15 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
Entry Level Performance Desktop
Date of Review: Apr 16, 2008
The Bottom Line: Good as a base level without adding to many upgrades, not good if you start adding to many upgrades.
Intro
With the advance in technology the limits of the desktop PC had been pushed further and further while the price for such performance and features had gone down considerably so that even the average consumer can afford to own the high performance PC.
While the trend nowadays has shifted from desktops to laptops (many people choose laptop as a replacement for their desktop) a desktop is still way to go unless you prefer to have the portability and ability to use your computer at different locations.
Dell s Dimension XPS is the a special line of Dell s mainstream Dimension line of desktop PC. While XPS also being available in a laptop configuration, its desktop counterpart is priced much more sensitive while still giving you decent performance and some very high end features.
Description
The Dell XPS 420 is the cross-hybrid between lower end value PC desktop and the higher end line of the performance and gaming XPS family of desktops striking the balance between the price and features so that you can have decent performance PC and not have to spend a lot.
However, this balance of features to value can be quickly skewed if you start adding available add-on components or upgrades. So if you end up getting tempted of adding more than few add-on upgrades I would strongly recommend looking at other available products as they may give you better value for the money.
Features Pros and Cons
As mentioned earlier, the XPS 420 attempts to strike a balance between features and value. With Quad-Core Core 2 CPU starting at 2.4 GHz you get plenty of processing speed even with the base model.
On a negative side, while Dell certainly gives you an option to upgrade to even better CPU, I am not sure I would recommend doubling the price of the base model on a CPU upgrade alone to upgrade from Quad-Core to Intel Pentium Extreme. And if I do have to have the Pentium Extreme than I would look elsewhere since adding the very high end expensive CPU to the entry level performance PC makes not much of the sense.
The unit also comes with 3GB or 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz (depending on configuration selected) giving you plenty of RAM to match fast CPU. On the down side, the 4GB is the cap of what you can install to the system since instead of a pair of 2GB modules you will get two pairs of 1GB modules therefore not leaving you for any options to upgrade later. While the 4GB is a lot, the price of RAM is getting more affordable and new software seems to be asking for more RAM so it would be nice to have the option of adding more RAM. But again, this is a value line of the performance XPS line of Dell s desktop PC systems so I imagine this was done to keep the price down as the 2x1GB modules are cheaper than 1x2GB module.
On the video card side, again, you are capped at the mid-line with nothing spectacular. 512 MB NVidia GeForce 8800 or ATI HD on the high end and as an upgrade. On base model you are looking at even less with 128 MB of memory.
You get the 320 GB to 1 TB RAID hard drive storage space which for most of entry line performance computing applications is more than sufficient.
You get the DVD/RW or Blu-Ray Optical drive and 7.1 integrated audio to compliment multimedia requirements and either no monitor or 22 /24 Flat Panel monitor screen.
For a full list of features and upgrade options please visit: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsdt_420?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
One thing I did not like about the system is Dell s insistence that this system ships only with the Windows Vista while in fact many people have issues with the Vista, the fact that even Microsoft has acknowledged.
Other notable flaw noticed is the very light and fragile build of the case and brackets. Even with regular use (no abuse), people had been complaining about snapped brackets that hold components and the outside surface scratches very easily. Even considering the fact that this is an entry level performance desktop PC I think better case design should be chosen that not only looks great but is also solid in construction and mounting hardware included.
Conclusion
Overall, if you are looking for the balance of performance and value and do not look to deviate to much from the base model (upgrades will quickly catapult your base price to outer space heights), this may be a system you wish to consider. If you are on the other hand looking for something of a more powerful system with fewer upgrade and performance caps and bottlenecks, I would recommend looking in different direction and seeing what else is there.
