At £730, the Studio 1558 sits neatly between Dell's budget Inspiron models and the more-coveted XPS range. This laptop is designed to offer a good balance between performance and price, with the added appeal of a customisable lid in a range of colours and artistic patterns.
Kick-ass keyboard
The Studio 1558 may not have the sexy brushed-aluminium look of some of the models in Dell's XPS range, but there's still plenty to like about its design. Because the chassis is wedge-shaped, the spacious keyboard naturally tilts towards you to provide a pleasant typing angle. We also like the way the trackpad is integrated seamlessly into the keyboard surround to give it a unified look and feel.
The snappy keys feel fast under your fingers so you'll have no problem getting up to a decent speed when you're touch typing. The landscape-shaped trackpad is also relatively roomy and the buttons are suitably responsive. Our model came with a backlit keyboard, which adds an extra £26 to the price, but we think it's a worthwhile spend.
Despite its solid build, sound performance and creative shell, Dell's Studio 1558 lacks innovative design.
The laptop's build quality is well above par and it feels remarkably solid. There are a couple of negatives, however. The silver finish that frames the keyboard looks a little on the cheap side and the laptop is also rather heavy. To be fair, it doesn't weigh a whole lot more than other laptops with similar-sized screens. But, at 2.5kg, you wouldn't really want to be carting it around with you all day.
Family-friendly
The 1558's line-up of ports is satisfactory rather than spectacular. You get three USB ports (one of which doubles as an eSATA port), along with a VGA socket and an HDMI output for hooking the laptop up to a large-screen TV. Dell has also included a mini FireWire port and an SD card reader. For internet connectivity, there's an Ethernet port plus 802.11n wireless and Bluetooth capability.
Our model came with an upgraded, Full HD display, which will cost you an extra £70. Again, it's money well spent -- the display looks outstanding. The 15.6-inch screen is LED backlit, which helps it not only produce exceedingly bright pictures, but also exceptionally vivid colours. This, combined with the 1080p resolution, makes for beautifully crisp and punchy pictures.
The Studio 1558 comes preloaded with the Dell Dock (top of image), a Mac OS X-style application dock for the desktop.
The laptop is no slouch in the performance stakes, either. Powered by a quad-core Intel i5 M520 2.4GHz processor, helped along by 4GB of RAM, it managed to rack up a highly respectable score of 6,632 in the PCMark05 test, so it should have no problems dealing with heavy multitasking duties.
Our model also had a dedicated graphics processor in the form of the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470. This is a relatively powerful chip and helped propel the Studio to a decent score of 4,560 in the 3DMark06. This score suggests the 1558 will happily run the latest first-person shooters, but you may have to turn the detail down a little.
The 500GB hard drive is quite substantial, giving you plenty of space to store your work files as well as fun stuff like movies, photos and music. The right-hand side of the laptop is home to a slot-loading DVD rewriter, which comes in handy for backing up the laptop and playing the odd DVD movie.
Weedy speakers
Unfortunately, DVD movies and music won't sound too hot through the on-board speakers, which are quite tinny and almost completely devoid of bass. You're best to pair the 1558 with a decent set of PC speakers if you're going to use it for home entertainment purposes.
The Studio 1558 is relatively large and heavy, so it's not really a laptop for road warriors. Battery performance, therefore, isn't as crucial as with lightweight machines like netbooks and ultra portables. If you are planning on using it away from the mains for extended periods of time, you'll be pleased to hear its battery performance isn't actually that bad. In our intensive Battery Eater test, it managed to keep running for an hour and 34 minutes, which compares favourably to ultra portables like the Samsung Q330.
Conclusion
On the whole, the Studio 1558 is a good all-rounder that offers an impressive screen and a processor with plenty of poke, for a sensible price. Its design, despite the range of colours and patterns on offer, is not quite as flash as some of the latest 15-inch models from Toshiba and Samsung, but it makes up for this lack of flair with remarkably good build quality. If you're looking for a mid-range laptop for the whole family to use at home, we think it's a safe bet.
