DEEP DIVE: Dell Studio Hybrid Desktop PC (Part 2 of 3)

[gura]

how long does it take to boot to windows?

[malhotramovies1]

hey do this supports media well?i mean i have to use video editing softwares like pinnacle and ediusso do it performs well on that part and how about the heat?

plz replyme fast

[ThoughtsMedia]

@malhotramovies1 As long as you keep in mind that it's a laptop CPU in there, then yes, it supports video editing.I didn't see any heat issues. People are far too concerned with heat issues - modern desktops and laptops are engineered to be very tolerant of heat build-up.

- Jason

[hippievogelei]

@fanexpert the same concecpt as the mac cube

[ThoughtsMedia]

The cooling fan? I have no idea - you'd have to crack open the case and get at the inside of the fan. It's a very quiet fan though, so I don't know why you'd want to replace it...but you're the "fanexpert", not me. :-)

- Jason

[ThoughtsMedia]

No, the power supply is external. Check out my unboxing video.

- Jason

[richardgarren]

Awesome review, one question though, how does it compare to the mac mini?

[ThoughtsMedia]

No idea - I've never reviewed or owned a Mac Mini. :-) The new Mac Mini has a better GPU, that's for sure...

- Jason

[najaya1]

Hi Jason, great review but I have a couple of questions please, its not bluetooth integratedm right? so can use an external bluetooth usb to hook up my Logitech Dinovo keyboard and mouse? and is it fast enough for typical surfing?

Note: I only had time to watch 2 of your 3 video review.

[ThoughtsMedia]

You're right, there doesn't seem to be an option for integrated Bluetooth. But you can get a tiny USB Bluetooth dongle for cheap, so it doesn't matter much other than you lose a USB port.

- Jason

[freethethree]

great videos by the way, they were really informative.

[freethethree]

I was thinking about getting this because I really like the low power consumption but I was wondering if it would fit my computing needs? I run photoshop every now and then but typically I just surf the web, use Microsoft office, etc.

So would it be able to handle that if I were playing music with photoshop running and surfing the web? And I have a 1TB external hard drive, would I be able to use it with this if I plug it into the USB port?

[ThoughtsMedia]

Sure, all the things you're asking about would work with the Dell Studio Hybrid.

- Jason

[itfeltsoreal]

WHat dell needs to do: have at least a low line Nvidia graphics, faster ram (preferably ddr3), Bluetooth, and wireless 802.11b/g should come standard (not optional like they have now).

[ThoughtsMedia]

Agreed - if they'd put a low-end NVIDIA or ATI chip in there, it would have been a completely different experience. If HP can fit a 3000 series ATI GPU in the dv2, Dell could have fit SOMETHING in there.

- Jason

[videoline777]

Hi ThoughtsMedia can it also burn discs of the disc drive! anyway the video is great!

[ThoughtsMedia]

Yes, it has a CD/DVD burner. Watch my other videos to see it in action...

- Jason

[71slug]

Does the power supply support 110/220VAC like a laptops ? i'd lke to travel with it to Europe..

[ThoughtsMedia]

I believe so, but I don't have it any more (I returned it) so I can't say for sure. I'm sure the Dell specs page would tell you.

- Jason

[holyandannointed]

would you recommend this desktop for one who just wants a very good desktop for uploading videos, editing videos, doing college work, watching videos, downloading MP3 and MPEG files and doing your taxes on as well as running a small little business of printing?

[ThoughtsMedia]

Sure, it would perform those tasks just fine.

- Jason

[diuleilomo]

would you recommended leaving this computer on 24/7?

[ThoughtsMedia]

Would it be fine if you left it on 24/7? Sure. But most people shouldn't need to do that...it's just a waste of electricity.

- Jason

[masterjewbag]

i would defenatly, i leave my 300watt desktop on sleep mode when im not using it so...

[joman66]

Hey.. uhh is it a gaming pc/laptop whatever?

[ThoughtsMedia]

No, it's not well-suited for gaming. It has a crap GPU, and no better option is offered, so it's not very well-suited for gaming.

- Jason

[iSwaggrite]

i have this gpu in my laptop....this is a desktop....The GPU SUCKS BIG TIME if u play games alot

[reddingb0y1]

Does The The Studio Hybrid Desktop PC come with Bilt in WIFI

[ThoughtsMedia]

Yes, built-in WiFi is an option you can select.

