Its a good buy but don't expect extremely high performance from it. Battery Life Battery life was a lot better than i expected! Speed/Performance Thought it would've been better. Design I also love the design of this laptop Durability Very nice durability

BornForcod

USA

I do not recommend for those seeking high mobility or more advanced gaming. Too big and excruciating to use as a laptop or travel computer. Above-average advanced graphics card is nullified by blockage of fan vents by LCD, causing high-graphics games and computer to crash. This laptop is ok as a desktop replacement and media player. Ease of Use * They got rid of the NumLock key, which is terrible since we all have to enter numbers at one point or another. It turns out that you can still use the 10-key pad functionality by holding down Fn key while pressing the appropriate keys on the right side (the same ones as on older Dell models), but the keys aren't labeled accordingly anymore as they were on older models, so you have to type blind. Still, it's an annoyance having to hold down the Fn key when we need to type in number or make calculations. * They totally had room to include a numLock key. Instead, they made the keys bigger, and consequently harder to use. The keys are so big and spread apart that you have to stretch and move your hands to reach them. Perhaps good for big people with thick fingers, but typo- and carpel tunnel-inducing for people with small hands like me. Hardware Quality Had an above-average graphics card when I first bought this PC. Support & Service I got the next-business-day warranty where they send out the parts and technician within 1 or 2 business days. Upside is no having to drop off at UPS or waiting for a week for the laptop. Downside is no full testing of the system; if the problems were not diagnosed correctly when you first called support, they may not get resolved because the needed parts are not on hand. For instance, once I originally called support because a USB port had died, but when the technician came, the optical drive also died. The technician couldn't do anything about it because he only brought a replacement USB port. Another time, the technician came to replace a USB port, only to find that the "replacement" USB port he received was also broken! Durability The price one pays for packing advanced graphics into a portable package is flimsiness in the materials. Have had the keyboard, usb ports, and optical drive replaced multiple times already. Dell quality control has really gone down the tubes. Within 5 months of buying this laptop, I've had 5 different parts replaced, some of them 2-4 times in a row! That's because the original parts and even the replacement parts Dell sends are broken half the time. Design Pros: * The backlit keyboard is awesome, of course. * Merlot red w/ leather grip is attractice and handy. * Large, glossy screen displays movies wonderfully. Bass is nice enough. Cons: * I wish they didn't make the 9-cell battery pack jut below the laptop. Although this raises the keyboard at a slight for easier typing, I would have preferred having the battery lie flat against the bottom, for 2 reasons. First, the raised platform make the laptop impossible to use on my actual lap. The jutting down battery juts into my thighs, cuts off the circulation, and is extremely painful. Second, raising the laptop from the table leaves gaps on the sides. Pens and other items are always rolling or sliding underneath there; you always have to lift up the laptop just to find your things. * I hate how Dell made every surface glossy on this laptop, including the screen and the palmrests. Sure, the glossiness looks fancy and impressive, but the glossy screen is hard to view in sunlight. The glossy palmrests make it impossible to use an optical mouse on them! which is essential when your desktop space is limited, e.g., when sitting on a plane. * Note many cases/backpacks will not fit a laptop of this size. Very unwieldy and hard to use on an airplane. * I wish the power button were accessible without having to open the laptop. It is located almost all the way in towards the screen. Performance Would have been good, except that games crash during intense action scenes, probably due to the overheating problem caused by the blocked vents. The whole reason I bought this laptop was to (1) play higher-graphics games and (2) play the games wherever I travel. However, Dell made the completely bizarre decision to have the LCD screen block the fan vents! Higher-graphics games and the computer crash during intense action scenes, rendering the more advanced graphics card completely pointless.

Ryl

USA

I got my Dell Studio XPS 1645 about one month ago, and I LOVE IT! I have the Core 2 Duo processor, 1080P RGB LED Display, with leather accents. It is a really classy laptop, and I really love the design. It is extremely fast, and the display is second to none! Hooking up the studio xps to my 1080 50" LED flat panel produces a brilliant picture, and is a great way to watch DVD's and such. I use this laptop for about 8 hours a day and get decent battery life.. about 3 hours with normal tasks and internet browsing. My laptop was also a certified refurbished by Dell, but there are no defects or blemished , and it works just like new! I couldn't really ask for me for the laptop that can do it all. I am very pleased with the purchase. Unfortunately Dell's new XPS line isn't as asthetically pleasing, and I am glad I purchased this model even though this design has been produced for a few years now.

