mSATA card if you can't boot from it. I don't even see a point in setting up the drive cache on mSATA if you're going to install the operating system on an SSD.

 

he he...they are so out of touch...........there is plenty with benchmark showing msata3 + hard drive.....is faster.

you must be the biggest moron if you take away a brilliant msata3 function on the Windows partition and replace with a more expensive, smaller SSD.

you guys are green horns !
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guitarlifter

@ yes you can have RAID by the way.

@ and NO you cant overclock any of your Inspiron CPUs (as i said...just some special laptop CPUs who have proper CPU overclocking inside BIOS....for example my T7600G)

what i think they mean is about the Turbo feature this i7 CPU has.

 

I'll throw my lot in, mostly because KSMB's information is misleading to say the least.

1) You can't manually overclock the cpu, at least not using the provided BIOS. However, ivy bridge CPU's do feature inbuilt overclocking (TURBO), google it. You can physically replace the CPU of the 7720, however there is no guarantee that the provided BIOS has support for any other CPU's. So far, I have not seen any reports on the interwebz of people upgrading the CPU for a better one, so no guarantees it will work (I doubt you will get a valid reply from Dell support, they are mostly clueless IMO)
2) See above
3) Yes. Have a google around, the GT 650m is a pretty decent overclocker. The only thing holding you back is the shared cooling of the GPU and CPU using a single heatsing/fan. Hence, if you tax the CPU, you will not be able to overclock the GPU as much. You can use Nvidia Inspector or MSI Afterburner to overclock. See other threads on this forum as to what clocks are possible and how-to guides.
4) No, the GPU is soldered to the motherboard, you cannot change it.
5) Unlocked BIOS is not needed for overclocking the GPU (and as far as I am aware, no unlocked BIOS exists for the 7720)
6) There is no hardware raid available through the chipset, but you are free to use software raid, that is raid configured through Windows, Linux, etc.
7) With the A08 bios, you can install your own msata disk and use it as a cache, or as another storage device. Prior to this BIOS, you only had the msata option if it came preinstalled from DELL. There shouldn't be an arbitrary limit set to limit msata to 32gigs, but I have not personally played around with msata on my laptop, maybe other people can confirm this.
8) There are two drive bays in this laptop, and an optical bay, which can be used for another drive as well if you swap the optical drive for a disk caddy. Most sane people would buy an SSD disk and use it for the OS and programs, and keep the slower mechanical drive provided with the laptop as a data disk. Why KSMB would use SSD for data is a mystery. Also, to repeat what has already been stated a couple of times, using an msata cache with an SSD is not recommended, you will not be getting better performance (from what I've read, it's actually not even possible to set this up with the provided intel software, it will detect an SSD and not allow you to add a cache to it). You can use the msata to speed up the slower data disk, but doing this depends on how you actually use the disk. Your mp3s and movies are not gonna play any quicker using the cache.. I've read people use the msata drive as a temp storage, for swap/page file, as a scratch disk for photoshop, rendering, etc.. all valid uses. It really depends on how you use your laptop.

 

Anyone with the slightest bit of commonsense will disregard almost anything you post. Your logic is non-existent. Telling someone to buy an SSD for data storage is the dumbest thing I've heard in a while. Not many people need more than 128-256GB for their operating system and program installations. Hence the reason using a larger hard drive for data storage, and the "smaller" SSD for program files (quicker response time, data read/writes, and better performance) is the sensible solution.

 

RealG hit it righn on the nose, you cannot use the msata on an ssd, software won't allow it. You may use the msata as a boot drive though, but a real ssd in a bay will perform better. I have some results to prove this. My current setup is using a Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Series MKNSSDAT120GB-DX mSATA 120GB msata, a ocz veterx 3 maxiops 240GB SSD and a 750GB WD Black Hard drive, using the msata as a cache, hibernation partition and the remainder of the space as drive space. OS is installed on ssd, and alignment has been verified by Paragon Alignment tool. Here are the results:


mstata drive extra space:



Accelerated WD Black Drive:



OCZ System SSD:

 

Thanks Focus1, nice to see some real performance data. Question is, how big an impact does the cache have when you write a bunch of random bits to the disk and read them out again (assuming that's what the benchmark did). If I understood the whole cache setup correctly, there is actually logic behind it, looking at frequently accessed data, and only caching that. So completely random reads and writes would arguably bypass the cache all together.

 

Hi fellow owners of the Inspiron7720.

I just got mine a few days ago and tried the DVD burner unit. Tried to burner a dual layer dvd disc and it failed. I tried 3 times without success. I called Dell and the tech tried remotely several time until he made me restore the system to factory setup. Tried again, no result. A supervisor called me to apologize for the previous technician stating that the burner doesn't actually burned dual layers disc to my stupefaction. Apparently, it can read dual layers but can only burner single layer dvd discs.

As anyone tried theirs?
Is it true that in 2012 Dell sells single layer dvd burners in a 1000$ laptop ???!!!

