Dell Studio One 19 unboxing, hands-on, and impressions

We thought it'd be a good idea to get all touchy-feely with Dell's latest -- and its most family friendly -- all-in-one, the Studio One 19, and while there are things we like, there are certainly a bunch of things that we wish they had done differently. Although it's already gotten some lukewarm reviews, we decided to put it through its paces and check it out for ourselves. Click on after the break for more of our impressions and what we really thought about this interesting machine.

Dell Studio One 19 unboxing

Design and Feel

The first thing we noticed about the Studio One 19 was its weight: clocking in at over 22-pounds, this isn't something you'll wanna be moving often. The handle on the box actually broke as we were moving it to conduct this review, if that's any indication. However, once you get it out of the box and onto your workspace, this AIO doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. We have to give Dell some credit for for continuing to refining the aesthetics of its product lines, because for all intents and purposes the Studio One 19 is a really nice looking PC.

It's got a fairly slim body (just over 3-inches at its greatest depth), with a nice curved back that further marks a move away from boxiness. In fact, there isn't a sharp corner to be found anywhere on the actual PC itself, but rather rounded edges and curves almost everywhere. The stand seems very solid, and we even took notice of the absence of the usual deluge of labels and stickers from the front of the machine -- except for the Windows Vista and Intel Core 2 Duo ones, everything's located on the bottom of the stand.

The 18.5-inch WXSGA screen is also spacious and bright, if not excessively glossy. If you're not a fan of glossy screens on Apple's latest generation of computers, the Studio One won't make you a believer. When on, the glare isn't terrible, but there is certainly more than there would be if was matte. The cloth accents around the bezel are also prominent in the design, and they're either nice to look at or horribly ugly depending on your preferences. The charcoal model we tested wasn't that bad, but we definitely wouldn't want a pink or blue model staring back at us all day.

Software and Functionality

At its heart, the Studio One is a Vista PC. You know what you're in for when purchasing, and all of Vista's quirks are still there on the 19. Dell has put a lot of energy into making the most of its multitouch screen -- which doesn't come standard on the base models, we might add. There's a hefty amount of custom software that capitalizes on this headline feature, and it seems that Dell has done a fairly good job at it.

Everything starts with Dell's "Touch Zone" launcher, which uses a carousel-esque launcher to place its custom touch-enabled apps (literally) at your fingertips. There's a drum simulator -- which is bound to keep you occupied for a whole three minutes, a slew of basic games like Mahjong and Spider Solitaire, and touch-optimized music and photo apps that add to the entertainment factor of this particular all-in-one. They certainly got the job done in terms of media functionality, but we didn't dig that deep into extended functionality.

We did really like Dell's "YouPaint" app and its "TouchCam" app. The former is a fairly detailed art app that would really appeal to the younger set. It's essentially a digital coloring book, complete with templates, different mediums, and the touch sensitivity. It's got a lot of eye candy and cheesy sound effects, but it was certainly fun and entertaining. There's also a quick notes app that lets you easily jot down short reminders (or practice doodling) and organize them visually in a tabletop-like setting. The TouchCam app is essentially PhotoBooth on steroids, complete with distortion filters and video / still image capture. It goes further, however, offering dynamic frames, various different emotions and visual effects, and also integrated YouTube posting. We can't guarantee that you won't make a fool out of yourself, but you can certainly have fun trying. We have to say though, some of the included avatars are pretty creepy -- we're looking at you, winking sock puppet.

Dell has tried to make the Vista experience more finger-friendly, but unfortunately it's held back by the limitations of the OS. Familiar tablet PC features like handwriting recognition are implemented, but past that, Dell has basically added some multitouch gesture support to an OS that isn't meant for touch -- two finger scrolling and pinch-zooming are the headliners in this department. The preinstalled drivers were able to get the job done, but we needed to do a little tweaking of our own to make it worthwhile to ditch the mouse. Out of the box, there isn't really enough inertia, and you have to press fairly hard to start a flicking motion. The pinching worked a bit better, but its behavior still varies from app to app. We're pretty sure that the screen is running at less-than-maximum resolution to make UI elements a bit easier to select, but we're not sure that's a viable solution in the long run. Hopefully, with the arrival of Windows 7 and its basic multitouch features, the necessity of these "tweaks" will be negated.

Dell Studio One 19 software

Performance

For the purpose of this set of impressions, we didn't run a comprehensive set of benchmarks, but we can safely say that this machine is perfectly adequate for moderate home use. Our particular test model was rocking an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU running at 3GHz with four gigs of RAM. The NVIDIA GeForce 9200 graphics chip handled HD video fairly well, and it was an enjoyable experience to watch a streaming finale of LOST. It scored a 4.3 on Vista's obscure rating scale, and bootup times seem to be plenty fast. Of course, over time as the number of apps installed and startup processes grows, it's bound to slow down or at least take somewhat of a drop in performance.

Wrap-up

Overall, we're pretty impressed with the Studio One 19. Its touchscreen and multitouch capabilities open up many possibilities, which still need a bit of time to incubate and permeate other mainstream apps. We hope this will change in time, however, as more and more PCs start to incorporate touch features. Dell's included apps and tweaks make the all-in-one enjoyable and fun to use, and we have no doubt that it will be very appealing to kids and adults alike -- especially for the price.

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 4:45PM]

All in one PCs don't do it for me. Plus this is too small.

