Dell’s latest premium 14-inch consumer notebook, the Dell Studio 14z, promises to give students everything they want in a high-performance notebook for the back-to-school season. The Studio 14z is indeed the thinnest and lightest 14-inch notebook Dell has ever produced and promises more than 6 hours of battery life, but you might have to make a few sacrifices. Keep reading to discover what we found after spending a few weeks with the Studio 14z.

Dell Studio 14z Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 cache)
• OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64 bit)
• Memory: 3GB Shared DDR3 at 1066MHz
• Storage: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G
• Screen: 14.0” High Definition (1600 x 900) LED Display with TrueLife
• Software: 15-month McAfee SecurityCenter subscription, Microsoft Works
• Other: Ruby Red lid, LED Backlit keyboard
• Wireless: Dell 1515 Wireless N
• Battery: 8-cell 74Whr Li Ion Battery
• Dimensions: 0.79″-1.2″ x 13.2″ x 9.0″ (H x W x D)
• Weight: 4 lbs, 9 oz
• Retail Price as configured: $979

Build and Design
The design of the Studio 14z looks extremely similar to the Studio 15, but Dell managed to make this notebook much thinner and lighter … thanks in no small part to the removal of the optical drive. At first glance, the lack of a built-in optical drive might seem to be a disadvantage, but most students and mobile users will confess that they rarely use an optical drive when away from a desk. You can, of course, purchase a matching external optical drive (DVD burner or DVD burner/Blu-ray player) … just in case you need it when you’re working at the office.

The notebook chassis is constructed from a combination of plastics and magnesium alloy for a balance of light weight and durability, and I have no doubt the Studio 14z can survive several years of use and abuse by college students, although I’d feel better about the build quality if the plastic palmrests where made of magnesium alloy instead.

When closed the Studio 14z feels nice and thin, but the weight of the 8-cell battery in our review unit makes the notebook feel like it’s a little too heavy in the rear. The Ruby Red screen lid features a nice thick matte paint with a rubberized texture that should hold up over the years of travel to and from classes. The screen lid shows signs of obvious flex under strong pressure, but I wasn’t able to create any screen ripples when pressing on the back.

The Dell Studio 14z is currently available with your choice of colors including, Black Chain Link, Midnight Blue, Promise Pink, Spring Green, Plum Purple, and Ruby Red. Dell will also donate $5 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure from the purchase of each Promise Pink laptop. Starting in September the Dell Design Studio will offer the Studio 14z in your choice of more than 120 different designs, so you won’t have to worry about owning a laptop that looks identical to a classmate’s notebook.

The bottom of the notebook features the battery and a single access plates that must be removed in order to upgrade the RAM. My only frustration here is that you have no easy access to the hard drive, so be prepared to completely disassemble the notebook if you want to upgrade the hard drive on your own.

Screen and Speakers
The 14-inch high-definition panel on the Dell Studio 14z easily rates as one of the better screens we’ve seen with vibrant colors, excellent contrast, and good viewing angles. The LED backlighting in our review unit is pretty even and offers a range of brightness settings. Yes, it is a 16:9 screen ratio, but this is starting to become standard for all notebooks and Dell was wise enough to offer the Studio 14z with a higher resolution 1600×900 display like the one in our review unit. Horizontal viewing angles are extremely good, so you won’t have any trouble sharing a movie with a friend or two. Upper vertical viewing angles are a little better than average since the colors don’t wash out too much when viewed from above, but colors begin to distort and invert as you move the screen back.

