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Dell's cheap and charming Studio S17-162B desktop replacment

For a budget-priced 17-inch laptop, the Dell Studio S17-162B has many features of a more expensive system, but also a few notable omissions.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
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Dan Ackerman

Dell's Studio brand of laptops sits somewhere between the inexpensive Inspiron line and the high-end XPS line, incorporating some of the design cues of the XPS systems, such as their tapered bodies, with a cost-conscious mainstream set of components. (Recently, Dell has further muddied the waters with a hybrid Studio XPS brand, as well...)

The $749 Dell Studio S17-162B is a fixed-configuration retail laptop with a 17-inch screen, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and touch-sensitive media controls. Sure the RAM, hard drive and processor are the same as some of the budget 15-inch Inspiron Dells we've looked at, but the S17 is still one of the least expensive desktop replacements we've seen.

Read the full review of the Dell Studio S17-162B.

Note: This review is part of our Winter 2009 Retail Laptop Review Roundup, covering specific configurations of popular laptops that can be found in retail stores.