Edited by Emma Bayly
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elthamlad468 31 July 2011
Comment: I've had this machine for over a year, I had a few extra's and paid over £800 for my machine. People are always so negative. Yes it does get hot, but then so did both of my old Toshiba laptops, yes the screen does need to be angled in direct light, but then so do many other laptops with similar screens. Yes Windows 7 has it's problems, but that's not the Laptop's fault is it.
Most of the time my laptop sits on a desk so issues regarding excess heat are not an issue for me. On the occasions that i do use it on my lap it can get very hot, but simply putting the laptop on something solid solves this issue. The speakers are not great, despite being 'Enhnaced', but then what loser listens to music or films through the laptop speakers? I'm sure if you spend £800 on a laptop you can invest a few quid in some quality desktop speakers (just to add the best speakers I have found on a laptop are on my old Toshiba). With regards to build quality, I have no major gripes and have no issues. All in all, I see no reason why I cannot recommend this laptop, however I will say that if you are going to spend in excess of £600 on a laptop do your research and buy what you think is the best laptop.
fish123 23 June 2011
Good: good performance, good for typing
Bad: Windows, very poorly built, heavy, noisy, gets hot
Comment: I have the 2.2 dual core i5 chip and 4570 graphics card on the studio 1558 and this laptop is pretty good for music, gaming etc.
However, windows 7 has been very glitchy and regularly crashes on me. the laptop also makes a lot of noise when it starts/wakes up which is especially annoying when it wakes itself up from sleep in the middle of the night! The laptop also gets very hot.
Although this review says the build quality is excellent, the skirting of the screen on my 1 year old laptop has come off twice and is completely sticking out of the machine, although it has not been dropped or anything... The whole of the back is fingerprint prone and has a lot of give when pressed - very plasticy. The control key on the keyboard is also not working properly.
This is a heavy laptop - not suitable for carrying around, especially with such bad build quality.
I would recommend this for use as a desktop replacement but if you are carrying it anywhere, get something lighter and stronger!
I am going mac!!
Practicaluser 24 October 2010
Good: The keyboard layout is excellent. No space is wasted on a number pad, and so all the other keys, including the cursor keys, are full size and easy to use. Smooth, integrated touchpad and operation of its two keys are good. Telephone support from Bangalore support centre is very professional.
Bad: 1: In common with some other manufacturers, Dell follows fashion and allow styling to take precedence over good engineering and common sense. Examples: glossy black cover which picks up every possible fingerprint; glossy screen which has to be angled to minimize reflections. 2: Vertical measurement of screen - important for users working on A4 documents, and already restricted by 'widescreen' format, is 0.5 inch less than that of MacBook with same nominal diagonal size. If you use latest version of Word with 'ribbon', you end up with very little space to work in. (I went back to previous edition of Word.) 3: The 'Dell Dock' is a poor imitation of the Apple original, and the default desktop (shown in Cnet report - bicycles and buses in near-collision) is a pointless exercise in childish silliness and impracticality. 4: Windows 7 - I am used to Mac OS and Windows XP, and find both greatly superior to Windows 7. For example, instead of a straightforward e-mail program like Mac Mail or Outlook Express, the authors of Windows 7 wants users to get involved in totally unnecessary complications like 'Windows Live'. 4: E-mail 'support' from Dell (in UK or IRL???) is of unacceptably poor standard - inaccurate information, and no indication of any concern to achieve customer satisfaction (my last e-mail about a legitimate concern was left unanswered).
Comment: My choice came down to a Dell Studio 15 or a MacBook Pro at approx twice or two-and-a-half times the price. As a practical user who also tries to be responsible in use of money, I bought the Dell. Within a couple of weeks I was regretting my decision. Nevertheless, I decided to keep the Dell and try to focus on the things it did well. I especially appreciated the good 'user interface' in the form of the keyboard, touchpad and touchpad keys. Three months later, however, I am again considering writing off several hundred pounds, getting rid of the Dell, and buying the MacBook which I now very much wish I had bought in the first place.
Twenty years ago, I bought a Dell desktop computer for the company I worked for. I was very impressed with the advice and service I received during the telephone ordering process, and we were very pleased with the computer. After my experience with the Studio 15, while part of the blame rests with Microsoft for Windows 7, I would not touch another Dell product.
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