Entered CNET Catalog: 07/25/2008
SKU: DDPCLN1
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
Manufacturer description
More flexible than a typical PC, the Dell Studio Hybrid is an anywhere-you-want-it-desktop. The smallest desktop, it looks great in the living room, on the desk, or anywhere else space is at a premium. Plus, it uses energy-efficient Intel Core 2 Duo processors, so you can enjoy its power while helping to preserve the planet. Studio Hybrid is Dell's greenest consumer desktop PC. The smallest design is about 80% smaller than standard desktops, and it contains about 75% less printed documentation by weight when compared to typical tower desktops. Studio Hybrid packaging is made from 95% recyclable materials. And the Studio Hybrid comes with a system-recycling kit, so you can help preserve and protect the environment.Product summary
The good: Flexible design lets you customize appearance and positioning; best combination of looks and specifications among supersmall desktops.
The bad: Standard budget PCs offer better price-performance and more upgradeability; laptops deliver better space economy with similar specifications for the dollar.
The bottom line: If you're considering all of the computers in the $700 to $1,000 price range, the Dell Studio Hybrid is not very compelling. However, if you limit yourself to the very specific niche of small PCs, you'll appreciate this system's clever design and its relatively powerful hardware.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 07/29/2008
It's hard for us to recommend the Dell Studio Hybrid desktop for any practical purpose. As a desktop for productivity, you can get more bang-for-your-buck from a typical budget-priced midtower PC. And if your goal is either space-saving or using this system as a media PC, we'd instead point you to a similarly priced laptop, which has an integrated display, will perform most of the same functions, and is also portable. Still, we imagine that for some of you, the Studio Hybrid's unique design holds plenty of appeal. Compared with other desktops in its small-scale cohort, Dell's entry is actually one of the best equipped. If aesthetics are your chief concern, the Studio Hybrid will reward you with its good looks and respectable computing power.
The Studio Hybrid starts at $499, but upgrades to the processor, memory, hard drive, and wireless networking adapter push our review configuration up to $874. When the Studio Hybrid first appeared to the world in April, it wore a bamboo sleeve. Our review unit came with the translucent gray plastic sleeve, and you can buy other plastic ones for $20 each. The bamboo shell is also available, for an extra $130.
Standing upright with the sleeve on, the Studio Hybrid measures 8.75 inches tall by 3 inches wide by 8.25 inches deep. Take the unit off its stand, remove the sleeve, and lay it flat, and its dimensions change to 2.5 inches tall by 7.5 inches wide by 7.25 inches deep. Compared with the Asus Eee Box, the Studio Hybrid is a bit bigger in either configuration, but it's also clearly smaller than your average midtower PC. You can take the Studio Hybrid off its stand by simply pulling the two apart, and the sleeve slides off once you remove a screw. You can even reconfigure the stand to support the system horizontally. However, if you want to change its position, you can do so easily.
While it might be tempting to classify the Studio Hybrid as part of the recent Netbook/Nettop trend in small, cheap computers, the Dell's base price and specifications elevate it out of that category. Even the base $499 configuration skirts the edge. And unlike the Shuttle XPC K-4500 or the Eee Box, the Studio Hybrid has an optical drive, which would seem to disqualify it from the cloud computing club. Thus, it's fair to treat the Studio Hybrid as a competitor to standard desktops in its price range.
| Dell Studio Hybrid | Gateway DX4200 | |
| Price | $874 | $749 |
| CPU | 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 | 2.2GHz AMD Phenom X4 9550 |
| Memory | 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM | 6GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM |
| Graphics | 128MB (shared) Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics chip | 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 |
| Hard drives | 250GB, 5,400rpm | 640GB, 7,200rpm |
| Optical drive | dual-layer DVD burner | dual-layer DVD burner |
| Networking | Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n wireless | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit) | Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) |
| TV Tuner | No | No |
Based on this comparison, it should be obvious that the Dell system fails the specs-for-the-dollar test. Even forgetting that the Gateway DX4200 is a 64-bit system (although with perhaps more memory than is really useful at the moment), its discrete graphics card, full-size desktop hard drive, and its lower price tag are clear indicators that it will deliver more performance for the price. And true, the Gateway can't answer the Dell's wireless networking capability, but that's easily solved with a $75 after-market upgrade.