At first glance the two tiny speakers located above and to either side of the keyboard on the Studio 14z look weak and pathetic. Most people would expect speakers like these to produce weak, tinny sound … but we’ll forgive those people for jumping to conclusions. In fact, the Dell Studio 14z includes four stereo speakers: the two tiny speakers located above the keyboard that direct sound up and two larger speakers located beneath the palmrests that direct sound down. The two smaller speakers focus on the high frequencies while the two larger speakers are tuned for the midtones and bass. The sound isn’t quite as impressive as what you’ll hear from two large speakers and a dedicated subwoofer, but this is easily the best sound quality we’ve heard on any 14-inch notebook. Bottom line, if you don’t need to fill an entire room with sound for a party then external speakers are NOT needed with this notebook. The built-in speakers perform surprisingly well.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard on our review unit has full-sized keys with good key spacing and an excellent depth to the key throw. Each key has a textured black finish and a relatively flat surface. More importantly, the keyboard is available with optional backlighting for easy typing in a dark classroom or dorm room. The only complaint that I have with the keyboard on the Studio 14z is the surprising amount of flex across the entire width of the board. Even when typing with minimal pressure the keyboard bounces and flexes as you type. If you apply heavy pressure then the keyboard almost feels like a trampoline. Considering that the Studio 14z doesn’t have an optical drive to create an empty cavity beneath the keyboard we were very surprised to find this much keyboard flex while typing.

On the other hand, if you can overlook the keyboard flex this really is a very nice keyboard.

The multi-touch, gesture-based touchpad is reasonably large for a thin and light 14-inch notebook and the dual touchpad buttons have deep feedback with quiet clicks. The touchpad itself is an ALPS model that uses Dell proprietary touchpad drivers. I’m not a fan of the Dell touchpad drivers, but the touchpad was reasonably responsive with good sensitivity and very little lag.

Ports and Features
The port selection on the Studio 14z is a bit of a mixed bag. Dell included three USB ports, one of which is a combo USB/eSATA port, as well as FireWire and an ExpressCard/34 expansion slot. If you have a new external monitor or HDTV then you’ll also be pleased to hear that the Studio 14z includes both HDMI and DisplayPort for digital video and audio output. Unfortunately, Dell made three sacrifices with the Studio 14z that might be problematic depending on what your needs happen to be. As previously mentioned, there’s no built-in optical drive, so forget about watching DVDs or installing software from a installation disk unless you’re using an external optical drive. Second, Dell forgot to include a built-in SD card reader with the Studio 14z. Dell does offer an optional SD card reader that fits inside the ExpressCard slot, but it’s 2009 … every laptop should have a built-in SD card slot. The last thing you might find missing on the Studio 14z is the lack of a standard VGA port. Granted, most new monitors and HDTVs use either HDMI or DisplayPort, but there are still many projectors that require a VGA port. Considering that many students might need to use this notebook to show a presentation in class it seems odd that there’s no VGA port for a classroom projector.

Performance
The performance of the Studio 14zwith an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor and Nvidia GeForce 9400M G graphics is quite good for a mobile multimedia notebook. It’s worth mentioning that our review configuration of the Dell Studio 14z has very similar specs to the 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro but our performance benchmarks suggest the Dell has better performance for less than the price of the MacBook Pro.

System performance is excellent considering the sub-$1,000 price. The Nvidia 9400M graphics offer superior video playback and gaming when compared to Intel integrated graphis. With an average 3DMark06 score of more than 2,200 3DMarks, it is comparable to low-end dedicated options and can handle previous generation games with some tweaking of the resolution and detail settings. In our test of the game Portal, the Studio 14z delivered 39-45 frames per second (FPS) at 1280×800 resolution on high settings looking through a single portal. Looking through no portals the framerate would be as high as 60FPS, and if you were looking through two it would drop down to about 23-25FPS.

Indeed, the $649 starting price of the Studio 14z starts to look even better when you consider the Nvidia graphics performance and large storage drive options. Unlike netbooks that usually feature no more than a 160GB hard drive, the Studio 14z is available with up to a 500GB hard drive that can store a full music library of up to 125,000 songs, 142,000 photos or 133 DVD quality movies. The 320GB hard drive in our review unit offers a good balance of performance, storage capacity, and price.

Battery
With the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and the Vista power profile set to “Balanced” the Studio 14z stayed on for 4 hours and 58 minutes. For use in the classroom or on your lap in front of the TV this amount of battery life was fine, but it may be cutting it close for all-day traveling. The 8-cell 5400mAh 74Wh battery seems to do a pretty acceptable job for 14-inch laptop, but this isn’t even close to Dell’s claim of “more than 6 hours of battery life.”

