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Entered CNET Catalog: 06/18/2008
SKU: S1535-125B
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
Manufacturer description
PRODUCT FEATURES: Intel Core 2 Duo processors Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display Combo or DVD+RW driveProduct summary
The good: Faster performance than other laptops in the same price range; 4GB of RAM; big 320GB hard drive; HDMI output, touch-sensitive media controls.
The bad: Bulkier than Dell's 15-inch XPS and Inspiron models; merely average battery life.
The bottom line: The Dell Studio S1535-125B impresses us with its leading performance in the sub-$1,000 category, thanks in large part to a speedy Intel CPU and generous memory allotment. Striking a fine balance between Dell's XPS and Inspiron lines, we recommend this well-rounded 15-inch laptop for students and home users alike.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 08/14/2008
Note: This review is part of our Back to School 2008 roundup, covering specific configurations of popular laptops that can be found in retail stores.
Dell's new Studio line incorporates some of the sleek, tapered design of the company's high-end XPS laptops while keeping the price of a nicely equipped machine for less than $1,000. By way of comparison, to build a XPS M1530 similarly configured would cost about $250 more than the retail-only $979 Dell Studio S1535-125B. On the other hand, if you make a few component sacrifices, the thinner, lighter XPS can be had for only $999.
We appreciate the effort that went into matching a decent design with affordable but powerful components (such as an Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a big 320GB hard drive), and the Studio 1535 easily breezed past the other laptops in our mainstream ($800-$999) roundup of back-to-school systems, making it an excellent choice for those seeking processing power short of stepping up to Intel's new Centrino 2 family of CPUs.
| Price as reviewed | $979 |
| Processor | 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 |
| Memory | 2GB, 667MHz DDR2 |
| Hard drive | 320GB 5,400rpm |
| Chipset | Intel GM965 |
| Graphics | Intel GMA X3100 (integrated) |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Premium (64-bit) |
| Dimensions (WxH) | 14.0x10.6 |
| Dimensions (Thickness) | 1.3-1.7 inches |
| Screen size (diagonal) | 15.4 inches |
| System weight / Weight with AC adapter | 6.1/7.0 pounds |
| Category | Mainstream |
The design of this retail-only fixed-configuration version is identical to the customizable direct-from-Dell Studio 15 we looked at recently (although this version is red). While clearly inspired by the popular XPS M1530, the Studio 15 has a more angular look, with its large side hinges curving the screen down at a sharp angle; the XPS presents a more rounded look.
The Studio 15 follows Dell's recent, and welcome, trend of outfitting its nearly all of its laptops with HDMI outputs and touch-sensitive control buttons--you can also get those on even the cheapest Inspiron 15-inch model. Like most Dell laptops, the keyboard's keys are slightly tapered, giving you less surface area to use than flat keys, but we found it comfortable and easy to use.
Unlike the previous Studio 15 we looked at, this less-expensive version has a 1,200x800-pixel native resolution, rather than the 1,440x900-pixel resolution usually found in higher-end 15-inch laptops, and we miss the extra screen real estate the higher resolution affords.
| Dell Studio S1535-125B | Average for category [mainstream] | |
| Video | VGA-out, HDMI, 2-megapixel Webcam | VGA-out, S-Video |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone/ 2x microphone jacks | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks |
| Data | 4 USB 2.0, mini-FireWire, multiformat memory card reader | 4 USB 2.0, SD card reader |
| Expansion | ExpressCard/54 | ExpressCard/54 |
| Networking | Ethernet, 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | modem, Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional WWAN |
| Optical drive | Slot-loading DVD burner | DVD burner |
Unless you're spending a bit more to move up to one of Intel's new Centrino 2 CPUs, Intel's Penryn-class 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 CPU should be your performance-friendly default for mainstream rigs. The chip is a step ahead of the other back-to-school laptops we looked at in this price range, most of which use Intel's lower-end 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T5750, and the difference is notable in our benchmark tests. Also helping the Studio 1535 excel in the labs is its use of the 64-bit version of Windows, which lets the system go beyond the 3GB memory limit of a 32-bit operating system.
