Dell Studio 15 (1555) Review

by Jerry Jackson

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 (1920x1080) 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 (1920x1080) 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.

<!--nextpage--><!--pagetitleell Studio 15 Keyboard and Touchpad-->

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.

Front: No ports or Indicator lights.

Rear: Screen hinges, battery, and heat vent.

Left: Kensington lock slot, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, USB/eSATA combo port, USB port, FireWire, microphone jack and two headphone jacks.

Right: ExpressCard/34, media card reader, Slot-loading optical drive, USB, and power jack

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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.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

Dell Studio 15 (1555) (Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.4GHz)	32.995 seconds
Toshiba Satellite A355 (Core 2 Duo P7450 @ 2.16GHz)	35.848 seconds
Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 (Core 2 Duo P7350 @ 2.0GHz)	38.455 seconds
Lenovo G530 (Intel Pentium Dual-Core T3400 @ 2.16GHz)	38.470 seconds
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)	39.745 seconds
Dell Studio 15 (1535) (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.0GHz)	41.246 seconds

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Toshiba Satellite A355 (2.16GHz Intel P7450, ATI Radeon HD 3650 512MB)	5,842 PCMarks
Dell Studio 15 (1555) (2.4GHz Intel P8600, ATI Radeon HD 4570 256MB)	5,731 PCMarks
Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 (2.0GHz Intel P7350, Nvidia 9300M 256MB)	4,844 PCMarks
Lenovo G530 (2.16GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core T3400, Intel Intel 4500MHD)	4,110 PCMarks
Dell Studio 15 (1535) (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	3,998 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	3,994 PCMarks

3DMark06 measures video and gaming performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Dell Studio 15 (1555) (2.4GHz Intel P8600, ATI Radeon HD 4570 256MB)	4,189 3DMarks
Toshiba Satellite A355 (2.16GHz Intel P7450, ATI Radeon HD 3650 512MB)	4,084 3DMarks
Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 (2.0GHz Intel P7350, Nvidia 9300M 256MB)	1,833 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	1,599 3DMarks
Lenovo G530 (2.16GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core T3400, Intel Intel 4500MHD)	730 3DMarks
Dell Studio 15 (1535) (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	493 3DMarks

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 1280x768 ... 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 1920x1080 is 2,985 3DMarks ... still impressive for average multimedia use and gaming.

HDTune storage drive performance results:

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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

Related Articles:

• Dell Studio 15 Review

 

nice review this machine looks a little thick though :/

 

I am still just flabbergasted at what Dell did to this laptop. Those speakers are absolutely inexcusable.

 

Thanks for the review, Jerry. What would you say are better alternatives to this model (besides the 1535)?

 

I saw the price and my eyes shot open, for those specs and a bluray, I was expecting a price of $1,600.

 

Please tell me that I'm not getting mixed up with Kevin.

As for alternatives, I don't think there's a "perfect" 15-inch consumer notebook on the market right now, in large part because we're about to see product line refreshes from almost every manufacturer.

That said, I'd personally go for an HP Pavilion dv5 or dv6 series notebook or a Toshiba Satellite L500D or A500 with ATI graphics.

 

Indeed. Dell often has some fantastic deals on upgrades ... so getting the best price often depends on what deals they have going at a particular time. That said, the price listed in the review was what we were able to configure earlier this month without using any discount coupons like the ones we have on our site.

$1,300 is a great value for all those features.

In any case, I think the balance of price/performance/features makes the Studio 15 a compelling option in the market right now. Unfortunately those speakers and the flex in the lid and the bottom of the chassis are something of a disappointment.

 

Haha I fixed it... apologies. Product line refreshes before September, or are you referring to the arrondale refresh closer to October?

 

I can't give you specifics because of the fact that I have to sign NDAs (non disclosure agreements) with various manufacturers. However, I can point out what should be obvious to most consumers ... like the fact that HP hasn't really announced any new consumer chassis designs since the dv2z/dv3 at CES this year.