calee18

Gainesville, FL

The Dell studio is great for graphic designers! review. Ive had this item for two years and yes it has great potential and is one of the best laptops in the market It is quite light in weight Pro's: When is started using this item, everything was superfast! On the outside its absolutely beautiful, very glossy and comes in good colors. On the right it has a sd card slot, cd drive, usb drive.on the left side there are a Kensington log bg port, 10 100 thousand gigabit, display port, hdmi port, two more sd card slots two headphone jacks, one mic jack. On the back there is a vent. On the bottom case is metal The keyboard is very well innovative when in the dark press the light key button which is in the middle of the key board and the whole keyboard lights up! It has a on or off wireless wifi switch. It also has a 2.0 megapixel camera. The 2 imbeded sterios works very well. The screen is rgb led screen backlit. The typing makes it reall quiet. It does gaming and movies. Gaming wise it does get really hot but never overheated. As for movies, it does have a 100-degree viewing angle lets you easily share movies and photos with family and friends With the vista it has a nice docking system so its user friendly. Here are the more deeper specs, for the hardrive is 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 Processor. The memory bank is 4GB Memory and 320GB Hard Drive, DVD?R/RW Optical Drive.The screen size is 15.6" Display, ATI Mobility Radeon M96XT Graphics. The memory bank is 4GB Memory and 320GB Hard Drive is great because I have Adobe premium design Cs3, so I was able to install all of the programs for my graphic designs. I was able to get adobe illustrator cs3, adobe photoshop cs3, adobe indesign cs3, adobe flash cs3, adobe dreamweaver cs3 which is about a 1gb or half a gb each. However I was still able to download itunes, skype etc. It does have Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit). The battery life is tremendous and goes up to 3 Hours 8 Minutes. Its p**roduct Dimensions are **17.1 x 4.6 x 19.2 inches Cons: the screens have somewhat of a glare problem, when u move the screen back and forth, the color does change. The cpu unit also know as the fan unit doesn't generate enough power to make sure the computer is cooled. In other words if I use this often as I normally do, the touch pad becomes very hot! In two years the batter goes from 3 hours to 1 hour so buying a extra battery is a plus.

thekritic

Tulsa, OK

I was really eager to get this laptop, from seeing unboxing videos and other pictures online. I did a lot of research on the system, and felt I would be satisfied with the laptop. When I received it, I liked it initially. It is big, and heavy, but that was expected for such a powerful laptop. The problem is, the laptop was too powerful with the i7 processor and other specs. It constantly froze, was slow to respond, and had poor battery life. I was not satisfied with it, and I felt it might be defective. This was not the case, after being serviced. It continued to act "as normal" so I contacted Dell for a refund. After sending it back, I got a Mac and am very pleased with the reliability. Do not recommend this product.

reviews12345

Medford, NJ

I bought my Dell XPS in February of this year and I have never had a problem with it. The only issue I have ever had with my XPS was when it caught a virus. That happened because I had inadequate virus protection. I have since purchased virus protection and have had no further issues. The graphic are great. My digital pictures look clear and, well, photo quality. I have no problem adding new hardware. It is not compatible with digital HD video cameras, but every other brand I used worked fine. The memory is fantastic. I am not incredibly computer savvy, but I am a college student who attends classes online, so I download items on a regular basis. This computer has never slowed down and I do all of my schoolwork from it. I'm actually using it now to write this review. The comlaint I had when I bought it was that my model was equipped with Windows Vista, which carried Microsoft works, and not Microsoft Word, which is required to attend my classes. I had to purchase Office 2007, but that's more of an issue with Microsoft and not Dell.  Loading time is fast no matter how many windows I have open. I do a majority of my research, for work and school, online. I can often be found online simultaneously networking, attending class, and researching, while writing in papers or articles offline. I am a multitasker and my XPS can really handle the workload.  

jennifertustin

Hudson, NH

I'm very satisfied with my Dell Studio XPS 16 notebook computer.  The only thing I don't like is the glossy surface, which attracts fingerprints like a magnet.  All the technical features are great --- I love the slot-load DVD burner.  I would definitely recommend this product.  This is my fourth Dell laptop, and I don't plan to purchase another brand.  Dell is the best!

ddoz

Mcdonough, GA

I am here today to write about my great experience I have had with my Dell Studio XPS 16 ... so far. I am a very happy customer and have had a history with Dell as well as other laptop manufacturers. It is safe to say that the Studio XPS 16 is one of the best laptops on the market. Mine is somewhat customized which is a great thing that Dell offers, This laptop is a leading performer. It contains quality products which are soundly tuned to get every job done. The graphics card is great and projects a clear crisp picture onto the LED screen. With the option of a Blu-Ray player it just makes it that much better for you to watch your favorite movies on it. The system runs very smooth and can handle several applications at a time with its Core 2 Duo processor. *Watch out it warms up a bit. After an hour of use, the bottom of this notebook gets pretty warm. I purchased a cooling fan to push cool air into it, but it tends to still run warm. The placement of the ports is great, I wish there had been a couple more USB ports since a lot of accessories are USB based nowadays. The light-up control buttons at the top of the keypad are conveniently placed (includes wifi, playback options, sound control as well as your disc eject button). The speakers: 2 small speakers with great power. The speakers play crisp sound and handle high dBs quite well. I wish they were larger and ran a little longer length of the notebook. The keyboard is very easy to type on, especially in low lit areas because of its ability to lite the back of the keyboard. I am very picky when it comes to keyboards and this one seems to fit me perfectly. I am very pleased with the product and look forward to purchasing from Dell in the future and possibly upgrading some of the components when they come available.

JacobBracket

Santa Rosa, CA

I have had this Laptop for just under a year and it is Great! The speed, the quality of sound and picture is TOP OF THE LINE! Worth every single penny that i spent. It hooks very easy to my HD tv so I can watch Netflix.The picture quality is just like being in the movies. I also like how soft the butttons are on the keyboard. They don't stick and easy to clean and maintain.

kannllee

Fort Leonard Wood, MO

I have a Dell Studio, and I love it.  I have had other computers thru the years, but I always go back to Dell.  They back up their product with awesome customer service.  If something doesn't work right, they will make it right, whether they need to send you another part or get tech support to help you.

shyshay

Watertown, NY