Product Review: Dell Studio 17 Creative Laptop

At one time, Dell laptops for were known as boxy, ugly, basic laptops that just happened to be the best in the market. Getting a Dell was a begrudging task - on one hand, you received a laptop that could do everything you needed, yet on the other hand, it wasn't the most attractive machine around.

Dell has made an effort to change that lately, and the Studio laptops are the their best yet. The Dell Studio 17 is a larger version of the Dell Studio 15, and has a stylish body with seven different color options in addition to excellent specs.

Body

The body of the Dell Studio 17 is thin with a tapering thickness from the front to the back. The inside surface of the laptop is glossy and light gray, while the full keyboard is black; the keyboard includes a keypad. The LCD is 17" and is glossy coated with a resolution of 1920 x 1200.

The lid of the laptop is available in seven different colors: green, red, pink, gray, blue, orange, and purple.

The ports and slots line the sides of the laptop, and appear neat and orderly.

Features

This laptop features a full HD LCD for watching high definition movies in full resolution. It runs an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and has Intel's integrated 965PM GM chips set. The machine can handle up to 4GB of RAM, and the device can be purchased with either 320GB or 640GB hard drives.

The optical drives is a slot load, and can functions as a CD and DVD burner. There's also a Blu-Ray drive to take advantage of the high resolution screen.

There's integrated 802.11 b/g/n wifi, and you can also get options for Verzion EVDO or Sprint EVDO for increased connectivity. There's also Bluetooth 2.0 for cell phones and mp3 players, as well as wireless headsets and radios.

The ports include: four USB, HDMI, VGA, LAN, audio-out, microphone, line-in, ExpressCard slot, and infrared.

Problems

Not really any problems, but some users complain about noise when inserting and removing discs, thanks to the slot loading drive.

Conclusion

If you need a powerhouse laptop that can handle your big job, whether they're photo editing, video editing, or gaming, this laptop can certainly hold it's own. The heat is well managed, the fan is quiet, the specs are decent, and the body of the laptop is the mostly stylish to date.