The Dell Studio 1535 provides a considerable performance edge compared with other back-to-school laptops in its price class, finishing first on our Multitasking, Photoshop, and iTunes tests. In real-world terms, you're unlikely to notice the difference in casual use (Web surfing, working on office docs, and so on), but it's always preferable to have some extra power under the hood, especially if you're the type who keeps multiple windows open simultaneously, or surfs the Web while encoding MP3s or streaming video.
The Studio 1535 ran for 3 hours and 1 minute on our video playback battery drain test, using the included 6-cell battery. That's right in the middle of the pack for our mainstream back-to-school roundup, and fairly reasonable, but not impressive, for a midsize laptop.
Dell includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system. Support is accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, and an extensive online knowledge base and driver downloads.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Find out more about how we test laptops.
Dell Studio 1535-125B
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100; 4096MB DDR SDRAM 667MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 320GB Western Digital 5,400rpm.
HP Pavilion dv2945se
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-60; 4098MB DDR SDRAM 667MHz; 64MB Nvidia MCP67M; 320GB Fujitsu 5,400rpm.
HP Pavilion dv6985 Special Edition
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5750; 4098MB DDR SDRAM 667MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 250GB Toshiba 5,400rpm.
HP Pavilion dv9925nr
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-60; 4098MB DDR SDRAM 667MHz; 64MB Nvidia MCP67M; 250GB Western Digital 5,400rpm.
Sony Vaio VGN-CR150E Windows Vista Home Premium SP1; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5750; 3072MB DDR SDRAM 667MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 250GB Fujitsu 5,400rpm.
Sony Vaio VGN-NR498 E/W
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5750; 3072MB DDR SDRAM 667MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 250GB Seagate 5,400rpm.
Toshiba Satellite A305-S6858
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5750; 4098MB DDR SDRAM 667MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 300GB Toshiba 5,400rpm
Toshiba Satellite U405D-S2852
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1; 2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile RM-70; 3072MB DDR SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB ATI Radeon 3100; 250GB Hitachi 5,400rpm.
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 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 User Rating: 
4/10
Great computer, if you only want/need for a year.
Pros: Great look, love Vista, light weight, etc.
Cons: 1.) Keyboard is cheap, and feels like it.
2.) System itself requires lots of patience, has problems shutting down. Computer requires a specific shut down sequence, otherwise it won't shut down, merely closing the laptop won't work for hibernation.
But third AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: in the 14th month of this computer's life: THE MOTHERBOARD DIED. Dell, is absolutely not helpful if your warranty (of 12 months) is expired and the cost of repair through Dell is incredibly overpriced. Upon doing more internet research, my Dell Studio 1535 was not the only one to suffer this massive motherboard catastrophe, in fact I found multiple petitions looking for signatures for Dell to RECALL this product. Most of the Studio 1535's had the same exact problem as mine, shortly after the warranty expired, this is obviously a DEFECT, and SHOULD BE RECALLED.
Dell customer service is an absolute joke. I spent an hour on the phone being told that if I wanted to talk to a certified technician I would be charged $49, and then after being charged someone MAY OR MAY NOT be able to TELL ME what's wrong with my laptop, let alone the price to FIX IT. When I refused to accept that charge stating that, "I can google the symptoms and find out what's wrong for free," the person I was speaking to simple said, "Then do that then." At which point I asked to be connected to customer service, and spent the next 20 minutes being put on hold, picked up, put on hold again, because apparently there IS NO CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT, and finally being connected to sales, where they tried to sell me a new motherboard. On top of all of that, the salesman informed me that even if I bought a new motherboard from Dell, they could not (or would not) be able to provide the service of installation, and I would have to hire a local technician to install the new motherboard (priced at a discounted $209, but normally priced at $239 + $30 shipping).
