Dell Studio 15 1558 Thread

[rta01]

Alright, just a quick update. After watching UPS roll past twice this morning the Fed Ex truck finally arrived. Ordered 3/18 with EDD of 4/5, then 3/27. Shipped 3/24, arrived today, 3/26 with standard 7 day shipping.

Unboxing, the 1558 is a pretty sleek notebook. A glossy fingerprint magnet, but for the price I'm not feeling like I'm going to be carrying around something that looks five years old.

Initial bootup was quick and painless, and with surprisingly little bloat (I'm talking to you Toshiba <<). None the less I decided to pop in my Win7 Ultimate disk and re-install right away. Fastest install I've ever had. Re-installing the latest drivers was tedious, but worth it.

The 1080p screen is gorgeous. At first glance I was worried things were going to be to small, but after about half an hour of playing with it my eyes have adjusted and I think I'm going to be fine with it. MUCH better than I would have been with the 720p screen at any rate.

I was worried about the i3 processor (350m) at first, but so far it's very responsive. I don't think I'm going to be disappointed not upgrading it.

I was a bit worried about buying another studio. I owned a 1537 (I think, it was an early model Studio 15 at any rate) and the build quality of the case was awful. The entire right hand bezel broke one day while opening it, and I was informed by dell that since the parts were plastic and subject to wear and tear they weren't covered under warranty on a less than six month old notebook. This one is a major upgrade. It feels much sturdier. The keyboard (backlit) is firm, easy and quiet (not silent) to type on.

Though I haven't been able to load any games yet, playing full HD movies is smooth with the 5470 1GB card and the i3.

I live for music. There have been a lot of laptops in the past that I have felt compelled to carry headphones with just to enjoy the music. While the speakers in the 1558 aren't up to my surround sound system at home I could easily listen to music on them. Out of all the laptops I've owned this one has the most listenable speakers I've come across.

That's all for now. Just figured I'd give first impression to anyone wondering.

[boomhower]

Stop writing glowing reviews like that or you are going to get me killed by my wife. I am dieing for a new notebook but every time my wife sees browsing the Dell site I get the evil look! Tempting, so tempting.

[coolguy20k6]

Originally Posted by theoak

Was BluRay an option for you?

It was not for me ... see my sig below for my configuration. If a BR reader was available this would have been perfect ...

I was thinking about the SXPS 16 ... but it did not have DX11 (ATI 4K (DX10) based video card versus ATI 5K (DX11)).

So I jumped on the Studio 15 because I figured it is a lot easier to add an external BR later versus trying to upgrade a video card in a laptop, if possible at all.

Mind you I rarely use my PC for video ... but to help future proof it a bit more would have been nice.

Just curious ...

No. When I configured my system BR option was not there. However, I was already made my mind to go with DVD drive. I would wait for some time till BR writers get cheap and then I can replace dvd drive with BR writer. I was more concern with things which cannot be upgraded namely processor and graphics card ..

Very nice system btw

[coolguy20k6]

Originally Posted by zedpos

Exciting stuff. Don't forget to update the bios.

I've already. However I ran A03 bios for few hours with HD video and games. No problems what so ever.

[dimodi]

Originally Posted by boomhower

Stop writing glowing reviews like that or you are going to get me killed by my wife. I am dieing for a new notebook but every time my wife sees browsing the Dell site I get the evil look! Tempting, so tempting.

do ittttt

[Ph8te]

Originally Posted by coolguy20k6

I've already. However I ran A03 bios for few hours with HD video and games. No problems what so ever.

Yours came with A03? I checked mine that I got this week and it was already loaded with A04....

[Ph8te]

Well tested some HD MKVs today and I must say the screen was outstanding....Even without the dedicated GC the movies played smoothly and with no jitters...I tested both 1080p and 720p files.....No gaming yet as I really wont be doing any on this laptop, maybe Civ4 and Medieval Total War 2 , but that would be the extent of it....

[URPradhan]

Originally Posted by rta01

Alright, just a quick update. After watching UPS roll past twice this morning the Fed Ex truck finally arrived. Ordered 3/18 with EDD of 4/5, then 3/27. Shipped 3/24, arrived today, 3/26 with standard 7 day shipping.

Unboxing, the 1558 is a pretty sleek notebook. A glossy fingerprint magnet, but for the price I'm not feeling like I'm going to be carrying around something that looks five years old.

Initial bootup was quick and painless, and with surprisingly little bloat (I'm talking to you Toshiba <<). None the less I decided to pop in my Win7 Ultimate disk and re-install right away. Fastest install I've ever had. Re-installing the latest drivers was tedious, but worth it.

The 1080p screen is gorgeous. At first glance I was worried things were going to be to small, but after about half an hour of playing with it my eyes have adjusted and I think I'm going to be fine with it. MUCH better than I would have been with the 720p screen at any rate.

I was worried about the i3 processor (350m) at first, but so far it's very responsive. I don't think I'm going to be disappointed not upgrading it.

I was a bit worried about buying another studio. I owned a 1537 (I think, it was an early model Studio 15 at any rate) and the build quality of the case was awful. The entire right hand bezel broke one day while opening it, and I was informed by dell that since the parts were plastic and subject to wear and tear they weren't covered under warranty on a less than six month old notebook. This one is a major upgrade. It feels much sturdier. The keyboard (backlit) is firm, easy and quiet (not silent) to type on.

Though I haven't been able to load any games yet, playing full HD movies is smooth with the 5470 1GB card and the i3.

I live for music. There have been a lot of laptops in the past that I have felt compelled to carry headphones with just to enjoy the music. While the speakers in the 1558 aren't up to my surround sound system at home I could easily listen to music on them. Out of all the laptops I've owned this one has the most listenable speakers I've come across.

That's all for now. Just figured I'd give first impression to anyone wondering.

Thank you for the quick review.

If possible please post some snaps of your new 1558. And also mention the price you paid for your configuration.

Also I had a chat with Dell, USA sales agent @ www.dell.com but he said currently we are offering Studio 1558 in USA. Then from where you bought it. Even I'm not able to see Studio 1558 mentioned at www.dell.com ???

[theoak]

Originally Posted by URPradhan

Thank you for the quick review.

If possible please post some snaps of your new 1558. And also mention the price you paid for your configuration.

Also I had a chat with Dell, USA sales agent @ www.dell.com but he said currently we are offering Studio 1558 in USA. Then from where you bought it. Even I'm not able to see Studio 1558 mentioned at www.dell.com ???

See my sig for the price I paid ($USD).

Dell is really having a screaming deal on the 1558's right now.

A month back I was looking at $1500+ without the OS upgrade, without the ATI 5470 and only 1 year advanced warranty.

[Ph8te]

Originally Posted by URPradhan

Thank you for the quick review.

If possible please post some snaps of your new 1558. And also mention the price you paid for your configuration.

Also I had a chat with Dell, USA sales agent @ www.dell.com but he said currently we are offering Studio 1558 in USA. Then from where you bought it. Even I'm not able to see Studio 1558 mentioned at www.dell.com ???

I think I mentioned this before, but the 1558 is not shown officially on the US page. Even though you configure a 1558, it shows under the 1555. When you go through final checkout and see your invoice youll see it is actually a 1558.