Heat and Noise
The cooling system does a reasonably impressive job keeping the external temperatures down. After extended periods of use the right palmrest gets quite warm and the bottom of the notebook near the hard drive and RAM get warm, but temperatures remain well below 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature readings below were taken after stressing the system with performance benchmarks for 30 minutes and should reflect typical external temperatures after more than an hour of serious use.

Noise levels are fairly quiet when running on battery as the fan produces a constant weak “hum” as hot air is pushed out. The fan gets louder when the laptop is set to the “high performance” power profile under Microsoft Vista and was plugged into the AC adapter, but the fan should only be noticeable by others in a very, VERY quiet room.

Conclusion
The Dell Studio 14z is an impressive 14-inch notebook that arrives just in time to give students (and parents) something to consider for back-to-school season. If your child or your family is looking for a convenient laptop for general use then the Studio 14z can handle just about anything you throw at it. The overall price/performance ratio makes the Studio 14z one of the more impressive notebooks on the market if you’re looking for something with a 14-inch screen. The nice design, great sounding speakers and a gorgeous screen make the Studio 14z a touch act to follow.

That said, the Studio 14z has some strong competition from notebooks like the Lenovo IdeaPad Y450 and the popular HP Pavilion dv4t. The fact that the Studio 14z lacks an optical drive, SD card slot, and standard VGA port means that some potential buyers will need to look elsewhere. Likewise, the keyboard flex was more than a little disappointing. Still, if you want an alternative to the MacBook Pro that is both attractive and reasonably powerful then the Studio 14z makes a solid choice.

Pros:

• Attractive design
• Good overall performance for the price
• Great screen and speakers

Cons:

• No optical drive
• No standard VGA port
• No standard SD card slot

If you’re one of the many consumers around the globe looking for a multimedia family PC with a 15-inch screen, then the updated Dell Studio 15 (1555) probably has all the features you’re looking for in a new laptop. Now with more than 200 customizable designs available from the Dell Design Studio, is the Studio 15 the most attractive 15-inch notebook on the market? Let’s take a closer look and find out.

Dell Studio 15 (1555) Specifications:

• Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, 32-bit)
• Intel Core 2 Duo processor P8600 (2.4GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
• 15.6″ High Definition (1920×1080) High Brightness LED Display with TrueLife and Camera
• 3GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz System Memory
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics (256MB)
• 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
• 6X Slot Load Blu-ray (BD) Combo Drive (BD Read Only)
• Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
• Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Internal (2.1)
• Weight: 5.8 lb. including 9-cell battery
• Dimensions: 1.0-2.0 x 14.6 x 10.0 inches with 9-cell battery (H x W x D)
• Battery: 9-cell 85Wh
• Dell Design Studio Custom Lid: XenoMayan – Haab3 by Tweeqim
• Warranty: 1 year system
• Retail Price as configured: $1,299

Build and Design
I’m sure some of our readers will be a little confused by this review and wonder, “Didn’t NotebookReview.com already review the Studio 15?” The answer is yes and no … just to confuse you even more. Dell decided that the original Studio 15 (model 1535) needed some improvements, and when LCD manufacturers stopped making 16:10 ratio LCDs and switched to 16:9 ratio screens it gave Dell the perfect opportunity to launch a new Studio 15 (1555).

With that being said, the changes between the original Studio 15 (1535) and the new Studio 15 (1555) are fairly minor. Dell obviously increased the width of the notebook in order to accommodate the wider 15.6″ LCD with its 16:9 aspect ratio. The new Studio 15 also features a black screen bezel compared to the silver bezel on the old Studio 15. The only other obvious changes are the removal of dedicated media buttons and changes to the port layout. We’ll talk more on those changes later in the review.

Overall, The Studio 15 is still an impressive looking desktop replacement. I use the term “desktop replacement” because most people in the market for a 15-inch notebook aren’t planning to haul their notebook everywhere during frequent airline travel.