After this experience, and learning all that I know about this product now, I can safely say, I will NEVER buy a Dell computer again.
The only reason I give it 2/5, is because the year that it did run, it ran smoothly and suited my needs.
User Rating: 
2/10
Inexpensive and powerful machine but mired by defects
Pros: Good aesthetic, powerful, and has very quick perfomance speed
Cons: The numerous defects and poor customer service cancel out what could have possibly been an extraordinary machine
- A broken backlight illumination
- Frequent error messages about my charger (given to me by Dell) being of a wrong voltage
- Non responsive mousepad
- frozen touch pad volume controls
- hinge joint connecting the screen and the base that became separated
These problems were further exacerbated by the lack of expertise of Dell help personnel, who told me to download software to fix the physical problem of my hinge joint. The Studio 1535 could have received a much higher review had the simple problems been hammered out pre-production, however, the real damage has been done by Dell's own abysmal customer service
User Rating: 2/10
do not buy a dell
Pros: i like that you can pick your own color
Cons: Almost everything. The version of internet explorer that comes with is not compatible with adobe flash. My computer will shut down out of the blue; The touch pad is the most frustrating thing!
User Rating: 
1/10
Just Don't
Pros: Not Worth It
Cons: Customer Service SUCKS.
User Rating: 2/10
Lousy product line from Dell
Pros: The performance is good because I have a intel core2 and 4GB RAM.
Cons: It's a useless model from Dell. My Dell Studio 1535 touchpad dose not work. It's gone back to Dell service center 4 times they have even given me a new one, even that sucks, same problem. This model is defective don't waste your money.
User Rating: 
9/10
Best option for students...
Pros: Good speed, graphics, power, portability, etc. It is Fully loaded and power packed.
Cons: Its bit Heavy in weight.
User Rating: 
6/10
Studio 1537 - final verdict not looking good
Pros: Design, speed, hard drive size, number of ports, link to our home wireless set up was effortless.
Cons: Laptop is fresh out of the box and it will freeze for no reason. Sometimes I have to push & hold the power button to reboot. Other times I waited for 45-180 seconds and it unfroze itself and came back to life.
I wonder if I got a lemon and should return it, or, if the laptop needs to initially "creak and groan" to get going and once it does, it'll be fine. Any helpful insight out there? I am giving this a week and if these issues continue, the unit will have to be returned.
User Rating: 
3/10
Not worth the continual hardware problems...
Pros: back-lit keyboard, speedy performance.
Cons: --------------READ FURTHER------------------
I have had nothing but a negative experience with this laptop. I am very knowledgeable with computers but when you have hardware failing and glitching left and right and Dell just "can't help", what are you to do?
BOTTOM LINE: Don't buy it. You think you'll be the one who gets the perfect one with no problems, but countless Studio Notebooks are just poorly made trash. Even the casing for this thing sucks.
User Rating: 1/10
Buyer Beware!
Pros: Apparent value when price compared to statistics
Cons: Actual value when you realize you paid $800-$1000 on a brick.
User Rating: 
8/10
One great buy; the Studio 15 is an excellent laptop!
Pros: Fast Boot up times, fast in general, no latch on cover (magnet-like), finger print reader and webcam are excellent, Integrated graphics card is good but not excellent, 64-Bit Vista. Excellent design, speakers are better than imagined
Cons: The touch keys take about 5 minutes to work after the laptop boots. The touch-pad is wacky.
I received my Dell Studio 15 in the mail on Monday with high expectations. And... It met nearly all of them!
-The Jet Black finish that mine came with looked nice. I also love the no-latch cover.
-Even for the first boot, it was very fast. Once loaded the laptop is very fast, probably the fastest PC I have ever owned.
-2.1 GHz Core 2 Duo and 4GB of RAM help to make the laptop faster.
-The fingerprint reader is an excellent addition to the laptop, I enjoy being able to sign in to my laptop (and impress friends and family) with the swipe of a finger.
-The webcam is fast and is very responsive. It comes with software that gives you sweet Photo Booth-like effects.
