NotebookCHECK - Notebook Forum

I was waiting of Dell inspiron 17r special edition review. I like the way u present it.....
But there is one more model available with 32gb ssd and 3d display....
Please give a review of that model too.

Is the DVD drive modular? Does it have an express card or a finger print reader?

This model now seems to be available with an additional mSATA SSD to supplement the regular HDD, and is still quite affordable. This seems to be an excellent option at the price point as currently it is available (in the US at least) for around 900-1100 dollars including the SSD, depending on the total load out. Still Dell does not offer many options to customize it specifically.

What LCD panel do the test model have? Couldn't find it in the review. It could come with at least two different panel, one from Chi Mei (CMN1720) and one from LG-Philips (LGD02DA).

OC-Freak, judging by measured parameters, it looks nearly identical to Chi Mei panels used in MSI GE70, Samsung 700Z7C and Asus G75VW (non-3D).

J,the optical drive can be replaced easily. Firstly, you remove base cover and a tiny screw that holds the drive in the chassis. After sliding it out, all you need to do is to remove bezel and securing bracket and that's it.

you have really forgot one thing......you not mention there is a true life 3D screen here....i have it myself...........this screen is pretty much better then the standard one.......also comes with bluray.

I think there are two bays for HDD. This gives big potential, for one SSD as main and the initial 1Tb HDD as secondary storage. Hopefully is is as accessible as the first bay!
Can't wait to receive mine...

I've just examined this standard 17R on wich I type this message. It has the i7 and is simply fast. This one has one hdd of 1 TB. The connector for an msata disk is easily accesible through two screws as seen in the pictures. But the second hdd 's connector is not present. So it isn't possible to connect a second harddisk outside the msata. But those ssd msata's are really affordable so a great aftermarket upgrade.

Very nice review!
I have a couple of questions, are all the storage disks ports (both 2.5 " and the mSATA) SATA III? Because afaik the HM77 only supports two SATA III ports
And does it come with the second caddy for the 2.5" bay? Can it be installed right away?

Hi, Having just bought mine: What a mashine!
One question though: Is a normal behaviour that the speakers "pink-noice" (Hissing kind of sound) a little RIGHT after power-on, before Win starts to load?
Rgds, Robert, Denmark

Quote from: Dario on September 26, 2012, 10:39:49
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And does it come with the second caddy for the 2.5" bay? Can it be installed right away?

Just looked inside mine, and yes! The metal bracket for the HDD, second 2,5" slot is there.

Quote from: Robert Holsting on September 27, 2012, 14:12:00One question though: Is a normal behaviour that the speakers "pink-noice" (Hissing kind of sound) a little RIGHT after power-on, before Win starts to load?

This is fairly common hardware problem with 7720, unfortunately. Some folks had their motherboards, speakers and power supplies exchanged under warranty. My 17R SE has the same issue, but since it is a refurb, it is going back to the factory for a refund. Contact Dell and they will sort it out. You may try getting rid of audio drivers and let Win7 install generic driver first to see if that helps.

Can it run 3 independent displays with different content? (a VGA screen and a HDMI screen...). I found that the HD4000 graphics, Geforce GT650M and the intel HM77 chipset in this laptop should be able to do the job, but as i understand there may be other hardware components in place that limit this ability. Or can every laptop with a GT650M and a VGA and HDMI port run  3 independent displays?

i'm planning to buy this computer and to replace the 2gb ram whith a 4gb ram, is the ram sold on the dell's website for the normal edition of the  17r compatible?

hated this laptop. very poor screen quality. don't buy it if it comes with Chi Mei display which is only 6bit per channel.

Chuck has no idea what he is talking about, throwing the 6bit comment out there shows his ignorance. I JUST got the 7720 delivered to me and it has the chimei screen in it and let me tell you this screen is gorgeous. The color is perfect, the adjustments were not needed and the crisp/sharpness of this screen is beautiful. I even have a Alienware M18 for the last 1.5 yrs, this screen is top notch!!!!

I would agree, I just got my 7720 SE a moth ago and the display is superb, wonderful colours.

fantastic notebook when combined with SSD. Extremly quiet. However 100Mbit/s LAN - shame DELL!

Yes this laptop is grate, display is awesome. Only thing I don't like is that I was not able to find a 9cell battery for it but the rest of the laptop gets a 10 out of 10.

Nice Review, Specially the CPUZ images.

I did it put a ssd in my inspiron 17R actually 2 of them.  One is a SanDisk Ultra 256 g on sale 100 bucks then I grabbed a smaller 128 same make for an older inspiron my wife has was 79 bucks, made that old laptop fly. In my new one I also added a second ssd for storage.  Anyway my laptop boots up in under 15 seconds and performance is really nice.  Mine has 8g ram I am told that is the max but them someone comes along and puts 16g in theirs and it works with 64bit Windows

Quote from: Dario on September 26, 2012, 10:39:49
Very nice review!
I have a couple of questions, are all the storage disks ports (both 2.5 " and the mSATA) SATA III? Because afaik the HM77 only supports two SATA III ports
And does it come with the second caddy for the 2.5" bay? Can it be installed right away?

Two main bays are SATA 3 while mSATA drive will only run at SATA 2 speeds.

Finally Dell released BIOS A17 and addressed GPU boost problem. Now unplugging the laptop from the mains does not make GPU stuck at default 745 MHz and boost works again when back on AC power.