Dell Studio 14z hits the review bench, disc drive stays behind with few regrets

While ASUS is busy adding an optical drive to its Eee PC line, Dell is diving into the low-priced, optical-free, thin-and-light category with its new Studio 14z portable. The folks at Laptop Mag have taken the new laptop for a spin, and seem to like what they see. While its 4.4 pound weight isn't quite best in class, the 14z outperforms most of its brethren thanks to GeForce 9400M graphics and a "real" Core 2 Duo processor -- none of that weak sauce CULV stuff. The battery life isn't bad either, and for $750 it's easy on the wallet. You just have to ask yourself: can you live without instant access on-the-go to your limited edition set of Billy Joel hits on Compact Disc?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:16AM]

I want to know if this thing will run OSX. Most of what I have seen says yes. Any one care to comment?

[THISISDG Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:18AM]

it may but you're sure to have some problems, the mini 9 is currently the only notebook to run OSX with no problems.

[Dhruv Bhutani Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:18AM]

I'm pretty sure it will... hell this is like a MB Air without the aluminium :D lol !

[Hung Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:46AM]

This is "like a MB Air?" Surely you jest.

"GeForce 9400M graphics and a 'real' Core 2 Duo "

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 10:44AM]

Yes, it's like a Macbook Air.
GeForce 9400M and Intel SL9400 (yup, not that CULV stuff.)

[joshl Posted Jul 26th 2009 10:46AM]

@THISISDG

You should visit boingboing's list more often. (last updated 2 days ago)

The HP Mini 1000 and Eee 1000H also have no problems.

[icase81 Posted Jul 26th 2009 12:34PM]

The MSI Wind also runs it out of the box. They even released actual OS X wifi drivers on their site for it.

[THISISDG Posted Jul 26th 2009 2:29PM]

@JOSH: sry its just that i was looking at the Gizmodo list yesterday

[morissen3k8 Posted Jul 26th 2009 3:52PM]

guess there wasn't any testing on 14z for mac os compatibility because it's new... does engadget have their own mac os x netbook compatibility database???

[looselycoupled Posted Jul 26th 2009 7:08PM]

"weak sauce CULV" ? The CULV line is just ultra-low-voltage Core 2 chips. I'd much rather have single-core (5 watt) or dual-core (10W) 1.4Ghz ULV chip than a 35W 2+ Ghz Core 2 Duo in a cheap "ultra portable". The battery life should be far improved, not to mention the freaking heat a regular 35W Core 2 Duo can put out, particularly with a decent IGP/GPU like the 9400.

[Dhruv Bhutani Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:17AM]

not bad... lets see what sort of performance it actually delivers. Any deets on the proc. specifications ?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:23AM]

i have the laptop and it preforms extremely well. i got an external drive and i leave it at my desk..... best laptop i have had

[Darwin Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:30AM]

Laptop mag is a shill for their advertisers. Go look at one of these laptops at Best Buy. What a cheap piece of garbage. You can get a Thinkpad T400 for less with an optical drive.

[aigarius Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:34AM]

Optical drives are heavy and mostly useless nowadays. And could you actually point where one can buy a new T400 for $750 with an NVidia video card?

[Leo Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:57AM]

You obviously don't know what you are talking about. StinkPads should be compared to business laptops, not consumer laptops.

[Harrison Posted Jul 26th 2009 2:39PM]

@ Aigarius

I think Terry's referring to the contractor discount. It's not exactly a secret - it requires a password that's somewhere online. Sure it takes more work than an Apple discount, but this is much better. I picked up a T400 with integrated graphics, 3GB RAM, 6-cell battery, and Vista Premium for $687, compared to $749+ for the student discount.

[Boyprodigy1 Posted Jul 26th 2009 6:56PM]

@ harrison
epic fail... integrated graphics and ddr2. try again. this thing is using a 9400m and ddr3.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:36AM]

This model is nice, but I'm more excited about the Asus U80V. It got a 14" display, 4GB RAM, T6500 @ 2.1 GHz, ATI HD 4570, 2kg weight and supposedly 8 hours battery life. I would love if Engadget made a review on it.

[iofthestorm Posted Jul 26th 2009 10:56AM]

Price?

[rxil Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:34AM]

i think they need to fix the read link :(

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:36AM]

The read link is busted.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:36AM]

Proper url, for our benevolent but hypertext-deficient overlords:

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-studio-14z/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-studio-14z&s=dhs&cs=19&ref=lthp

[htd Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:46AM]

base model starts at $640, who listens to CD in a laptop drive any way?

[Poop Chef Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:09AM]

Probably not many people listen to audio cds, but plenty use an optical drive to install software...

[chispito Posted Jul 26th 2009 12:40PM]

Most people would need some kind of external drive, or a way of getting CD/DVD isos onto this. Not all software can be downloaded from the internet.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 2:05PM]

@chispito

"Not all software can be downloaded from the internet."

Virtually all modern software is available on the internet, legally or otherwise. As long as user has a valid license downloading software using torrent is fair play in my eyes.

[chispito Posted Jul 26th 2009 5:50PM]

You're right, you could get by that way--but who would want to have to muck around on torrent sites all the time?

