The gorgeous wide-screen display makes us long all the more for HDTV support. Although the XPS 400 has two TV tuners, a truly high-end Media Center (HP's z555 comes to mind) would also include an option such as ATI's HDTV Wonder, which enables you to view and record over-the-air HD broadcasts. Even so, we can't complain about the system's otherwise excellent TV and DVR capabilities.
If TV recording and playback isn't a priority, the highly configurable XPS 400 is also available with Windows XP Home or XP Pro (but not yet with Windows XP Pro x64) and without TV tuner cards, for $150 in savings. Bundled applications are geared toward come-ons to purchase upgraded versions and include Musicmatch Jukebox Basic, a trial version of QuickBooks, Corel WordPerfect 12, and Corel Photo Album Basic.
Our other complaints with the Dell XPS 400 are few. Although Dell's 100-watt, 5.1-channel 5650 speaker system (paired with integrated 7.1-channel audio) produces wall-rattling sound, we found the subwoofer a little weak. Also, the wired keyboard and mouse may suit gamers, but they're not ideal for a Media Center PC. If it were up to us, we'd go wireless.
Reversing a recent trend we were unhappy to see, by rebranding the Dimension 9100 under the XPS line, the XPS 400 gets the benefit of a significantly improved support policy compared to the Dimension 9100's 90 days of coverage. With all systems in the XPS series, you get one year of onsite, one year of parts-and-labor, and one year of phone service and Web access to XPS-trained technicians. The enhanced service is a great bonus for customers, since it doesn't raise the cost of the system itself.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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BAPCo SysMark 2004 rating | |
SysMark 2004 Internet-content-creation rating | |
SysMark 2004 office-productivity rating |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Half-Life 2 1,024x768 4XAA 8XAF | |
Half-Life 2 1,600x1,200 4XAA 8XAF |
(Lower times are better)
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Sorenson Squeeze 4 video encoding test (in seconds) | |
Adobe Photoshop CS test (in seconds) | |
Apple iTunes 4.7.1.30 MP3 encoding test (in seconds) |
Find out more about how we test desktop computers.
System configurations:
Cyberpower Gamer 6600SE
Windows XP Home SP2; 1.8GHz AMD Athlon 64 3000+; Nvidia Nforce 4 chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6600 (PCIe); Hitachi HDS722516VLSA80 160GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
Dell XPS 400
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2; 3.2GHz Intel Pentium D 840; Intel 945GP chipset; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6800 (PCIe); two WDC WD160JD-75HBB0 160GB Serial ATA 7,200rpm; integrated Intel 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller (RAID 0)
Gateway FX400XL
Windows XP Professional SP2; 3.0GHz Intel Pentium D 830, 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; Intel 945GP chipset; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6800 (PCIe); Hitachi HDS722525VLSA80 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA (two separate drives, no RAID)
Polywell Poly 939N4 dual X2
Windows XP Professional SP2; 2.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+; Nvidia Nforce 4 chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800GTX (PCIe); two WDC WD740GD-00FLA2 74GB 10,000rpm SATA; integrated Nvidia Nforce RAID class controller (RAID 0)
Shuttle XPC G5 8300mc
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.0GHz Intel P4 530; Intel 915G chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6600 (PCIe); WDC WD2500JD-98HBB0 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
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