Bottom-Line: I am very happy--so far--with my choice of the Dell Studio 1749. The laptop is a performance winner, especially when mated with Windows 7 Enterprise Edition.I tried, I really did try to keep my HP Pavilion dv9000 Series laptop alive and kicking, but to no avail. First, sometime last year, the wireless card quit; that was overcome by purchasing a Cisco Wireless-G adapter. That worked for a while until I started to run out of hard drive space. I resolved that issue by purchasing a new 500GB hard drive. Then the 17.3" display started turning green; no resolution there I'm afraid.
So I started casting about for a replacement laptop computer. HP was out; I'd had two HP's end up with malfunctioning wireless NIC's, and the last one didn't turn out too well. So I went in another direction. I have had fairly good success with Dell laptops at work, so I decided to purchase a Dell for personal use. I dismissed the Inspiron series because I wanted to go with the new Intel i5 series processor, so I choose the Dell Studio 1749 with an Intel Quad-Core i5-430M 2.27GHz processor.
The Laptop
The desktop-replacement class 17.3" widescreen 8.4lbs Dell Studio 1749 comes very close to being a full-fledged, full-feathered, multimedia desktop replacement albeit with a smaller screen and limited USB (3) ports. The sleek unit houses a 2.27GHz Intel Quad-Core i5-430M Processor (with Intel Turbo Boost Technology) with 3MB SmartCache on a 1066MHz FSB. The large footprint Dell Studio 1749 has only (3) USB 2.0 ports, rather limited especially for a laptop of this size, but the unit has plenty of multimedia ports that sort of make up for oversight including an HDMI port.
The 17.3-inch WXGA LED widescreen display with built-in webcam is the stock display with this laptop. With a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 this brilliant display offers full HD with 32-bit color and a 60Hz refresh rate. At the maximum resolution a lot can fit on the screen, enough space to fit to application screens side-by-side, which is what I demand. The icons are just the right size, as is the text. The Intel Graphic Media Accelerator HD card ships with 256MB of VRAM and highly configurable software.
My Dell Studio 1749 shipped with w 7200rpm 500GB SATA II hard drive, which is plenty of space--for now--but there is room to add another SATA 2.5" drive into the chassis underneath the unit. Additionally, my Dell Studio 1749 shipped with 4GB DDR3 RAM @ 1066MHz, plenty of memory to run Windows 7 comfortably, but the Dell Studio 1749 can take up to 8GB of RAM. A fixed slot-fed media bay can be configured with a DVD-ROM, CDRW/DVD, DVD +/-RW; I choose a standard DVD +/-RW drive. I skipped the modem--who uses those anymore--but got a 100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet network interface adaptor, wireless-N adapter, and 1394 Firewire port.
I made sure I ordered the Dell Studio 1749 with a full featured back-lit keyboard, which is complemented by a large touch pad; and corresponding sets of mouse buttons. The feel of the keyboards' keys is rather soft. I prefer the feel of the IBM keyboards of old, but typing is not uncomfortable and feels good on the fingers. The back-lit keys are just bright enough and turn off when the keyboard has not been used for a while.
The speakers on this multimedia-themed laptop are fantastic. The unit ships with a JBL SRS Premium Sound system complete with a small sub-woofer on the bottom of the unit. The sound reproduced through this sound system is unlike any I have heard on other laptops. There is actually a discernable mid-range and bass!
As is the norm with modern laptops all of the ports are along the sides of the Dell Studio 1749. There is nothing on the backside of this wide laptop but a large cooling vent. The white-led power button has been move to the right of the laptop on the screen hinge. Next to it is the A/C power port, and moving forward we have a USB port, slot-fed DVD drive, another USB port, 8-n-1 media card reader and finally a 1394a Firewire port.
Along the left side of the Dell Studio 1749 starting at the front, you will find (2) headphone jack, a microphone jack, ExpressCard slot, Antenna In port (for use with a TV Tuner card), eSATA/ USB combo connector w/USB powershare, HDMI port, DisplayPort connector, VGA port, and finally a 100/1000 NIC adapter port.
Heat & Noise
Dell designed the Dell Studio 1749 to optimize heat dissipation; after all i5 processors run seriously hot. In addition to the aforementioned large exhaust vent on the back of the unit, there are various vents cut into the bottom of the unit as well as an exhaust fan that sits in a bay at the bottom left hand side of the unit.
When the unit does heat up sufficiently the lone fan kicks in at about 2800rpm up to a peak spin cycle of about 3900rpm. Going about everyday tasks like using a word processor or surfing the Internet will not set the fan to spinning, but watching a DVD can create enough heat to trigger the fan in low speed, which is still almost inaudible. If low speed proves insufficient, the fan will start spinning at around 3900rpm. At this level of rotation, you'll notice the fan is on, but the noise level remains bearable.
Conclusion
I am very happy--so far--with my choice of the Dell Studio 1749. The laptop is a performance winner, especially when mated with Windows 7 Enterprise Edition. I like the increased processing power, increased storage, and increased memory this unit brings to the table.
And the laptop is handsome to look at; I got it in red! Though I doubt I will ever have cause to use the 4-pin Firewire port, it is nice to know it's there just in case, and (3) USB ports has certainly come in handy, though seriously there are (3) too few.
1) I can't know if I am in upper case or lower case. Really complicated when you are typing a password
2)the function keys, have to be clicked with the FN . If you use excel a lot, and F2 is common, you will hate that you need to click FN. The worst part is that if you didnt click FN, you are disconnecting internet.
I wonder how can I prevent these kind of issues on my next purchaseMy Dell Studio configuration is similar to Vincent Martin's Studio (other review). The differences are more ram (8GB) and different wireless card (Dell 5620).
PRO'S
Screen size, back light, like having a portable desktop.
CON'S
Not enough USB ports (2 plus one that is part USB/SATA)which sometimes will recognize a USB device but other times, it will not. I use USB hubs but one of the ports has failed and the other is failing. Since all of the ports are plugged to the motherboard and there are no slots to add USB ports the laptop will become severely limited when all of the ports fail.
Connecting to the internet is slow. This problem began to crop up when the laptop was about one year old and has become worst with time. Laptop was purchased 5/16/2010. Despite using a wifi extender, wireless connection never goes higher than two bars when it used to always hit five bars. It has become almost useless as a wireless computer and recently have begun using cat6 to access the internet.
Considering laptop has 8GB, Intel I5 processors, and 500GB hard drive, it's internet speed is slow. Software programs are used monthly to clean files and registry, and defrag the hard drive.
In the last six months, freezing and boot problems have become more frequent despite using Kaspersky Pure, spyware, and malware software to ensure laptop is not being invaded by rogue software.
A major complaint about the laptop is the price (Dell's price was between 800-2,000, depending on configuration)considering the obvious problems with the laptop and Dell's attitude that once it was out the door, it was the buyer's problem.
Dell has discontinued this laptop (sometime in 2011) because of some of the above mentioned problems along with problems. The most common mentioned problem on internet sites is slowness. There are a lot of complaints similar to mine, on the internet, but no apparent smoking gun. My opinion is the wireless card is the source of the problems with a secondary issue being it run hotter than most computers.
I have worked on another Studio laptop for a friend that has 2GB of memory that has become so slow, it is impossible to view video material or scan the internet. Apparently, there is something wrong with the laptop that high speed processors and large doses of memory cannot solve. I also own a Dell Inspiron 500 with one-half the configuration power (Intel I2 processors, 2GB Memory) that is much faster than the Studio laptop.
I would not recommend this laptop to anyone, even at an EBAY price, and this is from someone that has purchased over 20 Dell computers over the past 10-12 years.
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