NotebookCHECK - Notebook Forum

A very pretty & very usable laptop - I like this one!  Not outrageously expensive either.

I have problems with the WiFi reception, I only get 5-15 Mbps download-speed where I get 35-45 on other laptops in the same living room which is close to the router. Any idea how I can fix this?

Try to change the WLAN channel.

If you have wifi issues, abandon hope and send the laptop back. If there's anything that is to be learned form such issues, it's that they never get properly fixed and both Intel and Laptop Producers act as if they don't know what's happening.

i have purchased this laptop. Since this laptop has no DVD drive how do i install games

You can use Steam and Origin or buy an external drive.

I have a question for those who tested this notebook: in the viewing angles image it seems that colors aren't saturated or vivid, is it a problem of the photo or they are really so faded? Apart from the bad RGB graph coverage, photos look natural?
You said it's not suitable for photo applications due to the restricted color gamut, is it a noticeable lack?  Thanks a lot!!!

Do you know if it's possible to replace the qwertz keaboard with a qwerty?

Quote from: Antonio Imperatrice on November 09, 2013, 16:19:42
I have a question for those who tested this notebook: in the viewing angles image it seems that colors aren't saturated or vivid, is it a problem of the photo or they are really so faded? Apart from the bad RGB graph coverage, photos look natural?

That's just on the photo. Colors are much more vivid in reality.

Quote from: Antonio Imperatrice on November 09, 2013, 16:19:42You said it's not suitable for photo applications due to the restricted color gamut, is it a noticeable lack?  Thanks a lot!!!

That was just a reference to professional users of photoshop etc. No problem for a normal user. :)

Quote from: MichM on November 09, 2013, 19:16:09
Do you know if it's possible to replace the qwertz keaboard with a qwerty?

I suspect this should be possible. However, you have to ask Dell for such a keyboard.

Hi
thanks for the nice review as always; I have some concerns about the wifi sensitivity: how unsensititive is it in practice? I mean, if  in my house I'm always in a 3 to 12 meters range from my router (with zero to 2 walls inbetween) would I notice this as a problem?

Was at my local shop, and I saw this as a near-identical clone of the Asus N550JV. Similar priced, the Asus had a blu-ray and IPS display.
But what really hit me was that the two looked like clones, even down to the trackpad.

is it this laptop good for watch film and video such as 1080 full HD? I love to watch video and also use it for social media?  uh! finally  I'm studying the media and film, so is it good enough to use for edit video and photo such as Photoshop etc? thank you very much :)   

Guys beware!!1 i fell for this one!!
This laptop is really amazing when it comes to its looks and configuration.. But the wifi just doesn't work.. its worse than my 2004 manufactured old phone. Just have a look at the dell forum.. and look at how horrible the dell service is..

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19532210/20487886.aspx#20487886


http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/network-internet-wireless/f/3324/p/19530048/20487818.aspx#20487818



think twice before you buy this one...

Hy Jerry, i would like to buy this one too. Is the problem really bad? i've heard it's just a problem with windows 8 and that you should update to windows 8.1 .....
Can you give me an update?

I've had mine for a week now and the wifi is working normally. I have the UK model with hi res screen and intel 7260 dual band abgn card (not ac). I needed new drivers from the Dell site after updating windows to 8.1 but otherwise have had no particular  problems with the wifi. Intel has a later driver than Dell on it's site but the driver from Dell (16.5.3.6) is working ok.

I thing I`m having the same problem with de processor. Can you tell me how to configure the CPU's TDP to 15 Watts?

Hi, I have also a question about the CPU performance:

Do the gaming results and the observation that 'the CPU's frequency control has been set a bit too defensively' apply to the CPU settings with a 10.5 W TDP?
I'm also interested in how to set the TDP correctly, since it would be a shame to leave the i7 in the 10.5 W TDP state when it has clearly more potential.

Thanks in advance!

Quote from: Siemon on December 27, 2013, 11:12:24
Do the gaming results and the observation that 'the CPU's frequency control has been set a bit too defensively' apply to the CPU settings with a 10.5 W TDP?

