Dell Studio XPS 1645 (Core i7) general review

[DjRoyalez]

Dont buy any Dell products this overheats crazy.

[TheAvr1994]

i have same laptop . but today it's not as good as i want so i am going to buy dell xps 17

[ZAKATTACKISWACK]

i have dis but it gets suuuupper hot ugh

[TheSantiaBoy]

@ZAKATTACKISWACK It's super hot because you probably have it in High Performance. I have this laptop and it works fine for me. I played it 3 days straight without and slowing down. Well probably because i have a fan with it ahaha. you should put it in Dell or balance.

[polo81920]

I really liked your basic and simple walkthrough; thank you, you just helped me decide on buying this set up.

[ef827]

thats fast

[chidori922]

90w or 130w adapter?

[chidori922]

do u realize we cant see shit since ur screen's texts is do damn bloody small?

[fred2028]

@chidori922 No I don't realize that sorry even though I'm Asian my eyes seem to see them fine.

[chidori922]

@fred2028 lol.. im asian too.. u shud've zoomed in a lil bit..

[MrNN001]

thats quick...

[amire08c]

Did you have any problems with the Dell Wireless 1520 Half Mini Card?

[robertmsanchez86]

how do you like the keyboard? do the keys stick on occasion?

[fred2028]

@robertmsanchez86 It's really nice, full English (not bilingual which is gay) and easy to type on. No flex and full arrow keys.

[himi385]

@robertmsanchez86 yep.. mine stop working

[zak2395]

Oh and for all of u commenting about shipping time i ordered mine 2 weeks ago and its coming in the next 3 days

[zak2395]

If i get the 720 qm can i upgrade later to 820?

[signamullet]

Ordered my XPS 16 the other day and was wondering about the size of the screen. There wasn't an option for a 16 in screen to pick from but they said that the rez is the same as yours. Is that a typo on their site or are they using a 15.6 in with that rez now?

[alexg888]

@signamullet It's 15.6 but they round it up to 16''. All Dell XPS16 screens are the same physical size.

[signamullet]

@alexg888 Thx. I thought they looked like the same size. I got the edge to edge fhd wled screen. Not sure if it's as good as the RGB Led or better but that is all they had for full hd screen. Also, I haven't seen any recent reviews so all of these videos have older hardware :(.

[alexg888]

@signamullet Same here, I ordered one yesterday actually :) How long is yours going to take to ship? Mine says one month ...

[signamullet]

@alexg888 Ordered mine the 11th.  Estimated delivery date fell from 30th to the this friday. Gonna have a tough time with delivery because it needs a signature. Had them change the delivery address and the dell guy said it might extend the shipping time :/. So I really have no idea when it's coming.

[MrNukesftw]

@signamullet -_- You are so dumb, for real

[dannykurian]

Hi nice review , could you tell me if the whites look yellowish . like some complain ? Thanks,

[Halo3Reaper]

My god, that was incredibly fast loading times with all of those tasks.. I hope the i7 720QM is just as fast, because that's what I'm getting with mine. 350 dollars for the 820QM.. no thanks.

[angelofdeath6660]

macbook pro i7 or dell studio xps i7 ?

[fred2028]

@angelofdeath6660 MBP i7 is only a dual core, the i7-620M.

[smintner]

Vaio has 1 gig NVIDIA

[TheGuyInUrCloset]

Also, what is the exact res of the webcam? like 640x480? or what?

[TheGuyInUrCloset]

I would also like to ask, If you reply to me, I will sub if you can upload a video showing the laptop with the 9 cell battery, and if you tell me approx how long it lasts with the 9 cell.

[TheGuyInUrCloset]

How much did you pay for this? This is like, my dream laptop. Right now I am looking at getting this laptop, but a slightly lower model with only a 720 i7 processor, 6 GB of RAM, and a 128 GB SSD because I need to stay under $2500 including warranty and tax.

[MetroidPrime1993]

@TheGuyInUrCloset

It would be possible to do it under $2500...

I looked it up... Right now, it would cost $1553.99. This price is without tax or warranty. The rest is dependent upon where you live.

[fred2028]

@TheGuyInUrCloset this laptop is worth $4000 at date of purchase.

