Today we announced Dell’s smallest and greenest PC - the Studio Hybrid. This has been a fun product to watch develop. The Dell teams associated with it are wide and varied, and all PASSIONATE.
When Michael Dell previewed it on Earth Day, the online response to the concept was pretty upbeat and I am confident that once this PC finds its way to homes around the world, that first impression will be just as positive.
Design, style, fun are not words necessarily associated with “desktop” PCs … but in this case it’s absolutely the primary goal. This little beauty was designed to “put the desktop back on the desktop” versus “under the desk with the Cheetos and dust bunnies,” as Brian Leonard, the Studio Hybrid’s lead industrial designer in Dell’s Experience Design Group, eloquently puts it. This is a product designed for those of you who want to know what time it is, not how to build the watch - just pull it out of the box, plug it in and go.
Whether it’s used as a kitchen PC or living room command center (HDMI port makes it easy to connect your HDTV, and the wireless keyboard and mouse mean freedom to move from the recliner, to the couch, to the throw pillows on the floor), the Studio Hybrid will fit into just about any environment.
If you’re looking for more traditional desktop PC that you might modify or update down the road then I recommend you look at the new Inspiron 518 desktop. In contrast to it’s supermodel sibling, the Inspiron 518 is the nice looking, full-featured multimedia PC that will appeal to all family members.
In its own geeky way it has some nifty features and technologies that just make life easier. At top of the system is a “Gear tray” - the place where you put your cell phone, your music player, your Bluetooth headset, etc. Two top-mounted USB ports make for easy access charging / syncing (currently about 2 feet of counter space in MY kitchen are dedicated to the multiple devices we all carry). From a performance perspective, the Inspiron 518 offers some pretty compelling price/performance ratios … optional performance boosters include Intel quad core processors, discrete graphics, and 500GB hard drive capacity.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
The Hybrid has a very sleek modern look and will fit in anywhere.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:15 am
I definitely like the look and the small footprint. I wish we offered an internal HDTV tuner and supported audio through HDMI. Then, it would be a killer HTPC.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:59 am
IMHO, it has 2 issues:
1. Requirement to purchase Vista (no option to buy it without OS)
2. Intel graphics chip which has super-slow performance. How about sticking with ATI or NVidia?