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

The Dell Studio 17 laptop

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

Ok, what about the display? The Dell Studio 17 sports a huge 17-inch WUXGA display. That’s lovely 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’ll do), the Dell Studio 17 has enough graphics power to run the latest games. The display has a 1,920-by-1,200 resolution which is definitely good enough for most users.
 

The Dell Studio 17 comes in a huge variety of color options

The keyboard on the Dell Studio 17 provides a nice typing experience. You’ll like the way the keys depress to just the right level, and also how the mouse buttons are soft and quiet. The numeric keypad is also a plus (it seems these numeric keypads are being shipped in the latest laptops out there).

Ok, on to the ports and connections on the Dell Studio 17. There are 5 USB ports, HDMI-out, and twin speakers on this baby. The speakers are an absolute dream, they sound fantastic when playing music or games. Throw in the latest 802.11n wireless connectivity and a nice Blu-ray drive, and we can’t have much to complain about the unit.

The battery life on the Dell Studio 17 is about 3 hours 30 minutes, according to benchmarks. That is excellent battery life. You can of course save some power by turning down the screen brightness or wireless connectivity, which should bring the battery life to 4 hours or more. On the whole, the laptop has good battery life, considering its features.

Perhaps the only shortcoming of the Dell Studio 17 is that it is not Intel Centrino 2 based. With the new wave of laptops sporting the Intel Centrino 2 platform, the Dell Studio 17 has missed the boat slightly. If you can overlook this, it is still one fine laptop.