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Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Model number: S17-162B | SKU: 9150562

Equipped with a built-in media reader and slot-loading DVD±RW/CD-RW drive, this laptop makes it easy to enjoy a host of entertainment options. Video chat with friends and family via the 2.0-megapixel webcam.Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP1 preloaded Which Windows Vista edition is right for you? Compare. 729.99

Average Customer Rating:

3.1 out of 5 (66 Reviews)

34 of 66 (52%) customers would recommend this product to a friend.

Customer Reviews for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Review 21 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

1.0 5

Don't buy a Dell !!! 03/31/2009
By Barb43567 from Wauseon, OH

Value for Price

3.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Convenience

5.0 5

What's great about it: Great computer with lots of nice features.
What's not so great: Dell will charge megabucks for support.

"I like this computer, but will never buy a Dell again. I had a problem opening documents moved from my old computer. Called Dell and was transferred to 4 different people in India, who told me they would charge $129 to fix it one time or I could purchase an expensive long-term service contract. I finally got a supervisor and told him I would post all over the web about this horrendous ripoff. He promised to have someone call me within 48 hours. Needless to say, that person never called. I called Best Buy and spoke to the salesman who sold it to me. He solved the problem over the phone in one minute. BUY FROM BEST BUY, BUT DON"T BUY A DELL!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 22 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Good price, great deal way cheaper then Dell.com 03/29/2009
By bigbob795 from Bennington, VT

Value for Price

4.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Convenience

4.0 5

What's great about it: Long Battery Life, loaded with options, cheaper than Dell.com
What's not so great: Confusing details on included/excluded add on features(even confused the Bestbuy Tech)

"I did a bunch of research before spending my hard earned money on a new laptop and found this one to be the best bang for the buck. A lot of reviews out there seem to be against software issues although dealing with IT personally in the past, most of this is USER malfunction. This laptop comes with a bunch of features that you pay way more with other places and brands. The laptop seem super sturdy, has extra USB ports + firewire and HDMI. The 17" screen is flawless and HUGE, makes any type of computer work easier, especially on a laptop. The keyboard has quick access feature that are recesses and sleek and also comes with a full number pad which you don't normally see on a laptop. Battery life is way longer than comparable HP models which peak at 2.5-3 hrs, this one will run at 6.5 hrs on a full charge. This is my first time with Vista, not so sure yet, probably will be upgrading to Windows 7 when the final BETA testing is done this/next year. The only downfalls that I encountered were that the laptop shows a blue tooth capable insignia, but it doesn’t say that you need to have the accessory upgrade from Dell to get it to work. I solved the problem by buying a $30 blue tooth micro adapter which does take up one of the USB ports but I still have 3 left. Even the Best Buy sales person thought the laptop came with it, but you just have to read the fine print I guess. This laptop also comes with an integrated CD/DVD burner that if it fails will cost you a bunch to fix. I wish that Dell/Bestbuy offered more software bundling on the laptop, only thing that came with it was MS Works which is a step above wordpad. Only benefit of this is that I did not spend hours removing junk/useless software that other companies(Gateway) throw at you. The processor is super fast with the 4g of ram and handles pretty much anything I can throw at it so far. I would suggest this computer to anyone who is looking to buy a laptop for full time use or replacing a tower. I bought this one specifically because my 7 yr old VAIO is getting ready to die and didn’t feel like dumping another $3,000 into a new one. For $750 I got a computer that is twice as fast and also portable. One minor note, when you spend the extra money on the 17” screen you also need to spend more money on a laptop case. Almost every bag or case I found was designed for a 15.4” screen and you’ll be spending about $20.00 more on average $55-80$ for a 17” case."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 23 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

3.0 5

So So 03/19/2009
By lisatherese from Phoenix, AZ

Value for Price

4.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

1.0 5

Convenience

4.0 5

What's great about it: Fast, Good Price
What's not so great: Start Up Problems, Etc.

