Dell Studio XPS 16: the Eyes Have It
by Jarred Walton on April 2, 2009 6:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Subjective Evaluation
Using the Studio XPS 16 on a day-to-day basis, mostly the experience is what you would expect. Performance is more than fast enough for all but the most demanding users, and the only area where performance might be a concern is if you want to play 3D games.
As always, the first thing we did after booting up the laptop was to remove all the extra software that we didn't want - things like Norton Internet Security, for example. We were still left with a lot of miscellaneous processes, but most are typical tools that you would use on a notebook and don't consume a lot of resources: drivers for the GPU, audio, Intel chipset, touchpad, and power saving and keyboard shortcuts. With a dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 64-bit OS, we're not overly concerned about shutting down every extra process.
Once we had all of our applications and benchmarks installed, we began using the Studio XPS 16 on a regular basis. Two features stood out from other laptops, with the most noticeable being the LCD. As we've already hinted, this is without doubt the best laptop LCD we've used. Colors are vibrant and noticeably better than on other notebooks, and they're good enough to rival many desktop LCDs. Our only complaint is that the LCD is still a TN panel. Some might say that TN panels have more limited viewing angles, which is desirable for a notebook since you don't want people looking over your shoulder all the time. Honestly, if that's what you're worried about you could pick up any of the hundreds of other notebooks that also use TN panels. Personally, we would love the option to purchase a laptop with a PVA or IPS LCD - or perhaps we'll just need to wait for OLEDs to come down in price.
The other feature that we came to appreciate was the keyboard with its backlighting. The backlighting makes it easier to use the laptop in dark environments without fishing for keys - something you can really appreciate at presentations and conferences. We also just like the overall feel of the keyboard and the key placement. Opinions differ about the location of certain keys, as well as whether or not number keypads should be included on larger notebooks. Dell has always done very well when it comes to notebook keyboard layouts, and given the choice between the clean layout of the Studio XPS 16 and a layout that manages to cram in a number keypad, we'll take the Studio XPS 16. Of course, it's also possible to get the best of both worlds and get a clean layout along with a number keypad, but that might require something larger than a 16" chassis.
One item that's a bit odd at first involves the LCD backlighting. Most laptops change brightness levels quickly at the touch of a button. The RGB LEDs apparently don't change intensity as far as CCFLs or white LEDs, so there's a lag of a couple seconds between when you adjust the brightness and when you see the result. If you start at maximum brightness and quickly change to minimum intensity, you get a slow fade with colors that temporarily distort. It only lasts a few seconds, but the first time it happens you might think something is wrong. Once the backlight intensity stabilizes, however, things are great. In fact, outside of the first few seconds the backlight stabilizes much faster than other LCDs - CCFLs for example need 30 minutes or more to "warm up", but the RBG LEDs appear to hold steady within a minute or two of changing the intensity.
Our only real complaint about the XPS 16 is an old refrain: battery life. Frankly, we were a bit surprised that battery life wasn't longer, as most of the components are rather tame as far as power requirements go. Once again, we can only wish that more laptops allowed users to disable the discrete GPUs in order to conserve battery life. The Mobility Radeon HD 3670 isn't a high-end GPU, but it definitely uses more power than integrated graphics, and the technology now exists to provide both graphics performance as well as battery life.
Dell provides a 9-cell upgraded battery option, which improves battery life by roughly 60% over the standard 6-cell battery. The extended battery raises the back of the laptop about an inch, but the design is clever and manages to keep the laptop balanced. The problem is that even with the extended battery, maximum battery life tops out at less than four hours, or just over two hours with the regular battery. That's with the display brightness turned down most of the way; crank up the brightness to maximum and idle battery life checks in at a paltry 108 minutes - but admittedly, at almost 300 nits there's rarely a need to run at maximum brightness.
While the Studio XPS 16 isn't perfect, looking at the whole package there's still a lot to like... or rather, there's one aspect that we really like a lot. The LCD alone makes this laptop worth the price of admission for those who value quality displays. That's not to say the display is perfect, but so far we haven't seen anything better. Obviously, if Dell can go out and purchase this LCD, other manufacturers can as well. Prices and other features might vary slightly, but we wouldn't count on finding this sort of display in a laptop that doesn't cost close to $1500.
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baadcatj - Friday, April 3, 2009 - link
Hey Jarred, following the link, Dell still has the $343 off special with the upgraded panel, but it looks like they changed it as it doesn't include the upgraded cpu - unless I missed something; If it is still available with the processor upgrade, will you please let me know what I'm doing wrong?Thx & great job on the article :-)
JarredWalton - Friday, April 3, 2009 - link
My guess is that Dell realized their mistake and changed the CPU out. I know when I first looked it was a T9550... unless I was seeing things? :-)Joelist - Friday, April 3, 2009 - link
It is definitely not one of the JMicron crap jobs.I have one of these with the SSD and the T9550. It is VERY fast, and the SSD even makes it run a lot cooler than expected. There is no stuttering and everything is super responsive.
Remember that any Dell SSD will be Samsung, as the two are strategic partners on the SSD front.