[ZzKillFirexX96]

@fred2028 im trying to research and im not coming up with an answer... i have the dell studio xps 1640... the difference??? and why did mine come with a core'2 processor

[TheRussoTuristo2]

@fred2028 Man, the price must have dropped because it's barely over 1G right now.

[PDSway]

Good job, thanks!

How much did u pay for that beast:???

[Miyabiii]

hey, did you buy the SSD after market? would that be a cheaper option ?

[mussedeq]

Yeah you're right about apple!

[tigpoppa]

you need to get a 130w power supply to run an i7 in a dell with taht video card

GPU = 35w I7 = 45w thats 80! that leaves 10 for your screen and the rest of the computer

call them now and report the problem also return your laptop if within the window!

[fred2028]

@tigpoppa 130 W does not solve the problem as the power throttling still exists. Check Notebook Review and see that the adapter doesn't solve it.

[bsbhogal1]

Hey

I notice lagging during max brightness.when dimmed down, it ran smoother.

I have the 1645 and im getting it replaced with 1640. With the same specs:

i7 720 QM

1GB ati 4670

6DDR3 1333Mhz

500GB 7200RPM

RGBLCD

Whats the difference between 1640 and 1645?

Dell manager told me there is no power problem with the 1640.

[fred2028]

@bsbhogal1 1645 has the i7 processor. 1640 has the Core 2 Duo processor.

[bsbhogal1]

They have the i7 as well

[Minifresh123]

Howd you get that beasting wallpaper, i so want it!!!!!!!!!

[dan185z]

There is a whole bunch of new core i7 and i5. There is a new one that came out Intel Core i7-620M (2.66GHz, 4Threads, turbo boost up to 3.33Ghz, 4M cache); its a dual processor do you think this one canhandle games?

[jamreal18]

Which is better gaming laptop?

dell xps 16 or sony vaio FW?

i cant decide, help me!

reply at my account!!!! please

[schenkenberg13]

dell xps got i7 processor so go for it

[dreamazurite]

You did a review for XPS 1640 just 4 months before this video. Did you get another laptop in 4 months or do Dell do custom upgrades for a price?

[fred2028]

@dreamazurite Paid for 2 laptops.

[tsnipert]

Hey Fred,

Thanks for the review! Just curious if you have tweaked the laptop in any way with bigger PSU, or using throttle stop? If not have you noticed any throttling issues, or issues with the PSU having lack of power? Have you applied any other fixes, such as lowering screen brightness? Just about to purchase a new laptop and I have seen many bad reviews on the one I like. Best

[rossj81]

Your review was pretty good. I did all my research on this laptop and bought the same exact specs.  But you obviously proved the XPS 16 graphics card a long with the i7 processor could play any game on the market and multitask with out hesitation. Yeah, no bluray in the i7 models. Don't need bluray players today everything is digital streaming or downloading. If you buy a bluray you still get the digital downloadable DVD.

[SlyNine]

Digital streaming wont hold a candle to Blu-Ray quality.

Anyone worried about a RGB LED probably wants the best quality. I know I do.

[rossj81]

Streaming won't but it'll do a decent job. You can also download (may take forever) HD movies. I have a Sony Viao w/ bluray and I probably only used it once. Hard drives are so big I'd rather have a bulk of movies saved on my laptop instead of carrying around a dvd pouch.

[SlyNine]

As big as harddrives are, a few blu-rays will fill it up quickly, I have a 1.5 TB that is 800Gigs full, ekk.

I was looking for a sony viao, I heard they used to have a RGB LED screen of there own. I wonder what happened to it.

[rossj81]

Well I'll put it this way. If the XPS still had an option for bluray I most likey would of bought it w/that option. But it doesn't anymore and I can live without it. CES just released that SONY VIAO's will be selling with the i7 processors. I went on sonys website last night and you can now build one with with the video cards and processors. Checked out the video option but still no RGBLED.

[jpbdc04]

does RGBLED LCD of dell xps 16 better than hp envy 15 LCD? it will decide on which laptop i will buy. BTW how many hours do you get on your 9 cell battery?

[kareemhalfawi]

@jpbdc04 Absolutely. Envy uses a standard WLED LCD which is also available on the XPS for around 200 bucks less.

