Dell XPS X8700-1863BLK Desktop PC via Amazon
Dell XPS X8700-1863BLK desktop is a decent mid-range desktop with a powerful high end Haswell i7 processor and decent amounts of storage and memory for multitasking capability, a total of 10 USB ports (6 of them are USB 3.0), an Optical Drive, a spot for SSD and 3 hard drives and a good range of already installed connectivity options. Wireless is not the faster 802.11ac variety but the still fast but standard 802.11bgn, included keyboard is OK, mouse is decent, the main selling point is the super powerful processor if you can find good use for it and let’s what else is on offer for the price.
Dell XPS X8700 has the 2014 release 4th generation quad core Intel i7-4790 processor at 3.6 Ghz speed (8M Cache) up to 4.00 GHz speed with turbo boost and hyper threading for four cores to handle eight threads in parallel, 8GB DDR3L SDRAM at 1600MHz (dual channel 2 x 4GB) for multitasking power without freezing or delays, 1TB Serial ATA hard drive at 6.0 Gb/s 7200 rpm rotating speed that offers ample size and faster speed than the 5400rpm hard drives but certainly not as fast as SSD and 64-bit English Windows 8.1 operating system and you can have the new Windows 10’s free upgrade at the end of July and all Win 7 and 8 users will have one year after the date of release.
Monitor is not included but a wired US-English Dell KB213 Multimedia Keyboard and Laser mouse are. Graphics card is the NVIDIA GeForce GT 720 with a 1GB DDR3 video memory and for sound you have the built-in 7.1 with Wave MaxxAudio 4. Dell XPS X8700-1863BLK with glossy front, grill design at the bottom and a number of ports weighs 30.42 pounds and has the measurements of 16.01 x 7.3 x 17.49 inches. It supports dual monitors and has a Tray load DVD Optical drive that reads and writes to DVD/CD, 802.11bgn wireless, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet, 19-in-1 Media Card Reader, 4 x USB 2.0 ports ( 2 at the rear) and 6 x USB 3.0 ports (4 at the rear) which is good news for those that connect many different peripherals at once to the computer, HDMI output, DisplayPort, PCI-e x16, x4 slot, 2 x PCI-e x1 and Mini PCI-e slots. You can also connect another Optical DVD Drive as there is a 5.25 inch bay.
Conclusion: Dell XPS X8700-1863BLK is a decent mid-range all rounder with a top of the range processor, generous memory and hard drive and more.. For security 1 year subscription of McAfee LiveSafe antivirus is included and you can choose to extend. You may install 1 SSD and 3 x 3.5″ HDDs on the four bays provided. It is EPEAT registered and Energy Star 6.0 qualified. The Haswell XPS X8700 has the Passmark benchmark score of around 10,074 as of today and this means it is capable of anything you can think of- even the extremely demanding tasks, apps and software and will be adequate for anyone including the power users, graphics designers, multimedia editors but the gaming performance is limited by the NVIDA GT 720 with a videocard G3D benchmark of 770 as it is classified as middle-class card with an average gaming power so this computer is for those that require a lot of power and speed for non-gaming tasks. Having said that the GT 720 is still faster than the integrated Intel HD 4600 and you can play the latest games at lower settings and OK playable frame rates and the older games at very high settings without problems. 8GB memory is plenty and can be extended up to 32GB as the two of the four memory slots are free. Power supply is rated at 460 watts and the display you purchase separately will determine the quality of your viewing experience or whether you want touch or non-touch. Impressive mid-range to high end specs and features are on offer for how much it costs and seems to be a better choice than most of its competitors but this will depend on what you’re looking for.
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