Dell’s first entry into the burgeoning small form-factor market, the Studio Hybrid, is finally here and on sale. But, it’s made me wonder, what’s the fascination with tiny desktop PCs? Why so small? Why so unupgradeable? Why not just buy a laptop and be done with it? Hang on, what’s the bleeding point of them at all?

Yes, I know, if you’re not one of those people whose proverbial boat is floated by big, overstated PC cases (and I’d count myself amongst those), then small PCs are a definite improvement, at least aesthetically. Pop the likes of Transtec’s A-listed Senyo 610 on a desk, and it’s so teeny that you can hide it behind your average TFT monitor. Connect a keyboard and a mouse and voila! You’ve got a working PC with a teeny, tiny footprint. And for everyday stuff (that, of course, excepting Crysis or any recent 3D game at all) the Transtec flies. That’s no understatement either; the Transtec’s tiny, perfectly-formed little wings propel it towards raw performance that’d embarrass every single one of the laptops languishing down the side of my sofa at home (don’t ask), and probably both my desktop PCs to boot.

But so, you’d presume, with its vast tracts of cash and resources Dell has marched into the arena, felled the competition with a single blow and produced the paradigm of compact desktop-tethered computing, right? Umm, not quite. In a sector where first impressions count, the Dell is more than a little, dare I say it, underwhelming. But, wait, you can choose from seven different coloured shells, pipes up the Dell marketing team. Shush. When one of those colour options is a bamboo shell which will cost me a minimum of £70 for the privilege, and the rest are £10 bits of coloured plastic, I’ll settle for the free Slate Gray one, thanks.

And set against Apple’s svelte Mac Mini, or even Transtec’s slightly larger 610, the Hybrid looks more than a little, well, fat. And no, it’s not a trick of the light. Given the stunning design work evident on Dell’s XPS range of laptops, it’s possible that they handed the Hybrid design brief over to the work-experience teaboy. Can you tell I’m unimpressed?

But it’s capable of supporting an Intel Penryn processor running as fast as 2.1GHz, cries the marketing team. So what? The Transtec 610 effortlessly cooled a 2.4GHz Penryn under its red and silver lid. Bothered?

Maybe the review unit winging (limping?) its way to PC Pro as I type will change my mind, but if I was going to put a PC on my desk or in my lounge, right now, it wouldn’t be the Hybrid. In fact, given a choice between a PS3 and a Hybrid in the lounge, I’d choose a PS3. Straightforward BluRay playback and great games with no sign of Windows whatsoever, yes please (Sony, be a dear and pop a 80GB PS3 in the post marked for my attention, thanks).

But, joking aside, I know that’s not even a fair comparison, in a mortal battle between the Transtec and the Hybrid, my head wants me to choose the Transtec. Like Ronseal, it does what it says on the tin, and best of all, it’s not a big, nor expensive tin. But, for now, the point is moot. My wallet would far rather I didn’t attempt to purchase anything pricier than a cheese and pickle on granary. And my decrepit old Elonex laptop at home, it might not have BluRay, but it’s more than enough to cope with the basic computing tasks I’ve got in mind.

But maybe it’s just the weather making me grumpy. Pish. Come on Dell. Prove me wrong. After a cheese and pickle sandwich, I’d like nothing better for dessert than the chance to munch on a few of my own words.