Dell Studio Hybrid Small Form Factor Desktop

Performance Summary:
Summarizing the performance of the Dell Studio Hybrid, we have to consider its target application. The machine is engineered to provide desktop-like performance at notebook-like power consumption.  In that light, we came away impressed with the numbers.  Where the system lagged behind our full sized test systems in benchmarks like PCMark Vantage, which is also weighted by disk throughput, it conversely showed competitive performance in audio encoding and general CPU throughput tests like Cinebench.  Against the backdrop of its overall power consumption, which was a fraction of our desktop test systems, the Dell Studio Hybrid offered a rather satisfying end user experience.

In the final analysis, Dell's Studio Hybrid mini desktop system succeeds on a number of levels.  It's stylish, extremely low profile, quiet and absolutely miserly on power.  These traits, coupled with all the features and baseline performance of a mainstream desktop machine, add up to a quality product that, with a base price of $499 ($834 as tested with wireless keyboard and mouse), is also a decent value.  If you keep in perspective the Hybrid's target end user scenario as a small form-factor, mainstream desktop or perhaps even a Home Theater PC, the Hybrid delivers on just about any metric that it can be justifiably measured too.  Sure we would have liked to see Dell step out first with a Centrino 2-based machine with a G45 chipset but we're hopeful that's coming (no promises from Dell yet...). Regardless, even in our quick high definition video testing, clearly the machine was up to task of 1080p playback.  So we can't complain too much on that front, especially with the Hybrid's HDMI output.

All told, we really enjoyed our time with the Dell Studio Hybrid and have no problem recommending it as a sleek, low profile, low power Desktop or Home Theater/Media Center PC.  We'll leave you with our previously released HH Video Spotlights on the Studio Hybrid, which will also give you a hands-on feel of what it's made of.