Dell Studio 14z: Thin and Light Done Right
by Jarred Walton on October 20, 2009 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Dell Studio 14z LCD Quality
We ran our standard LCD quality tests using ColorEyes Display Pro to see how well this 14.0" LCD panel performs. Unfortunately, this is another case of LCD brightness improving at the cost of LCD contrast ratios. Also, color gamut, color accuracy, and viewing angles continue to be a sore spot for laptop LCDs. It is our understanding that TN panels use the least power, so until that changes it's unlikely we will see dramatic improvements in these areas. Keep in mind that we are testing the "720p" 1366x768 LCD panel; we cannot provide information on how well the 1600x900 upgraded panel performs, although it's a safe bet that it's not going to be any worse.
The LCD panel comes from Seiko Epson (now owned by Sony), but we weren't able to find any additional details online. Testing shows that it has the worst contrast ratio of the various LCDs we've looked at. Color accuracy is reasonable, as is color gamut, but both of those areas are easily overshadowed by the washed out appearance. It's unfortunate that we continue to see such low quality LCD panels in so many laptops. We know higher contrast options exist, and the first thing that LCD panels need to provide is at least a 500:1 contrast ratio -- the real contrast ratio, not some marketing figure. Only when an LCD can deliver that is it worth looking at ways to improve color accuracy and color gamut.
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GeorgeH - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
That was an excellent review, thanks. The commentary on each section was just enough to highlight important takeaways and asides without a lot of fluff.The only other (very minor) thing that I would have mentioned is that the external DVD burner (slim, eSATA, USB powered) from Dell is a $90 option or about $50-60 for a decentish USB unit from online retailers.
tiberious - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
When i bought mine a few months ago, they included the CPU option of: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9550 (2.66GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6MB cache).Which makes it a much more useful machine.
tiberious - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
I should also note the only reason i bought this laptop over other similar sized laptops (hp elitebook's/macbook) was the screen resolution. Short of splashing out on a sony Z series, there doesn't seem to be anyone making smallish laptops with decent resolutions.maddoctor - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
Good, because it's Intel Inside and with new Core Ix based laptops, nvidia will not have any chance with Intel's chipsets infrastructure business.themadmilkman - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
Just when I thought there was nothing worse than an Apple fanboy...stmok - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
themadmilkman, just ignore him.JohnConnor - Sunday, September 12, 2010 - link
Jarred,I've read your reviews for many years. Please don't throw your personal color choice, preferences, into a review, as it isn't professional.
I'm a straight male who is 43, and I like the plum purple, out of the choices given
It 's one of the reasons why I bought my 14z. I got it refurbished, with a T4200, for $648
with 3GB of RAM.(I bought the Dell USB dvd-drive, which can blaze using 2 USB ports.
To all others who don't have this notebook should know this. with, the stock CPU, it was slow.
Add a T9550 CPU, and a 4GB stick of DDR3 1066Mhz[for 5GB total RAM)
[both of which I upgraded myself)] and the 8 cell battery, and you have a portable notebook, just above netbook size, which will give you over 8 hours of runtime without the AC!
I run OS X 10.6.4 SL with Windows 7 Pro x64, in Virtual Box, and love it