Dell Inspiron 17R SE 7720 - Color Calibration?

hey all,

purchased a 17R SE 7720 a couple of months ago. ran into some driver problems for a capture device on Windows 8 so i quickly installed Windows 7 & the capture device worked perfectly. within a couple of days i noticed something just looked off about the colors, & to some extent, sharpness too. the display looked subpar, especially when placed next to laptops 1-4 years older than this laptop. i ignored the issue, imagined that somehow maybe, this screen was meant to look like this, that somehow it's better for gaming performance, but pretty much everyone that has seen the laptop has told me, that something's just off about the screen, like it's often hard to explain, ~low contrast? i connected the laptop to an external display, & the colors looked gorgeous & spectacular, which really makes me upset about the screen. i checked and noted that my screen is supposed to be a "TrueLife" LED screen, with better contrast and deeper colors, yet my display appears as if it's a classic LCD. am I spoiled by high quality screens built years ago? i always respected Dell for their ultrasharp series and figured purchasing my first Dell purchase, the screen would be the last thing i would have to worry about.

about a week ago, i couldn't ignore the issue anymore and called Dell Tech Support and spoke to a very nice woman & explained my situation. after upgrading my bios, doing some color tests & sending some pictures comparing screen quality, they decided to send a Dell Tech to replace my screen. the tech arrived relatively quickly and replaced my screen in probably less than ten minutes, a quick, surprisingly simple process. as he left, i glanced at the screen and upon first impression, it appeared a little better, but the problem still persisted. convinced that maybe the screen is configured better on Windows8 somehow, i reinstalled Windows8 to no avail.

after reading some reviews & forums, i noted one person claimed the first thing he noticed was a very high blue and was better once he configured it. i quickly tried using the Intel HD Graphics 4000 color enhancement settings and tried experimenting by lowering the Blue brightness, contrast, and/or gamma, to somewhat better results, but i still can't seem to get it perfect. also, i figured making the changes here would effect external display settings as well? there has to be a better solution.

eventually i found this review, which strongly states to calibrate the display using an X-Rite Colorimeter, & something about being a non-IPS display? i even tried downloading his .icc profile, but couldn't seem to get it to work.

i went to BestBuy today, to see if other Dell laptops looked like this. I only managed to find one Inspiron in the Ultrabook section, which appeared to have the same problem. Pretty much all the other laptops on display from HP, Samsung, Toshiba, etc looked gorgeous by comparison. convinced that perhaps Dell doesn't use quality screens anymore, i inquired about the possibility of purchasing a screen from another manufacturer.

i was curious about this colorimeter technology and ended finding a video where someone uses a Spyder3Pro to calibrate a Dell laptop display which really got me excited, because the device appears to solve my problem. however, these color configuration products seem to be rather expensive, especially given that i only plan to use it once. i quickly searched craigslist in case someplace offered color configuration as a service and had these devices, but couldn't find any leads.

i decided to call Dell Tech support, hoping that perhaps Dell Technicians carry this configuration tool, and could simply send another tech to properly configure a color profile, but apparently i don't live in an ideal world and am often too optimistic. the Dell rep was honest & understanding however, explaining how the most they could do is replace parts & that even if i replace the screen, it most likely would be futile as a screen can only be as good as the instructions sent to it? perhaps a certain new hardware chipset/controller is the real culprit?

regardless, i feel stuck and confused about my next step. & thats why i'm writing this long post.
i have considered purchasing one of these color configuration devices & perhaps use it for a day and sell on ebay?
i don't know of any photographer friends in NYC that possibly carries one of these tools.
i imagine there are makeshift methods to calibrate using a printer, but i'd rather it be done professionally / properly.

the color issues are noticeable while web-browsing, watching movies, during gaming, using photoshop & pretty much everything else i do on a computer.

here are the comparison pics i took to send to Dell before the screen replacement,

Sony Playstation 3D Display ( 1080p external monitor from 17R SE)


Four Year Old Sony Vaio screen comparison (1280x800)


One year old Toshiba laptop comparison (1600x900)

17R SE Screen Specs:
1600x900 17.3" Glossy / "TrueLife"
Monitor ID - AUO159E

thanks in advance for any replies!
if not, at least this experience is documented somewhere..