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Print E-mail del.icio.us 21 comment(s) - last by Suomynona.. on Jun 27 at 8:18 PM
Dell fleshes out its notebook family

Notebooks are becoming increasingly popular with computer shoppers -- in fact, notebook sales are expected to outpace desktops in total U.S. PC sales before the end of the decade. If we simply take into account the consumer PC market, the switch has already been made.

Dell is looking to boost its presence in the notebook market with new consumer offerings to further flesh out its line. The company took the first steps to branching out with its low-cost, Eee PC-esque "E" and "E Slim". Dell is now looking to fill the gap between its budget Inspiron and high-end XPS notebook families.

The new Dell Studio notebooks will be available in both 15.4" and 17" form factors and will come with a wide variety of color options for those that want to stand out in a crowd. Available colors include Jet Black, Tangerine Orange, Midnight Blue, Plum Purple, Spring Green, and Ruby Red, and Graphite Grey with Black, Red, Blue, or Pink accents.

The Studio 15 and Studio 17 notebooks come configured with a 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor, Intel 965GM/PM chipset, and your choice of either an integrated Intel X3100 graphics processor or a dedicated 256MB ATI  Mobility Radeon HD 3650 mobile GPU. Both notebooks offer display resolutions of either 1440x900 or 1920x1200.

Each notebook comes standard with an 8X Slot-load CD/DVD Writer, but a 6X Slot-load Blu-ray/CD/DVD combo drive is available as an optional upgrade. Wireless options are plentiful and include Dell 802.11b/g or 802.11n adapters along with Verizon Wireless or Sprint Mobile Broadband WWAN adapters.

Both notebooks come with at least four USB 2.0 ports, a 54mm ExpressCard slot, Consumer IR, Firewire, and HDMI output.

The Dell Studio 15 and Studio 17 notebooks will be available from Dell.com and Dell's retail partners later this week starting at $799 and $999 respectively. For a review of the new Studio 15, you can check out PC Magazine, while Notebook Review has posted its thoughts on the Studio 17.

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Good
By pauldovi on 6/26/2008 9:50:53 AM , Rating: 2
My concern with Dells (and why I have never purchased one) is because they always have horrible resolutions. These have decent resolution it seems.




RE: Good
By afkrotch on 6/26/2008 9:59:15 AM , Rating: 5
Crap resolutions on notebooks wasn't limited to just Dell. It was limited to everyone else as they all are using the same manufacturers of their LCDs.


RE: Good
By StevoLincolnite on 6/26/2008 10:55:30 AM , Rating: 2
I can vouch for that, I have an Acer Aspire 1680 with a 15.4" Widescreen LCD Display which was made in 2004, the Monitor is dull, hard to read in-side on the kitchen table near a window in during the day.

Heck, it takes awhile for my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the screen (Yes it's on full), I'm not sure if it's the monitor that has gotten darker over time, or my eyes have gotten worst, but Laptop monitors have seriously improved 100 fold since those days.

Thanks to a 1600 Dollar Government Grant from the Australian Government, I'll be getting myself a new machine, I was actually looking at a machine with the Radeon 3650, which would offer a crap-load of extra performance over this old Mobility 9700pro card, and these laptops actually fit my bill, now it's a pity there are no local retailers that carry Dell Laptops here, so I will probably get a Toshiba or another Acer.


RE: Good
By Arribajuan on 6/26/2008 10:23:59 AM , Rating: 5
Most manufacturers offer 1280 x 800 and that is it.

I have found that Dell is one of the only companes that offer a choice starting in 1280 x 800 or 1440 x 900 or 1920 x 1080 in some models.


RE: Good
By Indianapolis on 6/26/2008 10:27:31 AM , Rating: 4
I don't know why you would single out Dell as having "horrible resolutions". My last two dell Inspirons have had WUXGA displays (1920x1200), and my old Inspiron 8100 had 1600x1200. Of course, the high-rez displays carry a price premium, but they've always been available.

Now if you're talking about the notebooks carried in retail chain stores, then yeah, most of them are saddled with low resolution displays and integrated graphics. But most of the consumers of value notebooks don't really know the difference, or may actually prefer low resolution.

I can't tell you how many times at work I find a computer with the LCD resolution turned down, causing everything to look soft and/or distorted due to scaling. If I turn it back to the native resolution then somebody always comes along later and bumps it back down. I guess some people just don't like how small everything is on a high-rez display.


RE: Good
By xphile on 6/26/2008 8:20:00 PM , Rating: 2
That's very true - for more than a small percentage of people a nice fat HR spec means very little when for them the HR means Hardly Readable.


RE: Good
By emarston on 6/27/2008 9:08:28 AM , Rating: 2
Sadly, all they have to do is use a larger font size and large icons instead of change the resolution they would gain the best of both worlds. <sigh> I feel your pain. My coworkers do the same thing and then wonder why the screen looks horrible.


