The 16-inch Studio XPS 16 dazzles with a first-of-its-kind RGB-LED screen option—which bursts with colors and offers wide viewing angles—and a sleek glossy black design, complete with leather accents. And Dell matches style with substance by offering a powerful Centrino 2 processor, gamer-friendly ATI graphics, a fast hard drive, and Blu-ray playback. Priced at $1,804 (and starting at $1,199), this 6.8-pound multimedia marvel isn’t a system you’d tote to a coffee shop on a regular basis, but entertainment seekers wanting a luxury notebook will drool over this model.
Eye-Catching Design
The Studio XPS 16’s slick aesthetic begins with its eye-catching glossy Obsidian Black lid (emblazoned with Dell’s logo), set off by an anodized aluminum strip that stretches the width of the top and connects to a pair of thick, sturdy hinges (which bear the XPS logo). A panel of black, genuine leather at the base of the lid reinforces the idea that this is a classy, high-end machine. Dell even pays attention to the bottom of the notebook: portions of it are covered with miniature X’s pulled from the XPS logo.
In addition, there aren’t individual panels for the RAM and hard drive compartments; when you remove the bottom you get full access to the innards, which can be quite handy for those who like to tinker with their machines. Our only gripes with the XPS 16’s design are that the glossy portion of the system’s top picks up fingerprints and smudges very easily, and that you can see the screws that bind the hinges to the display.
Ports
Dell took advantage of the notebook’s large 15.2 x 10.0 x 1.0-inch magnesium alloy chassis to include all the ports you could want. On the left side you’ll find two USB 2.0 ports, and HDMI and DisplayPort connections (for outputting visuals to a larger screen), two headphone jacks, a microphone jack, Ethernet, and a Kensington lock slot.
The right side has an ExpressCard/54 slot, an 8-in-1 memory card reader, FireWire 400 (for speedy file transfer from external drives), a slot-loading Blu-ray drive for watching high-definition discs, and an eSATA port. The eSATA port doubles as a PowerShare USB port, which lets users recharge USB devices even when the PC is powered down.
The front of the machine features illuminated status indicator lights and an IR port, while the back is clean; it contains just the battery and heat-exhaust opening.