-The GMA X3100 graphics card is nice, not the best though. It can play Halo 2 Vista, Spore, and Call of Duty 4 on low settings at 10-50 FPS.
-Another great thing is 64-Bit Vista, which can utilize more than 3 GB of RAM.
My only Cons for this laptop are:
- The touch buttons above the keyboard take about 5 minutes after booting up to work. This isn't so horrible, but the touch keys are the only way that you can access speaker controls (besides going to the taskbar and using the sound option from there).
-The touchpad on the laptop has issues. Although it feels good to put your finger on, this thing goes wacky and jumps from spot to spot whenever the Hard Drive is thinking. I connected a USB laser mouse to the computer and it works fine. I think that Dell needs to fix this issue. Although it doesn't effect me(because I like a mouse more than a touchpad), it will effect constant travelers.
Overall this is a great laptop for anybody who uses a PC daily. It has the power you need to get things done. If you can overcome the touchpad's issues (or buy a mouse) then this is a superb laptop.
User Rating: 9/10
Great Mobile POWERHOUSE!!!!
Pros: Battery Life
Processor Speed
Multitasking ability
Look
Cons: The higher power 9 cell battery sticks out at the bottom which is unattractive but keeps air flowing.Thats it.
User Rating: 8/10
Very capable decent sized laptop
Pros: Decent keyboard, neat-o button-less controls for volume and disc eject (plus a few others) stays relatively cool during use, no lock to open, quite stylish rubber-like cover, no disc tray for me to break
Cons: This is NOT a gaming laptop though it will play WoW relatively well on lower settings, the eject button(less) does not always eject the disc and will cause some frustration, the cover does not lock (pro or con)
The average user moving from a desktop to a laptop will have a great time with this laptop.
User Rating: 2/10
Computer unstable from the start
Pros: don't know never got to use it
Cons: nothing seems to work correctly
I purchase the Studio 1537, for my sister as a Christmas gift. When we first opened, it is definitely an impressive machine with tons of great features. We were really excited to get the machine up and running. From the very beginning the machine was very slow. We had difficulty with the webcam at first but after running some updates that seemed to be resolved, but the machine was still slow. The finger print reader never worked and actually is the reason for the machine being unstable. We received numbers microsoft sync errors. After sitting with dell support 4 different times through 4 different solutions the finger print reader would still not work. It would also seem to be resolved but within a couple of hours it would stop working and ruin the machine again. I think we were with a tech rep an average of 2.5 hours every time we called. Dell is shipping us a new machine and promises that the new machine will not experience any issues. They will test and ensure that is in great order. Why don't they make sure of this for every order.
This is an incomplete review and I will update it once we have received the new machine and have gotten some use. I hope we just got the lemon in the batch.
At this point I would never by a Dell again.
User Rating: 8/10
My Christmas Present To Myself/Dell 15.4 Studio NB
Pros: -Dell's Quality
-Dell's 3 year full warranty--with onsite service
-LoJack 3 year coverage--tracking device in case of theft
-Slot Blu-Ray CD/DVD slot
-Included Microsoft Office-Student Edition
-Extra entertainment software included
-Remote
Cons: -Substandard internal speakers
-A bit on the heavy side
-Would have preferred some USB connections stored in the rear of the Computer vs. on all of them on each side
This is my 4th Dell Computer--2 Desktop Computers-2 Notebook Computers. Dell's quality can not be negotiated. The screen is bright, the features of this system are numerous as this is my 1st experience with a Blu-Ray Drive. I always appreciate a remote control that is easily stored in the express card slot. QVC's software accessories are also noteworthy. Please note that the 'power button' is on the right side at the bottom of the screen---which is odd to me, but not an issue. A real plus is the full version of the Microsoft Office-Student Edition which includes, Word 2007, Excel and Powerpoint 2007. (Business Emailers will still need to purchase & install Microsoft Outlook)*
My ONLY significant complaint is the speaker system for external listening is substandard. The sound reminds me of an old transister radio. I spent (2) hours on the phone with Dell trying to troubleshoot--and enhance the sound. After downloading several upgrades, nothing really changed. This is the reason for a 4 Star rating vs. a 5 Star rating. However, if you plug in Headphones----which I plugged in my Blackberry Storm Smartphone Headphones----the sound was FANTASTIC! I plan to purchase some Bose Earplugs & Bose External Speakers-----which will probably send me to MARS smiling*
On the Studio Model that I purchased, I did not have the lighted keyboard or the finger print reader----both of which I would have liked to have. The system I purchased was preconfigured.