- Jason

[WTFD4V1D]

If you buy it from Dell and decide to return, are there any restocking fees? Do you have to pay for return shipping?

[ThoughtsMedia]

It might vary from country to country, but with Dell in Canada where I live, I have 30 days to return it to Dell, no restocking fees, and they pay for shipping. That's one of the reasons why I'm not afraid to order from Dell. :-)

- Jason

[noobhuntercss]

Umm one more question: Does this have the wifi capability or no? thank you, and can you also tell me if 2.0 Ghz for the core 2 duo is fine for this? I don't really need this to be a POWER machine, I wanted gaming, but since it has the Intel it won't, so i'll just use my xbox for that, and this is so small that i love it

[ThoughtsMedia]

You can get it with a WiFi card built-in if you want - it's around $60 extra. The 2.0 Ghz CPU is just fine for day to day tasks, including photo editing, etc.

- Jason

[noobhuntercss]

Alright thank you, at least it's not like $100 extra. I will be just web browsing and doing Microsoft word, powerpoint, etc, Aim, all those easy things, so you think this computer will last for a while?

[ThoughtsMedia]

Yes, this computer is more than capable of doing all those things you described.

- Jason

[AdmiralBeat2]

I'm wondering, is there a way, to hook up the main console of the hybrid to a vizio 32in. flat screen tv?

[ThoughtsMedia]

Sure, if you have an HDMI port - or even if you have a VGA port, you can get a DVI to VGA adaptor. Lots of options!

- Jason

[efrain4317]

Carefull people DELL dont support Windows XP on this machine :( That why blue screen and crash while XP installation.

[PIKACHU49386]

lol it's like a Wii and PS3 mixed

Wii: the way you insert the disc

PS3: the way you eject the disc

[mackabout]

hey, i have the studio hybrid tooo(blue) and did you know you can put the stand to put it horizontily to????? itis neat but yea I LOVE THE HYBRID

[ThoughtsMedia]

Yes, if you watch my other Dell Studio Hybrid videos you'll see me put it in both positions. :-)

- Jason

[redcroissant]

Hi, I just bought a studio hybrid from the dell outlet based in part on your in-depth review, but upone receiving it I'm finding the fan noise to be quite loud, it almost sounds like there is a loose component of the fan keeping it from being totally quiet (a rattle). This is with lightest CPU load possible. Any advice?

[ThoughtsMedia]

Return it to Dell immediately - my unit was extremely quiet, even under heavy load, so yours is defective.

- Jason

[betterthenyou23]

i could install adobe premiere pro on this and edit videos in hd?

[ThoughtsMedia]

Sure, I edit HD video on my XPS M1330 laptop - just make sure you spring for one of the higher-end CPUs.

- Jason

[UKxDrUmMeRxUK]

can you upgrade the specs of this computer like processor or graphis card

Thanks

[ThoughtsMedia]

No. This computer is basically a laptop without a display, so you can't upgrade more than the RAM and possibly the hard drive.

- Jason

[DjEnternity]

this is one of the best designed computer i had seen

[kelvinella]

so many crapware

[tonkness]

i am a student and i have not got that much room and im thinking of buying either a mac mini or a dell hybrid. Would you say the dell is better than the mac mini ( overall ),is it worth the money and would the dell be good for daily use such as itunes youtube and mostly photo shop cs3.

-KJ

[ThoughtsMedia]

Well, the real question is probably which you prefer: OS X or Vista. In terms of hardware, I'd say the Dell Hybrid offers more value for the dollar. If you want to use Photoshop CS3, be sure to get one of the faster CPUs and 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM. Possibly Vista 64-bit as well.

- Jason

[tonkness]

tysm

[tipoomaster]

looks realy cool, its not for me though since i always use discreet graphics.

[kwiiboy]

Sorry but I can only hear my computor fan running!

[CAJUNNSC]

I must ask why did you not use the HDMI output to your Monitor / TV ? I have gone 100% HDMI and well there's little to compare to there. I see you have the DVI white cord attached so I thought I should mention that. For those of you thinking of this system, it is a very good setup great for muti media home entertainment systems, I love mine, just perfect, go with the New Gen-Mini card WIFI and use HDMI if ya can, just perfect. Remember to get a 1 TB external hard drive to top all for $ 850.00

[ThoughtsMedia]

The answer is quite simple: I don't have HDMI ports on my Dell 24" monitors. :-) I used HDMI when I was testing it with my plasma TV though, and it worked well - when it wasn't blue-screening and crashing that is...

