Dell Studio 17 Review

1. Overview The Dell Studio 17 laptop comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor. Not the newest Intel Penryn processor, but it's certainly good enough. You also get 3 GB of RAM, which is more than most laptops in the market. Given these components, the Dell Studio 17 is still cheaper than the competition, plus you get an excellent and reliable service from Dell. So what's not to like?

2. The design of the Dell Studio 17 is interesting. The unit is thicker in the back than the front, making it seem a little tapered. What's nice about Dell is of course the wide variety of color options for many of their laptops. So you can choose what ever color suits your fancy. The Dell Studio 17 is actually more stylish and less bulky than its cousins, the Dell XPS M1530 and XPS M1730.

3. Display Ok, what about the display? The Dell Studio 17 sports a massive 17-inch WUXGA screen. That is nice for movies and games, and for general work as well. Powered by an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 (not the best graphics card for games, but it will do), the Dell 1917 has enough graphics power to run the latest games. The display has a 1920-by-1, 200 resolution, which is certainly good enough for most users.

4. Keyboard and Other Controls The keyboard of the Dell Studio 17 offers a good typing experience. You'll like the way the buttons and find just the right level, and how the mouse buttons are soft and quiet. The numeric keypad is a plus (it seems that these numerical keyboards are available in the latest laptops out there).

5. Ok ports and connections, to the ports and connections on the Dell Studio 17. There are 5 USB ports, HDMI-out and two speakers on this baby. The speakers are an absolute dream, they sound great when playing music or games. Throw in the latest 802.11n wireless connectivity and a beautiful Blu-ray drive, and we can not complain too much about the device.

6. Battery life The battery life on the Dell Studio 17 is about 3 hours and 30 minutes, according to the benchmarks. This is an excellent battery life. You can, of course, a number of energy saving by setting the screen brightness and wireless connectivity, the battery life to bring up to 4 hours or more. Overall, the laptop has good battery life, taking into account its features.

7. Weaknesses Perhaps the only shortcoming of the Dell 1917 is that it is not Intel Centrino 2 based. With the new wave of laptops sporting Intel's Centrino 2 platform, the Dell Studio 17 has missed the boat slightly. If you can see this, it's still a nice laptop.

Conclusion If you are a beautiful and cheap laptop with good components and a wide screen has great need, the Studio 17 is definitely a model to watch. Undoubtedly, no super-duper new components, but the general features and price to make up. It's also nice to know that a spanking new Blu-ray drive for Blu-ray movies. So if you're in the market for a good widescreen, now go take a look at the Dell Studio 17!

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