Last, you should know that the Notebook does NOT come with a dial up 56K Modem.
User Rating: 8/10
nice pc, great features. stay away from vista 64 bit os
Pros: lighted keyboard
biometric sensor
Cons: vista 64 bit os
User Rating: 4/10
ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE
Pros: THE MACHINE ITSELF SEEMS TO WORK FINE FOR DOING SCHOOLWORK
Cons: There customer service is the worst I have ever experienced. Lpatop arrived six weeks from the estimated ship date when I configured and ordered it online.
have this new DELL studio 1535 laptop, and old Compaq laptop that has served me very well for 8 years, and my home PC is a HP. I bought the DELL laptop because it was cheaper than the equivallent HP. You will probably pay a few buck more for an HP but there customer service blows away DELL. After what I went thrue to actually get this delivered from DELL I can't imagine what kind of grief I might have to go thrue if I ever need to contact DELL again for service.
User Rating: 
10/10
This Laptop is better than the reviews suggest
Pros: Speed
Backlit keyboard
Weight (not heavy for it's size)
Performance
Options
Price
Cons: The Speakers
The only actual negative thing I can point out on this laptop are the speakers. They are usable, but lacking what I would expect from a laptop in this class. It is not noticeable unless you play music or DVDs.
I cannot stress the underrated user reviews on this laptop being incorrect. I got the new Centrino 2 CPU and the 800 Mhz ram but everything else was the same specs. This laptop flat out performs very well. Mine is very fast and boots up quickly. I have not been in front of my desktop much since I got this laptop. I can also say that the performance of this laptop would allow me to get by without my desktop.
The backlit keyboard is very nice for my use too. The screen is bright and tack sharp it is also the LED backlit screen, but I would have liked more resolution. This laptop does come with some crapware that I would rather them not put on there (Google desktop, ect...), but all computers do. I really like the fingerprint reader; you can login to windows and websites with it. There is also an option for facial recognition software for the webcam, but it was not something I wanted.
One neat thing is that you get the cd media and Dell has also put a backup image on there so you can restore it to the factory build. You do not get both options all of the time.
One last thing to mention is that I also got the Dell Mini 9 on sale for 139.00 when I bought this laptop and with the two combined it was an awesome deal and if you have this option then do it. While the Studio is not heavy for its size there are times the Mini 9 is nice when you want something small to carry.
Bottom line, do not rely on the user reviews for this laptop; the Cnet review is more accurate representation of what you will experience. You will not regret your purchase if you go through Dell. I think Dell?s mistake was allowing there systems to be sold by a 3rd party.
User Rating: 10/10
I have had mine over a month and have had NO problem!
Pros: Great design and easy to carry with a book bag or laptop sleeve.
Cons: Battery could be better.
User Rating: 10/10
I have had zero problems. I can't believe the reviews.
Pros: The look, backlit keyboard, speed, Bluetooth, Dell web cam, fingerprint reader, etc.
Cons: When closed, the keyboard kind of marks up the screen with outline smudges. It's nothing permanent but I have to wipe it. Also, the screen is a bit dark when it's not plugged in and only running on the battery.
User Rating: 3/10
Pain and Suffering!
Pros: Long battery life, can run multiple programs, built in camera, very cool program that runs with it, I like the speak and write program,
Cons: Purchased @ Best Buy. Crashed on 2nd day. Than it crashed 30 more times after that, than back light went out. Returned to BB for MFG repair ETA was 11/25 as of 12/5 no laptop.
