Dell Studio 1557

not actually sure, waiting so long for a laptop to be made leaves one googling ang googling the thing out of anticipation...

Did just find this image, although it looks to be overall system use with a completely different build, but still an i7 chip at least



Idling that looks to be around 25 wats, which would lend towards roughly 3 hours with the 9 cell battery??

 

Keep in mind that that chart includes the power draw from the GT 240M, and a slightly larger 16" display. The 1557 has a slightly smaller and more power efficient LED display (assuming the model from the chart uses CCFL), and a less power-hungry ATi 4570 graphics card.

 

Additionally, I think you'd be suprised at how often your processor is actually at full load. On my i7 desktop rig I have TMonitor64 from CPUID running most of the time (because I like to see such things), and in reality the CPU is in reduced speed mode the vast majority of the time. My notebook however, with it's core 2 duo is hardly ever as energy efficient; and I use them both for the same sort of things.

 

You do mean LED right?

Im sure there is no shortage of 720p LCD screens.

My order has always said the same thing.

Ordered Oct.3 in-production Estimated Delivery Date 10/29/2009


Its never changed from that.

 

Ooops Ya your right I meant LED... LED?! Woa! Like i said I never been into notebooks and this is my first, when did LCD become unpopular?... I thought that LCD was still the standard...

 

It is an LCD display, but it is backlit with LEDs as opposed to a CCFL backlight, so your original comment was perfectly accurate.

 

Fragile you and Shroomie are geniuses/nerds!
You guys know everything! I take it you work for dell, if so I have a question, when they changed my order today the special terms of 0% intrest for 12 months doesn't show on the new confirmation email but shows these special terms on the original email invoice. I called my original sales rep and he said the terms should and will transfer even though it doesn't show that. If you could let me know what you think would be much appreciated, as I bought this PC based on the 0% interest for 12 months.
Thanks!
Brian

 

That sucks dude! But at least you got an upgrade

I'm really worried now - Like I said earlier - The delivery info on the website has NEVER moved from the first stage of 'order received'. Ordered on the 27th Sep. I want to ring them but it's Saturday (NZ time) so they are closed over the weekend... well, the delivery info line is closed but not the sales lines (Ironic isn't it). Anywhoo, does anyone know a way I can get in touch with Dells delivery team over the weekend?

 

Sorry, no idea about Dell finance, never used it - and nope I don't work for Dell and unless Mastershroom moonlights as a Dell employee, I'm pretty sure he's at university.

 

LoL, No worries, I guess it's not possible you guys could work at Dell, you know waayy too much! More then any of the Dell reps!

 

Yep, I'm at uni right now. Ohio State, to be precise. And as for work...well, the majority of my income comes from selling my own blood plasma twice a week.

And yeah, sorry, but I'm really no help when it comes to Dell's business and financial stuff. I just tinker and fix things.

 

I ordered the full HD 1080p.

Still no change on my order page. Been the 26th for the last week now.

 

Well according to the reps I talked to (All 8 of them!), the 900p and 1080p are in stock and I was only delayed due to my original monitor choice (720p), they never said anything about the i7 being the factor for delay. All in all I'm pretty happy waiting another 2 weeks extra for the free upgrade to 900p as I was thinking I was going to have to return the orignal order and get the upgrade as I was kicking myself for not getting that upgrade originally. I think you will probably get yours on time, I hope!

 

Delivery of my 1557 (ordered sept 27) has once again been delayed...

From Oct 16 to Oct 22 to Oct 28.. just great

EDIT:
Isn't it possible now to demand Windows 7 on the new laptops? Release is in 4 days..
Or at least get an original Windows 7 DVD, and not a silly update which you have to execute on the internet..

 

AGREED!!!!!!!!!! It would make alot more since that way.

So far ive read many different things.

The core i7
the 720p LED HD screen
motherboard
Windows 7
Havnt read anything about the urgent bios update on there support page but who knows... could be a big issue.

