In the back and forth battle for the power users' hearts, the Dell XPS x830-5215NBK ($1,099.99 list at Best Buy) wins the title of best mainstream multimedia desktop. It has a fairly high-end graphics card, plus a high-end second-generation Intel Core i7 processor under its championship belt. If you have a user in your family who wants to see if they can do more with their photo or video hobby, go to Best Buy and pick up one of these bad boys.
Design and Features
The x8300-5215NBK is a glossy black mid-tower, just like its predecessor, the Dell Studio XPS sx8100-2777NBC ($1,149.99 list, 4 stars). In fact, aside from the word "Studio" embossed on the older model, you'd be hard pressed to tell the two apart at a glance. The newer x8300-5215NBK has the same backward lean to the chassis, which helps users access the optical drive. Inside, there's room for two additional hard drives, an optical drive, and two PCIe x1 cards. One PCIe x1 card slot is blocked by the dual-width ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card, but that's okay, since the desktop already has built-in WiFi. There are only two SATA ports free on the motherboard, but that's plenty for an optical plus one hard drive. One notable plus is the card retention bracket clamped to the top of the Radeon 5770 card. The card itself might only be a pound or two, but if that gets loose in the chassis, it can wreak havoc on the internal components. Bravo, Dell.
Design and Features
The x8300-5215NBK is a glossy black mid-tower, just like its predecessor, the Dell Studio XPS sx8100-2777NBC ($1,149.99 list, 4 stars). In fact, aside from the word "Studio" embossed on the older model, you'd be hard pressed to tell the two apart at a glance. The newer x8300-5215NBK has the same backward lean to the chassis, which helps users access the optical drive. Inside, there's room for two additional hard drives, an optical drive, and two PCIe x1 cards. One PCIe x1 card slot is blocked by the dual-width ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card, but that's okay, since the desktop already has built-in WiFi. There are only two SATA ports free on the motherboard, but that's plenty for an optical plus one hard drive. One notable plus is the card retention bracket clamped to the top of the Radeon 5770 card. The card itself might only be a pound or two, but if that gets loose in the chassis, it can wreak havoc on the internal components. Bravo, Dell.
On the outside of the chassis, there's a indented tray built into the top of the case, where you can rest a smartphone, MP3 player, or external hard drive, and connect them to one of the two USB 2.0 ports on the top of the chassis or the 4 USB 2.0 ports in the back. There are another two USB 2.0 ports on the front for a total of eight. The x8300-5215NBK also includes a single eSATA port in the back for connecting faster hard drives. Next-gen ports abound: The Radeon 5770 card has a DisplayPort and HDMI port in addition to the pair of DVI ports. Amazingly, the only ports missing are USB 3.0 and FireWire. FireWire is more Mac-specific these days, and though USB 3.0 is on some desktops right now, Dell is more cautious with rolling out new technology. The desktop comes with a 460W power supply, more than sufficient to power the included graphics card and a few future upgrades. Needless to say, you'll have a lot of opportunities to upgrade the x8300-5215NBK. The desktop lacks a Blu-ray drive, so if you're a movie collector, that might be the next upgrade. You certainly won't need to upgrade the included 1.5TB 7,200rpm drive any time soon, as it's more than enough for a family of downloaders. The system's 8GB is great for the multitasker who keeps dozens of windows open at once, even if ten of them have pictures or video open.
The x8300-5215NBK comes with very little bloatware. That's right, almost no bloatware or trialware. There's Office 2010 Starter, which doesn't expire (though you can upgrade to the full version online), and it comes with a 30-day subscription to McAfee Security Center (anti virus, etc.). I'd really like to see 12 to 15 months of Internet security software on all new PCs. The system gets away with so little bloatware becuase it has the Best Buy app on the desktop. The Best Buy app lets you shop for and buy programs online. I wish other retailers would eliminate bloatware and follow Dell's lead.
Performance
Thanks to its Intel Core i7-2600 processor and 8GB of memory, the x8300-5215NBK is a formidable performance machine on our multimedia benchmark tests, and thanks to the ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card, it's no slouch on the game grid. It has the power to finish our Handbrake video encoder test in 1 minute 39 seconds and the Photoshop CS5 test in just under three (2:57). If you're going to be editing the videos and snapshots you take with your digital camera, then the x8300-5215NBK will be able to help you get it done quickly. Even overclocked mid-range gaming desktops like the Cyberpower Gamer Dragon ($1,099 direct, 4.5 stars) fall behind (2:09 on Handbrake; 4:28 on CS5). The x8300-5215NBK is a decent performer on the game grid as well: Its Crysis and Lost Planet 2 scores (100 and 57 frames per second, respectively) were playable at the medium quality level. Of course, at the higher levels, both games with quite jerky, as is expected of a mid-level card like the ATI Radeon HD 5770. Then again, very few cards at this price level can do the game tests justice. The Velocity Micro Vector Holiday Edition ($999 direct, 4.5 stars) is one of the few that can do it, thanks to its Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 card.
The Dell XPS x8300-5215NBK has very little bloatware, very good to excellent performance, and some expandability. The last multimedia mainstream Editors' Choice award winner was the Velocity Micro Holiday Edition, which earned the title from the Dell Studio XPS x8100-2777NBC. Dell wins the title back with, the x8300-5215NBK, partly because of the x8300-5215NBK's design and features for the money, and partly because the x8300-5215NBK has surpassed the Velocity Micro in terms of technology. If you're looking for a desktop PC to help a power user store and work on their digital life, put the x8300-5215NBK at the top of your list.
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