[Hung Posted Jul 26th 2009 9:51AM]

I don't follow Studios too much, but do all Dell's have a backlighting keyboard option? This is news to me, and I'd very much like to see this on other laptops.

[Leo Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:50AM]

Yes, all Studio models have optional backlit keyboard.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 10:09AM]

Mini 9 is back on sale until 7/27 only, low as $199 with $40 coupon. Most desirable config (16 GB HDD and 1.3 webcam) about $284...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 10:59AM]

I ordered a Dell XPS Studio 13 on the 17/07/09 and I was told it would take 10 days and now they have changed it to the 20/08.09. Over a F**KING month. Dell is a terrible company.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:24AM]

I ordered the Dell 14z over a month ago and they have delayed the shipment date twice... I still have no laptop. This thing better be good.

[Jimbo Posted Jul 26th 2009 12:01PM]

I ordered a Studio XPS desktop on 7/2 and was told it wouldn't ship until this week. Seven days later, FedEx rolled up in my driveway with my new computer. I think Dell's shipping prediction system is as bad as their inventory control system.

[High Posted Jul 26th 2009 1:38PM]

You are not alone, back in January I ordered a Studio XPS and over a month and a half later when it still hadn't shipped I canceled my order because the XPS 435 came out in the mean time making the one I ordered look like crap. Thanks Dell, always on time.

[Crsh Posted Jul 26th 2009 10:58AM]

Is the RAM slot configuration kinda weird? It seems to be either 3 or 5 GB, implying there's 1 GB soldered and a single serviceable slot in there (hence why upgrading to 5 GB is so frickin' expensive on Dell's site, it must be a single 4 GB SODIMM).

[aubreyq Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:21AM]

4.4 pounds WITHOUT an optical drive? Jeez!!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:32AM]

Silly question but how is the user expected to restore the OS on this computer should something bad happen? I'm keen to see the death of the optical drive but I assume that some consideration has been taken for the lack of one for this computer and I don't know what it is, if any. For example, is there restoration software on a USB memory stick? Or are you expected to buy an external optical drive, much like the MacBook Air unless you have a 2nd computer to attempt a wireless connection with?

Frankly, I'm waiting to see the likes of Windows and OS X delivered either via a network installation or memory card.

[Inect Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:51AM]

The system comes with a restore partion as well as the dvd restore disks.

[Leo Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:53AM]

Yes, you are supposed to install the OS or software through either a flash drive or optical drive, connected to USB (which is not bad IMHO).

[rchives Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:53AM]

Windows has had network install since Windows 2000. Maybe before that.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:59AM]

@turtlesoup

True, but does this also include the Internet, since I expect this sort of computer is going to be popular with home users?

@Inect & Leo

So, if you copied the contents of the restoration partition onto a suitably sized USB memory stick then you could boot and reinstall from that? If so then I guess that is OK. Having the data on a separate partition is OK but I'd want to see it on something else just in case the hard drive itself fails.

[Leo Posted Jul 26th 2009 12:45PM]

@Kelmon

If you are going to use a USB stick, then first make it bootable. After that, yes, just copy the files from let's say Windows 7 installation disc to that USB stick, reboot the laptop, insert the USB stick before it starts loading, hit F12 and it will display a boot menu and one of the boot devices will be your USB stick. Select it and there you go!

[alexz Posted Jul 26th 2009 4:33PM]

Kelmon, you can boot Gparted from a USB stick, and make a disk image, saving it to another usb hard drive.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 2:02AM]

I wonder whether Dell provides any instructions on how to do this with the computer. If the optical drive is going to be removed then I definitely want to see the restoration software provided on a separate device to the main hard drive, just in case...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:35AM]

Looks nice. I would like an optical drive in it, but with those specs for that price, I wouldn't mind too much using a USB drive for the few times I need an optical drive.

Because honestly, I have an executable on my thumb drive for MS Office, I use Steam for the majority of my gaming. The only annoying thing about this would be when I want to replace the HDD and reinstall the OS. But I understand that Win7 may be installable by USB drive, which could help that.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:56AM]

An optical drive is still lighter then a 2nd harddrive. And unlike a harddrive you can actually completely turn it off saving laptop battery life. You cannot turn off a harddrive.

I used my optical drive to install windows 7 and rip a movie from dvd once in a while. But other then that an optical drive is pretty useless nowadays. If the optical drive is a blue ray then it might be more useful

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 26th 2009 12:16PM]

I have this laptop and its absolutely amazing. I did upgrades that made it iht the $1000 mark including the high definition screen, the 8 cell battery, the 2.4ghz core 2 duo processor, backlit keyboard, bluetooth 2.1, and a 500 gb hard drive. Along with this I got some security software and a free upgrade to win7. This laptop is immaculate and a very good bang for your buck

[Hydra Posted Jul 26th 2009 11:59AM]

Nice finally on the right track, now if it were $100 cheaper, i would buy it

[MrErv Posted Jul 26th 2009 12:04PM]

duct tape an external drive onto the lid

[Demo22 Posted Jul 26th 2009 12:04PM]

Billy Joel rules.