Dell Studio 1747 vs. Dell Studio XPS 16

For those who are on the fence, here are a series of pics I snapped comparing my Studio 1645 XPS 16 RGBLED vs. my Studio 1747 B+RG (in sig) before ultimately deciding on the Studio 1747 and selling the XPS 16.

After calibrating both screens and using them back and forth over the course of a few weeks, the reds on the 1747 were a bit less harsh, the screen mildly less reflective (both are glossy), and image quality effectively equal for my use. Both are great panels, but getting a chance to see a 24" HP Dreamcolor screen was really disheartening for my laptops!

Points:

Performance was nearly the same between the 4650 vs. 4670.
XPS 16 has a nice front indicator panel for WiFi/HD/BT/etc which the 1747 lacks
Keyboards is a pick 'em. Studio 1747 includes a numeric pad.
XPS16 is a major fingerprint magnet.
Both are 1080P 6-bit panels (17.3" 1080P vs. 16" 1080P)
Build quality of the XPS 16 is better. It feels very solid and sturdy from top to bottom. To me, it oozes, "Dell laptops ala Macbook style," in regards to overall build quality, feel, tightness and little extras and perks from the glowing lights on both screen hinges to the nifty status panel in the front, edge2edge, build and more. It is a tighter, sleeker, more luxurious Studio 17 build wise (not that the Studio 1747 is a slouch in that department).
Sound system on the Studio 1747 sounded better (YMMV) with wider range and more bass
I found the slightly larger trackpad on the 1747 more tactile pleasant.
Weight wise, they felt almost equal. XPS 16 is very dense. (both have the extended 9-cell battery).
XPS 16 supports 3x3 WiFi. Studio 17 2x2.
Both support WWAN ala Dell classic style
Studio 1747 = AU Optronics panel (90% Gamut)
Studio 1645 = Samsung Panel (100% Gamut)

920XM works fine in both. In classic Dell style, both had terrible thermal compound applications. In addition, one of the GPU screws was loose in the XPS 16 and the bottom plate bulged from a terrible running of the wires.

Both systems passed a 20 min run of Furmark and Prime95. Prime95 hit the low 90's on the XPS 16 and mid 80's on the 1747.

XPS 16 is MUCH more user accessible.

Due to its form factor, XPS 16 did run warmer than the Studio 17 CPU wise but nothing earth shattering.

In the end, I went with the big screen (I like my screens like I like my women....) and slightly cooler thermals.

Known complaints:

XPS16 - Due to the position of the screen assembly when in use, heat from the single exhaust fan (both systems are of a single fan design) partially blows out the rear but also blows up and directly on the screen and the lower left hand side of the screen does it get warm.

The E2E display will make contact with the keyboard and over time actually mark or scratch the display.

Studio 1747/9 - The CPU cooling fan will nearly idle, the CPU will start to heat up and the fan will kick up into medium/high to cool it off. Repeat cycle. The system is doing its job, but as of BIOS A08 it still lacks steady low level cooling for basic use. For those who are sensitive to fan noise in laptops, it may drive you batty. I never really bothers me quite honestly. When under load, the fan kicks up and stays up as expected to cool the system while gaming, rendering, etc...

BOTH - Will fall prey to the, "Fans on High and STAY at high on boot till shut down." If you boot your system and the fans are revving high and stay there even while starting up Windows, there's a good chance you're going to have to shut down and reboot. It rarely happened, but I did experience it on both systems. Come to think of it, I also experienced it once on my Dellienware M15X too.

Pics:








Apologies:

Pardon the folding table. I was still awaiting the arrival of my new dining room set.

 

nice comparison. just received the 1645 as a replacement to my 1530 which had all kinds of problems. love it so far. no complaints at all.

 

Thanks for this electrosoft You may remember I asked you about the comparison between these two machines a little while back. At the time I was convinced by you the 17 was the way to go, only to find I couldn't get the 1080p in Australia.
Just noticed today that the 1080p is back. I'd been waiting for the 5 series cards on the 16 which just showed up, and now I'm back to deciding between these two great machines. Probably going to go back to the 17. Oh, and the new 740m and 840m are available on the Australian Dell site. Very exciting

 

True, the beauty in waiting is that when you do decide to pull the trigger, you routinely end up with newer tech, better price or sometimes both!

 

How often does the fan start and stop on the 1747? I'm easily irritated by fan noise so I hope this doesn't drive me crazy...

 

I know that the bottom of the Studio 17 is not flush, due to the battery extending down; but from your pic, it looks like the XPS 16 has a similar battery form factor? Is that true, or just the pic?

Also, did you find the 1920x1080 on the XPS 16's 15.6" screen to be much more of a strain than on the 17.3" screen?

 

Mine just arrived and I absolutely love it. You guys were right: the fan is not intrusive at all. I just have two quick questions:

1. It shipped with a 90w power adapter. Given I have an i7 and an RGB Led screen, will this be enough power? I still have my 130 w from the xps 1647...should I be using that for power instead?

2. Did anybody buy the x-fi hi def audio (software enabled)? I didn't and I hope it's not a decision I regret. Just curious whether you guys have it and whether it's worth it. I googled reviews for it and it seems many people prefer "natural" sound.

 

Way to go Brendan - I'm glad you're loving it . Good questions: I'd be interested in the answers too. I too received the 90w power adapter which certainly gets toasty. In light of all the issues, and given apparently you can get a 130w replacement for free if you bug DELL enough - why don't they just ship it with this?

