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(Source: Dell)

Along with three new Dell Dimension desktops, the relatively small and slim Dell XPS 210 desktop was unveiled yesterday.

With a nice sliver finish, the 4-foot-tall XPS 210 supports up to an Intel Core 2 Duo processor - though Pentium D processor options are still available for those on a tighter budget. Given its small form factor, it can be installed in either horizontally or vertically.

It ships with Windows Media Center by default, and has a starting price of US$1,190 - which does look a bit high until you consider the fact that this price includes 1-year of priority XPS service support.

[News via Dell]

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(Source: Dell)

As part of a four desktop rollout, three new Dell Dimensions were unveiled, i.e. the Dimension E520, E521 and C521 (pictured).

The E521 and C521 are both AMD-based PCs, with support of up to the dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processor, while the E520 is an Intel-based one, with support of the newly-released Core 2 Duo processor.

While all come with Windows Media Center by default, they are all touted as Vista-capable. Nothing special really, but then, price is really all that matters, and Dell has certainly ensured a pretty high degree of competitiveness on that aspect via their starting prices of US$719, US$329 and US$359 for the E520, E521 and C521, respectively.

[News via Dell]

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(Source: bit-tech.net)

The oh-so-delayed Dell XPS 700 finally falls into the hands of a review site, which is none other than bit-tech.net.

It’s a pity, however, that despite having the yet-to-be-released nVidia nForce 590 chipset, performance of Dell’s gaming monster failed to match bit-tech.net’s own custom rig - mostly due to Dell’s pathetically slow memory. The XPS 700’s design received mad props though.

Overall, they conclude that, “Dell has done what many thought would be beyond it - created a decent gaming system that hardcore enthusiasts would be happy to have on their desk. The engineers have nailed the industrial design and the core internal design, but the guys haven’t quite managed to get the components and the pricing right. But for all our ragging on the component specifications, Dell has really got the core of this system spot on, and for that it earns our Recommended award. However, we hope Dell takes our comments on board and sorts future machines out with the kind of components that will really make the Core 2 Duo processor shine - and at the right price.”

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(Source: MCS.COM)

Do you know how much it’d cost if you refurbished your Dell Dimension to get this sort of specs?

Intel Pentium D 3.2ghz CPU
3072 MByte RAM
500gb SATA
DVD-Rom Drive
DVD-RW Drive
256mb NVidia GeForce 6800 Video Card
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Sound Card

Well, apparently it’d cost “only” £5,980,000. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself.

[News via The Inquirer]

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(Source: bit-tech.net)

Dell recently clarified that new customers for the heavily delayed Dell XPS 700 would get a mid-October shipping date, while customers who preordered will get a mid-September to mid-October shipping date. But… only if you’re keeping with the Intel Pentium D-processor and have no intention of taking up Dell’s free upgrade to a Core 2 Duo.

This annoucement was accompanied with an explanation for the further delays customers are experiencing: Cooling assembly installation problems - which could affect system stability.

And don’t forget that if you are one of those who opted for the free upgrade, your XPS 700 might arrive as late as February 2007, or so speculation goes.

[News via Direct2Dell]

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(Source: CNET)

The recently held WWDC keynote uncovered an interesting tidbit. It seems that the new Mac Pro is cheaper than a similarly configured Dell by around US$1210, except for a Quadro NVS 285 graphics card on the Dell to the Mac Pro’s GeForce 7300GT. It’s going for only $2499 according to Apple’s site against Dell’s $3709 price tag on the Precision 390.

And Dell isn’t the only PC manufacturer the new Mac Pro is being compared against. Apparently, even the HP Workstation xw8400 is $1292 more expensive than its Apple counterpart.

Now, this is news. Given that the latest Mac’s can all run Windows using either Apple’s free Boot Camp or Parallels’ Virtual Machine, this looks like an incredible deal. But we’ll have to see how things go from here to say anything more.

[News via CNET]

Read more news and reviews on the Dell Precision 690 workstation.

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(Source: bit-tech.net)

CNET hates it when PC vendors like Dell mess with the validity of their reviews. We over here hate it when PC vendors delay shipping schedules even more than they should.

Remember when people were speculating that the XPS 700 would start shipping after Dell started getting stock of Intel Core 2 Duo processors?

Now, the community is speculating instead that the gaming powerhouse will start shipping as late as February 2007 due to the inclusion of Nvidia’s new Nforce 590 chipset.

I pity the guys waiting for their XPS 700s. After all, by the time they get it, it might no longer be the top dog in town.

[News via CNET]

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(Source: Dell)

Along with the launches of the XPS 410 and Precision 390 was the unveiling of the Dell Dimension 9200. If you don’t already know, all three of them are among Dell’s first entries utilising the newly-launched Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

The D9200 will support processors up to the Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.66GHz), up to 4GB of DDR2 (667MHz) SDRAM, and up to 1TB of SATA hard disk drive space. If you are willing to cough up the cash, you can even get a 512MB nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX graphics card and the AGEIA PhysX physics accelerator first seen with the monstrous Renegade XPS 600.

Of course, that is if you have the dough. If you do not, or are unwilling to spend so much money, you can get one with relatively basic specs for a starting price of US$1,532.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released their initial list of 60 computer products deemed environmentally preferable. The products all came from 3 manufacturers, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and CTL Corp., and were either desktops, notebooks or monitors.

The list was part of the EPA’s Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) database, and will allow high-volume customers, such as universities, to consider environmental performance when making their purchasing decisions.

For laymen, this means that Dell and Co. will be getting some nifty preference from big customers being pressed to be “environmentally-friendly”.

[News via Waste News]

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(Source: Dell)

Even workstations are getting upgrades to Intel’s recently-launched Core 2 Duo processor. The first up seems to be the Dell Precision 390 - which will support processors up to the 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800.

If you have the dough to splash, you can even get a 512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500, up to 8GB RAM and up to 2TB of hard disk space.

At the moment, it starts at US$899, but you only get a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor for that sort of cash. Expect to pay at least $1,888 if you’re looking for one with a Core 2 Extreme processor.

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