Dell's Core i7-packin' Studio XPS hits the review bench

Dell's Studio XPS had "winner" written all over it from the get-go. With practically every other Core i7 rig on the market catering specifically to gamers who were willing to pay a premium for an equally cutting edge GPU, this machine directed itself to everyone who just wanted to do everything but game (and do so quickly). The kids over at DesktopReview were able to take the sub-$1,000 box for a spin, and while they weren't too fond of the relatively plain chassis, it was pretty much thumbs-up everywhere else. Performance in everyday applications was stellar, gaming was better than average and the value was unbeatable. Overall, the Studio XPS is darn close to the perfect machine for folks who want to compute quickly and play a game or two on the side, but rather than taking our word for it, we'd suggest hitting the read link and having a look for yourself.

[Thanks, Max]

[FLaSHBaCK @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:03PM]

Super shmexy.

[Patrick @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:22PM]

ill second that motion.
hawt compy

[adam @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:26PM]

and "plain chassis"? this is better looking than any other dell (most other pc's period) i've seen.

i approve.

[Samboini @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:33PM]

But is it as fast as an Ethiopian?

[austin @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:44PM]

dont you mean kenyan?

[Robotochan @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:47PM]

Kenyans are fast, Ethiopians fast unwillingly :(

PC is hawt!

[Samboini @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:02PM]

The world marathon record is held by an Ethiopian...

[Mobius_1 @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:03PM]

I've got the Inspiron (basically the silver one) and it looks pretty stylish, although I think it would look nicer in black. "Plain" it may be, but I'd rather have a plain, stylish one than an Alienware one.

[El Taco @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:06PM]

But nobody's as fast as KENYANS!

So says the Powerthirst video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs

[gennove @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:55PM]

Upside down side show?

[Mobius_1 @ Nov 22nd 2008 6:25PM]

¿uʍop ǝpısdn ʎq uɐǝɯ noʎ op ʇɐɥʍ

[Nomi @ Nov 22nd 2008 7:46PM]

One of these days I'll replace my 4 yr old machine...till then I'll play TF2.

[ubn2 @ Nov 23rd 2008 3:59AM]

@ el taco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nivR8LkSn1Q

[HalfHalo @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:05PM]

Oh yeah. To bad I can't "Borrow" it from J.R.

[Samboini @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:32PM]

Tolkein?

[Boards of Canada @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:50PM]

No. Tolkien

[Samboini @ Nov 22nd 2008 5:19PM]

My bad grammar Nazi.

[brandon @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:09PM]

Anyone wanna buy me one???

[FLaSHBaCK @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:10PM]

I'll buy you one if you give me a 1,000$?

[some puerto rican guy @ Nov 22nd 2008 7:45PM]

i'll buy myself one if you give me $1000

[Peter @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:12PM]

Bring it to Canada; then I might buy one.

[soulsaber @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:16PM]

Dell likes to delay stuff for Canada...why Dell why?!

[bot @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:16PM]

119 watts when idle, ouch! I wonder how low it can go with an integrated graphics card and a smaller board. Maybe m-ATX or mini-ATX in the future.

[oZ @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:21PM]

Plain chassis? That's a damn good looking Dell.

[BB @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:29PM]

I love it when you crack jokes like that..

[The Dude @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:37PM]

I suspect that the reviewer(s) of the XPS has a fondness for these crimes against aesthetic and humanity: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/18/intel-core-i7-desktop-roundup-the-rest-of-whats-new/

The Puget Systems machine with the Antec case is the only one that doesn't look like it was beaten with an ugly bag of hurt.

[SpydaKat 17 @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:52PM]

So I take it that you lol'd?

[Samboini @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:33PM]

lol

[JerkyChew @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:39PM]

This quote from the conclusion is a little scary:

"Given the speed of the processor and discrete graphics, this system begs for a very fast storage solution. I'd really recommend going with a RAID 0 configuration and a huge tertiary drive for storage. "

I'm a fan of speed and all, but does the author really recommend doubling the chances of a complete system failure just for some increased performance? Personally I'd just get a fast secondary drive and relocate my pagefile to it. Or if I really need blazing I/o I'd build a RAID 0 array as a secondary disk, not my primary.