Yes, exactly.

You can use the Intel tool "XTU" to apply the correct TDP value of 15 watts. We used the same software in our review.

For slower internet speeds, just flush the dns cache (just google it for windows 8) and it should be fine after that.

I meant Windows 8.

Is it difficult to change the TDP to 15 watts? I'm not a computer expert and I'm not sure if mine has been set to 15W.

I was wondering could it manage 3D modelling in Autodesk programms?

The FullHD display ID of my Inspiron 7537 (Dell Spain) is SDC4C48. The measures are quite different from reviewed model. These are the results I got from a Spyder4Pro:

Brightness: 210 nits
Black: 0,34
Contrast: 620:1
sRGB: 99%
AdobeRGB: 78%

No problems with Wi-Fi. Speedtest results: 67.45Mbps Download / 10.44Mbps Upload.

DO NOT BUY THIS LAPTOP ---- fresh out the box, wireless problems (<0.5Mb/s connectivity) when ~5-10m away from router. Dell changed wireless card immediately, problem persisted. Dell then offered to change motherboard, wireless card, backpanel/antennas. That to me says it all - you may get lucky with this laptop and not have problems, I wouldnt take the risk - clearly a design problem of some sort.

I have had this laptop since Dec 2013 and have 0 issues with it.  I would highly recommend it to anyone.  If you live in Canada make sure you get it from Futureshop or Bestbuy...  I got mine on sale for $899 + tax!!

The issues that a few people are experiencing in the forums I have not encountered.  My wifi reception is perfect, so is the wifi speed. 

The only drawback is the lack of a cd rom...

very good high end laptop, and excellent laptop if you got it for $899 (however 1TB HD instead of 256GB SSD)
2 small issues:
wifi connectivity: indeed weak signal in mid-long distance than other laptops, even worse than tablet/phone. Sometimes need wifi extender (or stronger router). If you open back cover you will find the card is placed in the middle of the notebook.
cooling system cannot fully support long hours of gaming (cpu+gpu), and overheating damages battery life. Need cooling pad when gaming.

Is the GT750m an MXM module or soldered onto the motherboard? If yes, MXM-a or MXM-b?

I have this notebook for a month.  My rating is 90%- some software issues, but the hardware is precision.

I highly reccomend This notebook for multimedia. The battery is so strong. I can really surf 7hours. The touchscreen is nice, but I think that Win8.1 still need upgrade. Noteebook Is quiet (I can hear only SATA disk while booting.

While gaming (WoT on FullHD + medium setting) I got approx 50fps, I can hear the cooling fan and the temperature is not that bad. I think that gaming 2hours+ is not healthy fot notebook.

If you wanna aluminium case with low power consumption and still decent power, this is perfect. I love the design.

I had only 2 issues. Both were problems with Win8, one with upgrading from 8 to 8.1(I had to downgrade 1 win update and then it worked) and the second was with Windows account login(Wait please while after loggin in (had to switch to local account and then back))

I've just bought this laptop and I like it a lot. I was very picky, I was looking for a lightweight desktop replacement laptop for graphic design (I am always on the road so external monitors are not an option for me), preferably with a touchscreen. Previously I had Vaio S15 which was just perfect but it died only one year after the purchase and they weren't able to repair it :( They gave me a full refund (1000EUR) so I went looking for a replacement around the same price range. I bought and returned 4 other laptops before trying out this Inspiron, which I will keep. I got it for 1000 EUR.

Primarily, I was looking for a good IPS panel. This Inspiron is not advertised in shops as IPS so it wasn't on my radar from the beginning. There is a discussion in online forums about the screen type and people report having different models. I am happy to say that mine has the same panel as reviewed on this website - the LG IPS. It was purchased in the Czech Republic. I think the colours will need a little calibration but in general they are excelent - definitely among the best you can find in the 15 inch laptop category. I compared it with my friend's MacBook and it is similar in brightness and quality (of course different number of pixels, but I didn't want a Retina anyway, below I will explain why).