"Just like numerous others who've posted, since almost the beginning, have had problems starting Windows several times. Most times, the diagnostic tool has fixed the problem, but the last time the only thing that would fix it was removing the battery and replacing. This is fairly ridiculous."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 24 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Great Laptop 03/19/2009
By MegW from OK

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

4.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Convenience

5.0 5

What's great about it: Price, Upgrades, No junk software
What's not so great: No backlit keyboard

"Great laptop! If built identical laptop on Dell.com it would cost around $1200 then add shipping and wait time! I had no problems connecting this to my home network. The wifi signal was recognized the moment I booted the computer up the first time. (I have a Netgear Super G router) It was effortless to network the lap top to my XP desktop computer and was even able to connect to my desktop printer. Best of all, I found no junk/trial ware other than the Office trial, I mean zip/zelch/nada, this is rare! Screen is great, little to glossy but then again the description does say High Gloss, so I wasn't surprised! Very fast shut down and boot up. Built in speakers are just okay, but I didn't expect much as they are standard speakers. All in all for about $500 under "retail" this is an awesome computer."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 25 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

1.0 5

bad dell ever 03/18/2009
By zhaid298 from union city

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

3.0 5

Performance

1.0 5

Convenience

1.0 5

What's great about it: nothing
What's not so great: blue screen

"i bought it from bet buy .i drove about 50 miles for this lap top .but invain.bring it home open it ,blue screen came up .i kep it over night .guess waht happen 6 time blue screen never buy dell again ."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 26 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Great Laptop 03/15/2009
By JvnAngel2 from Colorado Springs, CO

Value for Price

4.0 5

Display

4.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Convenience

5.0 5

What's great about it: The memory and Hard drive size
What's not so great: short battery life

"I love my new laptop. Unlike everyone else, I have not gotten the blue screen of death and I found it very easy to install to my home network. For the price everything was more than i expected out of this product. The only complaint I have is the short battery life. It last about 2-3 hours, which is good for the standard battery, so I'm not too worried about that. Overall, this laptop was a great investment for my everyday use and for school."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 27 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

3.0 5

Good except horrable speakers and 64 bit 03/15/2009
By debdans from Western NC

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

2.0 5

Convenience

3.0 5

What's great about it: Lots of speed, memory, beautiful display
What's not so great: Speakers can not be heard many times. Had to get USB spekaer Bar.64 bit aweful so much will not work. Not Dell's fault

"64 bit is Microsofts worst yet. Flash has problems as well as Google task bar search. And serveral more. But a sweet lap top once you get used to those problems and add a USB speaker bar to hear better."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 28 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Solid performer 03/15/2009
By bcchance1 from Lexington, KY

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

4.0 5

Convenience

4.0 5

What's great about it: Crisp and sharp 17" display, powerful
What's not so great: Internal speakers are mediocre

"The Studio 17 is a great around-the-house laptop. It is out of the box lighting fast and has a sharp display. Aside from my own Vista beginner issues, all setup was a snap. The Studio 17 is heavier than I'd like if I was lugging it to class and around campus, but it is far from burdensome for moving in/around the kitchen/office/living room, etc. It has a prop ridge that establishes an attitude to the keyboard...might want to test drive it to make sure it doesn't bother you. It's a user preference issue. Overall, solid features and performance without an exorbitant price."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 29 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Great Machine - don't worry too much about BSOD 03/14/2009
By AntiochTMH from Antioch, IL

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Convenience

3.0 5

What's great about it: Display, keyboard design, sharp-looking fast machine
What's not so great: Heavy, ridge on bottom hits my knees

"I do like this machine. Did a good deal of research looking for a desktop replacement and the price on this was difficult to beat. I did find a similar unit at a warehouse club, but the best buy unit had a better processor and came with 64 bit vista premium (works great). The display is beautiful and the keyboard has a numeric keypad to the right (just like a desktop).

I too had some "blue screen of death" issues early on. I ended up taking the system restore disks that came with this and reinstalling Windows from scratch. Also chose NOT reinstall any of Dell's applications that came with this. I see that others point to the web cam software (I have no use for that) as the ultimate culprit.

Since reinstalling Windows w/o Dell applications, the machine is flawless. If your not comfortable with a reinstall, point the best buy geeks in that direction (also mention the web cam software issues). That should solve it.