Gateway also has their newly announced NV series, but we haven't had a chance to take a look at that yet.

 

This review made this lappy look a lot better than everyone has made it sound, I am happy for that. Now I definately have to make this one a consideration.

next stop, studio 14z review! (hopefully)

 

If there are to be complete model line refreshes coming up soon, hopefully some of the problems with this particular model can be rectified? One can hope...

 

Since this one is a fairly recent release, and it was meant to be a 'rectification' to a previous model, I would doubt Dell will make any changes to it.

 

I'm suprised by the "screen rates fairly average". Vibrant colors and excellent contrast, excellent horizontal viewing angles and vertical viewing angles are very good from above.

Sounds to me like this panel is above average.

Going by several user reports I would think this LG panel is above average LCD panels too. I have never seen it in real life though.

 

I went with the "fairly average" statement because of the slightly uneven backlighting. If it wasn't for that then I would have said above average since in all other respects it was indeed above average.

 

Ok thanks that explains it.

 

Ok now I'm REALLY pissed at myself for not getting a custom lid like that. Geez that looks nice.

I don't get it, I have a 512MB video card and I got the same PCmark06 scores?

 

I think I would have stuck with the plain red for the lid color, yikes that's loud.

I can't say how much I hate the fact Dell kept the naming Studio 15 the same from the last generation to this, it's in no way obvious on the site what the underlying model number is and frankly I see this as being a major confusion for consumers as it's impossible to sort out the right review for the laptop you're buying. Ok, so it keeps the naming clean, but if they just keep evolving the laptop without changing the name they're going to force us into dubbing each release "1st gen", "2nd gen", "3rd gen" like is necessary with the iPod. The iPod usually has enough physical differences on the surface to be able to tell if it's the latest generation or not, if you put the Studio 15 (1535) and Studio 15 (1555) on a table and stood 5 feet away there's no way you can tell the difference, please Dell go back to differentiating your model numbers with each release.

 

Then this forum can start dubbing the generations.

 

Thats a lot of laptop for the price.

 

Don't be deceived. I have one of these and I have to say that it's very poorly made. I bought my Studio 15 last year, and it is coming apart. The lid is made of two halves that meet around the hinge - these halves are separating and the lid now has a very odd articulation. The spacebar began to squeak after two months of use. Also, the battery indicator began to peel and had to be removed. Dell Support has been unresponsive on these issues.

When I first got the Studio 15, I thought it was a step above the construction of my previous Dell laptops - XPS m1210 and 8600. Those laptops have experienced years of hard use and are still in great condition. My Studio 15 has been an around-the-house queen and it's falling to pieces. Don't be fooled like I was! I'm definitely going to start buying from a different manufacturer.

 

Indeed. Although I don't like all of the Design Studio lids, Dell has something VERY nice going on with the Design Studio, and I like the idea of being able to order a notebook that doesn't look identical to the notebook that your neighbor or coworker owns.

There's been some interesting conversations in our forums as well as other forums about the performance issue of 256MB vs 512MB cards. There are a number of ways of looking at it, and I'll let you track down the various discussions for more details, but the bottom line is that there isn't always much "practical" benefit (at least in terms of synthetic benchmarks) in getting the 512MB version of several cards compared to the same card with only 256MB.

If you really want better performance you're better off getting a better card than the same card with more RAM.

 

Sad to read the speakers are so bad. Wasn't the 1555 supposed to feature a subwoofer?

As for the low build quality... Well, the price is great for the specs, Dell has to save money somewhere... XPS and Latitudes are much better build but are more expensive.

 

The whole issue around keeping the same product name bothers me as well. I also don't like it with Apple and their MacBook/MacBook Pro lines.

Manufacturers claim they use the same name to "simplify" their product lines for consumers, but the real benefit for manufacturers is that consumers don't realize exactly what their buying ... which makes it easier to sell old inventory.