If the Dell's on-paper specifications fall short of the desktop market standard, its performance was actually a bit surprising, in more ways than one. Yes, it came in last on our Photoshop test, and second to last on our multitasking performance. But that's not a shock. Its third-place finish on our iTunes test is heartening, considering that you might actually use this system for music encoding. On the other hand, we were disappointed by its Cinebench scores, especially as they only kept pace with those from a Gateway laptop.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Rendering Multiple CPUs | |
Rendering Single CPU |
Overall, we expect the Dell Studio Hybrid will accomplish most of what you expect it to in a reasonable amount of time. Gaming and high definition video editing are out, and heavy multitasking will likely bog it down, but it should handle most other consumer-level computing tasks easily enough.
It's likely no surprise that this system comes up short on performance compared with other mainstream PCs. If you're not interested in the Studio Hybrid for its benchmark scores, we don't blame you. Thanks to its small size, it's easy to imagine the Studio Hybrid serving as a basic family computer, and its good looks might inspire you to display it prominently. Connect an HDTV to the HDMI port on the back of the Dell and suddenly it's a living room PC. According to Dell, it will offer a Blu-ray drive option for an extra $250 in August, but we submit that a laptop would be a better choice for solving the above problems.
We'll point to the Gateway T-6836 which appears on our benchmark charts. It's not only faster than the Studio Hybrid on our Photoshop test, but it also costs $50 less, it offers the same amount of hard drive space (on an equally slow 5,400rpm hard drive) and will ultimately take up less space because its screen and keyboard come built-in.
If you have the Studio Hybrid in mind as a Blu-ray-equipped living room PC, you can instead configure HP's Pavilion dv5z with a Blu-ray drive and almost identical specifications for $50 less than it would cost to add Blu-ray to our Studio Hybrid review unit. And of course, both of these laptop alternatives offer portability that the Studio Hybrid can't.
Even if we're not fans of the Studio Hybrid's overall value or its benefits to space economy, we readily concede that it's a cute little PC. We'll even give it credit as the best equipped of these little computers. HP's SlimLine is not as attractive, even if it is better equipped. And if Mac Mini competes on looks, the Dell gets the nod for its more up-to-date specifications.
It's also apparent that Dell had Apple in mind when it designed the Dell Dock software. When the Studio Hybrid boots into Windows, you're presented with a row of icons along the top edge pointing you to the Web, to e-mail, and to other various applications. They even grow larger when you drag your mouse over them, similar to Apple's OS X icon dock. You can add your own shortcut icons to the Dell Dock, and it only take up about 13MB of system memory to have it open, which is not too greedy. Novice users may appreciate features such as this, as well as you Windows lifers with Mac envy, but in general, we could just as easily turn it off or uninstall it.
Like most small systems of its kind, the Studio Hybrid doesn't present you with easy internal access. You can remove one external screw and slide the top panel off to get inside it, but once you're there, you're faced with a metal housing for the optical drive. Neither the memory nor the hard drive is immediately visible. An enterprising user will have no trouble digging deeper into the system, but novice upgraders may shy away. At least, unlike the Mac Mini, you can get inside without voiding the warranty.
And because of its small-scale design, upgrade options are limited. You can configure up to 4GB of RAM and a larger hard drive, but graphics cards, internal TV tuners, and other major internal components are out. We're not sad about the lack of a TV tuner, and we can forgive Dell for forgoing a fast mobile 3D chip given its power-conserving intentions, but if Dell's going to offer 4GB of RAM, it should also offer the 64-bit version of Windows Vista to put all of that memory to use.
