Your Guide to the Best Products
Best Mainstream Laptop: Dell Studio 15
All the laptop most people need
Updated Feb 19, 2009 
Set Alert
If you plan to use your laptop typically no more than a few hours per day, then a "mainstream" laptop is probably what you want. Our pick for Best Mainstream Laptop is the Dell Studio 15.
PC Magazine gave it an Editor's Choice award in its price category, and we couldn't agree more.
You can definitely buy a better laptop than the Studio 15, but not for anything like the price. In fact, this laptop is priced almost like a budget model, yet sports features usually found on upper mid-range laptops, like HDMI, Gigabit ethernet, Wireless N, and a slot load drive. The specific configuration we are recommending is the Dell Studio 1537 with 4GB of memory, a 320GB hard drive, and an Intel T6400 processor.
By spending more than this you can definitely get a higher resolution screen, faster graphics, better case materials, keyboard, etc. But the differences probably won't matter if you are not an intensive user.
The good (+)
- plenty of power for most: 4GB memory, Intel T6400 CPU, 320GB disk
- upper-end features: HDMI, Gigabit ethernet, Wireless N, slot load drive
- very bright 1280x800 15" display with Intel 4500MHD integrated graphics
- super long battery life with 9 cell battery (5+ hours)
- near budget price
Shortcomings (-)
- nothing significant
Where to Buy
Best Buy (on-line or at the physical store) has a Dell Studio 1537 with 4GB memory, Intel T6400 processor, 320GB disk, Wireless-N, and an upgraded 9 cell battery for $699. This is an amazingly good deal, and about $240 less than at the Dell website.
The only options of interest not included in the Best Buy deal are a fingerprint reader (handy for website logins) and internal Bluetooth (handy for use with a wireless mouse). However, you can order an internal Bluetooth card from Dell for $29 by clicking here and install it yourself in five minutes.
Click on any of the following links to be taken to the vendor's website.
| Vendor | Description | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| technooutlet.com | Dell Studio 15 Intel Core 2 Duo 2Gh | $693 |
RobsChoice.com recommended vendor (avg rating >=4.0 stars based on >1,000 reviews).
Setup Notes
WARNING: If you purchase your Studio 15 from Best Buy, the first thing you must do after turning on the computer is uninstall the anti-virus software. If you don't uninstall the anti-virus software, the first time the computer tries to update it will become permanently unusable.
Note that we do not recommend running anti-virus software of any kind on Windows Vista as new security features in Vista make infection far less likely and far easier to recover from in the event it does happen. In the end, we feel most users running Vista will have far fewer problems if they simply don't run anti-virus software.