For example, last year after Apple refreshed the MacBooks one of my wife's friends went to an Apple Store to buy a "new" MacBook but she ended up buying the "old" MacBook because she didn't know the difference and assumed the Apple Store would only be selling the newest MacBooks.

I'm sure a similar thing will happen from time to time with people buying Dell laptops if they're using the same product names.

It reminds me of this Dilbert cartoon:

http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/00...0/000000/50000/9000/500/59568/59568.strip.gif

 

Teknerd, I think you are referring to a "1st gen" Studio 15 (1535) not the Studio 1555 which is being reviewed here.

Speak of the devil, and he appears...

 

You are correct, you can't have all these fantastic specs in a notebook for only $1,300 unless you make a sacrifice or two somewhere. Heck, the 15-Inch Apple MacBook Pro starts at $1,700 and only has a fraction of the features in this configuration of the Studio 15 (1555).

However, there are a few budget-priced notebooks that have amazing build quality ... but they don't have the features seen in this notebook:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5022&review=lenovo+g530

 

Jerry, you should go down the hall and pick up a 14z now

 

Do these tests focus more on video game type of things? Would I notice a benefit with something like photoshop or video editing?

I'll get a Studio design for my next laptop for sure.

Some of you are making me feel like I made a mistake as far as build quality..

 

It does have a subwoofer but the volume is pretty bad. Headphones sound good though

I realized that when I was getting something equivalent to (what was) a $2400 macbook pro that I'd be sacrificing in luxury and build quality so this shouldn't bother me too much.

 

If only it was that easy to get review units.

Hopefully I can get my hands on a production-level Studio 14z sooner rather than later. Until then, we'll just have to settle for my first look coverage:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5066

 

Interesting that a 15 inch entertainment notebook would have such horrible speakers - definitely a slip on Dell's part.

I don't know, I just really don't find the Dell lid designs appealing. I would prefer a solid color lid, or some of HP's subtle gray-on-black circle designs.

 

Interesting...my sister has the Generation 1 Studio laptop, and it looks like it's much better than the newer refreshes. It's a pretty solid laptop, and I can only get flex on the middle of the back of the screen. The sound isn't great either, but this review makes it sound even worse than before. That certainly isn't a good direction to go in.

Also, just curious, what do you expect the 6-cell battery life to be?

 

Dells speakers have always been pathetic. Its the one constant I see with dell.

 

The speakers on the previous gen Studio 15s were pretty bad, until you upgraded the drivers. Then they were just "bad" instead of "pathetic." I just had Vista install my drivers, which didn't use the Dell ones.

 

cheapo build quality, meh

 

You always have to compromise somewhere.

If you want good performance and decent graphics for moderate tasks, 1080p screens with a blu ray player, all the ports you need and perks like backlit keyboards and multitouch touchpads- then the Studio 15 gives you that.

Sure, you can get alot of these features in currently available laptops- like an 8 pound behemoth from Sager. To boot, this notebook gets somewhat decent battery life for so much juice.

The only catch is they need to make it affordable, because technology and parts dont grow on trees. Hence, plastic casing.

If Sony was to make a laptop with these specs, you'd be looking at 2 grand bottom configurations. Don't point to the NW series, screen resolution and graphics dont let it compete with the studio 15.

Bottom line- Dell has made an affordable laptop for consumers who want the most features they can get on a laptop while still having some semblance of portability. Its a step in the right direction. Hopefully in the near future we will start seeing some of the business-class quality designs implemented cost-effectively for the average consumer.

 

Btw, do you guys think maybe your review unit had defective speakers? Notebookcheck.com has them favorably reviewed in their unit.

