The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

So the Studio Hybrid's unlikely to appeal to a serious PC gamer, but if it's just the Lego games you or your kids want to play, it's not going to cause you much pain.

Dell Studio Hybrid

The slot-loading drive is integrated into the vents

Just to check, we loaded up Crysis and were entirely unsurprised by its utterly dismal framerate at 1024 x 768. We also tried some 720p and 1080p movie trailers encoded in H.264 and they played just fine. So media centre, yes; top-line 3D shoot-'em-up system, no.

Dell offers a Studio Hybrid configured with an integrated Blu-ray Disc drive, so pumping out 1080p and audio out via HDMI to an HD TV shouldn't be a problem. Yes, the CPU is doing a lot of the decoding work a modern GPU would do, but as we say, this is not a noisy machine. If you're sitting back enjoying a movie, who cares what's doing the playback as long as the playback is smooth?

Dell Studio Hybrid

The future's orange

Dell's provided the customary software bundle: Microsoft Works - the ad-free version, thank goodness - an anti-virus trial - McAfee this time round - Acrobat Reader and Google Desktop. Stardock's Dock utility is present to bring a little of Mac OS X's light to Vista, but Dell loses points for bundling a video chat utility and not including a webcam.

Verdict

There's no question that the Studio Hybrid looks good. That, plus its compact size, make it an obvious rival to Apple's aging Mac Mini and the likes of Asus' Eee Box. It's more powerful than both of these and looks better too. It's no powerhouse, even on the highest available spec, but it is a decent desktop that'll suit anyone after a mainstream machine that's not a big, black box.

80%

Dell Studio Hybrid mini desktop PC

Who said desktops had to be big and bulky? Dell's Studio Hybrid scores on styling, and it's not a bad MoR performer either.
Price: £349-599 RRP More Info: PC World's Dell Studio Hybrid page
Latest Comments

Not exactly a new concept...

More than 10 years ago DEC made the Multia in both alpha and intel versions. It was basically the same idea to cram laptops parts into a design box. Those machines proved extremely prone to overheat and failures due to being (unlike most laptops that are carried around) constantly run at full speed.

Same cause, same effects, I fear.

0
0

Wireless

For the UK, you have a "Dell™ Wireless 1505 Wireless-N MiniPCI Card EUR" which is included in the price. You don't have the option to remove it or change it or anything.

It's on the "Accessorise my Dell" tab when you start to customise it.

0
0

@ Gulfie

Ah, you'd be talking about Apples nearly abandoned machine, so badly in need of a refresh, it makes the Abacus look modern. And I like Apple kit (not a blinded fanboi though).

Lets look at some of the bits:

Choice - Not Apple's strong suit, but here is wireless, blu-ray or DVD, different case styles etc.

Blu-ray - In spite of Job's line about it being too much hassle, people do want blu-ray, and this makes it a nice little mediacenter when combined with HDMI.

Firewire port - One up on the Mac Book, and probably on other Macs in the long term (though a little pointless on a box like this....)

HDMI port for full HD support and, no, I don't think that using a VGA port or DVI is a substitute.

The only downside is the horrors of Vista, but it does come with 2GB RAM, which should just about cope.

Apple need to refresh the mini, or euthanise it.

Paris, cause she'd know where to stick a mini...

0
0

Wireless

Wireless N is available for $70.00 additional in the U.S.. Not sure if this is available for the populous of G.B., but it means the option certainly exists.

0
0

@ Mini Mac

Then sod off and buy one..... We are talking about windows based PCs that are nice and small and look cool. Not Macs. If were were talking about macs, the machines in the pictures would not be Dell's.

0
0

More from The Register

Is the next-gen console war already One?
Microsoft’s new Xbox - and more
 breaking news
Apple cored: Samsung sells 10 million Galaxy S4 in a month
Beware of South Koreans bearing Android
US boffin builds 32-way Raspberry Pi cluster
Beowulf cluster built for the price of a single PC
STROKE this mouse to make apps POP, says Microsoft
Windows 8 Start button comes to Redmond's rodents
Nintendo throws flaming legal barrel at YouTubing fans
All your walk-through vid revenue are belong to us
Fairphone goes on sale to all
The Android handset that's PC can be yours

Hands on with Hyper-V 3.0 and virtual machine movement

Our award-winning Regcasts have teamed up with training provider QA for the deepest of deep dives into Hyper-V, including a live demo.

Understand VM movement - just click to play, or go here for a bigger version.