I’m all for PC’s taking different form factors and these look nice (I think) not sure about the wood effect one.

PC Mag has one in for review and give it 3.5 out of 5.

As their review points out this is in direct competition with Apple’s Mac Mini.

The Dell Studio Hybrid can however be configured with a blu ray drive and output HD over HDMI so this becomes interesting for those wanting a tidy/small PC based HD experience.

Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2326614,00.asp

I have hands on experience with a multi-touch capable device the iPod Touch. So I know what a flowing and fluid multi-touch experience should be.

So I was very disappointed watch the these videos of how multi-touch has been implemented on the Dell Latitude XT.

The best way for you to judge is to watch the videos.

First up we have one from Dell about installing it and using it.

Next up we have hands on review from Gottabemobile

Finally another video review here (sorry no video embed).

Link: http://blog.laptopmag.com/exclusive-hands-on-with-dells-xt-tablet-now-with-multi-touch

What I get up from watching these:

1) Using multi-touch while the laptop is in the traditional clam shell configuration is really counter intuitive. This only makes sense to me in Tablet mode.

2) Multi-touch sensitivity and accuracy of response seems to be an issue.

3) The lack of CPU power on the Latitude XT is a problem (watch the lag on opening photo gallery or clicking and manipulating images, not fluid).

4) Only having 3 gestures sounds very limiting.

The Laptop screens of the future are going to get very smudged up with all this pointing going on.

On a more positive note this is a good free upgrade for an existing XT owner and Dell should be commended for trying.

However its fairly obvious that Dell’s implementation of multi-touch is very 1.0 and pretty clunky.

I’m not making this up in Walt Mossberg’s video review of the 3g iPhone he says a couple of days in his two week trial the battery didn’t last the full day.

He goes into this topic around 2:20 of the clip below.

Now you can imagine the problems having a phone with a non removable battery that doesn’t last a full day. You end up with no form of communication.

All that GPS, 3g, Google Maps, Visual Voicemail go out the window if the device doesn’t have the juice to turn on.

In the keynote for the iPhone 3g Steve Jobs took great pleasure in announcing “better battery life”.

Can you imagine a keynote where the claims were a bit more realistic.

Hi, I’m Steve Jobs

This is the iPhone 3g, we think its cool, we think you going to love it, isn’t this just amazing, look at that screen its gorgeous, but if you plan on using it all day the battery probably wont last. 

Anyway watch Walt’s review which is generally positive but he does point out the fact its more expensive to own than 1st generation iPhone.

Link: http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080708/newer-faster-cheaper-iphone-3g/

Updated 15/07/2008

This product has just been released so multiple reviews  will trickle in over the next few days.

Bookmark this post for easy to access to the collected reviews.

Studio 15

PCMAg.com:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2321784,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530

C-Net (includes Video)

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/dell-studio-15/4505-3121_7-33107339.html

ZD Net

http://review.zdnet.com/laptops/dell-studio-15/4505-3121_16-33107339.html

Studio 17

Notebookreview.com:

Link: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4471

LaptopMag.com

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/dell-studio-17.aspx

Official Product Link:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/laptop_studio?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

Related Links on this site: View all posts in Dell Studio

ATI’s 4800 range is getting some great reviews and is pitched at a sensible price point making it a candidate for those looking for a budget conscious upgrade.

Tip: Powerful video cards can place a lot of strain on your computers power supply. So check the system requirements very closely. Most manual can be found online.

HD 4850 reviews:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4850
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=755
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3338
http://firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_…rce_9800_gtx+/
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/14…ion/index.html
http://techreport.com/articles.x/14967
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/h…schnitt_prolog
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,64…enchmark-Test/
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-at…d–powercolor/