"Loudspeakers

We were very pleasantly surprised by the given sound at rendering music of the most various styles. The Studio 1555 delivers a clear and occasional full sound at a good maximum volume. The proportion between the trebles and the basses wasn't quite balanced, but more than expected for a multimedia starter notebook. A subwoofer placed on the bottom side is primarily responsible for the attractive soundscape, which provides the necessary sonority. The Dell Studio 1555 can't keep up with multimedia pros liked the Pavilion HDX range or Toshiba's Qosmio models , but you still have to find a comparable sound in the low-priced starter category"
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Studio-1555-Notebook.17767.0.html

 

Maybe the subwoofer, which probably covered for the main speaker's flaws, is an option that was not added to this particular review machine?

 

I'm pretty certain the subwoofer is standard though. It just seems odd to have one person say they were pleasantly surprised, and the other to call them pathetic. Thats not a finer point of critique, that sounds like a different system altogether to me

 

I have this computer with a 9 cell battery and it's surprisingly light

 

that's a shame. you'd think they would know better.

 

That test unit surely is defective, because Notebookcheck.com doesn't have that backlighting problem in the top right corner.

 

"Pathetic Speakers" Lol this is a Dell tade mark hah.

Man this Lid is AMAZING man i can see this lid experiment they started will end up becoming bigger then i originally thought.

 

I thought that most Dell laptops had good sound.

 

Having slightly uneven backlighting isn't entirely uncommon with large/high resolution notebook LCD panels ... though you see it less and less as LCD manufacturers are trying to step up quality control. In fact, if you were to go into the homes of 100 random owners of HDTVs I'd be willing to bet some cash at least one of those 100 owners is going to have an HDTV with slightly uneven backlighting.

Unless you're looking for it you may never even notice it on this review unit of the Studio 15 (1555) ... same goes with many panels that have darker areas of the screen (usually one or more of the corners).

However, to resolve any concerns our readers might have about fairness, we'll reinstall the audio drivers (again) and open up the chassis to examine the speakers to see if there are any obvious problems (such as faulty audio drivers or partially disconnected speakers) that would result in the type of weak audio performance seen in our lab and offices.

 

Notebookcheck.com reviewed a 1366*768 panel, not the 1920*1080 one.

And not every panel of the same type will have the same brightness distribution.

 

More reviews with positive opinions about the speakers:

From Computer Shopper

 

The only drawback to the HP dv6 or Toshiba Satellite A500/L500 is the lack of display upgrades. All of them have 1366x768 resolution, which is insufficient for a 16.0" (or 15.6") display. Dell at least offers an upgrade to 1600x900 or 1920x1080.

On the other hand, those models both look and feel higher quality than the Dell...

 

Loving that Dilbert cartoon...I can't help but think of how the Dell Inspiron 1545 is inferior in most ways to the 1525 that it replaces!

Dell has been confusing with their naming schemes- an old 1420 or new 1440 are both Inspiron 14; a 1525 or 1545- Inspiron 15; Studio 1535, 1537 or 1555- Studio 15....it's confusing for most of us who keep up with these things, but for the average consumer, it would be almost impossible for them to know the differences.

HP did the same thing with the dv7- originally it was a 17" 16:10 display with optional nVIDIA graphics, then it was revised to be a 17.3" 16:9 model with optional ATI graphics...but the name is the same.

I wonder if part of the resistance to name changes is to downplay the shift from 16:10 to 16:9 aspect ratio displays?

 

hi,

so would now be a good time not to buy? I just returned a Studio 1537 to Dell because of it's horrible speakers. Should I hang on a bit and wait for any new Dell models to appear? (I'd like to stick with Dell, probably). Wish they'd come up with something bigger than a 15.4" screen though. The point of hi-def is a bit lost at this size, in my op.

And, anyone be able to advise me possibly if studio 1555s are likely to turn up on outlet anytime soon?

thanks a lot!

Tom

edit: sorry, just noticed plenty of 1555s on outlet UK, for some reason 0 were appearing earlier.

 

I was playing around with the Studio 15 at the store, and IMO the speakers really aren't that bad.