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Intro

So, I finally got my new laptop. I am doing an internship in washington dc. since i normally live and study in europe, i figured i will take the oppurtunity to buy something with the weak dollar right now. i was looking for a decent laptop since quite a while but never pulled the trigger. after all i had a decent desktop and was able to use mums acer travelmate with 13'' for school.
mums acer had a dvd drive, and is actually a lot thicker than this studio 14z. i love that.

Specs:

-- Studio 14z - 1440 Laptop Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
Unit Price: $1,129.00
Quantity: 1
-- Studio 14z - 1440 Laptop

-- 65W AC Adapter

-- Processor Label

-- McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-months

-- Operating System Label

-- Software

-- Black Chainlink

-- 8 in 1 Media Card Reader (via 34mm ExpressCard)

-- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G

-- Service Software

-- Dell Support 2.0 Software

-- Resource DVD

-- Previously Ordered New

-- 64BIT Operating System CD

-- Software

-- 125V Power Cord

-- Software

-- 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (1 DIMM)

-- No Dell DataSafe Installed

-- No Dell DataSafe

-- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium

-- Adobe Acrobat 9.0 Reader

-- Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled

-- Back-lit Keyboard

-- 6 Cell, 56WHr Lithium-Ion Primary Battery

-- Facial Recognition Version 2.3

-- Shipping Material

-- Documentation

-- Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Module

-- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.4GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)

-- 64BIT Operating System DVD

-- Dell Wireless 1515 802.11a/g/n WLAN half Mini Card

-- Shipping Material

-- Windows Live

-- No WWAN Option

-- 320 GB SATA II Hard Drive (5400 RPM)

-- Chainlink palm rest

-- Image Restore Software

-- Integrated Memory - 1 GB DDR3 1066MHZ

-- Software

-- 14.0 inch High Definition+ (900p) Bright LED Display with TrueLife

-- Dell Support Center 64 Bit 2.0

-- Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition

-- STUDIO 14z (1440) : 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, Mail-In Service after Remote Diagnosis, 24x7 Phone Support (Included in Price)
Unit Price: $0.00
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $0.00
Subtotal: $1,129.00
Shipping and Handling: $19.99
Shipping Discount: -$19.99
Sales Tax: $64.92
Total Amount: $1,193.92

What's in the Box:

1. laptop
2. power brick
3. power cord
4. mc afee cd
5. windows vista home premium
6. driver cd
7. microsoft office 2007 student
8. handbook
9. warranty stuff
10. bill

Design

I like the Design. It slim, looks modern and feels good. there is a large black space above the keyboard due to the battery. i like how the powercord lights up with a buld in led if plugged in and or charging.
there is a weird pattern on the case, looks a little bit like little dumb-bell. but i just noticed it right now bc i was looking for stuff to desribe
they could have put the the trackpad a little bit more to the right. i had my thumb move the mouse twice already...
other than that, i am quite happy with it.

Screen:

i do not have any dead pixels. the screen is great. i got the hd uprade, it 13xx*900, which gives u quite a bit of screen real estate. i personaly prefer larger icons so i will bump up the textsize asap. i like the closing mechanism. its with a magnet but works like a charm.

Keyboard

keyboard is fine. i like how the have like a second level on them. it makes hitting the right key easier. i am not a great typer, so i cant really say if i miss more keys than usual. u certainly have to get used to it. i dont like how the enter button is so small, i repeately hit the \\\\|\\ stuff by accident.

Touchpad

touchpad is weird. should have been more on the right. it has a scroll help bar, although it is not hinted at in any way. just the way right part on the pad is reserved for it.
function buttons are pretty standard.

1. enable external screen
2. wireless on off
3. battery status popup
4. brightness +
5. brightness -
6. backlit keyboard
7. mute
8. volume down
9. volume up
10. track back
11. play pause
12. forward
13. open cd (which is strange. i dont have a drive...)

Features:
i am not a big feature guy. i like how the keyboard is backlit. facial recognizion made me mad. i disabled it.
Multimedia Keys

i di not see any multimedia keys other than the ones described above

LEDS
there is a led indicator at the power cord and on the power button. i am missing a capslock led!

Wifi –
wifi seems fine. i cant relly compare it signal wise, but apparently my roommate cant get the one i am on right now. so i would say above average.