Dell also touts the Studio Hybrid's eco-friendly power consumption. We'd expect it to use less power by virtue of its laptop parts, like most small PCs, and the diminutive power supply is a testament to its modest power needs. We also appreciate Dell's efforts at using recycled material in the product, and for the fact that all of the packing material is recyclable. Its cardboard box is also designed so that it's easy to break down.
Like Dell's other desktops, the Studio Hybrid comes with a one-year parts and labor warranty, 24-7 toll-free phone support, and a year of onsite service. The onsite service in particular is a standout feature, and it's especially helpful in a system like this one that's not as easy to tinker. With the product not publicly available at the time of this writing, we can't check the online support offerings, but Dell traditionally has a robust set of self-help resources.
Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations:
Dell Studio Hybrid
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1; 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100; 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 128MB (shared) Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics chip; 250GB 5,400rpm Samsung 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.
Gateway T-6836
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5750; 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 128MB (shared) Mobile Intel GMA X3100 graphics chip; 250GB 5,400rpm Western Digital 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
ZT Affinity 7225Xi-35
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1; 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600; 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 512MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics card; 500GB 7,200rpm Seagate hard drive.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24out of 24 user reviews
SO SO... WORKS FINE FOR A MEDIA PC
Pros: AT FIRST I WAS THINKING THE BLUERAY ( BUT NOT)
HDMI - DVI ALL IN ONE INTERFACE WORKS GREAT
SMALL FACTOR FITS ANYWARE ( NO AS SMALL AS A MAC MINI)
OPTICAL AUDIO SPDIF IS GREAT
WIRELES KEYBOARD AND MOUSE
( CAN UPGRADE SOME RAM AND HD AND BLUE RAY)
Cons: BLURAY IS SLOW PERFORMING DOES NOT DO WELL AT ALL, I UPGRATED TO WIN 7 AND STOP WORKIGN ALL TOGETHER HAS TONS OF ISSUE WITH THE BLURAY. DONT GET IT .
TECH SUPPORT IS HORRIBLE!!
BUT SINCE I GOT IT THE BLURAY IS SUPER SLUGGISH AND CONSTANTLY MAKE FATAL ERRORS AND RESTARTS MY PC.. HORRIBLE I JUST STOP USING IT ALL .. I DOWN GRATED WITH A DVD I GOT FROM EBAY AND WORKS GRATE..
I UPGRATED WINDOWS 7 AND CHANGE THE HD.. YOU NEED SOME ACRONISS SOFTWARE TO DO IT , YOU DONT HAVE TO BUT IS JUST EASIER TO DO.. CHANGE TO A 500GB FROM A 320GB.. AND I KEEP THE ORIGINAL FACTORY SETTINGS
IT PERFORMS WELL , NO SUPER FAST WELL.. THE SOUND IS GREAT I DO A LOT OF MUSIC FROM IT AND HAVE IT CONECTED TO A PREAMP AND A AMP SOUNDS GREAT.. I ALSO USE PCM FILES.. EHTERNET IS FAST, WIFI SO SO
SD SLOTS WORK FINE , ITS A NICE PC.. BUT JUST BY A MINI MAC AND GET A EXTERNAL BLURAY.. YOUR BETTER OFF.. OR A MAC BOOK AIR..
THE LID CHANGIND THING AS FUN BUT A NEVER GOT ANY.. 130 DLLS FOR A LID WAS TO EXPENSIVE TO CHANGE A "LOOK"
THERE MORE AFORDABLE AND BETTER PERFOMING PC OUT THERE.. AND ALSO.. I HAVE ALL MAC NOW AND THEY WORK AMAZINGLY GREAT WITH WINDOWS INSTALL DUAL BOOT... I DONT THINK I WOULD EVER BY A PC AGAIN EXPECIALY NOT FROM DELL.. IT REALLY BITES IN TECH SUPPORT JUST HORRIBLE..