- Jason

[YouKNOWitDaddy]

blue screening and crashing???

[artofTKD]

hay take my current laptop between houses.....i hate it i prefer desktops much more.so im looking 4 one now. wanted to kno if this would be a good cheapish solution to havein a "portable" desktop.( i have a bunch of monitors il probly leave at my different work stations.) but i also wanted to kno how efficient u think it is after u had a few months to play around w/ it

[ThoughtsMedia]

It's a nice little machine, but I needed something with better GPU performance, so I returned this and picked up an HP Slimline PC.

- Jason

[silverstonewebcam]

ya, and HP is better quality than Dell.

I have an HP a6000 PC

[felipedjg]

...nevermind.

[DBCarmody]

hey mate, do you this would be good as a media server on my home network?

-thanks carmo

[ThoughtsMedia]

Well, it depends on your needs, but unless this is sitting on a desk or beside your TV, it's probably not a good fit - media servers tend to be big and ugly because they're hidden somewhere . ;-) You may also want more storage as well - this tops out at 320 GB, and there's only room for one hard drive. On the other hand, it's as big as some NAS drives, and offers way more functionality...so it might be good for some people. :-)

- Jason

[grannyBangproduction]

its a good computer but i do agree these software ompanys have to stop having crapware they dont realise that no on uses it the only ones i whould want are roxio or macaffe

[Gb755c]

Actually the Blu-Ray disc drive in the PS3 is very quiet you can barely hear it. I can only hear it when right on top of it and the fan is also quiet.

[poliya619]

nice

the hyberd logo turn

[rysliv]

ultimate is better than home but they both work i use these little guys for servers run perfect so i just leave them on what they got i dont want to play around with it heh i just install the server the customer requests and then host it xD

[ThoughtsMedia]

Why is Ultimate better than home? There are very few features that Ultimate has that are worth the money, except in specific circumstances (like needing to be able to join a domain for instance).

- Jason

[ThoughtsMedia]

The sidebar explains that I paid $744 for this, and no, it's not a gaming PC with an Intel X3100 graphics processor.

- Jason

[andrewwk6]

I thought Dell sucked in pc design, but this one its pretty cool!

[ds77au]

Hi Jason,

firstly, well done on an informative review. I'm eagerly waiting for part 3, as im looking at this machine to replace my current HTPC.

If possible, can you check if it can run:

-1080p .mkv or .ts files using either mpc or zoomplayer on the ffdshow or coreavc cordec?

-1080p Full blu-ray rip (ie 30gb)on cyberlink powerdvd

i know its a bit much, but if can play those two without any skipping, ill be ordering one right away!

thanks for posting high quality as well. its a sexy machine

[ThoughtsMedia]

I've just uploaded part 3 of 3; you should see it shortly. I tested some near-1080p WMV files (1440 x 1080), but because I didn't order it with the Blu-ray drive, I can't test that out - sorry. My tests indicate that it does have hardware acceleration, so I feel fairly confident that it would play 1080p MKV files without a problem. Dell wouldn't have paired the Blu-ray drive with the X3100 if it wasn't capable of 1080p playback.

- Jason

[ds77au]

thanks mate - will check it out

[SaundersKira]

I love this little PC maybe in a year or two when I get a new one.. although but then there will probably be loads of advances in PC technology so

[ThoughtsMedia]

Dell is definitely following the trend that many other companies are following: smaller computers, less power-hungry components, etc. So a couple of years from now you'll likely have even more choices. :-)

- Jason

[dudewtfwtf1]

dude, you are the best! your the best tech review person on Youtube!!! Videos is good enough but you actully read comments and reply back to most of em! wow 5stars!!!!!!!!!!

[ThoughtsMedia]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy my videos! I respond back to every comment worth responding to - some comments are just trash-talking, and not worth responding to. :-)

- Jason

[chieffw]

This looks like a PS3 tbh :P figuratively speaking ofc. It's stylish, slick, silent.

