Dell, HP, and iBuyPower Back-to-School PC Roundup
Dell XPS 8300 Configuration and First Impression
Next up we have Dell's XPS 8300 system. This machine is aimed at all-round content creation and multimedia chores, and though it didn't ship to us with a built-in TV tuner like HP's system did, there's an option to add one when configuring an XPS 8300 online.
Monitor sold separately
Like both other systems in this roundup, Dell chose Intel's Sandy Bridge platform to serve as the foundation. The OEM then dropped in a performance-oriented mechanical hard drive with a generous 64MB of cache, 7200 RPM spindle speed, and a SATA 6Gbps interface. Rounding out the setup is 8GB of DDR3 memory and a Radeon HD 6770 graphics card.
Monitor sold separately
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Model
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XPS 8300 |
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CPU
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Intel Core i7 2600 with air cooling |
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Memory
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8GB DDR3 1333MHz |
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Graphics
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AMD Radeon HD 6770 |
| Storage |
Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB (6Gb/s, 7200 RPM) |
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Optical
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Blu-ray Reader/DVD Burner Combo |
| Operating System |
Windows 7 Home Premium x64 |
| Internet |
10/100/1000 Ethernet and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi |
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Front Panel Ports
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4 x USB 2.0; 1 x USB 3.0; Memory card reader; Headphone and mic |
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Rear Panel Ports
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4 x USB 2.0; eSATA; GbE LAN; Optical SPDIF; Audio inputs |
| Sound | Integrated 7.1 surround sound with THX TruStudio PC |
| Power Supply | 460W |
| Keyboard / Mouse | Dell wireless keyboard and mouse |
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Warranty
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1 Year Limited |
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Price
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$1,300 (as configured) |
Like both other systems in this roundup, Dell chose Intel's Sandy Bridge platform to serve as the foundation. The OEM then dropped in a performance-oriented mechanical hard drive with a generous 64MB of cache, 7200 RPM spindle speed, and a SATA 6Gbps interface. Rounding out the setup is 8GB of DDR3 memory and a Radeon HD 6770 graphics card.
Contents
- Dell wireless keyboard
- Dell wireless mouse
- Power cord
- Quick Start Guide and related documentation
- VGA to DVI Adapter
- Drivers and Utilities disc
- Windows Reinstallation DVD
;)
And then our celebratory cheers turned into grumbling jeers. We're okay with the weather widget in the upper right corner of the desktop, but the pop-ups are a drag, and in particular McAfee's persistent cries for attention will make you want to smother it with a pillow, which is what we ended up doing. Dell shipped us a 15-month subscription to McAfee, but since it got in the way of benchmarking (the pop-ups caused some benchmarks to crash), we uninstalled the security software for the duration of tests.
We did a little digging and uncovered other bits of crapware pre-loaded on our XPS 8300, though like HP's system, most of it didn't start up with Windows. The XPS 8300 loaded Windows faster than the other systems in our roundup, cold booting in just 47 seconds, and taking 9 seconds to power down.
Dell includes its "Stage" software on XPS 8300 systems, which is a fancy name for a dock. It gives users quick access to frequently accessed files such as multimedia content and games. There's also a Syncup button for accessing the 2GB of online backup Dell includes free of charge for one year.
We did a little digging and uncovered other bits of crapware pre-loaded on our XPS 8300, though like HP's system, most of it didn't start up with Windows. The XPS 8300 loaded Windows faster than the other systems in our roundup, cold booting in just 47 seconds, and taking 9 seconds to power down.
Dell includes its "Stage" software on XPS 8300 systems, which is a fancy name for a dock. It gives users quick access to frequently accessed files such as multimedia content and games. There's also a Syncup button for accessing the 2GB of online backup Dell includes free of charge for one year.