But hey, reinstalling your entire OS and applications can be fun, I suppose.

[deyanimay @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:45PM]

lol I vaguely remember doing something like this.

[AVG @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:54PM]

They weren't fans of the "plain chassis?" Yeah, I guess we need a lot more flames, UV lights, and side windows on PCs for them to be cool.

::eye roll::

[Samboini @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:06PM]

Agreed, understatement is best. Much like pulling up to the lights in your Audi RS6, looking like an A6, or similar.

[Jeff @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:56PM]

I looked at this, I'd rather go with a regular Studio Desktop, even though it doesn't have the i7, it DOES come with a monitor for that thousand dollars. If I already had a decent monitor, things might be different.

[Boards of Canada @ Nov 22nd 2008 5:01PM]

Hello Milo, long time no see! Its expensive because its new. When the sales will go down a bit Dell will include a monitor. Im gonna update to one of these probably by april-may when the price will have stabilise a bit. Im super happy right now with my duo2core 3ghz for everything 3D and Motion Design but a sub 1000$ quad running as fast as the current Extreme is too tempting. I always buy a new dell per year when I see a good rebate or sale. (old go in the render farm!) Most of my friends are still paying their slow ass G5..! make me really happy!

[crescentdavid @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:03PM]

This really is a great value. For cutting edge tech, it's really affordable. The thing about the case ... it's the studio line. If it were in line with the regular xps 420 and 430 cases, there'd be extra height and width ... more room to have more options. I'd also guess it might be a little quieter too.

[Boards of Canada @ Nov 22nd 2008 5:06PM]

its look more like the vostro case to me (at least one the picture). Cant complain as my vostro mid-tower is super silent. This summer I noticed a fans noise increase when rendering or doing music in Audition but after psssshhhhhhhing the cpu fans with air spay the noise had gone. My room is really dusty and the computer on the floor is gathering little dusty kittens all over the fans. I should do something about it... like passing vacuum a bit more often.

[JohnTitor @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:04PM]

engadget, please make a lowest rank ability that would take it from transparent to deletion

[JohnTitor @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:05PM]

this is not the Studio XPS I was waiting for

[Stereotype @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:05PM]

Erm, I think he likes the copy and paste button....

[Samboini @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:06PM]

This was not done on an iPhone.

[El Taco @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:08PM]

i tried to read that post but I got lost after the 287th lol

[brandon @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:26PM]

lmao

[Patriks7 @ Nov 22nd 2008 5:09PM]

Yah I agree..
Either delete lowest ranked ones, or kind of hide them and add a "show" button for those who want to see them (think its done on Youtube like that right?)
Thanks a lot in advance :D

[Boards of Canada @ Nov 22nd 2008 5:19PM]

No kidding, people who crave for a Mac Pro without having the money should really consider about this one cause its more CPU and GPU power+ram than the 3000$ configuration (macpro quad with 4gb or ram) for a mere 1000$. Add a Dell coupon for get your 10% off and Voila! you've just add a damn powerfull workstation to your production pipeline. With the money saved, you can get that 30 inches screen and that Herman Miller Aeron chair for impress your customers.

[crescentdavid @ Nov 23rd 2008 2:47AM]

Miller's chair is so ... 90's :). There's a lot of good ones out there but I like the Leap myself. Don't know about the Freedom from Humanscale, but it looks interesting.

[Sahil @ Nov 22nd 2008 6:07PM]

How would you compare an i7 with a xeon quad core 12mb cache? Most of what I need to do is virtualization.

Thanks.

[h0rk @ Nov 22nd 2008 6:28PM]

the i7 is better, it has 8 threads so is built more for virtualisation than the xeon is. also allows you to get an x58 motherboard that takes ddr3 tripple channel ram - eg much more bandwidth.

[jazz1 @ Nov 22nd 2008 6:57PM]

What does LOL mean anyway? LOL

[PCIV @ Nov 22nd 2008 7:31PM]

I must comment that they messed up. To get the 4850, it would cost 1199. I knew it was too good to get i7 and 4850 under $1000.

[JohnTitor @ Nov 22nd 2008 7:39PM]

building = 4870X2 and i7 < $1000