I HAVE ORVER 30 COMPUTERS OF EXPERIENCE.. DONT BUY THIS DELL JUST SUCK NOW THERE THE NEW COMPACT FOR COMPUTERS.. IT WILL SOON SUCK MORE.. SONY IS WORSE.. HP NOT TO BAD... TOSHIBA OK.. BUT THERE ALOT MORE BRAND THAN BEST BUY OFFERS LOOK FOR THEM AND THEY WORK EVEN BETTER..
out of 24 user reviews
Hybrid is pure garbage, after 2 yrs the hardrive died
Pros: The size and look only
Cons: It is not reiiable at all
out of 24 user reviews
Waste of money - DO NOT BUY THIS COMPUTER
Pros: Cute and attractive
Cons: Poor technical specifications, low quality hardware, and dreadful support. The computer has barely worked since we installed it. It has constantly failed and required constant support from the woeful Dell staff.
out of 24 user reviews
Good Idea, but is faulty
Pros: The nice: when I got it, I could recycle everything it was packed in. It is small on the desktop
Cons: crashes continually because of faulty display hardware. Dell won't fix
out of 24 user reviews
Basic desktop in compact size
Pros: Small form fact and good looks. Fairly quiet and a decent group of inputs and outputs.
Cons: Not powerful enough for a good media PC. Onboard Intel graphics are its biggest handicap. FSB (front side Bus) memory locked at 667mhz so don't bother upgrading CPU or memory because your wasting money.
out of 24 user reviews
perfect for a small apartment
Pros: tiny footprint, quiet enough for a bedroom, fast enough for internet and Word, HDMI and DVI outputs
Cons: It's supposedly not powerful enough for heavy duty gaming. But what do you expect for $500?
out of 24 user reviews
Nice size and looks but noisy fan
Pros: I like the looks, size and performance. It's not a screamer but it's fast enough for writing documents and crusing the internet or playing movies. I can't believe the complaints regarding expandablilty. Seems like that should be obvious.
Cons: The fan kicked on after 2-3 hrs and was somewhat loud. I was watching a DVD when I heard what sounded like white noise. I turned everything off and it was the Dell fan. It fooled me because it had been running 2-3 hrs before it kicked on.
out of 24 user reviews
Performance ok except for the blue-ray capabilty.
Pros: In general performance is adequate in correspondence to the system specifications, but the system does not delivers it's promise regarding the Blue-ray.
Cons: Blue-ray never worked. After 4 attempts from Dell to solve the problem (Got 3 different CPU's from Dell plus a technician visit to replace Hard drive & CD drive) in a two months period, the failure was always the same, the system just crashes.
Lost precious time, delays with my personal projects, tired of formating & re-installing my software, taking unnecessary risks of loosing data, a real headache. It is aggravating since I invest money and at the end I did not get what I was promised from Dell.
Got 4 computers from Dell in the last 4 years, this Hybrid was the last, I will never ever buy a Dell product.
PD: My Blue-rays played perfectly in a regular Blue-ray player
out of 24 user reviews
So far so good
Pros: Fast and Sexy
Cons: weak wifi. Dell's famous ser5vice and warrantee a thing of the past.
out of 24 user reviews
Good for a space, saving, energy efficient, basic PC.
Pros: Virtually silent, energy saving, space saving PC that performs fine doing basic PC stuff. My Dad uses it for his home office (replacing a regular PC) and performance is fine for word, excel, email, etc.. and he leaves like 10 apps running at a time.
Cons: Very little expandability, weak graphics for gaming, a bit pricey
If you plan on gaming, or need a lot of upgrade options, this definitely isn't the way to go.
out of 24 user reviews
Many unresolved bugs and disinformation... stay away
Pros: Nice design, compact and quiet. fits nicely with the entertainment system.
Cons: sales guarantee that this system can run 2 displays at the same time, DVI and HDMI... not at all, once DVI is connected, the HDMI is disabled.
BluRay disc do not play when connected to HDMI, only DVI.. So what is the point of HDMI in the first place?