And the PS3 doesn't make any noise when it is playing a blu-ray/dvd. Just when it gets in and gets out

[xUSxGHOST2049x]

no , DELL=COOL

ps3=Faxs machine

[boooz3]

ummm how do you work that computer? I dont see a moniter and it looks a little to thick to be a labtop

[virocide]

Have you even cared to actually watch the video or at least read the first couple sentences of the description?

[ThoughtsMedia]

Please check out the other videos - it's a small desktop computer, not a laptop.

- Jason

[VegasUnderground]

Its because of these videos im thinking of purchasing one of these machines. How many actual bloatware applications did this machine come with, sorry if I missed it if you gave a number.

[dragonballjiujitsu]

I counted 7 crapware programs in the short time I could see add/remove programs. I'm certain there is more. Plus the garbage that Vista comes with by default, such as Windows defender.

[ThoughtsMedia]

I guess everyone's idea of crapware is different, but I rattled off everything that was remotely crapware-based - there really is less than most PCs. Certainly less than any recent HP desktop or laptop! And I really disagree that Windows Defender is crapware - it's a nice program that does a great job at blocking spyware.

- Jason

[dragonballjiujitsu]

I agree that it looked like it came with less crapware than most. I strongly disagree about Windows Defender being a nice program. It does a horrible job from what I have seen.

Being a computer tech I have systems come in all the time with windows defender on them and they are completely infested with all kinds of spyware.

About all I have seen it do is sit in the background and hog system resources and slow start up times.

[ThoughtsMedia]

Hmm - interesting. I've installed Windows Defender on various Windows XP systems, and it's active on Windows Vista of course, and all the machines under my domain (friends, family, etc.) have remained spyware free. I'm curious, these heavily spyware-infested machines, are they XP or Vista-based?

- Jason

[dragonballjiujitsu]

Both, but more so with XP. Its odd, because defender will sometimes pick up border line things while it completely ignores a Trojan.

[ThoughtsMedia]

A trojan would traditionally be considered a virus, not spyware - and Windows Defender is really only designed to stop spyware, not viruses. I've never seen Microsoft claim it stops viruses - so shouldn't you be blaming whatever anti-virus program the person is using? And unfortunately some users are so hopeless they'll infect a computer no matter how much software you put on it to stop it. :-)

- Jason

[ThoughtsMedia]

I'd say four applications are considered crapware: Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, GoToAssist, McAfeee Security Centre. You may not want Microsoft Works or the Roxio software, but they're "real" programs and not generally considered crapware.

- Jason

[cphellp]

Looks kinda junky

[barbariandoom]

Does the vertical orientation scratch the Disc in the optical tray? For the xbox 360 Elite, this has turned out to be a problem and has actually broken my Halo 3 game.

[ThoughtsMedia]

I didn't use the optical drive for very long, but I didn't notice any scratching - my HP Slimline desktops have vertical drives and I don't see any scratching. I wouldn't worry about it.

- Jason

[barbariandoom]

Any reading on the temperature output at maximum CPU Usage?

[ThoughtsMedia]

No, I didn't install any thermal software - I doubt there's any compatible yet with the particular motherboard in this system. But like I said, I cranked the CPU at 100% for hours and the case only got a bit warm in some places. Dell did a great job with the thermals on this unit!

- Jason

[barbariandoom]

damn youtube links still buggy . Thanks for a part 2

[ThoughtsMedia]

Which YouTube links are buggy?

- Jason

[barbariandoom]

The one in your description as well as every other description today.

[ThoughtsMedia]

Hmm - I was hoping by switching to TinyURLs I'd fix some of the weirdness with the links - YouTube sure has a log of bugs and glitches. I really wish they'd fix some of them, especially the bizarre way comments aren't threaded properly once there are "x" number of comments added.

- Jason

[barbariandoom]

Yes thats what i did. switch to tinyurl's. I wish youtube would revert to the old format. The new one is too convoluted. The subscription box doesn't work as it should, and there is no longer any points to features, quoting sxephil. I also don't like the fact that the basic html functionalities for font editing don't even work any longer.

[woods72]

i kinda dont like the dell studio hybrid beacause the configurations are too expensive.

but nice review jason!

[RapidReactionP]

FIRST!!!!:P

[woods72]

no i was first

[ThoughtsMedia]

Well, since neither of you contributed anything to the discussion other than "first", I'd say it doesn't matter who was first. :-)

- Jason