RE: Good
By jvillaro on 6/26/2008 10:36:06 AM , Rating: 2
Dude as with any other company, you basically get a standard 1280 X 800 at first, you have to pay a little more to get upgraded LCD's and get better resolutions.
Now if the standard res is 1440X900 in the 15" that would be a great news in my opinion


Doesn't look half bad.
By psychobriggsy on 6/26/2008 10:02:38 AM , Rating: 2
These actually look quite nice, the specifications are decent, and they look to be a good alternative to the MacBook and MacBook Pro, although I didn't see how much adding in the optional extras added to the price.




RE: Doesn't look half bad.
By ksherman on 6/26/2008 10:16:16 AM , Rating: 1
Yeah, these really aren't an alternative to the MacBook Pro.. Far too under-powered. But an alternative to the MacBook, yes indeed!


RE: Doesn't look half bad.
By Aloonatic on 6/26/2008 11:20:01 AM , Rating: 2
They look great but are still rather pricey?

Too rich for my blood anyway.

I just priced up the spec of the 17" model in the review above and it was £1,030 (inc VAT (sales tax @ 17.5% and shipping ~= $1720 when you take off the VAT and convert to $$$)+ £30 for a pretty colour with no extra software.

What sort of MacBook can you get for that sort of money?


RE: Doesn't look half bad.
By crimson117 on 6/26/2008 12:05:16 PM , Rating: 2
How are they underpowered? They are actually very evenly powered machines. I bet if you put Windows on the macbook pro it'd perform almost identically to the new Dell.

Macbook Pro 17":
2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
250GB hard drive
Double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB
1920x1200 option

Dell Studio 17:
2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
320GB hard drive
DVD burner (and blu-ray option)
256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 mobile GPU
1920x1200 option


RE: Doesn't look half bad.
By Parhel on 6/26/2008 12:20:10 PM , Rating: 2
It's definitely being positioned against the MacBook Pro. Right down to the poorly thought out slot-load optical drive. Hopefully Dell's optical drive is more reliable.

The optical drive on my brother's MacBook Pro has broken twice now. He has two long haired cats, and the slot allows dust and cat hair to get into the optics. After the first one broke, and Apple wouldn't replace it under warranty, he covered the slot with tape when he wasn't using it. But it stopped working again anyways, and now he just uses an external.


RE: Doesn't look half bad.
By TomZ on 6/26/2008 7:00:18 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
How are they underpowered? They are actually very evenly powered machines. I bet if you put Windows on the macbook pro it'd perform almost identically to the new Dell.

Agreed. Basically similar tech specs at about half the price in the case of Dell, at least when you compare the "starting price" of each ($1999 compared to $999).


Up next...
By SanLC504 on 6/26/2008 10:04:36 AM , Rating: 5
Can't wait for the Studio 54 and Studio 60 versions. Those are gonna be frickin' HUGE!




RE: Up next...
By EntreHoras on 6/26/2008 11:59:14 AM , Rating: 2
Only one problem:
Studio 54 will be only available in New York, while Studio 60 will be only available on the Sunset Strip.


RE: Up next...
By LorKha on 6/26/2008 6:41:15 PM , Rating: 2
There's going to be a laptop envy among those that own those Dells. ROFL!


Woah
By amanojaku on 6/26/2008 9:38:05 AM , Rating: 1
Looks like Dell is finally getting a clue. These laptops look nice, and the colors aren't sissy like the original iMacs. Nice specs, supposedly good build quality and a price that makes the MacBook and MacBook Pro more of a joke.

quote:
The Dell Studio 15 and Studio 15 notebooks will be available from Dell.com and Dell's retail partners later this week starting at $799 and $999 respectively.


Studio 17?




RE: Woah
By porkpie on 6/26/2008 9:53:25 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
"and the colors aren't sissy"

You're right, I've always found hot pink and tangerine very manly.


I think it may be a typo
By frobizzle on 6/26/2008 2:04:27 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Dell Lets Loose With Studio 15, Studio 17 Notebooks

More likely Dell Cuts One Loose With Studio 15, Studio 17 Notebooks




looks good... almost
By Suomynona on 6/27/2008 8:18:26 PM , Rating: 2
I was thinking the specs on there were pretty nice until I compared them with the asus M50/70. Comparing a top of the line models ASUS beats out Dell in a number of categories:

ASUS M50Sa-AK023C
CPU: 2.5ghz
Memory: 4gb standard on all models
Graphics: ATI mobility 3650 1gb ram (vs. mobility 3450 on the Studio 15)
Display: 15.4" 1680 x 1050 (vs. 1280x800, 1440x900 or 1920x1200 offered by Dell)
Harddrive: Max 500gb (you read that right, 500gb 5400rpm 2.5" SATA drive)
Price: $1,549.99

It's no wonder that ASUS is the largest PC manufacturer on the globe. I have yet to see Dell beat them in hardware or price.