Is this laptop any good?

I am looking into buying a laptop before the year is up. I am a writer, so this will mainly be used for typing (little to no gaming). I also might be getting into web/graphic design and would use the laptop for web related projects and college assignments.

I am looking at a Dell Studio 17 (okay...part of the attraction is because I can get it in pink =)) and am looking at all that comes with it (fingerprint reader, 320GB of hard-drive space, 4 GB of RAM, web cam, dvd writer, etc). I'm impressed so far, but I wondered if any of you have had any experience with this computer? If so, I'd like to know the good, bad and the ugly about it and if you have any recommendations. As a student, I'm sorta working on a budget and I don't want to make a purchase I'm going to regret.

Thanks for the help.

~Chels~

 

Here is a fairly comprehensive revue of this laptop (pink :cool) the only thing i can see is you are limited to which GPU you can use but if it is mainly for typing that's no problem but if as you say you want to use it for graphic design then you should investigate further into the GPU capabilities.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4471

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-3670.9595.0.html

 

Thanks! That was really helpful. The only drawback so far for me, is the size...of course, I don't travel and I'll probably be packing it only so far as the library or a friend's house, so I guess its not that big a deal. I checked out the Studio 15, but its a little bit different. Do you know much about the fingerprint reader and how well that works? My siblings figure out my passwords and it'd be really nice to make it game-happy-little-sister proof. :-D

 

Sorry but it's a thing i have never used or needed but no doubt someone here can give you more info.

 

ive had a laptop with biometrics. it works pretty well actually until you get a scrape or cut on your finger...
advice would be to scan all your fingers so you dont have to rely on one finger to unlock you computer. if you get one with biometrics for security, youll see on the software how to scan all your fingers for authentication.

 

Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely remember that.

~Chels~

 

I have the Dell XPS M1530 (now withdrawn ) and it is very good. It has the biometric sensor and from my experience it is about 90% accurate, unless as KingSteve says, you get a cut or scrape on your finger.

The M1530 is a great lappy, and from the reviews I have read of the studio series (the replacements for the M1530 now) they should be very good as well.

 

My friend's Dell Studio 17 has this retarded USB slot on the left side. It's too wide, but it is for sure a USB slot. That means that every time he wants to plug something in, he would have go to actually look at the slot and center the plug exactly, instead of sort of feeling around for the hole.

His keyboard also leaves marks on the screen for some reason. I figure that there should be a space between the keys and the keyboard, but that doesn't seem to be the case with this one. The marks are very hard to get off as well.

I don't know if these problems are specific to his laptop only, but other than these minor things that I see, the Dell Studio 17 is a good laptop to buy. It looks quite good, and people also go "Whoa that's huge".

 

"Whoah, that's huge?" rolleyes Hmmm....I don't mind it being a bit bigger...but toting around a HUGE laptop isn't exactly what I had in mind since I already have a desktop...

I've been browsing through the Dell catalog this morning and I see several other laptops with the memory the Studio version has, such as the Dell Studio 15. Is size the only difference between this and the Studio 17? The fingerprint reader was a plus, but certainly not necessity. Another one I looked at is the Dell Inspiron 15 Pro package. Know anything about this?

I just can't bring myself to purchase an HP or an Acer. The Macbooks are too expensive and there are some other things I've heard about it that don't make it right for me. So I'm trying to keep with Dell, since I've been using one for the past few years.

Thanks for answering my questions! :-D

~Chels~

 

Yes, it's huge. It's also quite heavy.

My friend says that the Studio 15 is pretty much the same as Studio 17. He did a lot of research before he got his computer. The reason he got the 17 is because he wanted a desktop replacement (since his desktop's really old, and he wants portability as well). Having a full keyboard with a numpad is quite advantageous as well.

I don't know much about Inspirons, except that lots of people have them.

 

Hum, hum, hum....*scratches head* Too many choices. =) Guess I'll have to do some more research. At least I know the Studios are reliable.

Thanks you guys for the input!

~Chels~

 

In my opinion the inspiron series are more directed at corporate customers, leading to the large uptake from businesses.

Oh, and the other thing i've just remembered is that the fingerprint scanner can still be bypassed by the use of the standard windows password.

 

Ah, ok. Yeah, from my research I think I might stick with the Studios...probably the 15 instead of the 17. Get the same amount of memory, just a bit smaller.

And what is the point of the scanner if it can be bypassed by a password? lol

~Chels~

 

Well, scanners are faster... At least they should be anyways.
And if you don't type your password, nobody can look over your shoulder and find out.

 

Haha...yeah, that'd be nice. I did that to one of my buddies and re-decorated his facebook...rolleyes I would really like to avoid paybacks at all costs. He wasn't happy with me!! lol