While the Studio 15 isn’t exactly a thin-and-light notebook designed for mobility, it’s still a very portable multimedia entertainment notebook. The Studio 1555 takes several design elements from the earlier Studio 1535: the wedge-shaped profile, drop hinge, and slot-loading optical drive.

The Studio 15 is available in your choice of six colors: Plum Purple, Promise Pink, Midnight Blue, Ruby Red, Spring Green or standard Black Chainlink. If those aren’t enough options for you, the Dell Design Studio offers the Studio 15 in your choice of more than 200 different designs by various artists. We selected the “XenoMayan” lid design and also went one step further and selected the “Haab3″ variation of the design by the Tweeqim artist studio.

When closed the Studio 15 doesn’t feel as sturdy as you might expect. The screen lid shows significant flex under very light pressure. Considering the added cost of the fancy lid I don’t think it’s too much to expect some reinforcement so that the lid feels firm when you hold it. Likewise, the bottom of the chassis shows quite a bit of flex near the center of the notebook. Long story short: The Studio 15 does not feel particularly rugged. I suspect the plastics used will withstand regular day-to-day abuse inside a backpack or on a desk without showing too much wear and tear, but the laptop just doesn’t “feel” solid.

The bottom of the notebook features the battery and a single access plate that must be removed in order to upgrade the RAM, hard drive, or replace any additional components. On the bright side, Dell improved the access panel on the Studio 1555 so that you only have to remove three screws to upgrade the RAM or the hard drive. Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, the bottom of the notebook doesn’t feel particularly sturdy.

Screen and Speakers
The 15.6-inch high definition (1920×1080) panel on the Studio 15 rates fairly average with vibrant colors and excellent contrast. The display panel in our review unit appears to be an LG model (LGD020B). The LED backlighting in our review unit is nice and bright, but we did notice that the brightness was slightly uneven in the upper right corner of the screen. Yes, it is a 16:9 screen ratio, but this is starting to become standard for all notebooks and isn’t really a problem when you’ve got a higher resolution panel like this one. Horizontal viewing angles are extremely good, so you won’t have any trouble sharing a movie with a friend or two. Upper vertical viewing angles are above average since the colors don’t wash out too much when viewed from above but colors begin to distort and invert as you move the screen back.

UPDATE: When we originally reviewed the Studio 15 (1555) we certainly weren’t impressed. The stereo speakers located beneath the screen produced weak and flat sound and we couldn’t detect anything from the built-in subwoofer. We sent our review unit back to Dell for service and upon its return all we can say is, WOW!

The subwoofer adds a surprising impressive level of bass to the speakers in the Studio 15. The bass is actually strong enough to feel with your hand on the keyboard. Overall the sound pretty good with crisp high notes from the main speakers and milder bass from the subwoofer. In short, the fixed subwoofer makes a world of difference and is much better than before. I still think the audio could use some tuning to lower the volume of the main speakers to match the subwoofer, but it’s a minor issue.

Overall, the built-in speakers and subwoofer are good and external speakers or headphones are only a must-have accessory with this laptop if you want privacy.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The backlit keyboard on our review unit of the Studio 15 is very nice and similar to the one on the original Studio 15. The keyboard is quite comfortable to type on with reasonable key size and spacing. There is some obvious flex when typing pressure is applied around the “L” key, but the left side of the keyboard is reasonably firm. If Dell put some additional reinforcement under the right side of the keyboard then this would be a nearly perfect keyboard.

The biggest difference between the keyboard on the Studio 1535 and the new Studio 1555 is that the new keyboard lacks dedicated media buttons. Instead, the new keyboard moves the media controls to the F-keys on the top row of the keyboard. On one hand I really like this change because of gives you physical controls for several different functions. On the other hand, if you frequently use the F-keys for things like refreshing your web browser you now have to press the Fn key as well.

