Updated March 4th, 2021 to reflect current hardware. You might want to look at my post “The Dell Studio 1558 – Still a nice laptop in 2021” for a more recent perspective, or see a list of all of my Studio 1558 articles here.

A number of people have asked me what changes I made to my 1558 to describe it as “one killer system” (in a comment replying to a poster in the antenna entry). Here’s what I can think of, off the top of my head:

• Upgrade CPU from Core i5-450M to Core i7-740QM
• Upgrade memory from 6GB to 16GB (system limit)
• Upgrade display from glossy 720p to matte 1080p
• Upgrade keyboard to backlit model
• Upgrade DVD burner to Blu-ray burner (UJ-235A)
• Replace lid with one that has all the antennas in “brushed silver” (previously I had a lid which matched the color of my race car, but over the years the matte surface got sticky)
• Replace palmrest with one that has a topo map pattern instead of the default chainlink (which also includes a new touchpad)
• Upgrade wireless LAN card to Intel Ultimate-N 6300
• Install Bluetooth 365 module
• Install DW5808 mobile broadband / GPS card
• Replace 320GB HD with 1TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD
• Upgrade battery from 6-cell to 9-cell (aftermarket as Dell no longer sells replacement batteries for the 1558)
• Make the power supply more sleek – replace the “hammerhead” power cord with a normal one and remove the rubber strap (I use Velcro cable ties to manage all of my cables)
• Install Windows 10 LTSC x64 instead of Windows 7 Home Premium x64
• Use a nice Targus “Unofficial” 16″ slipcase to carry the system

As configured, it gets a Windows 7 Experience Index of 5.7 (yuck!), but that’s due to a poor desktop graphics score from the Mobility Radeon HD 5470. [Of course, the integrated graphics option would probably be a lot worse – if you have a score for that, let me know in the comments.]