Dell Studio Hybrid Small Form Factor Desktop
Two perpetually, almost fad-like and recurring themes for computing technology in 2008 are low power, environmentally friendly products as well as tiny, small form-factor or ultra-portable machines. Power consumption and size -- it has become undeniably hip and cool to offer products that cater to the new carbon footprint and mechanical footprint-minded consumer. If you didn't know better, it almost seems like the introduction of Asus' Eee PC started the craze back in Q4 of '07 but clearly, at least small form-factor system have been around for many years.
Some of you will remember Shuttle's line of wildly popular barebones XPCs which became an underground hit with many in the DYI crowd looking to build Home Theater setups or fully capable and portable LAN boxes. Shuttle hit the scenes with this system over six years ago, if you can believe that, and they've been growing in popularity ever since with the recent small form-factor/eco-friendly frenzy breathing even more life into the market niche'. And you know SFF (small form-factor) systems have arrived when the "big guns" like Dell set their sights on this competitive arena.
Dell's marketing team had their collective thinking caps on for the brand naming of their new line of Studio Hybrid SFF desktops. While the machine is comprised of traditional electronics and is powered by standard AC current, the term "Hybrid" conjures up efficiencies in power consumption along with perhaps a physical profile that slices cleanly through the air. Shipped with an included "recycling kit" that allows you to ship, free of charge, your old, run-down system back to Dell for proper disposal, the new Dell Studio Hybrid takes to the HotHardware test bench today for our technical evaluation. Make sure you check out our HH Video Spotlight on the machine as well but read on here for the full Monty.
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We'll get into specific design details of the Studio Hybrid next but the detailed spec list above shows you the base configuration of the machine. All systems start with at least 2GB of DDR2-667 system memory, a standard 5400RPM SATA hard drive, onboard integrated Intel graphics, integrated Gigabit Ethernet and HD Audio. The system weighs in at less than 5 lbs and comes standard with a slot load DVD player with Blu-ray as an upgrade option. With its tiny 8" x 8" size, Dell decided to use an entirely mobile chipset design and Intel's Core 2 Duo T series of notebook chips powers this machine.
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