The Synaptics-based touchpad is large and comfortable to use with a nice texture. Sensitivity is good, accurately tracking finger movement with little pressure on the surface. The multi-touch gestures (such as zoom in and zoom out) are easy to use. The only thing I didn’t like about the touchpad is that Dell uses their own touchpad drivers rather than the standard Synaptics drivers … making it more difficult to adjust settings. The touchpad buttons themselves have excellent feedback with a deep throw and well-cushioned press.

Ports and Features
The port selection on the Studio 1555 is nice, but surprisingly not as good as the original Studio 15 (1535). The new Studio 15 has one fewer USB ports and only has an ExpressCard/34 slot rather than an ExpressCard/54 slot. Granted, many 15-inch notebooks only have three USB ports, but now that most 10-inch netbooks have three USB ports it seems odd when a 15-inch notebook doesn’t have at least four. Still, the inclusion of eSATA, FireWire and HDMI for connecting your laptop to a larger HDTV or external monitor are welcome features to have on a multimedia notebook.

Performance
The performance of the Studio 15 with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor and ATI Radeon 4570 discrete graphics is exceptionally good. This is the level of performance we like to see from multimedia oriented notebooks with discrete graphics. Whether you’re watching a Blu-ray movie, playing a few levels of Left 4 Dead, or streaming video via YouTube HD this notebook has the power to get the job done.

We would have loved to see even more discrete graphics options available on the Dell website, but the ATI Radeon options should provide more than enough performance for average consumers looking to purchase this laptop for multimedia use around the home.

All of the 3DMark06 scores for all of the systems listed above were run at 1280 x 800 resolution. However, due to the 16:9 screen ratio on the Studio 15 (1555) we benchmarked the notebook at 1280×768 … which was the closest resolution available in 3DMark06 for use with the built-in screen.

For those who are interested, the 3DMark06 score at the native resolution of 1920×1080 is 2,985 3DMarks … still impressive for average multimedia use and gaming.

Battery
With the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and the Vista power profile set to “Balanced” the Studio 15 stayed on for 3 hours and 42 minutes of constant use. To be honest, discrete graphics and 1080p displays usually result in less-than-spectacular battery life, but we were hoping to see more from this notebook with the 9-cell 85Wh extended life battery. Bottom line, this is perfectly fine for a desktop replacement or for average use around the house, but if you need a notebook to be your constant travel companion then the Studio 15 might not be the best choice.

Heat and Noise
The cooling system does an acceptable job keeping temperatures under control. The area around the hard drive, RAM, and wireless cards produced the most obvious heat on the external surfaces of the notebook, but temperatures weren’t hot enough to prevent me from using the Studio 15 as a “laptop.” The temperature readings below (listed in degrees Fahrenheit) were taken after stressing the system with performance benchmarks for 30 minutes and should reflect typical external temperatures after more than an hour of serious use.

Noise wasn’t much of an issue with the Studio 15. The slot-loading optical drive made some noise when inserting or ejecting a disk but it was average for the slot-loading drives we’ve had in our office. The cooling fan is loud enough to be noticed in a quiet room, but shouldn’t be an issue unless you must have absolute silence.

The hard drive was likewise quiet and it seems as if Dell has done a good job finding ways to minimize the noise coming from the hard drive. We did notice some sporadic CPU/southbridge whine coming from our review unit, but it was extremely high-frequency noise and might not be common to all Studio 15 models.

Conclusion
The Dell Studio 15 (1555) offers an impressive balance of customizable features and performance at a fair price. The modern looks, custom lid options, and affordable upgrades are sure to make this a popular notebook for many consumers. Unfortunately, the lackluster build quality, and average port selection will probably leave several owners wanting more.

If you’re in the market for a nice family PC that has a fantastic range of multimedia features at a good price then the Dell Studio 15 is worth consideration. If you can’t look beyond the flexible plastics then luckily there are many alternatives on the market with 15-inch screens.

Pros:

• Great customizable options
• Good value and performance
• Cool Dell Design Studio lids
• Good speakers and subwoofer

Cons:

• Could use more USB ports
• Average build quality

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