I hope we dont regret purchasing the 1557 due to alot of problems.

Seems to be having alot of issues and they havnt left Dell yet

 

I just got a message from DELL that my laptop has been sent today
So I'll get it by the end of this week I reckon.

Alot of people from my home country (Netherlands) who ordered a Studio 1557 got the same message from DELL today, anyone here from another country who got the fortunate delivery update as well?

 

Ordered here in Japan. Still on the second stage, production stage, with an estimated delivery of the 26th. Been like that over a week now. Crossing my fingers for an update!

 

I have also jumped from a estimated delivery date of the 26th to the final delivery phase, although the estimated delivery date has not changed I do not expect it to take 7 days to arrive.

 

Lovely of Dell to choose a road based delivery for a product from Ireland to Denmark, Schenker estimates an arrival of the 27th...

Ireland to Denmark: 751 miles or 1,209 kilometers, not to mention a whole lot of water.

For a critical work tool such as a laptop one would appreciate an option to spend a few extra dollars to have air delivery instead of a road based delivery crossing half a dozen countries!!!

 

If it was a critical work tool you really should be buying from their corporate range. Preferential treatment, yes a slightly higher cost, but you will appreciate it if anything goes wrong with it.

As a consumer model, you really can not complain at the additional time. Some people have had to wait considerably longer for notebooks. You want a notebook today, buy it retail or buy it corporate. Simple.

 

as a consumer I would happily click an option on the delivery page to pay a little extra for an item to be shipped overseas in a plane instead of a truck, this is not a question as to the phone support hours etc. just which option they tick on the delivery form...

I choose dell because I wanted to configure my laptop to my needs, which they have done and sent off in a fair enough timespace of 9 days,.. just seems silly that they could not offer more options with shipping.

Then again it might have just been done to spite me for having gotten such a good deal on the machine with a 4 day discount they had on the machine plus a 10% rebate code I saved approx $841USD

 

SWEET!!!!!!!! I just checked mine and is says "SHIPPED"

 

WooT! Gratz man, you must be excited! The only good news I can say i have is my order has actually went from 11/12 down to recieving it by 11/9... So at least it's getting better for me!

 

Okay, just woke up this mornin' I am now on the International Shipping stage and my delivery date has changed to 22nd!!

So...Who is going to get it first? Let's make a friendly bet Watcha good for?

 

Have just ordered my machine, yeeeeehah! Shipping with Win7, check out this bad boy:

Studio 15
Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Mobile Processor (1.6GHz, turbo up to 2.8GHz, 6MB L3 Cache), Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, 64bit, English

Item
Description

Base
Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Mobile Processor (1.6GHz, turbo up to 2.8GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)

Memory
6144MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [1x4096 + 1x2048]

Keyboard
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Backlit Keyboard

Video Card
512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HP 4570

Hard Drive
500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive

Microsoft Operating System
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, 64bit, English - at last!!!

Optical Devices
Fixed Internal Blu-ray Disc (BDRW) Rewritable Drive (BD Read & Write) drive including software

Wireless Networking
Intel WiFi Link 5300 Half Mini Card (802.11 a/g/n) (Centrino)

Standard Warranty
1Yr Limited Warranty - Collect & Return

Enhanced Service Packs
1 Year Limited Warranty - Collect & Return

PalmRest
Silver chainlink palm rest – with Black Chainlink cover only

Bluetooth
No Bluetooth Upgrade

Order Information
Studio 1557 Order - UK

Primary Battery
Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery

Dell System Media Kit
Studio 1557 Resource DVD (Diagnostic & Drivers)

Camera
2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera

Colour Choice
Black chainlink

Labels
Wireless Label CI7

LCD
15.6in Widescreen Full High Definition (1920 x 1080) WLED with TrueLife

DataSafe (Services Owned)
Datasafe Local 2.0 Basic

Protect your new PC
McAfee® Security Centre - 15 Month Protection - English

....all that comes in at just a little over £1,150 ($1,885). Will keep you guys updated as to the delivery situation...

