Review: Dell Studio 17 Desktop Replacement Laptop

The Dell Studio 17 (Model 1747) rates 3.5 out of five stars. Pros: excellent performance, lots of screen real estate. Cons: lacks pizzaz, confusing port arrangement. (That doesn't sound so bad.)

"With the average laptop, one sticky issue is the relatively small size of the display and keyboard--a necessary trade-off to keep users from suffering muscle strain while toting the notebook around. However, if you're looking for a system that you can keep in one location the majority of the time yet pack up easily to get it out of the way when necessary, you need a desktop replacement notebook. The Dell Studio 17--with its large, 17.3-inch display (1600-by-900 or 1920-by-1080) and its near-full-size keyboard--is affordable, offers desktoplike performance, and delivers all-around solid computing.

The model 1747 that Dell shipped us is relatively light for its size at just over 7 pounds, and it's fairly svelte at 16.28 by 11.04 by 1.10 inches (1.54 inches thick in the back, with the battery). This is not your dad's desktop replacement, and it might well make a suitable travel companion for the beefier among us."