I also didn't get the x-fi hid def audio option and like you I'm wondering if I'm missing out.

 

Hmmm. maybe Electrosoft can come along and clue is in.

By the way, Coruja, have you calibrated your screen at all yet? I've never done this myself and I'm a little unsure how to go about it.

 

Definitely use the 130w PSU, especially with i7's. If you were using an i3 or i5, I'd be on the fence, but the 130w is definitely the way to go as with the newer BIOS and no throttling, these units easily clip past 115w under load.

 

have you a part # for the 130w PSU? Do u recommend getting direct from Dell and paying their premium, or can one safely source this at a discount elsewhere?

 

Cool, that's what I'll do then.

How about the X-fi hi def audio, can you comment on that?

 

I have it with mine and I'm not exactly seeing a world of difference for my use.

I use the built in speakers and headphones and before and after there wasn't a difference I could detect. Maybe if you use the external options (HDMI, etc..) maybe it makes a difference.

 

I'm considering both these laptops with the 1080 screen, although the XPS says FHD. Over-all how do the screen compared???

Although if I buy the Studio 1749 I'm going with the i5 520 with the ATI 5650.
Thanks.

 

There is a difference on the XPS.

FHD = 1920x1080, but you can get it in either:

WLED
RGBLED

i5 520 (35w) + 5650 (19w) = cooler thermals, even though the Studio 1747/9 can handle even a 920xm.

Both the RGBLED (SXPS 16) and B+RG/RGBLED (Studio 1747/9) are very comparable.

92% gamut vs. ~100% gamut. I preferred the B+RG/RGBLED screen for the reasons noted in the initial post.

 

Having owned both systems here is my breakdown for anybody on the fence:

1. Screen: the B+RG on the Studio 17 is just as nice as the 1647's RGB Led. In fact, because the Studio 17 doesn't have the "edge to edge" feature, the keys won't mark up the display like some Xps 1647 users have experienced.

2. Keyboard: This is my one area of complaint. I do prefer the xps keyboard. There's quite a lot of flex on the Studio 17, whereas I detected very little when I owned the 1647. Both have very nice backlit keyboards. The main keyboard advantage that the Studio has is a number pad...I find this very convenient. Just the damn flex...

3. Sound: the JBL speakers in the Studio 17 are as good as advertised. They sound amazing. That said, the speakers in the 1647 are also solid.

4. Build quality: As others have pointed out, the Studio does feel a little flimsier than the Studio XPS. It also has a more "plasticy" feel.

5. Gaming: can't comment since I don't play videogames.

6. The fan: I was so nervous before getting the computer since there were posts on this forum comparing the fan noise to a "hairdryer." Having played with the system for a day now, I can comment that the fan noise isn't intrusive AT ALL. When the fan does speed up, it's not annoying...it's more white noise.

Final thoughts: I loved my xps 1647 but when I needed a replacement and discovered that Dell was no longer giving owners the RGB Led, and instead was outfitting the laptop with a 15.6 screen, I decided to move on. It's great to have a huge screen (17.3) again and I couldn't be happier with this replacement. Sure the keyboard flex gets on my nerves, and the build quality might not be through the roof, but it's hard to imagine a better desktop replacement out there.

I have a question of my own: Is there an "easy" way to calibrate the screen? I'm not too tech savvy so I'd be curious if there's any software out there that would do this automatically (I'm sure that sounds dumb). The colours look great to me right now, but I'm sure someone who knows more about computers could point out the flaws.

 

Thanks how do the internals compared???

 

Yeah, the keyboard on the SXPS is tight like the rest of the laptop. The SXPS 16 is deceptively dense, but it oozes upper end build quality.

Definitely the SXPS sound system is good. The 17 kicks it up a notch.

Internally they are nearly identical to each other except the XPS's use the 4670/5670 while the 17's use the 4650/5650. Basically the XPS gets a mildly overclocked version of the 17's GPU coupled with a tighter, smaller chassis so it tends to run hotter. The SXPS also natively supports a 3x3 WiFi card, but outside of that? They are pretty much internally identical.

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

Hey electrosoft, in terms of screen calibration what would be the easiest way to go about it?

 

Pick up a Spyder calibration tool here:

Datacolor Spyder 3 Express S3X100 Spyder3 NEW! - eBay (item 360261538975 end time Jul-10-10 06:46:01 PDT)

It really is the easiest way to make sure your screen is properly calibrated.

 

Thanks for your hard work and sharing knowledge! I am wanting for one of these studio 17's quad core i7 with a touch screen / 1080p. Have you or has anyone heard if at all will there be a touch screen with a better screen (1080p) instead off the 900p? Is it at all possible for dell to do?

 

I have owned a XPS 1645 i-7 720 RGB for close to a year , its very solid I have had no problems , just had to replace the AC adapter to a 130w .

I just purchsed a Studio 1747 lastnight i-7 720 B+RG Blu Ray 6550
2x250 6gb

also just order a spyder 3 The only reason I went to the 1647 was I wanted to Run a ssd drive for the boot drive and a large storage drive . well and the larger screen .

The only thing that scares me is the build quality betwwen the 2 units .


does anyone know if there is an option yet for a 5000 series video card in a RGB B+RG unit ?