Dell rolls out updated Studio 15 laptop
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 21st 2009 11:35AM
posted April 21st 2009 11:35AM
Dell sort of spoiled the surprise by dishing out some of the details about its updated Studio 15 laptop on its support site a full two months ago (not to mention that little business in Singapore), but the company has now finally gotten fully official with the laptop, and made it available in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. The big news with this update is a new and improved 15.6-inch LED-backlit display, which packs a native 1366 x 768 resolution, and gets paired with some upgraded ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 graphics (available with 256MB or 512MB of on-board memory). Otherwise, you can expect the usual range of Core 2 Duo processors, a built-in 2 megapixel webcam, HDMI out, an optional Blu-ray drive, an optional backlit keyboard, and your choice of six colors, including the snazzy Black Chainlink design pictured above. This being the Studio series, you can also expect prices to remain at a reasonable $649 for the base model, with things moving up considerably from there if you opt for some of those aforementioned options.
seczy
Please tell me you aren't serious
Putting sarcasm tags on it makes you think though.
where's signapore?
hehe I didn't realise that typo until you pointed it out.
Aw they changed it. Now I look silly.
looks good -- good price
Garbage
Reviews are excellent; you comment is garbage.
Reviews might be excellent, but I'm also guessing people buying this thing don't have experience with more expensive computers, nor do they care.
Singapore use spell check PLOX.... lol
Did they center the mouse pad?
I think not, since they show back of a laptop!
if you're serious about keyboarding, you'd want the mousepad centered over that area you actually compose memos, letters, articles, etc. If you're not ... well ... keep the comments coming.
Laugh at you. You think they're forever gonna hide the front of the laptop to buyers just because people like you insist on the touchpad being "centered".
Now for the Studio XPS 16 to get a ATI 4000-series card as well.
It's cheaper, lighter, and more powerful than the studio xps
1366 x 768 resolution?!
Really? Wow, I thought we were past that resolution in the 15" realm.
Ever see this resolution on a 15 inch screen? It's actually pretty high per square inch. Things get too small real quick when you go higher on 15 inches.
That's only true if you are ether 60+ years old or legally blind. 1680x1050 is IMO the best resolution for 15 inchers but I wouldnt say no to 1920x1200
768 is not enough these days. Having trumped through the delights of London's Tottenham Court Road a couple of weekends ago looking for a laptop with my sister I can say that the only model that impressed me was a 15" Samsumg (R560, I think) with a 1680 x 1050 display. It was just a shame that Samsung seemed to have messed up by making the screen smaller than the body of the laptop.
For your info, they do have an option to get a 1080p resolution display ..but I agree it should have been standard.
AVG, may I ask if you have ever heard of the concept of scaling? Font scaling? Image scaling? If you can't find you glasses use bigger fonts or the zoom feature most browsers have.
Things are only too small at high resolutions if you don't know how to use your computer. Laser printers are at 1200 dots per inch, do you find it hard to read laser printouts?
That resolution seems fine to me. I don't know why everyone is always complaining about wanting higher resolution laptop displays. I would rather occasionally have to scroll around a little than have graphics files blown up and looking soft and fuzzy so that they don't appear as thumbnails. Plus, if you are into gaming, you want a reasonable native resolution.
"AVG, may I ask if you have ever heard of the concept of scaling?"
May I ask, have you ever actually USED it? DPI scaling in every modern OS looks like absolute shit.
AVG: "Ever see this resolution on a 15 inch screen? It's actually pretty high per square inch. Things get too small real quick when you go higher on 15 inches."
Yes...? Most laptops have a 1280x800 screen, some 15.4"ers even have 1650x1050.
In any case 768 is too small.
Well, luckily Dell gives OPTIONS on the screen resolution. So... I guess we all win.
I think AVG and I were coming from the same place. When I ordered laptops at my last job, unless the user specified, I would usually get the lowest resolution screen possible, because otherwise they would end up running it at less than native rez so they could see everything clearly. Only graphic designers who absolutely had to have the most on screen at the same time, regardless of apparent size, needed higher resolution displays.
I'm so gonna get this, but i'll wait for the Windows 7 preloaded version. This baby together with the ultimate Nokia N97 will satisfy all my tech needs until am through with college.
Whats the build quality like on these things? I like the Studio's, but I'm worried they'll like an Inspiron and last a year before crapping out.
I have two studio 15's from when they first came out, and other then some wear marks they are 100% fine (by that I mean some not so nice run in's with desk edges, etc.)
Both run win7 beta's extremely well, one running a brand new corsair ssd which makes my desktop jelous.
well all the HP models were full of FAIL on the inside. I hope that this case transition isn't going to have the same effect on the model as it did with the HP ones. The hinges are even strikingly similar. I wanna see a 1080p option for this screen and it may be worth considering. But still are we left with IBM and Sony as the only manufacture of classy laptops. I would like to see matte or gloss black with aluminum accents, and not try and be vogue like adamo. For all you apple fanboys an apple isn't classy or elegant. It is supposed to be trendy and cool so by your manufactures definition you are being excluded
5.1 surround sound with a subwoofer? hmm, sounds too good to be true.
it DOES seem to say a 1080p resolution option, so im guessing 1900x1080 is there.
it looks like this is a good alternative to the Studio XPS 16 until that updates its options as well.
