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CableCARD-equipped Dell XPS 410 desktops now available
Yeah, so it's been a tick since we first got wind of Dell's master plan to equip the XPS 410 with CableCARD support, but it's good to see the wares finally available for purchase. Starting now, users interested in picking up a mid-range XPS desktop with single or dual ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuners can select either option when configuring their machine. The cost? $236 per tuner, which ain't too bad in the grand scheme of things.[Via MSMVPS]
Dell XPS 410 with CableCARD and Blu-ray (p)reviewed
Doth our eyes deceive us? Have we finally happened upon a real life computer with real life CableCARD after all these years? It looks like PC Mag's finally got that early review up of the Dell XPS 410 with ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner (and Blu-ray, to boot!), which we've come to find out is, unfortunately, still just a working prototype (read: not hitting the market just yet). That didn't stop them and their dual CableCARD tuners from jacking into some serious HD cable though. Interesting notes: Dell claims that the sales rep who takes the order for your CableCARD-equipped Dell box will also schedule an appointment with your local cable company to have the CableCARDs delivered and installed the same day your system comes. (Really? We're skeptical.) The initial CableCARD install apparently took three friggin hours to drop in, provision, and get running; one of the two tuners continually didn't work for PC Mag, which caused lingering issues. Both the cable company and Dell eventually had to reflash the tuner and CableCARDs. HD (and some SD) video had problems: "stuttering and video artifact issues". Bummer. Dell said "the company went with Blu-ray instead of HD-DVD [sic] simply because BD-RE is a writable drive now" -- does that mean when writable HD DVD drives are more commonplace Dell will offer both? Streaming live and recorded TV to your Xbox 360 works flawlessly, as expected. Blu-ray playback worked well with 3rd party apps, but like HD DVD, it can't yet be done in Media Center (yay DRM) The system hit some performance limits when playing back Blu-ray flicks and streaming or recording media. More power! We don't agree with PC Mag's assessment that "TV on Vista's MCE interface is still a niche product". Perhaps because many millions of Media Center PCs have been shipped -- but let's not split hairs. There, are you as stoked as we are for this? Problems and crappy CableLABS DRM and CableCARD issues and all?
Dell prepping CableCARD-compatible XPS 410
So Vista's been out for a little over a month now, yet hardware supporting one of its most anticipated features -- CableCARD compatibility -- is still nowhere to be found; we'd assumed that big names like Niveus and VidaBox would have had products ready at launch, but apparently the certification process is taking longer than they anticipated. Well the good news is that at least one manufacturer is planning to offer a compatible box in the near future: PC Magazine reports that Dell just sent them a pre-production XPS loaded up with ATI's TV Wonder Digital Cable tuner (external or internal is not made clear). The brief teaser article doesn't mention anything about a possible launch window, though, so don't go tossing your Series3 TiVo out just yet.[Via Gearlog]
Core 2 Duo-powered Dell XPS 410 and HP Pavilion d4600y desktops announced, reviewed
If there's anything better than killing two birds with one stone it's killing four of them, and thanks to a pair of early looks from Cnet, we're able to cram two product announcements and their corresponding reviews into one tidy little post. Even though they were just unveiled today, the tech mega-site was already able to take Dell's XPS 410 (pictured, left) and HP's Pavilion d4600y (pictured, right) Core 2 Duo-powered desktops out for a spin, and both machines come across as very capable performers. The two rigs share the same 2.4GHz E6600 CPU and 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM -- meaning that they throw down almost identical benchmark numbers, with the HP enjoying a slight but ultimately inconsequential edge -- but the Dell's nVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS graphics card with 512MB VRAM makes short work of the ATI Radeon X1600XT-sporting Pavilion in the all-important gaming department. Dual 320GB hard drives also put the XPS 410 on top when it comes to storage capacity (although the d4600y still offers a very reasonable dual 250GB HDD array), and both towers seem equally well-suited for multimedia applications with their on-board dual-tuner TV cards and plethora of connectivity options. In the end, each $2,000 system earned a Very Good score of exactly 7.2 from Cnet, with the Dell obviously getting the nod for gamers, while the cheap-looking but feature-filled HP sounds like a better choice for the all-around user who wants greater expandability. Luckily, the hot new dual-core processors in both PCs means that you'll be getting one of the fastest machines on the market, no matter which model you choose.Read- Dell XPS 410Read- HP Pavilion d4600y