[Hydraulics Posted May 21st 2009 4:45PM]

The back looks nicer than the front.

[pina Posted May 21st 2009 4:49PM]

That's what he said.

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 4:51PM]

So does your mom's.

[mullingitover Posted May 21st 2009 4:54PM]

It's nice, but is there an option to make the bezel even more gigantic?

[Cole Posted May 21st 2009 5:00PM]

I'll take one.


..what this isn't the giveaway page? darn!

[spamfree Posted May 21st 2009 5:03PM]

The other day I priced one of these (non-touch screen base model) on Dell's site just for fun. It came out to within $100 of the base 20" iMac. I tried to match features/components as closely as I could. The upside for the Dell is the 2.93Ghz C2D, cheese cloth and card reader. The iMac's CPU is only 2.66. But the iMac has a larger, higher-res screen, gigabit ethernet, firewire, bluetooth, digital/optical audio and video out. So I'm not so sure the Dell is a better deal. But if you MUST use Windows and an AIO I suppose it isn't so bad. I couldn't find any info on Dell's site regarding wall-mounting though. And the pics don't show any obvious VESA mounting points. I imagine it would be like the iMac where you have to install a mounting plate that replaces the leg? So very original and cumbersome (on the iMacs too).

I'm still not sold on a touch screen desktop. It can really tire out your arms in a hurry. Not to mention killing your eyes since you'd have to sit much closer to it than you would a non-touch model.

[Templarian Posted May 21st 2009 6:44PM]

You sit further away from your screen than arms length (I think you might be farsighted). But yea, almost all Dells have some sort of coupon that removes a large portion of the cost. Don't forget to factor that in.

I had to order a 24" XPS One for someone a while back and it was like 25% off after a coupon.

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 5:30PM]

Not as elegant and sophisticated as the iMac. Too bad this thing can only run the Windows OS, because it is definitely subpar than Apple's OSX. I mean look at it, it's plastic everywhere! The iMac uses aluminum and glass.

[Templarian Posted May 21st 2009 6:47PM]

If your going to compare it to the iMac at least compare it to something comparable. Like the XPS One. That system not only looks better than the iMac, it performs better at a cheaper price point.

(You can probably also install OSX if your heart desires, most of the parts are just high end gaming laptop parts).

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 5:32PM]

Seriously... am I the only one who thinks this looks like a gigantic iPhone on its side?

[archpope Posted May 21st 2009 5:34PM]

Is this finally the first computer monitor that can handle Steven Seagal's Letterbox 2000?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arfr280dNK8

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 5:49PM]

I hate apple
If this is priced $1 over $1200 price of iMac will fail

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 6:14PM]

I'd like to shoot the idiot who decided tablet pcs are better built VERTICAL.

Using my X200t, I know for a fact its just a pain to reach over a mouse and keyboard to use the touch features. It may be great for flicking through books or scrolling, but only at a comfortable position. There's nothing comfortable about keeping your arm raised touching a screen instead of using a mouse.

I don't like this direction, but I suppose they can't afford to be too radical.

Still, seems silly.

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 6:32PM]

Too bad it's not running Ubuntu.. :P

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 7:07PM]

ROFL @ the Giant iPhone comment.

The design is extremely lacking, considering Dell came out with its Adamo Series recently.

Pretty pathetic attempt, HP's look way better.

Oh well, never really cared much for all-in-one's anyways. I'm a PC builder to the bone.

[Onetrack Posted May 21st 2009 7:10PM]

fuck thats some ugly.

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 7:18PM]

Haaaaa shit. Why the hell it is 150$ more in Japan?! haaaaa I see... because the Imac is 300$ more here. Damn expensive competition.

[Maikeru28xx Posted May 21st 2009 8:05PM]

WOW! looks great, for entertainment; if it came with windows 7 it would off been much better

[DerekLand Posted May 21st 2009 10:40PM]

Man alive is that thang ugly.

Buy one today! Be up the creek with Windows Vista and crappy customer service tomorrow! Be SOL when the Dell second-rate components begin to fail!

[wrsu1996gmailcom Posted May 21st 2009 10:55PM]

looks cool and pretty decent but i think the procesor is a tad bit slow considering its running on vista, it still fast but i like faster

[Coach Ota Posted May 21st 2009 11:45PM]

The new One generally looks ok but I think cloth accents are a bad call by Dell. They're bound to be dust magnets. I'd rather wipe down my computer than pull out a vacuum cleaner.

[RUGRLN Posted May 22nd 2009 1:14AM]

Looks nice, but Vista looks to ugly for touch screens. W7, now we talking. Anyways, what's with all those apps in the sys tray!!

[pika2000 Posted May 22nd 2009 2:48AM]

This is really interesting, but the monitor is just too big (mainly the bezel). Wish it is smaller (trim the bezel, not the screen size), and it would be a great. Great idea though, and maybe we will see MS Surface implemented.

[(Unverified) Posted May 22nd 2009 3:22AM]

This looks really good, not as good as the xps one 24 though. it really needs to have a bigger screen though, 19'' just isn't big enough for me.

[bdav Posted May 22nd 2009 2:56PM]

Any idea why the ports are 2/3 of the way up the body? Thats going to look like a** once you have a few cables hanging out of there.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 31st 2009 5:04PM]

We just receiver two Studion One 19 computers last week.

Both are being returned this week..as the fan noise is unacceptable.

They did look pretty but the noise is terrible.