A Quick chat with Dell about the new Studio Hybrid from Dell
Since the introduction of pocket PC?s I have been intrigued by small form factor computers. I just love the idea of a computer as small as an external drive whipping up on a much bigger tower. At first I thought this was just a PC version of the Mac Mini, but then I saw things like HDMI, Blue Ray option, and a plethora of USB ports. It looks as though Dell has put a lot of thought into this model. It even has an option to have a wood grain finish, how sexy is that! However, there are a couple of things that I look for in small form factor PC?s and the Studio Hybrid includes most of them but falls short on the most important in my book.
The things that I didn?t like about the hybrid was that it looked closed up so I wanted to make sure that heat was not going to be an issue, and it also did not have a discreet video card. This means that it will probably suffer from a low vista rating. It also means that support for dual monitors is probably out of the question. So with these in mind I set out to ask a Dell rep about my concerns and she addressed them well enough. She never directly awnsered my heat question and either didn?t see the average abuse question or just didn?t wish to awnser it. I have included the chat below for your viewing pleasure. I believe this machine will spawn several others like it from vendors like HP and Lenovo. I can?t wait to see what they come up with. I would buy one of these things in a heartbeat if it could support dual monitors.
4:13:31 PM System You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
4:13:31 PM System Connected with BE_Rep_Maricel_W
4:13:41 PM BE_Rep_Maricel_W Welcome to Dell’s Inspiron Sales Chat! I hope you are doing well and thank you for waiting. My name is Maricel. I will be your personal sales agent, please provide your phone number where I can contact you in case we get disconnected. How may I help you with your purchase today?
4:14:01 PM david bates I was looking at the new studio hybrid and had a few questions
4:14:17 PM david bates what is the price range on this thing first?
4:15:31 PM BE_Rep_Maricel_W Yes David, the price range for the Studio hybrid desktop will start at $499 and it will go as high as $1000 depending on the configuration.
4:15:58 PM david bates what type of drives does it use? 2.5″ sata I figure
4:16:36 PM BE_Rep_Maricel_W Let me double check on that for you David.
4:17:02 PM david bates thanks
4:17:21 PM BE_Rep_Maricel_W Yes David it is a 2.5 ” SATA Hard drive.
4:18:53 PM david bates good, the only other question that I have is that I have had these small systems before and heat was always an issue. Is that going to be an issue with this computer? Is it tough enough to handle the average office abuse?
4:19:40 PM david bates oh and can it support dual monitors?
4:20:36 PM BE_Rep_Maricel_W Yes David, this uses 70% less power than a typical desktop, and meets Energy Star® 4.0 standards with an 87% efficient power supply, so you won’t be worrying about the system heating up.
4:23:01 PM BE_Rep_Maricel_W And for the dual monitor, let me double check on that.
4:23:09 PM david bates thanks
4:25:46 PM BE_Rep_Maricel_W The studio hybrid cannot support dual monitor since it does not have an option to get a discrete graphics card.
4:26:26 PM david bates ok well thank you for your time.
Thanks for reading
David Bates