This is a desktop replacement, so it's heavy if your looking for portability. But I use this machine while watching TV, so it's great for that. One issue was the bar/foot on the bottom rear of the machine lined up (uncomfortably) with my knees. The problem was solved with Lapinator Plus (the larger one).

Overall a very nice "household" laptop / desktop replacement."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 30 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

5.0 5

great pc for entertainment 03/06/2009
By Anonymous from Fresno, Ca

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Convenience

5.0 5

What's great about it: great scree, speed, and lots of space
What's not so great: no dedicated graphics card, or it would be a mean machine

"this dell is great with its 17 inch screen, processor speed, long battery life. the only thing its missing is a good graphics card. if it had one it would sell like crazy"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 31 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Decent machine 03/05/2009
By mdrn57 from Burlington, VT

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Convenience

4.0 5

What's great about it: Im not a gamer so it does everything I need and well.
What's not so great: Kinda heavy, BSOD after windows updates but that's a Microsoft thing.

"Overall this is a good bang for the buck. I work in IT and this does more than what I need. The only thing I would change is, I'd put in a 7200 HDD with a 16M cache, which I intend to do."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 32 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Really Cool Laptop; Heavy; Fully Featured 03/04/2009
By ecollinsii from houston, TX

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

4.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Convenience

3.0 5

What's great about it: Very hot PC for the non-gamer. Good display, blazinging fast; good storage; good battery life; numeric keypad.
What's not so great: Heavy; quality control problems which were rectified.

"This is simply a very cool home laptop. It has all of the features that we wanted and is actually hotter than our desktop XPS. Running on a wireless network flawlessly and picks up any wireless network in range with ease. We had a quality control issue with the first unit that we bought; BestBuy came out, diagnosed, and replaced the unit at no charge. FYI the issue was a recurrent crash on boot which we believe was related to a storage unit (Maxtor) which is installed on our network. The replacement unit worked fine. Amazing DVD (we did not buy the BlueRay version, but at 1080+ this is more than sufficient for us). I'm buying another for business use; a little heavy, but definitely useful once on site; big display, multiple ports, easy connectivity ( but do carry a serial to USB cable and a network cable unless you have a satellite card of some sort - not everyone lets you on to their networks). Good buy for $749. Has already paid for itself."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 33 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Great System Great Value 03/03/2009
By Joe4554 from WV

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

4.0 5

Performance

4.0 5

Convenience

4.0 5

What's great about it: Fast Internals, low power consumption for any laptop
What's not so great: Speakers crackle somewhat, but not aweful

"Excellent laptop for the money. Quality and performance for 1/3 or the price less. Vista runs seamlessly and is quick. 4 gb of ram is plenty to run vista and still be quick. As an IT professional I couldn't ask for a better laptop."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 34 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Have Best Buy Check for Driver updates 02/26/2009
By texasstudio from Texas

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Convenience

4.0 5

What's great about it: This is a great laptop. Blazing fast! Awesome picture!
What's not so great: The first experience when buying and the blue screen. The speakers

"We got this and brought back the first time with the blue screen of death. It wasn't said anything or tried to be fixed. Just given a new one. The 2nd time that it happens and a different geek tech said right away that the cause is a known driver error with the webcam. Once he corrected that. So far all has been good and nothing but greatness from this laptop. I was very glad with the 2nd tech to hear that it was something simple and fixable. I really liked the specs on this computer and was excited to get it in my hands. So think twice after reading this reviews..if you know that the specs on it are great and it's what you wanted...bring up that driver error and have them do searching with other store mangers and stuff and get that fixed. Hopefully the new ones after this was found are being shipped from Dell with this known issue fixed. But it's an awesome computer!!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 35 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

4.0 5

5 02/26/2009
By Wingzing from GA

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

4.0 5

Convenience

4.0 5

What's great about it: 17" screen, numbers pad, 4gb memory, great for the price, it's a DELL
What's not so great: Heavy