You really have to see RGBLED in person to appreciate it, stunning.

aside from speakers and max ram capacity, the XPS has the envy beat on every corner

[gmoneygpaid]

one on dell is so much better because of the brightness. the brightness in Envy is horrible. read the reviews if u dont believe me. but honestly, the display in dell is sick

[Maj2004]

Best troll ever.

Unless you're serious....Then...

Worst human being ever.

[Rabbibunny]

What makes no sense to me is, no blu ray drive option on the i7 models. Bizarre.

[fred2028]

@Rabbibunny The options fluctuate I guess based on supply. When I got mine I could've gotten a BD-ROM or BD-RW.

[1liam192]

I dunno if its better than the 27" imac screen to be honest. Yeh imac doesnt have RGB LED backlight but its an IPS screen so offers much better viewing angles and its also got a much higher resolution than this one.

[fred2028]

@1liam192 Obviously 27" should have better resolution than 16", that's a no brainer. It's a fair comparison if the 2 are same size. What's the max resolution of 15.4" MBPs? 1600x900.

And 17"? 1900x1200.

[nafunkdegroove]

Thanks a lot for this video!

[thethemon699]

windows 7

[1264Music]

Hey Fred,

i was watching your other videos and the reviews are excellent. I had the 1640 and the laptop got so hot that everything eventually died on me. So Dell is sending me the 1645, question is.. I read you bought cooling fans for your laptop on ebay, do u know the details on those fans. I no longer have a warranty w Dell so I want to take care of this laptop as best as possible. Please let me know and keep up the great vids!

[7p19i]

I was wondering which one I should buy... the AW M15x or this XPS 16?? anyone help??

[Janga321]

How do use the turbo mode? or does it run automatically? trying to figure it out

[fred2028]

@Janga321 Yes, it's automatic and built into the processor itself.

[Janga321]

@fred2028 ty so much i got the M15x and was really confused by it. I love it though. my dad might be getting this laptop though, his harddrive just crashed on his laptop plus it is 6 years old!!

[JavierTGrillo]

loved your review, just want to mention, logitech mx revolution for the win!

[fataldesain]

dude you got another one, anyway I love this laptop except for heating issues. People if you buy this laptop you have to undervolt it. I was about to return this shit until I did that.

This laptop has the worst cooling system one fan and screen blocks half of the vent. Other than that it's great.

[fred2028]

Many laptops are designed so the vent blows onto the screen. This new design has a heatsink on the southbridge also, so the touchpad is a lot cooler.

And the heat issues aren't that bad. It's usually 50 C inside and it's fine, unless you game on your lap.

[fataldesain]

Yeah I hear you, this laptop still gets to warm no matter what you do, I can at least deal with it.

If dell doesn't fix these issues soon and make the next xps 16 better going to get a hp envy.

[darkksyde]

Do you know what the port or whatever it is between ethernet and the vga ports. Is it where the tv tuner's arial input is because i didnt think the 1645 supported an internal tuner

[fred2028]

Don't have a port in between. I heard the 1640 can have an internal tuner, maybe that's it? Do you have a pic or Google for a pic?

[iamhomosuperior]

hi fred, is it better to get a 90 Watt power adapter for gaming? or the default one is sufficient enough? wat r the differences? thanks

[fred2028]

Either wait for Dell to fix the problem or get the 90 W and then get Dell to fix it on your laptop when they are ready. 130 W is bad for your laptop in the long run.

[SlyNine]

@fred2028 Why would it be bad for it, shouldn't the laptop only take what it can get.

I'm betting Dell's solution will end up being a bigger PSU. But of course qualification and testing will be a while.

Right now I suggest waiting for Dells solution instead of trying to fix it with the community fix. If you need 8threads running at higher performance close the lid.

Its still a flippen fast laptop even with the issue.

[MattMJB0188]

Awesome Review, just a few questions... So you have 2 Dell Studio XPS notebooks?

For this one the configuration has to cost well over 2K what is it that you do that you can afford 2 Dell notebooks? Unless you sent the other back?

[fred2028]

This laptop is worth $3,400 CAD.

My SXPS 1640 was bricked twice by Dell's A11 BIOS release, so Dell exchanged it for this. My SXPS 1640 was around $2,500 CAD when I bought it.

[NekkiBB]

Hi Fred, I have some questions about the laptop too:

- What's the real difference between RGBLed 16' and Wled 15.6', I mean, there are is a really 0.4 difference between this two configuration??