Talking about technical support... the experience i had with Dell's technical support was something else, I never had to deal with so many tech support guys who are clueless about the product they support. At one point one has suggested to me to go and buy new graphic card and replace the one I have in the PC... if he only know that this PC dose not have the option to do so due to its configuration.
out of 24 user reviews
It's fine. As PC. Don't expect it to work in a network
Pros: nice looking, space saver
Cons: Unable to get it work effectively on my wireless G or N network. I'll probably try to return it.
out of 24 user reviews
Sitting on the lving room couch, this is the perfect PC
Pros: Stylishly pleasing, Performance can be better than you read in any earlier reviews, Quiet...very quiet, and Why buy a laptop if you have a 40" widescreen tv sitting in your living room...?
Cons: Integrated Video on MoBo (not surprisingly), component upgradebility - what you see is what you get (wysiwyg), and it can be pricey.
I wonder how this Hybrid would compare to the other PCs noted in the original review...? The Windows Vista performance ratings (a Vista specific feature) shows this PC having a passable 3.5 Graphics and Gaming ratings but it also noted a 5.4, 5.1, and 5.4 in the Componet, Processor, and HDisk ratings respectively so this will hopefully give you an idea on how this may compare with other PCs. Further to the graphics, it should not be a problem if you're intention is to play DVDs, view online videos, type something or just surf the web...If you're a gamer (I'm not), read the expert reviews. If you're familiar with a Firefox add-on named Cooliris, this 3D image browser works stunningly well.
You can do a ton of research and probrably find a bigger, faster, stronger pc but most of them do not have the small footprint such as the Studio Hybrid. To sum up, I gave it a 4 out of 5 star rating. It does what I want and better than I expected, It's also cool...literally too!
out of 24 user reviews
Great PC when bought refurbished
Pros: It's small, has HDMI output, easy built in wireless keyboard receiver, low power consumption, much faster than my 4 year old PC it is replacing, and it's pretty stylish
Cons: Maybe not the zippiest new computer you can buy.
I am replacing an old Desktop with a 2.8Ghz Northwood processor and 1 GB RAM, so it does feel much faster then that.
out of 24 user reviews
Horrible technical support
Pros: Nice Design
Cons: Horrible technical support
I opened an issue #620112399 4 weeks ago. It was a carry over from a previous incident I phoned in April. I am told "incredibly" that there is no record of this incident. I guess things happen so I accepted this and moved on. Regardless a new incident in logged on Sep 6th. That is the case number above. I am taken through a series of troubleshooting steps and 3... that right "3" goto assist sessions to help resolve my issue. Nothing helps and after over 2 weeks the XPS support staff finally come to conclusion that I need a replacement video card.
Great!, they recommend that I get teh new ATI series cards in crossfire to replace my NVIDIA 8800 GTX card in SLI. I'm okay with this expect for the fact that my 680i motherboard does not support those cards in that configuration. I find it bizarre that an XPS support technician in not aware of this and point this out. They confirm and then appologize. That name of that again is "Elenor". Their supervisor recommends then that I get a motherboard replacement and suggests that the new 790i motherboard will accept the new ATI cards. Well I think "WoW this must be an expensive and complex replacment" but okay... That is why I prucahse both "Next day business service AND Complete Care!" for extra $$$ with the system. But WAIT!... I ask... the new motherboard would it fit in my 720 h2c chasis? Dell support tech reps put me on hold again and then say... no...
Well that option is now down the drain. I suggest the new Nvidia 280 GTX cards. They say they need authorization for this from their "SSR" group. I say that would be just fine. Then they promise me a call back in 48 hours. Which mean I should be getting a call on the 23rd of September.
That date comes and goes without an update or call. so I calla gain to inquire when I would be recieveing the promise call back. A Dell supervisor by the name of "MACK" tells me "sorry" and assures me that I will get a call in the next 24 hours. I guess everyone can mess up... no problem... I say okay.
