Dell XPS 210: The Gaming Desktop

The World's leading PC Maker Dell has unveiled XPS 210. XPS are Dell's gaming PC's.

The XPS 210 is small, but packs in a punch. It is so tiny, that you should see it to believe it. The rig measures in at 12.5" tall x 14.5" deep and 3.7" thick. But make no mistake, it’s a powerful gaming rig, even though it looks like one of those boring workstations you have at your office.

The XPS is stuffed with 500GB HDD, 4GB of dual channel DDR2 RAM. The XPS is powered by Intel chips; the heart is an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU from an E6300 up to an E6700. Dell XPS 210 can definitely do better in t graphics department. For a gaming rig like XPS the best offering being a single 256 MB X1300 Pro is not good enough. It could not be possible to fit a dual slot X1900 XTX inside that tiny chassis, let alone a Crossfire setup.

The Sound is impressive nonetheless. With an internal 7.1 channel audio sub-system or an integrated SoundBlaster Audigy HD software edition sound processor, the Dell XPS is leaves you satisfied with the overall experience.

So does it have any competition? Oh yes, it does and big time that too.

The likes of Apple and Winbook are snapping the heals of Dell for sometime now. These rivals have computers which are tiny, feature-packed, generally sub-$1,000 powerhouses whose strengths are basic computing and serving up digital media for those not overly concerned with performance or video quality. Both Apple and Winbook include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as standard features in media PC's, which are even smaller than the XPS 210. Sadly, Dell does not offer a built-in wireless networking option. It sells all kinds of wireless routers but no internal wireless adapters. We think that this would take them a long way towards making the XPS 210 more living-room friendly.

Plus the fact that the Dell XPS is a reluctant product which wants to please everybody out-there. The competition has already planted their home entertainment flags in the livings rooms. Dell lacks a bit here too. It would be hard for the XPS 210 to blend with your current home entertainment system. Though, it offers some flexibility, but you can not turn it into a true blue performer. But if you are looking for a desktop which looks and performs decently, go for XPS 210.

The XPS 210 looks like a first generation Xbox with those specifications mentioned. It carries one hard drive and one optical drive. With up to four memory sticks, the user also gets two expansion slots (one x16 PCI Express slot and the other x1 PCI slot).

Dell offers a couple of configurations options. It offers the full range of Intel's Core 2 Duo chips (minus the Extreme X6800). With a little more memory, a larger internal hard drive, it also offers the users with a selection of external hard drives. Not to forget it comes with the usual range of software, printers, cameras, and other peripherals.

To sum up, even though the XPS 210 seriously lacks some features, its a powerful performer nonetheless. The new Intel Core 2 Duo E660 and 1 GB memory are the best in its class and a just a step behind the higher end XPS 410.

Pricing for the XPS 210 starts at $1099, but expect to pay much more than that for a fully loaded system.