- What about sound? Last Studio 17 came with nice JBL pro speakers, what about 1646?

- Thanks for your gamming review, but everyone knows Farcray is not optimized t scale up, even if you have the most powerful rig available. Can you run bench with UT3 and detail to config that you use to?

Thanks.

[fred2028]

RGBLED has much better quality colours and brightness. You won't notice the 0.4" physical size difference unless you look at the edge of the screen, however RGBLED will make your photos, movies, etc. look a lot better.

Not sure what these speakers are, but they're average.

Never showed Farcry in my video. It was Crysis: Warhead and MW2.

[dan185z]

I know that solid state drives are faster than regular hard drives, but how are they long term; do they slow down over time.

[vakbrain]

I have a question for you : Is there enough room to get a second hard drive in this laptop ?

I bough yesterday a Studio XPS 16 (i7 720qm, 128 gb ssd) but I wonder if it's possible to connect another 2.5" hdd for additional storage memory.

[fred2028]

Remove the optical drive and put a 2nd drive in there.

Or use a USB external drive.

[berjc61]

What is the read and write speed of your SSD?

[fred2028]

Random is around 10 MB/s

Sequential is around 200 MB/s

[Masterke85]

Nice vid. I just ordered 1 only in my country you pay 480 euro for the 820 that's just bullllll

[jingplum]

Just ordered this Laptop 1645 Specs: English Genuine Windows 7 Home 15.6in WLED White Leather 1080p Intel Core i7 Processor 720QM 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Hard Drive : 256GB Solid State Hard Drive Blu-Ray ROM (Blu-Ray,DVD and CD write 90W AC Adapter/Primary 9-cell 85W/HR LI-ION 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card Grand Total £ 1313.93 (Incl VAT) What do you guys think??? XD

[Nestle87]

hey Fred, Did you the xps 1645 to be cooler than the xps 1640 when running demanding applications? That was a problem with the 1640s with over heating.

[fred2028]

I've never had an issue of the SXPS overheating, however this one's CPU is a bit hotter than that of the 1640 because it's a quad core with HT. Core 2 Duo T9800 was around 37-40 idle, i7-820QM is around 50 idle.

[Nestle87]

Lol hey I go to university of waterloo also. Just ordered this system yesterday.

How long did it take for your system to ship to Waterloo? I have a estimated ship date of 12/25. How long did your system last in production and how long did it take to finally get here once its shipped from dell?

[fred2028]

I'm on coop right now in Montreal. Got this system exchange in just under 2 weeks.

[jingplum]

Hi is your xps 1645 got a 90w power cord I heard it has problems on gaming and the 130w seems to solve this. But seeing ur vids u don't seem to have any problems with gaming can you confirm this please thanks. XD

[ryancouture]

i been askin him the same thing

think im gonna order the PA-4E 130 watt adapter

[raffstyle]

WOW.. all option $3000+ notebook

for facebook & twitter.

LOL!!!

[RuninRuni]

Lol!

Itunes was probably a bit slow because its made by apple :p

Pc's FTW!

[AlexSochi8]

for fucken idiots who post boot up time with win7 and Mac's OSX.. it has nothing to do with specs! I had a shitty white macbook 2.0ghz core 2 duo, with low fsb speed, and dd2 ram, and slow 5400rpm HDD, and the boot up was 11-12 seconds.. because osx is lighter and a complete different os than windowns, but having better specs like xps 16 does will give you better performance in gaming, video encoding and everything else. Who cares about how fast it boots up, do you buy your comp to tun on, off?

[dan185z]

Im curious you should compare this notebook to the macbook pro see if the boot time is faster. because i saw another video that compared a mac and this dell and the dell was much slower.

[fred2028]

Did that video have a tweaked Windows 7 and an SSD?

[StevenSlair]

i saw it too and the macbook pro had a slightly faster processor but equal specs. Mac OS X Leopard is faster at boot altogether but when comparing a macbook pro with 7200RPM HDD to a 128 SSD you will notice improved start-up.

[fred2028]

No Macbook Pro has a faster processor than my Core i7-820QM. The fastest they have are Core 2 Duo, something even the lowest i7-720QM will beat in 99% of situations.

