Dell Studio 17: When Gaming Isn't Enough

General Performance

The configuration of the Dell Studio 17 we're working with is pretty much bog standard once you get into the quad-core builds. What's interesting is that Dell doesn't even ship the quad-based machines with anything less than the 9-cell extended battery that lifts the back off the table, so we expect to see some pretty solid running time off the battery.

We start out with a pair of synthetic Futuremark tests to get an idea of where the performance of the i7-720QM-based Studio 17 falls in against its peers, with the HD 4650/560v pulling graphics duty.

Our PCMark Vantage and PCMark05 scores are a bit lower than we'd like to see them, but this can be attributed to the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 not pulling as much weight compared to some of the other graphics solutions available. Still, the Studio 17 consistently ranks near the top of the heap.

Again, Peacekeeper produces solid results but still on the low end of where we'd expect the Studio 17 to end up. That said, getting into Cinebench and the x264 encoding tests show the i7-720QM rocketing to the top of the heap where it should be. It's tough to say exactly why the Studio 17 stumbles in the Futuremark-based tests—maybe it's the Radeon HD 4650?—but either way, it performs beautifully when we leave that suite.