Dell Studio 15 Review

[mukul]

I have reviewed Dell studio 15

SPecs

Base config in india with following modifications...
1.ATI Card 3450 256 MB dedicated Memory - dont know if its DDR3!! anyone?
2.Backlit Keyboard and it rocks
3.One year complete cover

Some things that were shipped with it include: - Bluetooth headset, Creative noise Isolation earbuds, A Remote, A USB modem(I actually didnt payed for modem but it only costs Rs. 522)

weight - 2.85 KG on my home weighing scale..

How much i paid - Rs. 50K - including evrything ,shipping too
And if u include the backpack too ..then add 1.1k (didnt bought from dell)

Now here goes the review

The color i got(Ruby Red) was litter harsher than shown in pics at the site.... a bit dark ... but i still like it .. Color annd finish are of very good quality and it dont seemed to be scratched easily...(i havnt tried yet too ) It is as wider as a common 15.4' laptop is ... but a bit thicker... Its a bit inclined(not much though) but surely adding to ergnomics of working at keyboard...

There has been a HP like finish on palmrest that flaunts a design on graphite grey background.

Some good ports are being bundled and this amazes me ... a gigabit port and HDMI port ... 4 USb port...if i count in e-sata port too.I dont know why i got an e-sata port on my 1535 but it rocks... though i still have to confirm this.

Got excellent Noise isolation earbuds of creative,,, they cost 1.5k in market ... and they rock ... awesome quality and comfortable too...

A Black colored remote with good connection via infrared. Keys were very responsive ... Also got a bluetooth headset shipped free with the system .... it was well nicely audible and comfortable in range of around 9-10 metres.It got buttons for changing tracks or changing volumes with the system... its configurable with skype and any other call related application...

System is noise less... only sound i can hear is when i eject a dvd from my slot drive ... 2 days back for once i heard a very faint sound of fan .. but only for some time...In all its noiseless

Battery- 6 cell battery
charger - 90Watt
I was able to watch Seven samurai(Japanese) without recharging... with earbuds... at almost 70% brightness..its a 3 Hr movie... but cut down the intro part ...so mine worked around 3hr(after movie finished - it showed 7 min remaining) in total after being fully charged,,,

ergnomics of keyboard is very good... good responsive keys as i type down this review... i am actually enjoying it ... Also keyboard boosts a backlit feature (can be accesed using fn + right arrow) .Backlit features two brightness mode and auto off incase you dont response to your keyboard for some time..

Sound of system is little lower for me ... given the case i am addicted to hearing loud music...but quality is fine ... Fear of the Dark- Iron maiden was quite audible and sounds were distinguishable of different riffs and guitar tones... so i would not say itss bad... rather its better than some other laptops i have worked on earlier in terms of quality. System also has an inbuilt mic.

Touchpad is little troublesome for me ...as i am used to mice ... But i soon got adapted to it... My mom though found it hard to use.. . Its not very responsive in the end. One feature i would have wanted for every touchpad is the Turn On/off button for touchpad... as earlier i have worked on many laptops and while typing my right thumb would touch the touchpad... and my cursor would go to current position of mouse.. Though Studio laacks it... but i didnt found any such problem with this laptop..as the touchpad is little toward the left side rather than at being middle.

There are some touch sensitive buttons on the upper part of keyboard..they are extremely responsive...so once i needed to clean them resulted in all functions being processed all at once...They are good otherwise.. and tthey show White backlight when touched...impressive indeed...But it catches dust pretty quickly ... same is true for the speakers...just above the touch penal

Bluetooth and WIFI were working in awesome conditions...in vista i had some problems working with them in ubuntu although actually starting them ... but once they were done ... everything went on smoothly...

I have Removed the installation done by Dell. Instead I have freshly installed the Vista. I didnt have any problem with installation of any drivers or any thing else. Dell provides a lot of bloatware on company installed systems. I also created some partitions. 50 GB - 80 GB - 80GB (all NTFS) -20GB(FAT32)

It takes around 35 sec to start in windows vista and 45 odd sec to boot in ubuntu from os option to start screen...

Soon I installed Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron on My laptop.The installation went on smoothly. At once .. it worked very well .. though i had to install ATI drivers from internet and some more drivers too.At first it took some problem with detecting my WIFI .. but later i was able to resolve it.

SO far its been awesome for me... little heated after being run for 8 Hrs continously.

Screen is tiltable to around 150 degrees... and still manages the view... Screen is pretty bright too.

It was shipped with Media Direct 4.0 and special Key for it too on touch sensitive penal... I am not impressed by the software though ... but i figured out ..i can use the touch key for something new.. still trying it though

Graphics
Windows rating shows a 4.0 on account of graphics..

Counter strike 1.6 - I got Fps 100 constant ..
NFS most wanted - runned flawless on high details...
Half life 2 today!!