JarredWalton - Friday, April 3, 2009 - link
I've updated the text to clarify, but even the Samsung SSDs aren't perfect, http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=35...">as seen here. I stand by the recommendation that if you really want an SSD, read Anand's article and then purchase one on your own. Personally, I wouldn't even consider anything less than the Indilinx options, but I'd try for the Intel models.MadBoris - Sunday, April 5, 2009 - link
"(Note: one reader indicates the SSD uses a Samsung controller, which is better than the JMicron options. However, Samsung SSDs are still prone to degradation over time.)"I guess you are unaware how folks out there have stumbled on how badly Intel X25-m's degrade. There has been several forums where users have come across it and have noticed really bad drops in the Intels but here's pcperspectives test as one example.
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=669">http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=669
Running the right or wrong benchies on the Intel can make it look great or horrible. X25-m is still nice but it has some serious issues too that the Samsung 256GB doesn't have.
Quote from pcper on the intel x25-m "Once internal fragmentation reached an arbitrary threshold (somewhere around 40 MB/sec average write speed), the drive would seem to just give up on ‘adapting’ its way back to solid performance. In absence of the mechanism that normally tries to get the drive back to 100%, large writes do little to help, and small writes only compound the issue by causing further fragmentation. In several tests our write speeds dropped to 25-30 MB/s and simply refused to recover on their own, even with several successive passes of HDTach as well as any other application we could find to write a solid file across the entire drive."
Although Anand did find a test to show the new OCZ's (similar but different to this samsung) to have degradation, while the Intel didn't. More thorough testing shows the Samsung never degrades to the levels that x-25m can and do, so Samsungs new MLC controller is superior in that regard.
MadBoris - Sunday, April 5, 2009 - link
So it appears the X-25m issue maybe corrected by a new upcoming firmware, although that doesn't diminish the shining quality/price of this 256GB SSD.JarredWalton - Sunday, April 5, 2009 - link
Again, I still stand by my statement: if you want an SSD, but one on your own, when and if the price is right. If the $400 Samsung SSD is great, it will still be great when it's available and tested separately at retail. It will probably also cost less than $400 at that point. If you can't or won't wait, certainly a 256GB SSD is a nice upgrade that provides sufficient storage while also boosting speed and reducing temperatures. It's still a very high-end option, and it's new enough that I would personally hold off pending further testing.The X25-M has been beat on as hard as any SSD out there, and the performance degradation issue only occurred (as far as I'm aware) after specific artificially produced read/write patterns. Intel has said they will fix the issue, and I don't doubt their claim. It appears they may have already done so. Will the Samsung avoid similar issues under artificial test conditions? Maybe, maybe not. It's not in enough hands at present to say with certainty that it's the best option, and waiting a month or two shouldn't hurt.
MadBoris - Monday, April 6, 2009 - link
"Again, I still stand by my statement: if you want an SSD, but one on your own, when and if the price is right. If the $400 Samsung SSD is great, it will still be great when it's available and tested separately at retail. It will probably also cost less than $400 at that point."I don't know of any plans at this point to go retail on this drive, at least their wasn't recently. That is why OCZ licensed it from Samsung along with it being just for OEM channels like Apple, Dell, HP etc. The Summit will go for $999 and you somehow don't realize what a value this Samsung drive is at a $400 upgrade. That's ok, you obviously haven't seen it tested, can't hold it against you except you are leading people away from it without knowing it's quality. Which is why some of us spoke up I think. No way it would come to retail for less, if it ever was available.
Like you said, SSD's are Anand's baby and until you see the new 256GB Samsung tested, you won't realize it is a next gen MLC drive (far different than the Sammy 128, OCZ apex 256, or G.skill 256). I don't hold it against you to not know it is above the crowd until it is tested, but I do think you are assuming it's in the group of crap SSD's by recommending people pass on this steal. Maybe if Anand tests it you guys will realize it is by far one of the best price/performance SSD's around, unfortunately it's only with a new PC. It may not dethrone the X-25M but it doesn't need to even though it out performs it in certain aspects, I don't need an Intel Extreme CPU either for 5% performance increase.
Thanks for the review, I was just trying to let you know there is something that slipped under your radar. Hopefully some readers catch on to this if they order this laptop to know that the $325 - $400 Samsung 256GB upgrade is a steal compared to a Summit 256 @ $999 or a Intel 160 X-25M at $800. This is the same drive that is a $825 upgrade in MAC Book, and probably worth it. You'll need to see it tested because I followed this drive since it silently came on the scene in February, people are slow to catch on to it being a great SSD upgrade and that it's a steal for price/perf/capacity.
Good review otherwise, I think this laptop is on of the best all around laptop, if not the best IMO, on the market right now. There are better gaming laptops but this just does everything right on so many all-around levels while keeping pricing reasonable for my needs. I'll be buying it soon, along with the Samsung 256GB SSD. ;)
strikeback03 - Monday, April 6, 2009 - link
The value of the drive drops due to the hassle of buying it in a Dell, buying another drive, swapping the two, then selling the Dell just to get the SSD.Joelist - Monday, April 6, 2009 - link
I don't see why the value drops. This is a superb laptop, and getting the SSD at 256GB for only $300 extra makes it even better.