Dell Studio 17: When Gaming Isn't Enough
by Dustin Sklavos on August 26, 2010 12:10 AM EST
Dell Studio 17: Meant for Media
Dell's Studio lineup eclipses their Inspirons in pretty much every way. Better builds, better parts, better features, and in the long run, better values. So how does the Studio 17 stand on its own? Pretty well, actually.
There's no mistaking the line is designed to be more of a value (although the current pricing wouldn't necessarily have you believe that), but the blend and balance of performance and features are definitely there. Existing issues are generally minor ones: the fan can get a little loud under load, and the keyboard and touchpad take some getting used to. But the flipside is that the machine is profoundly capable of handling whatever tasks you throw at it. Media enthusiasts and video editors needing a machine to use on the go are going to be particularly well-served by the Studio 17's comparably long battery life and dual hard drive bays for ample storage.
I can already hear gamers crying foul in the comments, though. "Why would you buy this thing when you can get a G73 or [insert favorite model here] for the same price or a little more?" That's easy: the Studio 17 isn't meant for you. It wasn't designed with you in mind, and the ExpressCard and FireWire ports should both be proof enough of that. The "Studio" in the title should be a big clue as to who this was intended for, and given that I pride myself as being a part of that demographic, I can tell you it's well-suited for those purposes. This is not a gaming laptop. It's a workstation for people who can't afford workstation-class notebooks.
While the screen may not be the best, it's definitely good enough, and again, the dual drive bays, affordable quad-core, amazing speakers, and healthy variety of ports make it perfect for people who want to work on the go. The Mobility Radeon HD 4650 just means it can do a bit of light gaming every now and then without severely encroaching on the unit's battery life. The Studio 17 is well-rounded, and if you can find a good deal on it (Dell invariably has one going at some point), it comes highly recommended.
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JarredWalton - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
That's why I said "but in some marketing departments..." In theory all the widescreen movies are a better fit for WS LCDs. The reality is that most Blu-ray and DVDs are now using 2.33 as you point out. Not to mention, for laptops it's crazy to pretend that their primary use is as movie devices IMO. If I want to watch a movie from a laptop, either I'm on a plane, or I'm hooking it up to an HDTV.seanleeforever - Friday, August 27, 2010 - link
the wider the screen, the less area it has giving the same diagonal size. the entire wide screen thing is to fool the average consumer, simple enough, the "better for movie experience" "better for multimedia" are all bunch of BS.do the calculation you self, a 16:9 screen will have 6% diagonal size than a similar sized 4:3 screen. a 15 inch 4:3 screen can be re-branded as 16 inch 16:9 Wide screen. or simply put, a regular screen needs to be 12.4% larger in area in order to claim the same diagonal size. most Americans are too stupid to do pythagorean theorem and believe 16inch must be larger than 15 inch, let alone the "WIDE SCREEN".
shamans33 - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
"Studio 17 features two drive bays, allowing you to continue to use the existing drive for storage. Mine didn't come with the drive tray necessary to use the second bay, but that accessory can be purchased fairly cheaply online."Got any links? :)
Dustin Sklavos - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Let me know if this works: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Hard_D...cknobman - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
How you omit the Acer 5740G series game fps scores from the comparison when it was used for general performance comparison.The Acer 5740G series is a direct competitor to the studio 17. Same size and similar internal components.
JarredWalton - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Well, the 7740G is more of a competitor, since it's 17.3". The 5740G is now discontinued, unfortunately, at least the model with HD 5650. (Actually, I think the 7740G is now phased out as well and online vendors are just clearing remaining inventory.) Probably your best bet is this 7740G (which may disappear soon):http://www.futurepowerpc.com/scripts/product.asp?P...
As for why the 5740G isn't in the gaming benchmarks, we revamped our gaming suite recently. We had some scores for the 5740G in DiRT 2, L4D2, ME2, and STALKER: CoP. We don't have the laptop anymore, though, so some of the test results aren't at the same settings we're now using, and we don't have BFBC2 or SC2 results. That's why we pulled it from the charts. You can find the previous results here, but not all the scores are at the same settings (i.e. "high" is redefined now):
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3631/acer-aspire-as5...
We do have another laptop with an HD 5650 we're reviewing and that should be up shortly. The 5650 is obviously faster than the 4650, but getting it with a system that has everything else you want is the difficulty. Dustin wants Firewire and ExpressCard, which limits options quite a bit.
Jambe - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Glossy = no buy.I'm being a stickler wrt this issue.
Unfortunately that largely limits me to the utilitarian Lenovo devices...
crimson117 - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Why would you buy this thing when you can get a G73 or an Acer Extensa 368d for the same price or a little more?JarredWalton - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Two words: Firewire, ExpressCard.Some more words: I can't fine the Acer Extensa in stock anywhere with a quick Google search; is it EOL now? As for the G73, it's bigger and faster, and it even has a better LCD on the 1080p model, but the least expensive version is $1300 at Best Buy (plus tax) and it comes with the same level of 900p LCD. That's $350 more than what Dustin paid for the Studio 17, and the Dell gets better battery life in addition to the above two words. :)
CSMR - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Useful review, except the title says "Dell Studio 17: When Gaming Isn't Enough", and then half the review is hardcore 3D gaming benchmarks! If even a non-gaming review is mostly about gaming, you give the site a bad name!In general people who care about display quality, and read charts before buying, would get the B+RG 1080p display, so would probably be more interested in charts on that.
Also there's a BIOS problem I've heard in this model, namely that the fan turns off and on even in idle or under light loads. The temperatures are set badly: too low, not well ramped and at too close a range so the switching is frequent. It would be useful to know if you get this problem too.