"I have had this laptop for almost two months and have had no problems with it. I use it with a wireless network and even though it is a little heavy, I still carry it to the den and use it on my lap while watching TV. The battery life is better than others I looked at. Most of the time it is used in my office as a desk top.
The screen is big and clear. I don't watch movies or listen to much music on it, so the speakers are fine.
I was a little concerned about the troubles I had heard concerning VISTA, but it has worked great with very little effort getting used to the changes.
I am glad I did not know about the troubles with the blue screen or I probably would not have bought this model. I just hope I got one of the good ones. It seems I did."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 36 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

1.0 5

BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH 02/25/2009
By Doughboy77 from Minneapolis, MN

Value for Price

4.0 5

Display

2.0 5

Performance

1.0 5

Convenience

1.0 5

What's great about it: Price, features, size, battery life
What's not so great: BSOD, Wireless connection

"Bought this as first laptop, got home and started up fine, shut off and rebooted and got BSOD next 3 times, finally got it booted and would contect to internet via wireles or ethernet. Returned to store and was thinking about giving it another shot but the guy at the counter had just taken in exact same computer 30 mintutes earlier for same reason!

Bought Tohsiba Statellite for $599, absolutley love the computer and have had for 2 weeks now with no problems, lost a little bit of Hard Drive space but 250GB/3GB RAM is perfect and plenty, also saved me $150!!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 37 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

3.0 5

Poor 02/25/2009
By kdube from Pueblo

Value for Price

3.0 5

Display

3.0 5

Performance

3.0 5

Convenience

1.0 5

What's great about it: all internal features
What's not so great: Too Heavy ---- Battery

"I thought this would be a good laptop. The term LAP- being able to us it on your lap. With the battery on the bottom back end it is like a bar. You are unable to sit this on your legs due to the weight and the batterery bar. No blue screen of death for now. But due to the battery bar I will be taking it back to best buy"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 38 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

4.0 5

2nd time's a charm! 02/23/2009
By GEM888 from Hudson, NH

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Convenience

4.0 5

What's great about it: large display, battery life, speed
What's not so great: no backlit keyboard, slightly bulky

"Bought this on 2-14-09 (despite having read reviews and noting several people that had blue screen/start-up issues). Got it home and sure enough, got the blue screen and had to execute start-up repair, which didn't always work. This problem continued several times over the next week and on 2-22-09 decided to give the model one more try and did a return and new purchase with no hassles. Knock on wood...absolutely no blue screen/start-up problems so far and still getting to know all of the features. Facial regognition is cool if you don't want to be bothered with having to type in passwords all the time. So far using it primarily for web surfing and e-mail and will probably install some games and further test speed, etc."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 39 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

3.0 5

Solved Problem? 02/23/2009
By lfd3mdc from Oly, WA

Value for Price

5.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

1.0 5

Convenience

1.0 5

What's great about it: Display, Looks, Battery life, Fast, Ports
What's not so great: BSOD, Speakers

"Got the computer home, started it up, let Windows download updates, re-started and got the BSOD. Tried to restart many times and ran several diagnostics. Always came up with no found problems.

The only way I could get the computer to start up was to remove the battery while the computer was on, wait a few moments, put it back in and start it up. (weird?)

There are several posting about this problem on Dell and Best Buy's site. Seems to be a problem specific to Studio 17s sold at Best Buy. Maybe the specifications?

When I did get it started I went to the webcam icon in the tray and unchecked the choices that have the webcam software opening on startup.

Since then, well...yesterday, I have shut down and restarted without any problems.

Not sure if that will totally rid me of more BSOD but I'll keep my fingers crossed."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 40 for Dell Studio Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Ruby Red

Customer Rating

3.0 5

Decent buy 02/23/2009
By Marty17 from Twin Cities

Value for Price

3.0 5

Display

5.0 5

Performance

2.0 5

Convenience

2.0 5

What's great about it: Number keypad, display, pretty fast
What's not so great: Blue screen, speakers

"I bought this PC against the advice of 2 BB reps because of the number pad and 4GB memory. I love these features but on the 2nd week I got the blue screen after Windows installed updates, and have got it 4-5 times since then. I am also having problems with the display when using a 3D modeling program (Sketchup)...PC runs really slow, but I haven't figured out the reason for this yet. Facial recognition didn't work that great, and I turned it off. Speakers are crackly and not very loud."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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