Sorry for the delay. Due to some technical difficultes with our registration database, I had to post this a little bit later than I wanted to. Folks who read sites like Anandtech and other enthusiast sites have known that Intel’s Lynnfield chipset and new Core family of processors were due to be introduced. Lynnfield and the new processors are here, and so is a pair of new desktops from Dell—the Studio XPS 8000 and 9000. Here’s a picture of both side by side:
The Studio XPS 8000 is a great option for the kind of user who needs performance and power without a massive full-size minitower. It is the smaller version of its big brother the Studio XPS 9000, which was formerly known as the XPS 435 desktop that I blogged about back in February. The Studio XPS 8000 stands at 16.1” tall and is 7.32 inches wide and weighs around 16.5 pounds.
Both machines are built for high-end performance, supporting the newest Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. Whether you’re interested in using a PC to watch and record HD content, view and edit photos, listen to music or to edit your own HD videos, or playing games either machine is up to the task. Beyond that, it’s powerful enough to serve all that kind of content throughout the house.
The Studio XPS 8000 is available to customers in the United States today at a starting price of $799. It’s built on Intel’s P55 chipset, and it features the following:
- Quad core Intel Core i5 and i7 processors (specifically, the Core i5 750 and the Core i7 860 and 870 processors)
- DDR3 memory (supports both 1066MHz and 1333MHz up to 16GB max)
- ATI and NVIDIA graphics card options (ATI’s HD 3450; NVIDIA’s GT220, GTS240 and GTX260)
- Up to two hard drives (capacities of 320GB, 500GB 640GB, 750GB 1TB and 1.5TB are all options)
- 8 USB ports (2 angled ports on top + 2 front + 4 back); 1Gb Ethernet adapter, 1 eSATA port in the back; 6-pin IEEE 1394a port in the back and more
- Top-mounted power button, microphone and headphone connector
The power supply is 350W. The optional TV tuner allows you to watch and record over the air HD signals. The Studio XPS 8000 also supports up to two optical drives, including a 6x Blu-ray disc burner and 16x DVD+/-RW drive. The front-mounted 19-in-1 card reader supports all kinds of flash-based memory cards to make it easy to import photos and videos into the PC.
Speaking of videos, there’s also a pretty cool software option for both the Studio XPS 8000 and 9000 desktops called MediaShow Espresso. It’s an application that speeds the video transcoding process (converting video from one format to another). In a nutshell, it uses the combined performance of your CPU and GPU to make converting videos a much quicker process. And regardless of what GPU solution you opt for, MediaShow Espresso has you covered since it works with NVIDIA’s CUDA technology and ATI’s stream technology. Extremetech posted an in-depth review of the transcoding software complete with tons of performance data. Bottom line, if you spend any amount of time converting videos to play on your Xbox 360, Sony PSP or PS3, iPhone or other devices, buying this software for an extra $20 is a no-brainer.
Note: Click on either of the photos in this post to see larger versions of these images. To see more photos of the XPS 8000, take a look at this set on Dell’s Official Flickr page.