Another 24 hours comes and goes and still no call back. So I call again... "my second reminder call" on Sep. 24th. Again the apology and again a promise to call me back. This time at a predetermined time at 9:30 PST on the 25th. "Mohammed" the next supervisor apologizes and then assures me that he will schedule a call back at that exact time. Now I have a job of course so I need to make sure I'm availble at that time. So I do that. Again another day goes by and 9:30am comes and still no call back. Infact I don't get a call back that whole day.
Now I'm extremely frustrated. I paid $$400-500 extra for premium level support but I can't seem to get a simple call back. My system has not been working really since I received it on March 08 and I'm getting the serious run around here for a $5600 system.
I call again on the 26th and now I'm very upset but calmly explain how poor the service I have been receiving to date has been. The new tech support supervisor now informs me for the first time that the "SSR" group is backed up and that is why i have not been given my promised callback and resolution. She promises that without fail that by Monday I will be receiving my call back if not sooner. Now by this time I have receive 4. Count them. NOT 1, not 2, not 3 but 4... that is right 4 promises for a callback. So I reluctantly agree to this again... (you would think I would know better by now) but I wait again for this elusive callback from this "SSR" group at dell. Promises are made about emails sent "directly to the manager of the group" threatening punitive action if I do not get my call back... not from me but from the manager handling my case in support at the time to the manager of this "ssr" group if I do not receive my call back in a timely manner.
Can you guess what happens next?... that right... I wait another 24 hours and not it's 9/30/08 and still nothing. 5 promised call backs. I call again today (9/30) I get more hollow apologies, And more promises from another manager.
At this point I have to point this out to the general public of product consumers. I have lost faith. Can you honestly blame me? I have no alternative at this point but to make everyone aware of this poor service from Dell support and warn others about the apparent lack of any value
in Dell support, expecially their next day business support addons and their complete care program which apparently have no value.
I would also like to point out that I am a Customer Care Director and a large software company so I have hundreds of tech support agent that report to me and am well aware of support procedures and policies in my 17 years in this field. It is from this vantage point that I am making my observations which I believe are more than fair
out of 24 user reviews
Truly a fun little box
Pros: Bought one cheap from Dell, invested savings in upgrades. Upgraded CPU to 9500 for $300 at newegg, bought the microPCI video accelerator on ebay for $50, went to 4 gig of RAM for $75 now its a screamer. next is the hard drive from 5400 to SSD
Cons: None that I can think of.
I also installed Vista Ultimate just because.
out of 24 user reviews
The potential is there for an all around great media pc
Pros: Looks, convenience, perfect for an all in one room media pc / tv
Cons: underpowered, would have liked the option of windows xp
studio hybrid as a hub. With the added nuovo wireless keyboard and microsoft's remote control, I'll be able to control the U.K cable box 6000 miles away in the U.S using the MCE remote. The bonus will be having internet access on the TV as well using the wireless keyboard. Point is, the Studio hybrid, if capable enough, could pull this off without a hitch. It'll be compact, look good, and should accomplish the task of video streaming using the Hava box. With all the coupons on Dell products going around, I'm going to wait to see if the price comes down a bit or if they have any intent of improving the performance with a better processor.
All in all, it's a new product that makes me stop and think how I can integrate this into my LCD/TV using the benefits of windows media center and take entertainment to a whole other level as a convergence device.
out of 24 user reviews
Just what I needed for my entertainment center
Pros: Delll Studio Hybrid is by far the best home media center. I have been waiting for quite some time for something like this. The unit is elegant and is equiped with HDMI connection to enjoy picture and sound.
Cons: The unit should come with Windows XP Media Center instead of Vista.
out of 24 user reviews
It was last time to start design nice PC-s
Pros: Style, energy efficiency and space saving
Cons: Only moderate porer compared to current standards
Jaak http://shop.it.ee/
out of 24 user reviews
The Stud-Hybrid: An Overpriced, Cute Toy PC?
