Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Dell Studio 1747 Notebook PC Review

Building on the strong foundation of its excellent Studio 15 range, Dell's Studio 1747 packs the same stunning quad-core power and usability, while adding a larger screen and improved graphics and sound, making it a fantastic multimedia machine.

Performance is truly stunning. Built around the same Intel Core i7 processor as the Studio 15, the same level of quad-core power is on offer, making light work of even the most demanding tasks.

While this isn't the most graphically advanced laptop on the market, 3D performance vastly exceeds the smaller Studio 15, almost doubling its power. Whether for basic gaming or high-definition (HD) movie and photo editing, this is a laptop you can rely on to satisfy all your entertainment needs.

Dell Studio 1747 Specifications:

  • 17.3" HD+ (1600 x 900) TrueLife WLED
  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
  • Intel Core i7 720QM processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L3 cache)
  • ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 1GB
  • 4GB DDR3 RAM (2x 2GB)
  • 320GB Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200RPM Hard Drive
  • Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g
  • 8X DVD burner
  • Three-year limited warranty
  • 9-cell battery (85Wh)
  • Weight: Starting weight of 7.87 lbs
  • Dimensions: 16.28 x 11.04 x 1.1-1.54"

The Dell Studio 1747 battery doesn’t represent much of a departure from other Studio notebooks that have come before it, even the 14-inch, optical drive-less Dell Studio 14z. It has a satin lid (available in five colors; ours was Ruby Red) that feels soft to the touch and (mostly) masks fingerprints. Inside, the chassis mixes a glossy gray palm rest with a matte black keyboard and a piano black panel above the keyboard, complete with number pad. While it lacks some of the refinements of the high-end Studio XPS line, such as leather accents on the lid and flat keys, it borrows a few design elements, such as the glowing power button. The final product is handsome, but not as sophisticated as the 17-inch Apple MacBook Pro, Dell Studio XPS 1640 battery, or even the HP Envy 15.

As a desktop replacement, though, the Studio 1747 adds a few multimedia flourishes that its smaller siblings lack, including touch-sensitive multimedia controls and twin JBL speakers, each of which sit in a corner of the palm rest. The speaker grilles’ chrome styling is a nice touch. The multimedia controls blink when you touch them, and they responded well to all of our taps.

There are scroll bars on its right and lower edge that aren't limited optically or haptically but are indicated by a symbol on the mouse cursor. The multi-touch gestures that can be triggered by placing a second finger on the touchpad are also shown. You can, for instance, magnify symbols on the desktop by expanding the fingers or rotate pictures in image editing programs with circular movements. The gestures are understood and executed reliably by the touchpad in most cases.

Dell has treated the Studio 1747 battery to two smooth, silver shining touchpad keys. They have quite a soft pressure point, which makes them quiet but they also have an indistinct feel and lack a clear feedback. However, they respond reliably when the key is pressed.

The stunning 17.3-inch screen adds to its graphical ability. Its sharp resolution and well-balanced colour and contrast deliver a fantastic picture for gaming, viewing photos and watching movies. While the screen is also extremely bright, images never appear washed out.

HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort connections are provided, allowing you to connect to external HDTVs, projectors and monitors. DisplayPort is still quite rare on laptops, but is seen by some as superior to HDMI when connecting PCs to external screens, so it is nice to see both here.

Battery life was more than decent, though frankly you're likely to have this machine plugged in most of the time, just as you did the desktop PC it's replacing. The battery pokes out from the machine downwards, which angles the keyboard slightly. Personally, we think that's fine, but some people prefer their laptops to sit flat on the table.

The 1600 x 900 pixel high-resolution screen is impressive-looking, and the sprightly 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 560v graphics card means video playback is highly enjoyable, though as with any glossy screen, angling the display to avoid reflections takes careful management. An HDMI is present for playback on a larger display. And of course the problem with touchscreens is they can easily smear with fingerprints which you might notice. We found finger prints took more than a quick wipe to remove.

The battery for Dell Studio 1747 has the Intel Core i7 720QM processor working on the inside at a clock speed of 1.6GHz. Being a quad core processor, you can really expect this device to stand up strong, when all those demanding apps run on it. Plus the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 processor has been employed to handle graphics. Though not the most mighty GPU in the market, this guy can do a good job at gaming and is comparable to the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT. A 4GB DDR3 RAM and a 500GB hard drive are housed in this workstation. The Windows 7 OS forms the software base in this device.

This laptop sports a 17.3″ widescreen glossy display, with a resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels. This specification seems a little dull as there are plenty of full HD screen laptops already available in the market. Nonetheless, this laptop can play HD content. High definition audio is also integrated in it. A DVD +- RW drive has been built into this laptop as well.

The Studio 1747 is a 17-inch multimedia and gaming desktop-replacement notebook from Dell. This system can be configured with Intel Core i7 processors as well as high-end ATI Mobility Radeon graphics cards to compete against powerhouse systems like the Acer Aspire 8940G or Asus G51J.

Dell has one trick up its sleeve with the Studio 1747: it's the first large consumer notebook to offer an optional multitouch display.

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