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35 out of 56 people found this review helpful
3.0 stars
"This might be the greatest box on earth, BUT"
Pros: The (currently) best hardware is in this box.
Cons: Dell Support, Dell bloat, continual rollout delays, EXPENSIVE, Dell proprietary, Dell Support
Summary: Four Large for a computer, even if it's a high-speed demon...who goes there these days? (In all fairness, the XPS 700 starts around $2K or so and goes up from there.) I don't know many of the serious folk in the gaming marketplace that buys their über rig off the shelf anymore, even from such storied houses like Alienware (now Dell) or Falcon NW. It's never been about who spends the most; it's about who builds the best for the cheapest amount of green and shopping the best component deals (thanks, Newegg).
Dell, IMO, has long lost its props in the gaming marketplace, if it really ever had any to begin with. The early XPSs were popular and fast for the period (P3s) but since those days seldom would any serious gamer consider a Dell a viable option. There's just no real street cred with a Dell.
Dell has this nasty habit of making many of its bits proprietary, particularly the mobo, which in the past has been variations of various Intel designs. The CNET article didn't say if the XPS 700 followed the same philosophy, but it wouldn't surprise me. The computer also isn't overclocked straight out the box, which CNET correctly points out is a downer since it's not clear if all of the supplied internals are up to the challenge of an overclocked CPU (which in turn gets back to the question of Dell's past proprietary habits). Moreover, that KILLER (and expensive) nVidia vid card that Dell stuffed in this box will, in six months or less, be put out to pasture with the widespread release of Windows Vista and DirectX 10. This thing may stop all over the competition now, but how will it do when the latest generation of DX10 games hit store shelves?
Dell also has this habit loading all sorts of nonsense onto their computers, such as AOHell and other useless services, most of which only goes to irritate the hardcore gamer. The CNET article doesn't mention any of that, but somehow I doubt Dell will abstain from this activity given how many of these add-ins probably PAY Dell for the priviledge of polluting their computers' hard drives and computer bootup times.
And then we get to the contentious nature of Dell Support. Just let me say it PAYS to eat out at Indian restaurants, if only to get Western ears accustomed to nuances of Bangalore tech support. Enterprise may enjoy their support with a Texas twang, but us home users...hardly ever. Moreover, Dell typically gives only a mediocre warranty term with their machines (1-yr for the XPS 700); any serious timeframe requires the buyer to pony up more of that precious green.
As I said in my title, this could be the greatest desktop on earth right now, but it IS a Dell, and any buyer considering this machine needs to be aware of the implications of purchasing from them. Considering that this rig is aiming at the heart of the gaming market, it does have A LOT of things going for it, but because it's coming from a company with past build habits like Dell has, that same buyer needs to ask his or herself whether the pitfalls are worth the immediate gratification (well, as immediate as September 25, 2006 can be).
- 10 replies to this review
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Honestly, street credibility? You don't even own one do you? How about I take my performance stats (sysmark, etc) and put them next to your "street cred" and watch you apologize? Your review is nothing but a slam against the image of Dell and has nothing to do with this system. Sweet chipset, sweet config, sweet rig.
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This PC is one of the best gaming computers out there this thing goes so fast and it allowes you to play all games that are in the market it also runs very qucik on every single game u run this in this PC is a online multiplayer god.
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I hardly think you can build an SLI raid array liquid cooled gaming monster without killing yourself. Sure, ive tried, and failed, anyone can build a mainstream computer, but gaming companys can overclock the system and make it perfect, cusotm painting, etc. for a little more moolah. Also, spending 5k on pc components, and not having a warenty or online help would be a waste. Dell desktops are pretty bad, but Falcon-NW and Voodoo make the best computers around if you can afford them (2k-12k depending on your config) so "building" a gaming computer should be left to the experts, OF COURSE its cheaper, but still not worth it.
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this is great! this means that the system i'm building (x2 4200, radeon x1800xt, 2GB, sff) is gonna get that much cheaper. i'd like to thank the suckers that buy this 4k machine for making it easier for me to build a competing system for 1/4 the price.
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I found this "review", which is, for the most part, a tirade against Dell's mobo design phlisophy and service, useless. I was looking for a review of the performance of the XPS 700 against other high performance products on the market today, not a vitriolic review of Dell's business prectices and an opinion that the product will be out of date tomorrow.
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this review doesn't even describe the actual product. quite dumb.
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It is simply not true that all or the vast majority of gamers build their computers from scratch. What they tend to do is buy a new computer and then upgrade it for as long as they can easily do (usually until it requires a motherboard replacement). But eventually if configuration problems rear their heads, many people still go with a system where all the components are guaranteed to work together (and warrantied as such). That's why people will and do buy XPS systems.
You also have no basis for saying that Dell has no "street cred" among gamers with its XPS systems. Its XPS systems are actually competitive technologically with the best other things out there - maybe not straight up better, maybe lacking in some areas, but certainly competitive. And you can always overclock it on your own, though you will void the warranty (who needs to overclock, though, until it starts becoming obsolete? You don't need 120 FPS instead of 100 or 80. I doubt one can even tell the difference...)
Finally, your commentary about warranties doesn't make much sense, since if gamers as you say build their computers with individual components, they clearly don't place a premium on system warranties, do they?
At any rate, the moment when I find myself struggling to establish "street cred" among hardcore gamers is the moment when I hope somebody takes me out back and puts me out of my misery. -
You characterizations regarding Dell are just stupid. I have been using Dell for some time now and have always had great customer support and great functioning computers.
It is just a company that sells computers. -
I just wanted to say Dell does suck and they do put alot of non sense crap into a sytem before you buy it. Which causes more promblems down the road. And of course i agree everything else you said also.
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The most current tech always costs a pretty penny. But i'm not sure why you've got a beef with Dell so much. I've never had a problem with their support if a part is broken and needs replaced. Usually its shipped next day. Other than replacements, why else would you call them unless you're a total novice (and it doesn't sound as if you are).
Yes, Dell pollutes everything with stuff like AOL, but its just a minor annoyance. Do a clean install and quit griping. You do want Dell to remain in business don't you?
In the end, you won't find a much better computer company, support (replacement parts sent next day or a tech will visit next day), ways to finance, and good looking and dependable computers for the price.