NO problem at all working in matlab and ProE/Solidworks.. these need high power and graphic memory

NO BACKPACK OR LAPTOP BAG ships with it ...
My friend got a 20pc off in Japan ...so if u can ..get it from US or Japan ... In india i dont think dell wants to give any discounts.. Also discount coupons for Dell dont work in india... i would recommend from US ...

In all i am impressed ... except for some audio glitches which eventually got resolved after i reinstalled my drivers..I had some problem with the 2 audio jacks being provided... When i plugged earphone into one of it(nearer to HDMI port) ... and removed it ... the sound didnt shoot back from speaker ... untill i did the same for another jack .. and this happens everytime...I am yet to contact dell customer care...

Ergnomics - 8/10 - Heavy !! i wanted a lighter one ... may be 2.25KG, extra sensitive touch penal...
Features - 9/10 - I want a better graphic card ... Say ATI 3650 atleast... but CS still rocks on it
Value for money - 9/10 - No bagpack, need to ship some freebies..atleast to lure us

I was pretty much split in Xps and Sony vaio once... but when studio was launched ..i knew immediately it was the one!!! ... though its sad about dell that i had to wait 7 days before i can actually lay my hand on my
possession even after paying for it...

Another bad thing about dell is that they didnt gave me any numbers or site to contact incase my system is not responding well .. If Dell ppl are reading ... do something... atleast post your number here...for india

Also The complete cover guide i got .... did not mention Studio laptops(at all) being covered ... It was of make June and said only ab2 inspiron and other series... i guess at the time of its printing... studio was not even launched...guess .. they need to print a new one ...b4 they need to ship it ...

I dont think ... knowing a pc mark score or else matters (..atleast for me...)
Hope this helps for potential buyers....!!!!

I was a bit disappointed that i didnt wait for montevina ... but it was call of situation ... i gravely needed a laptop...i only know how long i waited for my laptop(7 days is too much ...dell ppl are u listening?)..but finally i am happy ... with a decent budget (1200 $ is not small)i was able to cash in on a pretty and feature rich desktop!!!

Pictures soon sorry for the typos
alternatively:

http://mukuliitr.blogspot.com/2008/0...15-review.html

[desiibond]

Dude. Where are the pictures??? The formatting is really really bad. It's totally unreadable. Please correct these.

[Pathik]

Copy paste some excerpt here. Dont just give a direct link.

[azaad_shri75]

post complete detailed specs, did they give installation dvd of vista? and where did you purchase either from india or usa?

[naveen_reloaded]

Post a few lines here or half of the article and link it to your blog...

This type of post in not allowed here...

Review it here...

I think even i can give reviews of Dell studio from various sites... I dont thats the purpose of this category...

[mukul]

@desibond
pictures soon !!! sorry for messy layout... it was just a casual review ...that went off limit

@naveen @pathik
Posted here too ... I knew ppl would start screaming

@azad_shri
complete Specs :
Intel Core2Duo 5850 2.16 GHz ,
3 GB RAM 667 MHZ DDR2,
1280x1024 screeen ,
backlit keyboard ,
Broadcom BCM4310 USB controller for Wifi, Bluetooth ,
3 usb ,1 esata , HDMI, 2 audio Jacks, One mic slot ,
Webcam 2MP, Inbuilt Mic
ATI Radeon 3450 graphic Card - 256 MB dedicated (DDR2 memory I think)

And yes i got Windows Vista DVD and All drivers and utilities DVD too

Purchasing was Done from india

[azaad_shri75]

[
@azad_shri
complete Specs :
Intel Core2Duo 5850 2.16 GHz ,
3 GB RAM 667 MHZ DDR2,
1280x1024 screeen ,
backlit keyboard ,
Broadcom BCM4310 USB controller for Wifi, Bluetooth ,
3 usb ,1 esata , HDMI, 2 audio Jacks, One mic slot ,
Webcam 2MP, Inbuilt Mic
ATI Radeon 3450 graphic Card - 256 MB dedicated (DDR2 memory I think)

And yes i got Windows Vista DVD and All drivers and utilities DVD too

Purchasing was Done from india [/quote]

thanks mukul for answering, as I was thinking on same lappy,
and how is the graphics card's performance, and my main doubt was did they give you installation dvds, as previously only back discs were provided, now if they are providing installation discs then it is good, as we can format hdd according to our need

[MetalheadGautham]

Isn't there a 2GB RAM version available ? 3 will both consume more power and bring imbalence to the dual channel config.

why aren't they offering radeon 3550, 3650 or 3850 yet ?

And its amazing how the Studio remains so cheap... even with 8100 cpu

[dOm1naTOr]

@metalhead
it was T5850 and T8100...which comes by default.