Speakers
speakers are not great, but i did not expect much. that what my bose headset is for.

Input and Output Ports

Front:

no ports on the front

Webcam Pictures

seems fine. i think its 3megapixels. i like how there is a little light indicating if the camera is on.

Right Side:
on the right side there is the powerline, 2x headset, 1x microphone, 1x usb, esata, firewire and a ec card slot. i wish they would have more usb ports though. also i prefer the power on the right side, since i am right handed...


Left Side:

1x usb, hdmi, lan


Rear:

none, which sucks. i would like the some usb ports there.


Bottom:
there is a battery lock . other than that nothing abnomal.

Size and Weight

laptop feels good on my lap. idk about the weight but it seems reseanable comfortable to put under your armpit and walk to the next cofeehouse, which i am bout to do right now,


Heat and Noise

no heat, fan seems quiet most of the time, sometimes i wish he would not start. anoying when on skype, buddy was able to hear that through the onboard microphone

Battery Life

i will test the battery too. i figured in normal use about 6h.


Software

all bloated up with dell crap. i dont like any of that. i think media storage and webcam facial changer have to be the most ridiciolous, who uses that crap?


Pros:

1. size
2. weight
3. screen
4. backlit keyboard
5. noise
6. free upgrade to win7

Cons:

1. only 2 usb ports!!!
2. power on the right side
3. no ports in the back
4. audio on the right

Conclusion:
it really seems like a decent thing. i dont keep my notebooks very long. what really really bugs me is the lack of usb ports. battery life is great, and so is the screen. i am happy for now. i am looking forward to upgrading to win7.

I am with you regarding the lack of more USB ports. W7 will be interesting to go to.

Cool review! REP!

cheers ...

hi.
what is w7? i am still upset with the lack of usb ports, i got a external hard drive and it got one of those double headed usb cabels. u know, so it can drain enough power it does not have a seperate power adapter... and guess what. i cant use it since one usb port is on the left and the other is on the right. i thought people get paid to get this kind of stuff right. horrible....

oh, and i installed day of defeat source and counter strikr source. both run suprisingly well on high with the proper resulotion on the screen. i love how it is 19:10

any question let me know

also, do u guys think this might be an alternative. i am thinking of shipping the dell back!
http://us.acer.com/timeline/style.html
i was thinking about buying the 14" timeline...

I never had to use the 2nd USB plug for the extra power on my external drive (up to 500gb, above that you should think a bout getting one external with its own external power adapter).

The Acer timeline is a cool series. Would not mind owning one myself.

W7 = Windows 7

Oh, give us some benchmarks (http://www.notebookforums.com/my-benchmarks.html)

cheers ...

W7 = Windows 7 soon the be relased OS.

2 USb ports is on the low side, but you can always add a USB Hub, or if your laptop supports a Dock.

They added the E-sata as using a External hard Drive will be much faster than the USB port.

last I think you have a decent GPU on that laptop with the 9400.

will do benchmarks within a few days. i am still undecided about wheteever ill send it back or not. i guess i have like 30 more hours do decide... the timeline does look great. only thing isL the resulution seems to be a little bit lower, which sucks since i need some screen real estate for all those poker tables.

well whatever...

i confused my external hard drive with my external optical drive. the optical drive i cant use right now since it has those double headed ports which are 2 close toegher. will try with a usb hub but i doubt it will make a difference. sucks big time, i should have thought of that...

take care

also i have win7 lying around here already, but i am scared of the hassle of installing it. who knows... ill wait for the offical upgrade, which will arrive sometimes end of september. or was it end of october.. idk

i am quite pissed.
there seems to be a problem with the audio. after a reboot it works for about , idk, then something sets it off. may it be call of duty or skype. then i dont have any audio anymore. i will patch the drivers now but i dont think the problem lies there. this is frustrating as hell.

does anyone know how to fix this?

If updating the drivers fails to work, try a clean install

ive updated the drivers, same problem. it just shuts down randomly the whole audio. only rebbooting helps. temporarly.
how do i reinstall if i dont have a working usb drive? do u guys have a tutorial to get win vista on a usb stick and or network install

thanks

Best bet is to secure an external (USB) optical drive. This should let you boot up with the installation disk.

cheers ...

Any updates? sorry to hear about your problems. :-/