Dell Studio 15 (Core i5)
Rohan Naravane, Jul 30, 2010 1648 hrs IST
The ageing Studio 15 is at risk of being eclipsed by the updated Dell Inspiron 15R
Neat styling and great top lids to choose from, optional Full HD screen and Blu-ray drive, good build quality, Firewire and Expresscard support, battery LED indicator, good no. of ports, powerful components (with option to upgrade)
Bulky, slightly uncomfortable while using on lap, no multi-touch on track-pad and backlit keyboard (available on the Studio 14), no upgrade to moderately powered Radeon 5470 GPU
Dell's mid-range segment of laptops, Studio, is for people who want something more than what the basic entry-level models have to offer. We'd tested the Studio 14 a while back when it was in its Core 2 Duo iteration, and found it to be a darn good 14-inch laptop. It had a good build and finish, and great flexibility in its specifications.
Real World Performance
The Studio 15 comes with Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed. Being powered by the Core i5 M450 processor that runs at 2.4 GHz and 4GB RAM, the system had no trouble in delivering a smooth operation. Basic tasks like internet surfing and watching HD movies aside, this machine is capable to crunch some serious numbers thanks to Intel's Turbo Boost technology. With it, one core can automatically over-clock to 2.66 GHz when heavy single-threaded applications require it to.
The Studio 15 also came with an ATI Radeon 5470 GPU. This is the lower-mid-range graphics chip seen on many laptops in the bracket of Rs. 40 to 50 grand. Resident Evil 5's benchmark delivered a fairly playable 18.3 fps on maxed out settings. We tried Dirt 2's in-game benchmark at high settings, but it lagged badly at 12.8 fps. Surprisingly, dropping the settings to medium or even low didn't really make a big impact. The game was barely playable even on low settings; slight jitter was still observed.
Unfortunately, this is the only GPU that Dell has to offer with the Studio 15. The higher-power Radeon 5650 (that powers the Aspire 5740G) would have been a deserving upgrade to people who want to play today's games on this laptop. But alas, you'll just be stuck with playing games from a few years ago, that too at moderate detail. Repeat: The Studio 15 is definitely not a gamer's choice, but will probably do for people who just want to casually run a few.
Battery Life
Our Studio 15 came with a 56 Whr 6-cell battery but an upgrade to a 9-cell variant is also available. In our video drain test, the laptop lasted for 1 hour 35 minutes with a 720p video played back in loop with full brightness and sound. In the real world test, we red
The Studio 15 comes with Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed. Being powered by the Core i5 M450 processor that runs at 2.4 GHz and 4GB RAM, the system had no trouble in delivering a smooth operation. Basic tasks like internet surfing and watching HD movies aside, this machine is capable to crunch some serious numbers thanks to Intel's Turbo Boost technology. With it, one core can automatically over-clock to 2.66 GHz when heavy single-threaded applications require it to.
The Studio 15 also came with an ATI Radeon 5470 GPU. This is the lower-mid-range graphics chip seen on many laptops in the bracket of Rs. 40 to 50 grand. Resident Evil 5's benchmark delivered a fairly playable 18.3 fps on maxed out settings. We tried Dirt 2's in-game benchmark at high settings, but it lagged badly at 12.8 fps. Surprisingly, dropping the settings to medium or even low didn't really make a big impact. The game was barely playable even on low settings; slight jitter was still observed.
Unfortunately, this is the only GPU that Dell has to offer with the Studio 15. The higher-power Radeon 5650 (that powers the Aspire 5740G) would have been a deserving upgrade to people who want to play today's games on this laptop. But alas, you'll just be stuck with playing games from a few years ago, that too at moderate detail. Repeat: The Studio 15 is definitely not a gamer's choice, but will probably do for people who just want to casually run a few.
Battery Life
Our Studio 15 came with a 56 Whr 6-cell battery but an upgrade to a 9-cell variant is also available. In our video drain test, the laptop lasted for 1 hour 35 minutes with a 720p video played back in loop with full brightness and sound. In the real world test, we red
uced the brightness to 70 percent. We could surf the web over Wi-Fi for a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes. These are average figures, but expected from a 15-inch laptop with power-sipping internals. But still, it is certain that this laptop is no road warrior and you'll have to make sure that you have a wall charger nearby often.
Price and Verdict
The Studio 15 we received comes to a total of Rs. 48,700 with delivery. This machine isn't ergonomically the best out there. It's got souped up specs (except for the graphics chip) inside, enclosed in a what can be called in today's day and age a 'bulky' body. The main incentive to buy a Studio 15 is the option to upgrade to a Full HD screen and a Blu-ray drive. Otherwise for Rs. 50,000 you get the HP Pavilion DV6-3057tx, which comes with a higher-power ATI Radeon 5650 chip. It has a Core i3 processor (although clocked at a similar 2.4 GHz speed, but no Turbo boost). But on the good side, it comes with that chiclet keyboard we like.
Then there's also the Asus N61J, which has a potent NVIDIA GT325M graphics chip, and also pulls extra tricks like auto-graphics switching (NVIDIA Optimus) to save battery life, and USB 3.0 support. If you want something cheaper, there's always the Acer Aspire 5740G with the same Radeon 5650 graphics chip for a whole Rs. 10,000 less.
The Studio 15 is a decent laptop overall, but there's nothing that stands out for us to go out and hoot about it. Especially after the Inspiron line drawing so close to the Studio, there's not much different between the two. The Studio series is in need of a refresh. If you're just looking for a typical big screened laptop to do your office work, the Inspiron 15R should do just fine.
Price and Verdict
The Studio 15 we received comes to a total of Rs. 48,700 with delivery. This machine isn't ergonomically the best out there. It's got souped up specs (except for the graphics chip) inside, enclosed in a what can be called in today's day and age a 'bulky' body. The main incentive to buy a Studio 15 is the option to upgrade to a Full HD screen and a Blu-ray drive. Otherwise for Rs. 50,000 you get the HP Pavilion DV6-3057tx, which comes with a higher-power ATI Radeon 5650 chip. It has a Core i3 processor (although clocked at a similar 2.4 GHz speed, but no Turbo boost). But on the good side, it comes with that chiclet keyboard we like.
Then there's also the Asus N61J, which has a potent NVIDIA GT325M graphics chip, and also pulls extra tricks like auto-graphics switching (NVIDIA Optimus) to save battery life, and USB 3.0 support. If you want something cheaper, there's always the Acer Aspire 5740G with the same Radeon 5650 graphics chip for a whole Rs. 10,000 less.
The Studio 15 is a decent laptop overall, but there's nothing that stands out for us to go out and hoot about it. Especially after the Inspiron line drawing so close to the Studio, there's not much different between the two. The Studio series is in need of a refresh. If you're just looking for a typical big screened laptop to do your office work, the Inspiron 15R should do just fine.
Benchmarks
PCMark Vantage
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