Niffy

 

Congrats on your order Nifkin! Hopefully you won't see the same delays that most of us had.

 

HAHA, no thanks - Even though my status says 'shipped' (FINALLY) the ETA is on or before the 30th October!! Does it really take 10 days?

 

Thanks Kirii.

Update: got my order confirmation this morning; apparently my system will be delivered on or before 29 October! Wow! Seems Dell must've turned their supply problems around since my posts last week (#42 & 45). Fingers crossed they stick to it.

Niffy

 

Seems theres going to be alot of 1557's riding around soon.

 

Which is good news for all of us

 

Was everyone else forced to take the wildtangent software and Mcaffee? Customer service said I didn't have a choice and they are standard..

Both softwares are heavy spyware in their own right, and I hate that I can't have a choice on what gets put on my new PC, I understand that some companies have this issue, but I was wondering how many other people are required to get this crapware with their new 1557's?

 

I ordered mine online and was given a choice for the wildtangent crap, but I think McAfee was forced.

 

Yea I saw online you have a choice on both, or so I thought, but over the phone, they said I had no choice...

 

Sounds like typical Dell phone service mis-information. I am sort of lucky since I am ordering from Japan where all service, on the phone or not, is taken very seriously. All experiences that I have had, and my wife, have been very helpful when dealing with Japanese Dell phone reps.

Delivery scheduled for tomorrow! crossing fingers and toes!

 

@ Kirri

Lucky !
Please share a first impression with us! I'm aching to get mine..
I'm probably getting it by next monday

 

how is one supposed to wait????

 

What's up everyone, I have been keeping up with the discussion since about OCT 12. I was getting really worried once I started reading about all the delays Dell was having. I ordered on Oct 11 with an EDD of NOV 2, but my status just updated today to have a EDD of OCT 22 and that it has shipped.

 

One question though; in the UK, 1557s are shipping with Windows 7 Professional only, does anybody wanna hazard a guess as to why this is? And is Professional likely to be more resource-hungry than Home Premium?

(I guess this is a question for the W7 forum, but it does concern 1557s specifically!)

Niffy

 

Hi all,

I'm new here but thought I'd register and post that I've received my new Studio i7 this morning

And...... Contrary to many peoples posts around the world...... It has the eSATA/USB port still :-D Nice little surprise!!

Anyways.... Haven't done much by way of a review but it's a nice solid feeling laptop, the backlit keyboard is great, nice fast response time in Office progs and the wireless (using N) is speeeeeedy!!!

If anyone has any questions on it I'm happy to answer

Jay

 

woot! eSATA!

I am curious about bloatware. How much crap did Dell install and will it be hard to get off, possible even a full format just to get a clean system? I haven't purchased a Dell in almost 9 years but I remember tons of useless software came with it.

 

There will be useless software on any laptop you buy, ever. I just format and reinstall Wndows on day 1.

 

Well....

Preloaded was a 30 day trial of McAfee internet suite thingy mabob.... Which is my only gripe as the sales guy (who was actually quite helpful) supposedly got permission from an area manager to have McAfee NOT preloaded... But I'll take that up with them!!

Other than that there is a link on desktop to install an MS Office 60 day trial, Roxio DVD software, PowerDVD and MS Works.... Thats it

I've been using the laptop for the last few hours so do have some points to mention:

The laptop under heavy load gets medium-warm in 3 areas of the upper surface but nothing extreme, this is on high performance mode.

I got 2hrs 11mins of battery life out of it from a full charge, I was installing programs, updates, browsing internet etc etc... No games

The touchpad has multi-touch gesture control on it, identical to the new MacBook Pro and the iPhone (pinch zoom etc)... Wasnt expected!!