User Rating: 2/10
unstable with terrible customer no service
Pros: Light up keyboard, fingerprint reader... that's about it.
Cons: everything else. My computer crashes all the time. It freezes, stops responding and shuts down frequently. Customer service refuses to help even though I have only had the computer for 3 months.
Updated on Nov 30, 2008terrible computer. Don't buy. It's unstable and crashes frequently. Customer no service is the worst I have ever experienced.
User Rating: 2/10
PLEASE READ THIS REVIEW
Pros: The options list is great. The fingerprint reader is nice to have to login to windws quickly. The bluetooth is handy.
Cons: To bad nothing works right.
Updated on Dec 6, 2008Well I got my laptop back from the repair center. So far it is working great. No blue screen. I am not going to speak to soon but I sure hope that it is fixed this time. I will take Dell to small claims court but I really don?t want to go through the hassle. The next thing I am going to test is to leave it on all night and see if it will screw up then. I reinforce what I said last posting. The next time I buy a computer it certainly will not be a dell. I am actually checking out the sony's and I like what I see. If this thing screws up again I will be posting another update. Good luck you all.
User Rating: 1/10
Crashed in less than 1 week - defective product
Pros: Rubberized texture on back of screen, attractive design. Great specs at the price
Cons: Product was defective and unusable.
Unfortunately, after three days (the day after I loaded MS Office), the laptop began a cycle of rebooting itself repeatedly. It would usually get just short of pulling windows up and then reboot without any blue screen of death, but every third time or so it would give me the blue screen. Just about once out of every ten reboots it would go to windows and give me about five minutes of functionality before rebooting or going to the blue screen. I contacted Best Buy and their immediate advice was to return the defective laptop. This was rather disappointing since I was rather happy that I had found what I thought was a great laptop to replace my current HP Pavillion that I bought in December of 2005 and had brought with me on my deployment to Iraq. That one is approaching the end of its life, but is still working, so I can't understand why a brand new Dell can't last for three days.
Perhaps Best Buy is selling defective Dell Studios, but I would advise against purchasing this laptop from them (except they have a good return policy...for the first 14 days...and the product is actually defective). I had read the negative reviews on this site and thought I would risk it. So much for that gamble.
For the two days when the laptop worked I was impressed with the design of the laptop and it seemed to go relatively fast. I did notice a discrepancy between the speaker volume and the headphone volume. If I had the volume right for the headphones, it was too quiet on the speakers and vice versa. Additionally, the power cord sticks into the right side of the laptop along with two of the USB ports. If you have the power plugged in and/or have one or more wired USB devices plugged into the right side USB ports, the wires will interfere with mouse movement...if you're right handed. Lastly, the eject button on the media bar did not work, requiring you to right click on the CD drive icon and select "eject". In one case a CD was loaded into the slot, but was not recognized by the computer, so the CD drive icon did not appear. This caused me to have to reboot the laptop so that the CD would be recognized, causing the CD drive icon to disappear, just so I could right-click on it to eject the CD. This is never a problem with a tray CD drive, since you can use the paper-clip eject method, which is not available on this laptop. This would surely have become a problem later.
This laptop looks great on paper (and in Cnet's review), and if I had to review it in the first hour or so that I had it, I would have given it the same score that Cnet did. Since I purchased it and thus had it for a little longer, I know better. Good luck getting one that isn't defective.
User Rating: 10/10
productivity & performance, mine is fully loaded! : )
Pros: the dell studio 1535 is fast, reliable, performance, style and graphics, great productivity because of the ability to multitask. also great for media storage if you carry a lot of pictures like me: comprehensible. my battery last past the 3 hours.
Cons: it is feel a lil' heavy/bulky...but it is worthy.
it troubles me with the bluetooth remote. i had to install it several times because dissapears from time to time...
