Dell Studio 15

Full review of Dell Studio 15

The Dell Studio 1537 is a beautifully designed laptop that manages to look good without sacrificing computing power or running up the starting price. Sporting a red lid and an overall smooth appearance, our 1537 came packed with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz to go along with a 320GB HDD, 4GB RAM, and a dedicated 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 GPU. For a price that won't surpass 3 digits, the 1537 does an admirable job or satisfying you, your onlookers, and your wallet.

Design, Keyboard and Mouse

The look and feel of the Studio 1537 is stylishly smooth. The red lid features a shiny silver Dell logo in the center and is smooth to the touch. The screen is wide and glossy and there is a silver frame around the display as well as the black speakers and backlit keyboard, which creates a nice effect. Beyond being backlit, the keyboard also features a number of multimedia touch buttons and is full sized. The trackpad is comfortable to use and appears as only a slight depression in the palmrest. The Studio has a tapered front which helps avoid the boxy look, and reaches thinness of 1" in the front. However, it is about 1/3" deeper in the back, and our model shipped with a 9-cell battery which made it even bulkier. It's not so thick that it looks bad at all, it's simply not competing with the thinnest of thin laptops.

Connectivity

The 1537 comes with a solid array of connectivity options. For your high quality video needs you get HDMI as well as the older VGA, and for your data transfer needs there is mini FireWire in addition to 3USB ports and 1USB/eSATA. The Studio 1537 also comes with a nice looking slot loading DVD player, eliminating the need for unsightly trays, as well as 2 audio out jacks so that you and a friend can both listen at the same time. You can even connect through your fingers with the biometric fingerprint reader. Audio in, Ethernet, and wireless on/off switch (as well as a button for Dell's "WiFi Catcher") round out the remaining options.

Display

The display on the Studio is great, and the colors look sharp on the glossy screen. The display is LED backlit and extremely bright, making outdoor use possible even in direct sunlight. The viewing angles are excellent, especially from the sides or below. The only thing holding our Studio back was the rather average WXGA 1280x800 resolution, which is fine for most purposes but a little short of impressive.

Performance and Conclusion

With a score of 79 on Worldbench, the Studio 1537 fit in fairly well next to other multimedia laptops we tested. A score of 2845 PCMarks was a little less encouraging, and we had expected the notebook to do better. Still, overall we found the performance to be quite acceptable and when we remember we're getting a notebook with a few style points too it made it easier to cut the Studio some slack. With the 9 cell battery the battery life hit almost 6 hours, which is plenty. On the whole, the Studio is a beautifully designed and perfectly capable laptop for a price that won't break the bank.

Summary and Details

The Studio 15 from Dell is an affordable mid-range 15-inch laptop. Just like all other Dell laptops, you can customize it down to the smallest detail and the Studio 15 more so than others. It's even available in custom lid colors and patterns.

It can be configured with either lower-end Pentium Dual Core processors with a slower FSB, or the more efficient Core 2 Duo. The 256MB ATI Radeon 3450 is also an optional upgrade from the integrated Intel GMA; the 3450 is not the fastest graphics card on the market, but should be sufficient for games in low detail settings. Intel graphics are however not at all suited for gaming.

Another detail worth noting is that either a dedicated GPU or a fast processor is mandatory if you select the optional Blu-Ray player upgrade.

Dell Studio 15 Technical Specifications

• Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• Memory 4GB
• Harddrive 320GB
• OS Windows Vista Home Premium
• Weight 6.11 lbs (w/ 9-cell battery)
• Screen 15.4 in
• Screen resolution 1280x800
• Graphic Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450
• Battery Life 6 hrs

Pros

• Great value for money
• Good battery life
• Nice design
• Pleasant display

Cons

• A bit bulky
• Slower than expected GPU