WTB Dell Studio 15, please review specs

3t3P · 2 Jan 2010 at 22:26

Hi all need a laptop for uni, moving the 'rig' around is a bit of a mission on placements

After combing the net and stores I have actually decided I might buy a dell studio 15 cos the current deal till the 6/1/2010 is actually very good for £530 here's what I can get:

CPU:Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T4300 (2.1GHz, 800MHz, 1MB cache) ' T4300 is 1mb cache, T6600 is 2mb cache that is a £70 upgrade T6600 2.2GHZ, worth it?, I don't think it is?)

GPU: ATI 4570 512mb

RAM: 4GB 800mhz DDR2

HD: 500GB 5,400rpm

LCD: 15.6in Widescreen High Definition (1366x768) WLED with TrueLife

DVD: Slot-loading DOOV-D burning drive yada yada

Keyboard: Backlit for £30 I feel is worth it :cool:

Usual price £744! I can find an Acer with similar specs but read its touchpad is dodge, with dell I have used their keyboards and touchpads and at least know they work!

So what do you guys think? Dell 'recommends' 1920x1080 res upgrade on the screen but I feel this is overkill and would strain my eyes and make games performance worse!

Shane5578 · 2 Jan 2010 at 22:44

looks alright. i think the only difference between a pentium dual and c2d is the increased cache.

Nymins · 2 Jan 2010 at 23:16

The Pentium Dual Cores are really good. My brother has the T4200 and it's great.

Looking to get the Studio 15 myself. Same spec but smaller hard drive for £429 as my Acer 6935G's sound decided to crap out. I'm really impressed with my brothers Inspiron 15, especially the WLED screen, so the Studio 15 can only be better.

3t3P · 2 Jan 2010 at 23:23

Thanks for that re pentium dual cores

I was looking at the 15Z but can't justify its £600 price tag for those specs, the inspirons now seem to have worse specs than studios for the money too

£429 that's an E-value code from a flyer isn't it? I just whacked it in online and probs don't mind the smaller HD tbh, would rather save £££'s

reflux · 2 Jan 2010 at 23:26

I think my sister has pretty much that exact spec. It's nothing stellar, but it does the job for her. Plays Sims 3 and AOE2 pretty well anyway

3t3P · 2 Jan 2010 at 23:35

What does everyone think about the stock resolution of the screen? yay or nay

Nymins · 2 Jan 2010 at 23:45

Depends if you really need it or not. The WLED screen is brilliant at 1366x768. If you need the higher res then get it, but tbh for me the screen is too small to fully benefit.

3t3P · 2 Jan 2010 at 23:58

I can spend £70 either on:

higher res screen
upgrade the processor or
upgrade to a 9cell battery which I hope only points down not out the back of the lappy,

who would get what?

oh and do I need to upgrade the wireless card at all? I have seen some people doing this, it's £15-30

Nymins · 3 Jan 2010 at 00:13

Personally I'd go for the battery if it's like you say, not too obtrusive.

The processor isn't much off an upgrade and the screen res to me would be a bit too much on a 15" screen. Letters and what not will be pretty small and could strain the eyes.

The wireless upgrade would be for draft N capabilities. If you don't have a wireless N router then it's not really worth it.

3t3P · 3 Jan 2010 at 00:28

what worries me now is screen flex and heat on this lappy, apparently its at the chassis cooling limits according to some reviews and the fan is audible a lot?

reflux · 3 Jan 2010 at 10:39

Yeah I wouldn't bother upgrading the screen further....my old 17'' Dell XPS ran 1920x1200 and that's too small at that size, let alone 15''.

3t3P · 3 Jan 2010 at 16:28

put the order through by phone, this way you can upgrade to a 7,200rpm HD which you CAN'T do on the website

£503.98 in total for 320GB 7,200rpm HD and backlit keyboard as only changes to base model spec

DJ Prem · 4 Jan 2010 at 18:52

You can get Lenovo laptops for cheaper and they are much better to Dell laptops.

Nymins · 4 Jan 2010 at 18:58

DJ Prem said:
You can get Lenovo laptops for cheaper and they are much better to Dell laptops.

Which one with the same/similar spec?

georges · 4 Jan 2010 at 23:02

Ask for the travel remote if they still do it.

Slots in the PCMIA (sp?) slot and controls play, pause, stop next, previous, volume, power(can also turn it on from hibernation and I think possibly shutdown too), and mediacentre (direction buttons, ok and back). well worth the £7 or whatever it is.

Nymins · 5 Jan 2010 at 15:30

Grr damn CES. Hovering over the buy button on the Studio 15 for £429 (OP's spec but with 320Gb HDD), but with CES this week and a leak already about the Dell Inspiron 15 having the Core i3, i dunno whether to wait or not! Although the Studios got refreshed recently with Core i7, so i dunno if they are gonna improve or not. And the new Radeon Mobility 5470 is just a re-badged 4570 but with DX11 support. Hmm decisions.

The offer on the Studio 15 ends tomorrow!

jamief · 6 Jan 2010 at 11:38

Upgrade the screen to 1920x1080.

Nymins · 6 Jan 2010 at 20:33

Went ahead anyway and bought the Studio 15. Same as the OP's, but with the smaller 320Gb HDD and no backlit keyboard. Offers ends tonight, and i know Dell do them all the time, but this seemed too good to miss for £429:

Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T4300 (2.1GHz, 800MHz, 1MB cache)
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
512MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4570
320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English
Fixed Internal DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software
Dell Wireless 1397 Mini Card (802.11 b/g)
15.6in Widescreen High Definition (1366x768) WLED with TrueLife
2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera

Hopefully the delivery date won't be too crazy!

3t3P · 6 Jan 2010 at 21:52

hmm not sure if it comes with the remote or not, nice if it did but won't be doom and gloom if it doesn't

Now I need a good bag for it and possibly a desktop cooler (if only for typing angle), any recommendations?

Nymins · 7 Jan 2010 at 13:01

20th January for delivery, so its not too bad. Better than i thought, read that some machines are taking up to a month or two to come!

The £429 price is still going on until the 13th which is good for anyone else looking at it.