Dell Studio XPS 16 review

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In fact, this beast of a machine fails to shine in only one area: battery life. With all of those high-powered components, extra peripherals and lights, the Dell's six-cell battery struggled to last away from the mains, managing a paltry 2hrs 11mins in light use conditions and 1hr 3mins under heavy use.

Choices, choices

As usual, this isn't the only flavour of XPS 16 Dell offers. Three base units are available, with prices going right down to £695 exc VAT and the most expensive £1,173. At the cheaper end of the scale, the 1080p screen is replaced with a 720p unit, hard disk space is capped at 160GB hard disk, and there's no Blu-ray drive.

More versatility is available at the top end of the scale. Processor offerings go right up to the 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600, whih adds an extra £350 to the price, while upping the RAM to 8GB costs a breathtaking £340. Other expensive options, such as a 128GB SSD drive for £200, take the price of a fully-loaded Studio XPS to just over £2,000.

Our review sample proves you don't have to spend that much to get yourself an extremely lust-worthy machine, but we're still not sure how many people will want to spend £1,173 on it, despite the fast performance and stunning screen. The HP HDX X16-1005EA offers a similar specification, albeit with a standard CCFL screen, for £300 less, so although the XPS 16 ticks all of the entertainment boxes and looks fantastic to boot, it's just that bit too expensive for us to recommend.

Author: Mike Jennings