Pros: Low power consumption helps lower energy bills. Space-saving design leads to more efficient desktops. It's kind of cute.
Cons: Attains low power consumption and compact size with weak CPU horsepower, lack of expandability options for peripherals and underachieving graphics capabilities for 3D gaming, Blu-ray viewing and media-centric workstations.
LESS IS LESS
The Stud-Hybrid uses less power than a conventional PC, however it manages to pull off this "green feat" in ways that would irk many grown-ups: poor or no expandability options for USB 2.0, e-SATA, PCI-e, WLAN 802.11 b/g... and its GMA X3100 doesn't offer the punch of true 1080p HD for full Blu-ray viewing. Gamers beware: you must be under this height to dare put a persistent universe on a Stud-Hybrid.
DURABILITY
I have yet to find any Stud-Hybrid disclaimers about how its tiny cooling system can keep itself cool-to-the-touch or whether the little buddy has noiseless operation (shhh!) and shock absorption to fend off bruises - the Stud-Hybrid looks fairly easy to stomp, bump or push off a desktop, eh? That said, Dell does give the Stud-Hybrid a helmet available in various lollipop colors... but with what intent? Parachuters jumping 5000 feet also put on helmets, you know, in case the parachute doesn't open.
STYLING RATING: Hot
The Stud-Hybrid is like an actor on a TV show that takes place on a beach in that although it looks the part, it can't quite act the part. Such a qualification, however, for certain buyers may be enough to pull the lever. Its sleek, attractive skin can be decorated with stick-on laptop PC tats such as "I'm goin' process you, fool... in a long series of 1(s) and 0(s)!" Equally or more popular are stickers of flowers, personalized street signs, unicorn holograms, sports team logos and colleges, etc.
VERSUS A LAPTOP
A tug-of-war it is not: the laptop easily wins. Perhaps I could contrive some props for the Stud-Hybrid based on its monitor flexibility for those who want to squint at a screen exceeding 12"-17" - but the durn thing doesn't support dual displays nor does it support true 1080p HD home theater viewing or true 3D gaming graphics.
out of 24 user reviews
It's great
Pros: Easy to learn and affordable
Cons: Missing some features
Updated on Aug 26, 2008Worth checking out.
out of 24 user reviews
One of the Best in its size
Pros: lots of features and ports for its size. Nice to get blu ray and minus the internal TV card it makes a great mediacenter PC for the living room.
Cons: Hard to expand. But thats expected in something this small
out of 24 user reviews
Fine for a media-room PC
Pros: Compact, visually-appealing design, reasonably well-configured for HTPC use
Cons: No internal TV tuner; Intel X3100 graphics are weak
I'm now on my 4th generation home theater PC, all built by me. My previous generation machines were built using Antec Sonata tower cases, but my current version is a tiny AOpen MiniPC, built out of similar, but higher-spec, laptop guts. It runs Vista Ultimate just fine, records HDTV shows, acts as my music and photo server, and is virtually silent. Nobody walking into my family room would notice a PC next to the TV. I simply plug in a large external HDD for media storage, and I use a SiliconDust HD HomeRun networked HDTV tuner. It was fun to build the AOpen MiniPC from barebones parts, but it was a big hassle to source all the laptop-class parts, and the Dell product is ready to go. Although the Intel X3100 graphics hardware is rather weak for Vista Aero, it does work for its intended purpose. It will be an even better performer when Dell inevitably upgrades the chipset to Centrino 2 (Montevina).Don't compare this to state-of-the art desktop/tower PCs, to laptops, or to cheapo-budget boxes, none of which are the intended market for this product. Compare it to the Mac Mini and to the small form-factor business PCs from Lenovo.
out of 24 user reviews
Backward technology
Pros: Colorfull, small, space saver
Cons: 8x DVD ROM? only 320 gig hard drive at 54000RPMS?
Go figure its a DELL!
You know what this reminds of the I phone hype which to this day still does not offer blue tooth and has the worst reception for a phone due to using old technology.