User Rating: 3/10
Not worth the Trouble :( or gas money for repairs !
Pros: When it worked ..it was great. Nice size, long battery time, good screen. BOTH of them .. had to replace twice in one month.
Cons: Didn't know until I called Dell for support the first time, they cannot help and will tell you to call Best Buy for service. Two new Studio's and both bad. Had to use old Sony or Blackberry for emails, etc.
User Rating: 10/10
Did half these people even buy this computer?
Pros: Nicely built and Fast.
Cons: None that I could see. Sorry to all the bashers of Dell out there.
Reading some of these posts it looks like some people haven't even bought the product or they are talking about another Dell Product?
I agree that Dell Support can be a pain, but I've learned how to talk with them.
(You really need to get to third level support before you find someone who knows what they are talking about. Honestly but that's true in any support structure)
(I was third level support at Intel for 16 years)
I think this is a Great Laptop and I would recommend it..
I don't have a clue what these other people are talking about? Maybe they don't like Michael Dell? OH well
User Rating: 4/10
Not all is what it seems
Pros: Runs pretty well. Nice graphics. Runs the games I put on it. Feels sturdy.
Cons: Little sluggish on start up. Disk Drive keeps ejecting the disk. Called Dell Several times and keep getting told that I can't be helped at that time. Write e-mails telling me to call and in the end I'm mad and still have my problem
User Rating: 2/10
Streaming audo and video drop-outs
Pros: Looks nice. Good keyboard design.
Cons: Latency caused by key device drivers causes drop-outs of streaming audio. Cnet should run DPC Latency checker as part of it's review process to see if a computer device drivers are going to cause a problem with streaming audio and video.
User Rating: 3/10
Many problems in first month
Pros: LED backlight, many options, it looks good
Cons: bad hard drive, doesnt wake up out of sleep mode sometimes, DVD drive randomly keeps trying to eject dvd, when no dvd is in drive. replacement parts are on backorder
User Rating: 4/10
Cd Drive Issues
Pros: Looks Pretty, If your a teenage girl you will love it
Cons: 3 hours after delivery, the CD/DVD drive on my Studio 1535 refused to read any CD's and ejected them when open was selected in explorer.
After 4 calls to Dell Tech Support, i am yet 'apparently' to get routed to the correct department.
User Rating: 2/10
AVOID: Defective Product from Best Buy
Pros: Good processing speed and nice display for the 5 days that it worked.
Cons: Dead Screen found within 2 new laptops.
Shame on Best Buy and Dell for not handling these issues before these are sent out.
2 Dead screens:
1. Initial product delivered had a screen that was dead on arrival (pitch black). I called Dell tech support (listed as an option on in box flyer), but was told that they did not support the item. I had to take it to Best Buy. The Geek Squad told me the best thing to do was return it for a full refund and then reorder the whole thing again online. So that's what I did.
2. The new computer arrived and worked great for 5 days. No complaints. Until the screen went dead again!!!
User Rating: 8/10
better than expected
Pros: fast, good screen
Cons: none so far
User Rating: 1/10
Abysmal should be all in block CAPITALS
Pros: The packing case
Cons: I don't like the fact that it does not work.. The screen is almost total darkness.. I took delivery today ..
I hate the fact that Dell technical support asked me to open up a machine that was just delivered .
I hate the fact that their next best option was to send a technician to by house, who would attempt to carry out a repair on the kitchen table ..
I hate the fact that all the options that Dell could offer had to be in compliance with THEIR PROCEDURES..... What about my procedures ????? .. Maybe I want my money ( that Dell has had for the past three weeks) refunded..
Maybe I need "think it all out again"
User Rating: 1/10
Avoid - Broken on Delivery, 21 Days to Replace
Pros: High res screen (I upgraded)
Better config then Inspiron
Pricing compared to XPS
Cons: Broken on arrival - after 10 minutes internal fan rubbing
Told it could take up to 21 business days to replace (total of 1 1/2 months before I get a working computer)
Housing is a bit much