Hmm...wonder if they reduced the massive keyboard flex found in the Studio line?
"finally gotten fully official" The times must be bad. Engadget asked all employees to turn of grammar/usage check in their word processors to cut back on processing power. I mean really. Do you you kiss your mother with that mouth.
"Do you you kiss your mother with that mouth."
Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? I'm fine with calling people out on grammar, but doing so with grammatical mistakes of your own (even if they are ironic or sarcastic) is piss annoying. Take pride in your pretension, people, or don't even bother.
"is piss annoying."
What does that even mean?
(even if they are ironic or sarcastic)
By the way, it is funny how you saw the joke but the desire to post a critique clouded your judgment. Tisk tisk
For shame, Therevelation ! For shame!
Let me throw in an "Epic Fail" for good measure.
I don't understand why they longer 15.4 1440x900 LED backlit screen on the Studio 15. I've got one and they're excellent.
Yikes. Edit ^no longer offer the^
So this alleged "15.6-inch" laptop only packs 1366 x 768 resolution. I think this is a total rip-off. Sure the physical dimensions are 15 inches but even 13-inch laptops have WAY higher resolution than this (1280 x 800, native). No wonder this Dell sells for $649. And what's with the ancient VGA connector? It's 2009 for goodness' sakes. Time to at least start using DVI eh?
How much would it cost to bundle it with a 15.4 1440x900 LED backlit screen instead?
Its 50 bucks more for a 1440x900 screen, or 900p as they call it. It does have a HDMI port on it, which can be used with a DVI adapter if you need it. Having both is handy if you want to plug it into an older monitor or projector.
You do realize that 1280x800 is not "WAY higher resolution" than 1366x768. In fact, 1280x800 is 25,088 fewer pixels.
@Drew: now, don't confuse the iDiot. Math is hard. So is the concept of configurable laptops. I won't even bring up the "bag-o-hurt."
@ crescentdavid
Only imbeciles like you would be content with buying garbage like this crippled "15-inch" laptop and still think you're an actual 15-inch laptop and getting a good deal.
1999 wants its thickness back.
I feel that this is one reason why the laptop is relatively cheap. If you aren't bothered by the size of the laptop then I guess getting a thicker one is a way of getting a higher specification for a lower price. Personally, that does bother me but I'm not going to speak for everyone.
the ATI HD4570 is enough to play crysis at medium settings... really nice to see it in a laptop under 1000$. Also the build quality is very nice! We have those laptop since a while here in japan.
I dont know why engadget is so behind the times, but the "new" studio 15 has been available for purchase in australia for about 2.5 months now...
Looks like they took out the capacitive touch buttons from the original studio 15... too many people had problems with that.
MSI GT627-218US vs. Dell Studio 15
-----------------------------------------------------
I tried to configure the Dell to resemble the MSI as much as possible.
Dell Config:
-----------------
SYSTEM COLOR Midnight Blue
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft Works
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 2Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
HD DISPLAY 15.6” Full High Definition (1080p) High Brightness LED Display with TrueLife™ and Camera
MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
HARD DRIVE Speed: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) with Free Fall Sensor
VIDEO CARD 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE 6X Slot Load Bluray (BD) Combo Drive (BD Read Only)
WIRELESS CARDS Intel® WiFi Link 5100 802.11agn Half Mini-Card
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Internal (2.1)
BATTERY OPTIONS 85 WHr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.2
KEYBOARD Back-lit Keyboard
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-Months
BAGS Swissgear Austin 15.6" Backpack Jet Black
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Price: $1469 -- AFTER a $254 instant rebate, NO coupons applied
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------
MSI GT627-218US config:
--------------------------------------
Model GT627-218US
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4G
Screen 15.4" WSXGA+
Memory Size 4GB DDR2 (800)
Hard Disk 320GB (7200RPM SATA)
Optical Drive BD Combo
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS
Video Memory 1GB DDR3 VRAM
Communication Modem, Gigabit LAN and WLAN
Card slot 1 x Express Card
Dimensions 14.09" x 10.24" x 1.06-1.22"
Weight 5.9 lbs.
Gaming backpack
CPU FSB 1066MHz
CPU L2 Cache 3MB
LAN 10/100/1000Mbps
WLAN 802.11a/g/n Wireless LAN
Bluetooth Yes
Card Slot 1 x Express Card
USB 2
IEEE 1394 1
1 x VGA, 1 x HDMI
1 x ESATA/USB Combo
Mic-in x 1, Line-in x 1, Line-out x 1, Headphone x 1
Audio HD Audio quality, Dolby Digital Live
Internal Speakers
Touchpad
Keyboard Standard
Card Reader 4-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro)
Webcam 2.0MP
AC Adapter 90-watt AC adapter
Battery 9-cell lithium ion
Physical spec
---------------------------------
Price: $1299 Shipped.
---------------------------------
I by far prefer the first Studio 15.