The good: Dell embraces the 16:9 aspect ratio display; upscale design with leather trim; backlit keyboard and edge-to-edge screen glass.

The bad: The 1080p display costs extra; unimpressive battery life; new Studio XPS brand may get lost between the Inspiron, Studio, and XPS lines.

The bottom line: Dell's new 16:9 Studio XPS 16 adds upscale extras such as a leather trim and a backlit keyboard to a fairly standard set of components, without jacking up the price (too much).

Read full review of the Dell Studio XPS 16 »

By Dan Ackerman, CNET.com
Jan 20, 2009

While we're still unsure of what Dell's goal was when it combined the midrange Studio and high-end XPS laptop lines into the new (wait for it...) Studio XPS brand, but at least it means we're finally getting a true 16:9 16-inch laptop from Dell, in the form of the Studio XPS 16.

The result is a smart-looking laptop that has some new features that distinguish it from a run-of-the-mill Inspiron, including a backlit keyboard and a superfluous leather trim on the back of the lid (we're more positively predisposed to leather-clad wristrests).

We were pleased to see that the Studio XPS 16 starts at only S$400 (US$284.19) more than the Studio 15, and the Studio XPS model offered options, such as a full 1,920 x 1,080-pixel LED-backlit display, not available on the regular Studio (non-XPS) line.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

The rounded hinge and tapered design remind us of Dell's XPS and Studio laptop lines (which makes sense, since this is a hybrid of those two). Unlike many other Dell systems, the Studio XPS 16 is only available in one color scheme--a shiny piano black with a matching black leather trim that covers a strip on the back of the lid near the hinge. The leather accent seemed arbitrary, design-wise, to us, but it's a matter of taste, and certainly not unattractive.



With a backlit keyboard and flat, widely spaced keys, the Studio XPS 16 shares a general typing aesthetic with Apple and Sony laptops. We always encourage backlit keyboards (Toshiba has started adding them to lower-priced models), which are fantastically useful when, for example, looking something up online while watching TV in a darkened room. A row of touch-sensitive media controls sit above the keyboard--a feature Dell includes in even its low-end laptops.

Tags: Intel Core 2 Duo, Laptop Computer, Hinge, Keyboard, chipset

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