HP has a similar advantage with its Blu-ray drive. It's not that Dell doesn't offer one for the Studio Desktop. Indeed, Dell advertises the fact that you can configure a Studio Desktop without a discrete graphics card. Integrated video chips have finally become fast enough to spit out satisfactory HD video, and we're glad that Dell leverages that capability. Although we don't find Blu-ray drives a must-have in any midtower desktop, HP undercuts Dell dramatically by offering the Blu-ray upgrade for $150. Choosing Blu-ray on a Studio Desktop instead of our review unit's dual-layer DVD burner will cost you $300.
We also find the Dell has made a few strange design choices with the Studio Desktop. Some we've seen before, but collectively they speak to a general sense that Dell hasn't put as much thought into the visual appeal of this system as it could have. The 802.11n wireless antenna is the first example, an optional feature including with our review unit. Unlike many desktops, the wireless adapter in this system comes as a PCI expansion card, complete with an external antenna that looks like a square hockey puck attached to the system by a thick cable, rather than the typical screw-on antenna. We find dongles awkward as a rule, and especially when their design is so clunky.
We're also annoyed by the external USB infrared receiver. We wish Windows system vendors would adopt the Apple model of sticking everything inside the body of the system. If that means abandoning IR for remote controls, so be it. The Dell receiver looks like a piece of sliced-off carrot. It has inputs for two IR blasters (one is included), for pairing the Windows remote and your TV tuner to a cable box. With those hooked up, the IR receiver then looks like a large slice of carrot with two electrodes in it. We'd love to see desktop vendors, and the buying public who demands it, get over the idea of the PC as an ad hoc TiVo. It hardly works as well as a traditional PVR device, and it looks plain goofy
Finally, the Mac OS X-style icon manager at the top of the Windows desktop screen is a custom application written by Dell that says...something...Mac envy?...Vista regret...? We're not sure. We first came across it on the Inspiron 518, and it seemed harmless then, and practically speaking it still is. If you don't like it, you can always turn it off or uninstall it. But while we'd like to see PC makers compete more aggressively with Apple and clean up their hardware designs, aping one of Apple's software hallmarks, and doing it less elegantly, feels like Dell is trying to diminish its identity as a seller of Windows-based desktop computers.
Dell also included a pair of serviceable Dell-branded 2.1 PC speakers with our review configuration, a $50 premium. A wired mouse and keyboard are your only input options, although from the look of Dell's Web site it seems to be selling a more up-to-date set than what it sent us. The system comes with an HDMI video output that's built into the motherboard, and the graphics card has two HDMI ports as well. The two on the card override the built-in one, so you don't get three HDMI ports, but it's nice to know that even in its basic configuration, this system can accommodate HDTV and newer LCD input standards.
Dell's support policies for the Studio Desktop are standard stuff for Dell, which we still find ahead of most of its competitors, at least on paper (real world results, as always, may vary). The one-year parts-and-labor warranty isn't surprising, and any major vendor should have 24-7 toll-free phone support as a rule. What we like though, is that Dell remains one of the few PC vendors to offer onsite service. You have to obtain approval from a Dell support technician through the remote diagnostic tool (no word on what happens when your computer won't get online or boot), but that the option exists at all still goes beyond most other vendors.
Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations:
Apple iMac (20-inch, 2.4GHz)
Apple OS X; 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700; 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics chip; 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive.
Dell Studio Desktop
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200; 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3650 graphics card; 640GB 7,200rpm Western Digital hard drive.
Gateway DX4200
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.2Ghz AMD Phenom X4 9550; 6GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics card; 640GB 7,200rpm Western Digital hard drive.
HP Pavilion Elite m9300t
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1; 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600; 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9500 GS graphics card; 500GB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard drive.
Velocity Micro Vector Campus Edition
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1; 2.53Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo E7200; 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 384MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS graphics card; 500GB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard drive.