 

Here are the specs on the bluray drive: Documentation

 

Well, random bits would probably not benefit as much but it does help. Without the cache read speeds were the same as the write speed at ~100Mbyte/sec

 

Any chance you can get me the other Optical drive documentation? The regular one.

thanks a lot

 

Nevermind, found it and also found that the DELL tech support team bulled me.

The regular dvd drive is capable of burning dual layer disc. They will hear from me big time!!!

 

Before going berserk, perhaps it would be worthwhile checking the quality of the dvds you tried to burn? Some brands are utter crap, some might not like the particular burner.

PS. Pulled the trigger and sniped 17R SE from the Outlet. Yay!

 

Actually yes, please post a video of you replacing the gpu, I would definitely want to see how this is done, and I bet other folk following this thread would find it interesting as well.

...also, why are you talking about MXM? The 17R SE does not have an MXM type gpu. You see what I mean when I say your posts are misleading?

 

So, has anyone tried to install more than 8GB of RAM in the 15R or 17R laptops yet? This is the only concern that is preventing me from getting it over the MSI GE70. I would like some confirmation on this please because if you can in fact use 16GB of RAM (safely) then I can save a couple hundred bucks by going with the 17R and haggling with the Dell sales people.

Please answer me someone, I beg of you!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-inspiron-dell-studio/688260-inspiron-17r-se-corsair-vengeance-2x8gb-ddr3-1600-a.html]Inspiron 17R-SE and Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB DDR3-1600

 

Yea, I already had that same Corsair package bookmarked. Should I be concerned with the TC having problems or did he just have bad RAM?

 

I have the Corsair package for almost 3 months now and it is working perfectly.

 

Sweet.

Did you guys buy the protection plan for you laptops. I think it's absolute BS that you have to match the number of years in protection with the number of years in support. It f'ing doubles the cost!

The last thing I want is Dell's support too. I just want protection in case I drop the thing or spill some beer on it. lol

 

Yes: 16.0 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)

Rule of thumb, do not drink beer next to laptop as it WILL spill eventually...

 

Got my 7700 SE three weeks ago. Really happy with it. Amazing screen, crystal clear. I got the 3D version. Plan to try it today. This thing is fast. Has played every game i have thrown at it. Are there any resources for screen shots of the GPU, CPU cooling system. Would like to redo thermal paste but would like to know how big of a project it is.

 

Is your computer unplugged when playing? I was playing Dead Space and it got unplugged. The sound started crackeling and sounded terrible. Plugged it back in and it was fine. I always use it plugged in.

 

There is a manual for this laptop on the dell website. It includes a step-by-step guide (including drawings) of how to replace the heatsink. So reapplying thermal paste should be a simple case of following the guide.

Not sure about the sound issues you describe, but one of the most reported on issues with this model seem to revolve around the audio drivers provided by Dell. Try reinstalling them, or just let windows use the default audio driver, see if that fixes it. Otherwise, get in touch with Dell support (and hope for the best...)

 

to get access to the heatsink has been a slower moment on 7720.......with studio xps 16 it was soo easy/fast (few screws, one plate.....done)
(what i trying to say is why DELL has went from genius/simple moment to a slower/unnecessary moment)......... if something works great.....why mess it up !



me and many other people got rid of the crackling sound by erase..reboot....reinstall IDT and (of course) removing the ultimate super crappy MCAfee...........which causing weird freezing issues on the i7 cpu.

my sound works perfect now after this tips.

 

I've just ordered my 17R SE as well.

I want to start downloading drivers in advance, does anyone know how the laptop responds to drivers? Can I simply get the latest GPU drivers from nvidia.com or do I have to get them from Dell because the GPU doesn't accept nVidia drivers?

 

So are these laptops built to last or what? I know that Inspirons are at the lower end of the spectrum and they are Dell's after all which doesn't help but I there just aren't any other Dell models that match these kind of specs without being 2 or 3 times as expensive. The reason why I want Dell is because of the online coupon's I could use.

I would most likely get the 3 years protection plan but what are the chances the mobo fries after 4 years? I am going to be using this laptop for mainly work and not really for gaming so I want it to last a long time.

 

IMO, this is definitely a lower-end consumer grade laptop, at least in terms of build quality and materials (but on the other hand, you get a pretty decent performance/price ratio). The chassis is plastic, and the overall design is not road-warrior worthy... For a travelling businessman, this model would probably not be the best choice.

 

Well, I'm looking to turn off the throttling and have the laptop in constant turbo boost or at least be in turbo boost for as long as I want it to be. How do I go about doing this?

 

ThrottleStop is the key to your answer.

ThrottleStop 5.00 Available for Download!

 

So we've got a definite sound issue on this laptop, has anyone had any answers from Dell on this?

And no, reinstalling the driver does not work. Uninstalling McAfee does not fix it either. Maybe it did for you but it is not a solution.

 

Best advice I can give is return it for a refund, and get a Lenovo Y580 (if you want a similar setup).

 

The laptop is fine and I'm very happy with it. The sound works perfectly with the generic Windows drivers so it isn't a hardware problem but a driver one, which isn't beyond fixing once the problem is recognised

 

Hi! Am new to this forum . What sound issue are U facin' exactly?? I don't see any issue with mine.