@mukul
good review..
keep em coming
but u shud ve posted some benches too. most of us are confused if HD 3450 better than desktop 8400GS/8500GT?
some 3D marks wud be fine. and are u sure the resolution is 1280*1024? i think its widescreen and then it shud be 1280*800 or 1440*900. the one u said is not a widescreen resolution.

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by dOm1naTOr

@metalhead
it was T5850 and T8100...which comes by default.

@mukul
good review..
keep em coming
but u shud ve posted some benches too. most of us are confused if HD 3450 better than desktop 8400GS/8500GT?
some 3D marks wud be fine. and are u sure the resolution is 1280*1024? i think its widescreen and then it shud be 1280*800 or 1440*900. the one u said is not a widescreen resolution.

yes and T8100 is just a couple of grands and a half more than the default choice, and its worth it.

+1 for HD3450 vs 8400GS vs 8500GT, although I know the first one beats the crap out of the second one.

[mukul]

@evryone wanting to know more ab2 Graphic card
Ati HD 3450 is almost equal to 8400 GS
8600 GT is far better
but if u go to Ati HD3650 its comparable in performance with 8600GT(in studio 17)


@dominator
yeah correction : 1280 * 800 ..sorry for that

@metalheadgautam
no 2 gb variant is available ...
3650 is available with studio 17

actually they want their xps to sell so they are not giving higher end graphics in 15.4' segment

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by mukul

@metalheadgautam
no 2 gb variant is available ...
3650 is available with studio 17

actually they want their xps to sell so they are not giving higher end graphics in 15.4' segment

thats evil
a 3650 and 2gig ram and t8100 and 15" would seriously pwn competition.

[aekta.aggarwal]

hi Mukul

i also bought a new dell studio 15...i think u r quite happy with it...i was too..but i have been facing problem with the sound..when i start it works amd then it sops working abruptly.I have tried reisntalling the drivers a nd rebooted the amchine..but still no use.Also,i want to install linux,but wireless has probs .can u please help me

U can write to me here or at aekta.aggarwal@gmail.com.I will be waiting for ur reply

[techno_funky]

Hey! Was intrested in this lappy tell me, Does the lappy have a glossy finish on its lid or is it a matte finish. I've seen the graphite version in Croma here and it had a glossy finish, the graphite version not being in my intrest do the other solid colors ( I am so inclined towards blue) have a glossy finish.

[iMav]

I too have been considering this for some time, but since my desktop has died i am looking for a new laptop/desktop. This is an option. I don't think this 1 is a glossy though.

[techno_funky]

Damn!! I would have loved a Finger Print Magnet ...

[REY619]

Nice Review!! I ordered teh Studio 15 yesterday, Ruby Red too and kinda similar specs... Cant wait.....

[Vyasram]

I'm planning to buy this one. Do tell me whether the PS has enough power to support a better graphics card( mobility 3850).

[praveensundar]

My Config - Ruby Red Colour. P8700 Processor. Vista 64 Bit Home Premium. 3 Yr Complete Cover. 4 gb RAM. 500 GB HDD. 512 MB ATI 4570. Sound Blaster X-Fi Sofware. 9 cell battery. Backlit Keyboard.
Pros - Looks. Battery life. Creative ear phones.
Cons - Vista Sucks. No HDD indicator. No Finger print reader. NO REMOTE.

I got this laptop a week back. I was planning to buy in online but i had to call the customer care as i had some queries as to which warranty plan to choose. The very kind personnel lady who answered was willing to configure the laptop for me so that i can shop through the phone. Things went fine then. I wanted a laser mouse in the config and i was willing to pay for it. But the sweet service personnel told me they were giving a Bluetooth mouse FREE as a gift with my laptop. The total price camt to around 72,500. I tried ordering the system on thursday (9-4-09) but as my bank had some technical glitch it could not be done then. Then I confirmed whether I could make the payment a couple of days later and whether there would be a price change. The personnel assured me the price would not change and that i can make the payment later. So the payment was made on Saturday the same week(11-4-09). But I got a call from dell on monday that the transaction had not been realised. And after me making a dozen phone calls to dell and a going a couple of times to my bank personally and wasting my day, from dell they tell me they had some problem with their banking dept. It was finally realised on tuesday. Leave all that, I Finally got my laptop that week and was happy about it. But i found that the promised bluetooth mouse was not htere. I called the service personnel but she bluntly told me that the offer was expired because the transaction was made on a saturday. I was not notified of this when i made the transaction. I just think this freebie things are just a PROMOTIONAL GIMMICK. I feel so cheated as I was ready to pay for a laser mouse and the dell personnel promises a bluetooth mouse, for free, and fails to send it without even notifying me. I spoke with her manager regarding this but she gave the same blunt response.
So people DONT TRUST THE OFFERS these personnel give on the phone. Its all cheating business.