The design of this laptop is similar to MacBook, it looks very stylish. It is very thin and its shape somehow eliminates the fact that is is a bit heavy for an ultrabook (2,6kg) - I was hesitant about the weight but I don't mind it at all, it just doesn't feel heavy. The case is very solid and nice to touch, and unlike most other laptops it doesn't catch fingerprints on the lid.

The computer is surprisingly quiet and even if the fan goes on, it is not disturbing at all - no high pitched sounds like in some of the laptops I tested. This was my big worry because the other computers I tried were very noisy even during browsing or youtube. The temperature is also fine - it gets a bit hotter if you work in bed and the air conductor at the bottom is covered - but it is not a big problem, you can still use it.

My configuration has the i7 processor, 16GB ram, NVIDIA graphics, 1TB 5,4 hdd with a small SSD cache, and Win 8.1. The HDD is slowing the machine down considerably. I will replace it with a 1TB SSD tomorrow because 5400 HDDs are a disaster (I had a 7200rps in my Vaio and it was much better)... I was going to buy an SSD for whatever computer I get, so I am not doing it particularly because this Dell would be slower than others - they are all slow. I found out in forums that the Samsung SSD Pro series doesn't work well in this laptop so I will go for the Evo line, which is available here for some 400 EUR for 1TB (I have a lot of data that I access often and I hate having to carry external hard drives around all the time).

Some people report issues with wifi on this laptop. I haven't had any such problems. My signal is as strong as in all previous computers and it is stable. I haven't updated any drivers - it works in the factory settings.


Just for comparison, I want to report on the other laptops i tried in last 3 months, what I didn't like on them and why I ended up with this Dell. Just very briefly - I may write a longer article about all of them later, and if I do, I will post a link here.

Acer V7 - this was a quick emergency purchase when my Vaio died and I still hoped they would fix it in a week. The IPS panel was good but the white colour seemed a bit red-ish. I didn't try to calibrate it because I would return it anyway - it was too loud even during casual work like browsing many websites at once and playing videos. I was also afraid of staying with the brand since it doesn't have a good name here... although I understand that the quality my have gone up in the last few years.

Sony Vaio Flip 15 - it has a great IPS panel, probably best of all I tested. Very good brightness and colours. It also has a pressure-sensitive stylus support. However, the computer is quite loud (annoying sound) and the problem stays even after applying the bios update that is supposed to fix it. The shape of the case is not good, it has many sharp metal edges and is not comfortable to work on in bed - it cuts into your belly. But I returned it mainly because I couldn't live without the num-pad (I thought I would try, but it was too annoying, so I added it back to my must-have features).

Toshiba Satellite P50T - it's the first 4K resolution laptop. The resolution is wonderful for work with vectors and fonts and I am still getting used to be back on FHD which now looks pixelated to me... however the world is not yet ready for 4K laptops. Half Adobe programs can't adapt their interface to the DPI, so if you wanna cut videos in Premiere you have to switch to FHD resolution. And try to design standard sizes web banners on it... It's just not good for pixel-perfect graphic work, and also, it has to magnify images in websites so they all get blurry. The screen has some anti-glare coating that makes the screen "glitter" and the white is just not white, it looks noisy. I havent seen this effect on any laptops other than Toshibas (one of my previous had it too but it was possible to take the foil off - here you cant because its below the gorilla glass). The brightness of the screen is very low. Rendering everything to 4K consumes so much power and the computer is ALWAYS hot and renders things very slowly despite having a high voltage CPU (for example, browsing photos in fullscreen mode in lightroom = 5sec delay to load the next photo). The case feels plastic and bulky. On top of all that, the fan is located on the right side, just where your mouse is, and it blows hot air on your hand all the time. The highlight was the keyboard which I loved most of all I tested, but that's not enough of a reason to have a 1400EUR laptop, right? :)

I also shortly tested the new Asus Flip TP500 hoping that the 15 inch model might have an IPS screen like the 13 inch one. There was some missleading information about this online. Well, it doesn't have an IPS, it has a TN panel that some people call good, but I hated it, it made my eyes sore in 30 minutes and I returned it the morning after. The case is really good, though, it looks stylish, sturdy and it is very light... it's a pitty that they screwed up the screen because all other things on that computer are great.

