It performed admirably in our standard benchmarks, with PCMark Vantage returning an overall score of 5637. In the HDD test the 500GB, 7200rpm Seagate drive produced a decent score, though it couldn’t quite match the speed of laptops we’ve tested with slightly smaller 320GB, 7200rpm drives.
PCMark Vantage Results
Longer bars are better
The 3DMark Vantage score of 2588 indicates gaming is a real possibility, and Call of Duty 4 purred along nicely at 40.4f/s. With high detail settings in Crysis it struggled at just 15.75f/s, but when dropped down to low detail things improved markedly with a leap to 50.9f/s.
PCMark Vantage Battery Life Results
Battery life in minutes
Longer bars are better
During these tests, the Studio 17’s fan frequently ramped up to full-speed. Although not the loudest fan I’ve heard, it’s just sufficient to irritate people in the immediate vicinity. The wrist rest also got noticeably warm after extended periods of use.
COMMENTS
Still has right click
The laptop has a right click button on the trackpad like any other. It's missing the context menu key from the keyboard (the one next to the right start button on a standard keyboard)
It's not as big a loss but it's still a key I use.
Well...
You don't have to use the BIOS to switch the Function key behaviour. Win + X and use mobility centre - the Dell Quickset plugins let you change it there.
No right-click?
Abject fail.
Every single application I use makes extensive use of the context menu. So a lack of right-click immediately means that I can't use this unit.
Windows 'style guides' have long suggested that the context menu be used a lot - and it is.
Phew.
You don't get an idea about the size of this monster until you get to the pictures of the touchscreen being used. I'm certain that because of just the size, this system will never appear on my laptop replacement shortlist. I guess I should have guessed, it having a 17" screen, but if it is so wide, why have they not made space for the missing keys!
