Dell Studio 1555 review

Dell’s Studio laptops are an alluring bunch; fitting snugly between the brand’s budget-conscious Inspiron line-up and the premium XPS ranges, the Studio 15 and Studio 17 blend classy good-looks with surprisingly affordable prices. Adaptation is the key to survival, though, and the newest arrival, the Dell Studio 1555, marks an evolutionary step forward.

You’d be forgiven for not noticing any dramatic changes over its predecessor, but there are some subtle changes. Most notable of these is the disappearance of the 15.4in, 16:10 ratio display. In its place there now stands a 15.6in, 16:9 replacement.

It’s still LED-backlit and capable of lending impressive punch and vibrancy to images. As per usual with Dell, there’s a choice of resolutions, and while our model sported the basic 1,366 x 768, you can pay a £100 premium for a Full HD panel.

Fat club

Several of PC Pro’s staff noted how chunky the Studio looks, and set against the current crop of netbooks and slim-line ultraportables, there’s no argument that Dell’s latest looks like it could do with shedding a few pounds.

It isn’t a bad-looking notebook, though. The beefy wedge-shaped design and modern curves lift it well out of the ordinary, and at 2.61kg it’s a little lighter than some of the 15.6in competition.

Alas, build quality seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Applying gentle pressure to the Studio 1555’s lid leaves it creaking ominously, and twisting motions reveal worrying amounts of give.

With even light prods on the back of the lid causing distortion on the display – a sign of the display casing fouling the LCD panel inside – this is one laptop that, where possible, we’d keep firmly ensconced in a well-padded laptop bag.

It’s a shame, too, since the base is quite the opposite. Stout and solid, it provides a sturdy, flex-free wristrest and feels resilient enough to survive the odd knock here and there.

The patchy build quality has a detrimental effect on the keyboard too. The left-hand side of the keyboard is excellent, with the backlit keys providing a luxurious, silky feel and a crisp action. Move to the right hand-side, however, and a squishy base leaves the key action feeling mushy and indistinct.

Stepping up

Performance marks a distinct improvement for the Studio 1555. The range of processors available stretch from budget models right up to the 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600, with our review model featuring the cost-effective and power-efficient 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo P8600.

And with even the cheapest model boasting 4GB of DDR2 memory (no sign of DDR3) there’s plenty of breathing space for Vista’s demands, and our application-based benchmarks finished with a nippy 1.19 overall.

The Studio’s graphical abilities have also received a major overhaul. ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD 4570 leaves the previous incumbent (the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450) choking in its dust, and where the old Studio managed just 22fps, the HD 4570 soars ahead with an average of 59fps in our least demanding Crysis benchmark.

It’s enough of a boost to turn it into a capable games machine, and although it struggles with the demands of Crysis’ high detail settings, it’s sure to handle most modern games with aplomb.

Meanwhile, battery life is reasonable despite the power on tap, with the Studio 1555 achieving a time just short of five hours in our light-use battery tests.

Conclusion

Despite this, it’s hard not to come away a little disheartened from our first encounter with the Studio 1555, however. Dell’s Studio range of notebooks failed to bowl us over when it strode into view in the tail end of last year and, if anything, the Studio 1555 takes a step backwards from there.

The good looks, solid performance and keen pricing may be enough to tempt some prospective buyers away from its budget rivals but, ultimately, the iffy build quality and mediocre keyboard put paid to its class-leading aspirations.

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