Dell Studio Hybrid review

Blu-ray blues

Initially, all our Blu-ray test discs suffered from skipped frames and juddering. Turning off Windows Aero and disabling as many startup programs and services as we could seemed to help a little, as did enabling the hard disk performance mode in the Hybrid's BIOS, but playback still remained far from smooth.

Playing back discs with our own copy of CyberLink's PowerDVD 8 Ultra, rather than Dell's MediaDirect, generally gave smoother results but also saw CPU usage shoot up from peaks of 60-70% to peaks of 100%, causing the video to skip frames. The spike in CPU usage implies that PowerDVD doesn't take advantage of the Broadcom HD acceleration card, but with MediaDirect jerking and juddering constantly, and PowerDVD stuttering in high-bitrate scenes, the Studio Hybrid finds itself stuck between a rock and a hard place.

It's a real shame that Dell didn't provide a more robust specification, or alternatively a more modest one, as the Studio Hybrid shows a lot of promise. The chassis is compact and good looking, and with a cheaper Core 2 Duo, or Atom for that matter, as well as a more frugal set of components, the Hybrid could be an attractive budget option for many consumers.

And, at the other end of the scale, if Dell threw out the older generation Intel components in favour of newer parts such as the latest P8000 Core 2 Duo family and Blu-ray-friendly GMA X4500 graphics, the pricier specifications would be much more enticing to those seeking a compact, powerful Media Center PC for the lounge.

The final nail is driven into the Hybrid's slate-grey coffin courtesy of Dell's pricing.
Our review unit costs £680, without a monitor, and with ropey Blu-ray playback to boot. Frankly, we've seen better. The A-Listed Transtec Senyo 610 is faster, smaller and just as green (although a little less media focused), so for a current price of less than £520 it sends the glossy, sleek, but ultimately disappointing Dell Studio Hybrid back to the drawing board.

Author: Sasha Muller