So, that's how I got to own and love this Dell :) I hope this may help someone choose their computer and cut off few days of online research.

i have the core i5 nvidia non touch screen version of this notebook....its pretty amazing...i havnt experienced any issues with wifi yet...if i had to nitpick, there is a slight hissing sound when u connect headphones..but its only audible when u arent playing anything...probably has something to do with the sound card...

I purchased this one in Feb 2014.

From beginning, i noticed flaw in display like backlight bleeding, ghosting and gradient banding and minor glitch with wifi.

Dell support replaced the display, after describing the issues; I appreciate dell for that.

But the 2nd display also has backlight bleeding (more than previous one), ghosting and gradient banding.
Display images - http://1drv.ms/1wkOZaL (http://1drv.ms/1wkOZaL)

Both the displays are LG Phillips 156WF4  [DELL P/N: 890N5] [ID: LGD040E]

And now wifi reception is more fluctuating than earlier.

WiFi problem solved!!
All you need is uninstall Intel/Dell driver for Wifi card. I got back to the default driver (Microsoft driver v 16.x.x.x) and it works perfect. No network dropping! Hope it will work for you as well. Cya

Hey :), hier möchte ich meine Gedanken über dieses Problem mit euch zu teilen.
So habe ich heruntergeladen und die Treiber installiert sind:
1. Laden Sie DriverTuner Program an: http://www.official-drivers.com/;
2. Starten Sie DriverTuner und klicken Sie auf "Start Scan" -Taste wird DriverTuner Ihren Computer zu scannen und finden Sie alle Windows-Treiber. Dann empfehlen Sie die neuesten Windows-Treiber.
3. Klicken Sie auf die Schaltfläche "Download", wird DriverTuner alle verpasst Windows-Treiber für Sie zu installieren.
Hoffe, dass dies für euch zu arbeiten.

There is an additional msata slot on the USB daughter board of some people's 7537s. Mine doesn't have one, but some lucky folks have one (and probably don't know it. Look up "open me up dell 7537" on youtube. You'll see it there.

Dell Laptop Inspiron 15 7000 series 7537 is a big scam! They come in broken like mine did. Even when it came straight from the box, the laptop stickers in the back were ripped and scratched. This tells me that it was used before! I bought this brand new!!!!!

The webcam was broken upon opening. Even with warranty, Dell forced me to pay $345 no joke for one webcam. They sent it back to me with a broken keyboard. The webcam and audio on this laptop is really below average quality. Webcam is really blurry and audio is really bad. I can provide evidence and video I can provide evidence and video of Dell scamming me out of my money and then breaking my keyboard! Dell customer service are outsourced Indians who don't speak English properly, and are designed to leave you frustrated and purposely waste your time so you don't pursue the matter.

Overall this laptop is filled with too much bloatware that slows down the computing. It is always lagging and crashing because the Disk is always at 100%. Also upon closing the lid, the aluminum case is not leveled properly and breaks. It easily opens more broken or mended from the slightest banged....

The laptop battery life is misleading and fraudulently stated. Again I have proof. It is advertised to be 11 hours, but it can't even live 1 hour before dying! I have pictures of the battery life.

Also it doesn't charge so easily. It doesn't fully power on and off that well. Even closing the lid will put the laptop in a non existent sleep/hibernation mode that isn't shut down. Even when I changed the setting for the power button, nothing really changes.

The battery also has a lot of issues even though the laptop was new. Sometimes the battery would die in its sleep or shut down mode. The bottom would get overheated when after I charged it to 100% and shut it down through the Windows menu. It would overheat, and when I press the power button it doesn't work. When I plugged it in, it shows me that the battery is empty! So the battery died even though the laptop was turned off!

I highly recommend people to not buy Dell because of how much they like to scam people!