[StevenSlair]

talking about the video... ovbs

[jingplum]

Do u think its worth an extra £410 to upgrade from i7 720QM to a i7 820QM is there a great diffrence in two for like gaming and is it worth to upgrade to a 256GB SSD from a 500GB 7200RPM for £240 your thoughts please cheers :-D

[fred2028]

I think the SSD is more worth it than the i7 upgrade, however both are unnecessary.

[ryancouture]

whats the diff with the 1645 to the 1640 is that just the new model?

im guessing if i bought one last night its the 1645

[StevenSlair]

dell still sells the 1640. the difference is the 4670 default and i7 processor for the 1645. what the models include are different as well.

[StevenSlair]

get the 128 GB SSD for only 50 dollars more which is a definable worth. just use a external hard drive or buy a online data storage of 500gb or so. i7 820QM is about 13% faster than the 720QM in benchmarks with equal specs. If you do choose the 820QM version it will include a free bluray combo hard drive. SSD makes opening and loading very fast however i7 makes it slightly faster but more responsive when you have multiple programs running or using multi threaded apps. Good Luck with it.

[CanadaLee1989]

OMG, is that.....PDENG!? i've just done with pdeng25 last week, cheers for freedom!

[fred2028]

Yes it is! You go to Waterloo? WOW what program and year?

[CanadaLee1989]

@fred2028 im in EE and next term will be my 2A, what abt u?

[GCLaredo207]

Hey Fred. I built the same machine except for the processor. I could not afford the i7 so I went with the Core 2 T9600 (2.8ghz). Everything else is the same. I should be able to run games fine, right? I should have it in about a week. I HOPE!

[fred2028]

Lol why did you get the SSD if you couldn't afford the i7? I would've gotten the i7 than the SSD. But yes gaming you should be fine.

[GCLaredo207]

Fred.. Oops. Sorry man. My stats aren't exactly like yours. Here's what I put together:

CORE 2 DUO - T9600 2.8ghz

500GB 7200RPM

ATI 1GB CARD

4GB DDR3 RAM

My mistake. I'm sure it's still good for gaming.

Later!

AJ

[fatalstrike]

I just my dell xps 16 last week very happy with it right now. But id like to know if dell sended you a 6 cell and 9 cell battery with your laptop because I only got a 9 cell battery

[fred2028]

Dell sent me a 9-cell but I had a 6-cell from my SXPS 1640 so I used that.

[fatalstrike]

ok cool thx laot for the info, nice review btw

[colinmann84]

excellent video. do you have any comments regarding why you chose the i7 processor you did? I'm going to buy but perhaps the 720QM version. I'm also going to play GTA4 on it... do you think it'll pull it off with 4GB RAM & the same graphics card as you have?

[fred2028]

I chose it because it was the best 1 for this laptop and it was a free exchange from Dell =) The 820QM is 15% better performance from what I've heard than the 720QM, but I think you will be able to run GTA 4 fine, probably not on highest settings. 4 GB RAM is enough for gaming, and ATI 4670 is very capable.

[catzblu999]

What did you upgrade on this laptop that does not come standard with the 1645?

[fred2028]

Nothing, everything is standard, except I took the most expensive options.

[JorgenHagen]

a boot up with the face R log in would be good!  ahh, and windows experience index!

[dan185z]

sorry, I forgot to ask. is boot time faster with the ssd and windows 7. How hot does it get when gaming? Great review. Do more vids about this notebook.

[fred2028]

Boot time: Yes, it's less than 30 secs to get to the desktop

Gaming: Stay tuned for my gaming video review!

[dan185z]

Is the core i7 worth the money? Does the core i7 improve gaming? IS the core i7 faster than core 2 duo? How much did this notebook cost?

[fred2028]

@dan185z Worth the money: That's up to you

Improve gaming: Not really

Faster than C2D: Yes

Cost: $3,400 CAD value

[JorgenHagen]

Hi Fred,

thanks for the review.

I ordered the exactly same specs as you.

Are you happy with the computer? anything you dont like? could you do another vid demonstrating the SDD?

Regards

Jorgen

[fred2028]

@JorgenHagen Yes I am happy with the laptop. I guess the battery taking up the entire back hinge is a thing I don't like. And this demos the SSD, what else did you want to see?