Inspiron V XPS 420

gaffergamgee

I did search the FAQs and old threads but couldn't really find the info I needed...

Looking for a new PC with price range around 1000 Euro. I don't know a whole lot about PCs and am going goggle-eyed from the customise options at Dell. I do a bit of gaming, mainly 'Medieval 2' and 'Lord of the Rings Online' (which is appalingly slow on my old PC), also the kids play 'The Sims' and the Harry Potter games. My wife does a lot of photography so good graphics are essential. Trying to make up my mind between an XPS 420 (slightly souped up) and a well-souped-up Inspiron. The specs of the XPS are as follows:

PROCESSOR Intel® Processor Q6600 Quad Core™ (2.40GHz, 1066Mhz FSB, 8MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
HARDWARE SUPPORT 1 Year Base Warranty
MONITOR 22in SP2208WFP WIDESCREEN UK/Irish Silver (1680 X1050) TCO99 with TrueLife DVI-D and Webcam
MEMORY 4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [4x1024]
HARD DRIVE Hard Drive 500GB Serial ATA non Raid (7200 Rpm)
GRAPHICS CARD SINGLE 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT card
TV TUNER & MULTIMEDIA ACCELERATORS TV Tuner and AVIO / Accellerator
OPTICAL DRIVE 16x DVD+/-RW & 48x CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
KEYBOARD Dell™ Enhanced USB Multimedia Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
MOUSE Dell Optical Scroll Premium Mouse

SOUND SOFTWARE Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital Audio
SPEAKERS Dell™ A525 Speakers with Subwoofer
FLOPPY/MEDIA DRIVES 19-in-1 Bluetooth Media Card Reader
MICROSOFT SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9 - English
USB MEMORY KEYS Lexar JumpDrive FireFly USB Flash Drive - 2GB

and the specs of the Inspiron...

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Quad-Core Q6600 Processor (2.4GHz, 8MB cache, 1066MHz FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
HARDWARE SUPPORT 3Yr In-Home Warranty Support, including evenings and Saturdays
MONITOR 24in E248WFP WIDESCREEN UK/Irish Black (1920 x 1200) TCO99 DVI-D
MEMORY 4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [4x1024]
HARD DRIVE 750GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD 256MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 2600 XT graphics card
OPTICAL DRIVE DVD+/-RW & DVD Drives (read/write CD & DVD), 2 drives
KEYBOARD Dell™ Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
MOUSE Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Optical Mouse - Black

SOUND SOFTWARE Integrated 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio
SPEAKERS Dell™ A525 Speakers with Subwoofer UK/Irish
FLOPPY/MEDIA DRIVES 19-in-1 Media Card Reader
MODEMS No Modem
VIDEO EDITING IEEE 1394 PCI Adapter card
USB MEMORY KEYS Lexar JumpDrive FireFly USB Flash Drive - 2GB

Prices...the above XPS 420 works out about 1400 Euro (yes I know I said my limit was 1000, but if it is really better I could stretch to it) whereas the Inspiron comes in at 1002 Euro. Is the XPS really that much better? Any advice greatly appreciated.

optiplexgx270

Check out www.dell.ie/outlet it stocks the PC's people buy and send back in the 7 days. Bought my last few from them and all grand (make sure you click on the -79.99€ option in the checkout to get the correct price. Prob could get the xps420 with that monitor for about 1000. Comes with full dell support etc as if it was new and most of time they look as new.

AlmightyCushion

Inspiron advantages are:

Bigger screen 24" vs 22"
Better warranty 3yr vs 1yr (you can reduce the warranty on the inspiron to save a few quid)
Bigger hard drive, 750GB vs 500GB

Xps advantages are:
Better Graphics card, 8800gt is a better card than the HD2600

I say go for the inspiron, try it out. If your still not happy with the gaming performance (the resolution of that 24" will be pushing the 2600 quite a bit) then you can pick up an 8800gt online for about €120 and it will still work out cheaper than the xps.