Laptop is ultra quiet, fan runs on low rpm 90% of the time with a few little heavy bursts during load to keep cool. All in all its great for movies as it really is quiet!!

From the eSATA port Ive had sustained transfer speed of 55MB/sec from my external HDD, I havent tried out the firewire yet though as I cant be arsed to swap over the connections on the external HDD.

HDMI port works brilliantly, picture quality is (as you would expect) very crisp and clear on my bedroom 32" LCD and a quick test on the lounge plasma gave top results too.

Wireless range is decent too, I can sit at the end of the garden (about 45-50m) and still get 2 bar signal through 2 internal walls too!! Again very pleased with that

So far I've been playing with Cubase (and that's very slick, the DDR3 RAM really does help I think), MS Office (which is a bit faster than my old P9600 laptop) and I'm downloading PCMark now.

Hope that helps,

Jay

 

Excellent first report, Jay! Can you tell me if the HDMI provides audio as well as visual to your LCD TV, as I have read elsewhere that only visual is provided by the lappy's HDMI out...

 

that can't be the case.. not with this laptop atleast.

 

It carries audio as well.

 

I am thinking of getting a Studio 1557....but a few questions:

1) How is the battery life with the 720 i7 processor? I'd like at least 3-4 hours if possible doing tasks like web browsing and using Word documents etc.

2) Is it worth it to get the full HD screen? Is the text not too small with that resolution on a 15" screen or is it readable and useable?

3) Its hard to tell from the pictures but how does the machine look in the flesh? Is it a good looking machine?

Thanks for your replys!

 

I should be getting mine on Nov 12

 

1) The 1555 goes approximately 4,5 hours with power save on and dimmed screen. I'm guessing the 1557 will go something between 3,5-4 hours in the same situation.

2) It's a matter of personal preference. If the letters are too small, you can adjust the DPI setting, which will enlarge the letters on the screen (using the same Full HD resolution). You can also just adjust to a lower resolution. However, the screen looks at its best on its native resolution (e.g. a resolution of 1378x768 will look less good on a Full HD 1920x1080 screen)

3) I heard it feels 'sturdy' when you hold it. In my opinion, the looks are ok. It somewhat differentiates itself from other laptops because of its particular design.

I'm receiving my 1557 tomorrow btw

 

Ok here goes....

HDMI is full 5.1 audio and HD video

On dimmed sceen battery saver mode I've just gotten 3hrs out of the battery from a full charge and that was with the keyboard light and WiFi switched on! I reckon at an absolute push with just browsing and/or word processing with everything down to minimum I could get 3.5hrs!

There are only 2 screen options, not 3 on the 1557 so not sure what the "middle" option is :-S I've got the 1366x768 screen as I quite like the "feel" of it, I chose that res on my last notebook and wanted to stick with it.

The laptop feels great, the keyboard is a real pleasure (I still love PC keyboards) and in general the build quality seems good!! The battery was a bit stiff to remove but that's not a problem.... It is spankers new afterall

The lid doesn't have a latch so that may be an issue for some people, if held upside down the lid does open itself maybe just under 1".

Oh and I love the transformer lead, which has a blue LED ring where it enters the laptop to tell you its switched on at the socket! LOL

What else can I say.... Er.... I haven't run PCMark yet as I've been busy setting it up with all my programs etc but I can tell you it's definately fast!! I think I may be in love ;-)

Oh and for anyone doing musical stuff the onboard soundcard is ASIO and works sweetly with very little lag. I think I might just have to install a game tonight and see how it does with that, I'm not expecting the graphics performance to be awesome but I'm sure it will be as good as my last unit!

 

Thanks for all the great info JayAce!

Let us know how the gaming is when you get the chance!

Is your battery the 6 cell? If so, does it seem to get enough airflow underneath without the 9 cell propping it up?

I think I will hold off reformatting until I can receive my free Windows 7 upgrade. Knowing Dell though that might not be until next year...