i bought a dell studio 17, 4 years ago, and i had the same pb. I'm on windows XP sp3..the best exploitation system for me..some audio plugins in vista 64 bits don't work...so :

to avoid re-install drivers, flash the bios etc( it didn't work at all) .. this is how i cured this :

> download PROCESS EXPLORER ( to kill the pops )

technet.microsoft.com/.../bb896653.aspx  

> download DPC LATENCY CHECKER ( to visualize / to check pops )

www.thesycon.de/.../latency_check.shtml

once downloaded and installed, open both freeware, then in PROCESS EXPLORER double-click the line SYSTEM.
Then a little window open and in this window, select number 100 "ACPI.SYS" and click SUSPEND.

the default of this manipulation is that when you shut off the pc, and burn cds you have to to the enable the ACPI.SYS file . It is still a nightmare..and 4 years after i'm still an angry costumer

if you have an other solution, don't hesitate

is there anyway I can improve this i.e download a new driver to replace my existing one so the sound quality is similar to my inspiron that I owned previously

Hope you didn't pay much for a used Studio 1737. The original owners flooded the used laptop market with those things because of the problems with audio. There were 3 main areas of concern.

1. Bad speakers. If the volume was low or muffled/distorted when using Dell Diagnostics audio tests Dell replaced the speakers but only if the owner requested it and the laptop was under warranty.

2. Even on models with good speakers the sound was not very good. Some improvement was seen by uninstalling the IDT audio driver and letting Windows install its native audio driver. To do that:

> Go to Device Manager and uninstall the IDT driver (right click/properties) and select the option to delete the files. When done, reboot.

> Or go to Start>Control Panel>Uninstall a Program. Find the audio driver then right click on it and uninstall it. When you reboot the computer Windows will install its native audio driver. Check that it is installed by going to the Sounds properties. If it says "High Definition Audio Device" on any of the tabs then it is the native driver. If it says "IDT High Definition Audio Codec" then it is still an IDT driver, so repeat the procedure. (Windows will keep installing IDT drivers until all that have been downloaded are removed.)

3. The worst problem was the one mentioned by 'angry customer", that most of the early Studio models exhibited excessive dpc latency which resulted in audio glitching. There is a long history behind this issue and if you are interested I condensed it into a few paragraphs here:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3517/t/19370448.aspx

I want to point out something about angry customer's suggestion to use Process Explorer to suspend ACPI. That was a popular solution (for the excessive dpc latency issue) but it only worked for owners with the XP operating system. Owners like you who had Vista were able to do something similar but using a different program named Process Hacker, but not everyone was successful in getting it to work. If you want to try that I suggest you read the original thread -- however the thread is very long. I would suggest first that you update the BIOS, audio, wireless, network, touchpad and graphics drivers. In the end doing so was the solution for DJQuartz who was the main proponent of Process Explorer in the first place, so the updates might help you.

A possible complication is that some Studio models had a Dell (Broadcom) 1515 wlan card. I don't know if the Studio 1737 had that particular or not, but if it did it should be replaced with a different brand because even if all other factors are corrected for, that particular card still causes excessive dpc latency and thus audio glitching.

Or if it is not too late to get your money back you might consider doing that.

yes, respect to dj Quartz, and shame on dell team.