Dell Studio 14z: Thin and Light Done Right

Dell Studio 14z: Not Perfect, but a Good Thin and Light Nonetheless

Though not without its flaws, the Dell Studio 14z ends up being one of the better current laptop solutions on the market. For a reasonable price (around $1000 for the tested configuration), users can get a laptop that will handle all of the most common situations. The Studio 14z delivers decent application performance, adequate entry-level gaming performance, and acceptable battery life, all in a package that weighs under 5 pounds.

One of the highlights of the 14z is undoubtedly the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics. Not only can they provide accelerated video decoding, but they end up being the best current IGP solution in terms of graphics performance -- roughly 50% faster than the ATI HD 3200 (although that's not an exact figure considering the different CPUs). That puts Intel in an interesting position for laptops, as the best combination right now appears to be an Intel CPU with an NVIDIA chipset… a combination that we won't be able to use with Core i5/i7 laptops. It's not a big problem when the only Core i7 mobile CPUs use the Clarksfield core, clearly a high-performance option, but come 2010 Arrandale will mix things up. Arrandale will also include a new Intel IGP, so hopefully Intel can get solid graphics drivers and performance for a change; we'll believe it when we see it.

The real difficulty for many prospective owners of the Studio 14z is going to be deciding what they want most. If you downgrade to the T6500 CPU, you're still looking at $800 for a laptop. There's no doubt the Studio 14z is faster than the Gateway NV52 or NV58, but it's more expensive and there's a ton of competition in the $800 market segment. The Studio 14z balances CPU and GPU performance with battery life, while other options (i.e. the Acer Aspire 5738PG) move to a larger chassis in order to deliver more graphics performance.

If you're looking for something that weighs under 5 pounds, delivers four hours or more of battery life (depending on task and power profile settings), and you don't mind the lack of an optical drive, the Dell Studio 14z is definitely worth a look. It may not be as elegant looking as a MacBook or ThinkPad, but it works very well. While the tested configuration costs as much as the standard MacBook, you can get the base model 14z for as little as $750. Upgrade to the 8-cell battery, 1600x900 LCD, backlit keyboard, and 802.11n WiFi and you're still looking at $900 -- $100 less than the current MacBook. (Note that we don't recommend the CPU upgrade to the P8600, unless you need the Intel virtualization technology for Win7's XP mode.) Windows 7 is also standard now, which means you should expect slightly better performance and battery life.