Dell Studio 15
Verdict
A solid, stylish and comfortable debut, but it's too expensive in this configuration
Review Date: 1 Aug 2008
Price when reviewed: (£929 inc VAT)
Overall Rating

But while we're impressed, we reckon Dell can do better. We know the Studio range starts at just £399, yet this review specification works out at a hefty £791 - nearly £930 once VAT is factored in.
This leaves us in a predicament, as the lighter, more robust and polished XPS M1530 can be specified very similarly for hardly any additional cost. With the same processor and Blu-ray drive, 1GB more RAM, 250GB of storage and an equivalent GeForce graphics chip, an XPS M1530 will cost you just £867 plus VAT - well worth considering.
The Studio is undoubtedly an improvement on the Inspiron design, though. Luxury paint jobs and Blu-ray drives aside, it's solid, comfortable and pleasing on both the eye and the fingertips, so its strength will most likely lie at the lower end of the price scale. But again, there's a little too much overlap for our liking. The Inspiron range is here to stay, but at prices very similar to the Studio, so in a sense Dell's merely offering you a choice of chassis once you've picked your components.
This may be confusing but it does add choice for consumers, and from what we've seen we'd opt for the Studio over the Inspiron in most cases. So if you're after an affordable yet well-equipped laptop - or you just fancy a bright orange lid - a mid- to low-end Studio 15 should fit the bill. And, if you're really quick off the mark, Dell are offering this specification for just £680 - a hefty saving of £111 over the normal ex VAT price. Just quote the E-Value code NPUK5-NR53502.
Author: Matthew Sparkes
advertisement
- HP censured over faulty laptops
- Palm "deeply disappointed" by financial results
- Windows 7 SP1 to deliver "minor tweaks"
- Facebook draws line under Beacon debacle
- Windows 7 XP Mode now runs on all processors
- Browser ballot "boosts Opera downloads by 85%"
- Lords: UK internet would survive cyberwar
- Kindle for Mac finally makes an appearance
- Watchdog tears into Google's privacy record
- HTC: We'll see off Apple lawsuit
- How to change the default template in Word 2007
- Book review: Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
- Panorama parents deserve their file-sharing fine
- Google and BT offer free website service to British businesses
- Lords' last chance to protect broadband customers
- Extreme handwriting recognition on the Dell Latitude XT2
- 12 surprising things that Wolfram Alpha knows
- Nokia N900: phone or pocket computer?
- The sinister side of Spotify
- My brain can type!
- On test: the hidden seven browsers in the Windows ballot
- The dark side of the web
- Is the CPU dead?
- Five GPS games to play with your smartphone
- The Complete Guide to Office 2010
- The complete guide to Office 2010: OneNote
- The complete guide to Office 2010: Business
- The complete guide to Office 2010: Web Apps
- The complete guide to Office 2010: Word
- The Complete Guide to Office 2010: PowerPoint
- Delving into the Norton 2010 line-up
- Banish your Wi-Fi woes
- How to commit Facebook suicide
- Which smartphone keyboard is the best?
- We can beat the botnets
- Paying for code doesn’t mean owning it
- Cracking the iSCSI conundrum
- The perfect open-source task scheduler
- Exploring Microsoft Office 2010 beta
- How to stop tech ruining your home life
advertisement





Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk