Product Reviews

Despite the cost associated with high-end systems, Dell and Gateway seem to be configuring their latest Pentium II/400 systems with ambitious consumers in mind. The new Dell Dimension XPS R400 is a perfect example, supplied as it is with a DVD-ROM and DVD decoder card, elaborate sound features and a 3D-accelerated graphics subsystem. This makes sense, since all that power is rarely soaked up by mainstream business software.

Externally the new Dimension is similar to previous versions, with a compact midi-tower case and a slightly altered but businesslike fascia. The only sour note is the nasty, shrill noise emitted by the 8Gb IBM hard disk. The keyboard is small, plastic and cursed with a rattly and slightly gritty action, while mousing is well handled by a Microsoft IntelliMouse.

The Dell-badged 19in FST supports an 85Hz vertical refresh in XGA mode and produces a decently large 17.8in image diagonal. However, despite a quoted 0.26mm dot pitch, the picture suffered from a visible coarse grain. The focus was sharp enough, but the graining was sufficiently pronounced to degrade fine detail and text at 1,024 x 768 resolution. Stepping up to 1,280 x 1,024 seemed to exchange the graininess for a considerable amount of moirÚ. There were moirÚ reduction options in the controls, but these weren't very effective. In addition the OSD setup proved somewhat fiddly and confusing in use.

Audio is handled by the combination of a SoundBlaster AWE64 wavetable sound card and a set of active Altec Lansing speakers consisting

ADVERTISEMENT

of a 20W subwoofer and two 10W twin-cone satellites. These can operate either in normal stereo or Dolby Pro Logic modes, with the latter using the outward-facing top cones in each satellite and the front-facing lower cones as pairs in an attempt to simulate the immersive, spatialised effect produced by real, five-speaker surround sound. The sound quality is fine, with bass punch, crisp highs and no unpleasant harshness in the middle, but the surround sound effect is only marginally successful. Although the Quadrant Cinemaster II DVD card has a digital Dolby AC-3 output, this is irrelevant as far as the power amp in the subwoofer is concerned, with no way to connect it.

Internally, things are cosy without being seriously cramped. The 8Gb UltraDMA IBM hard disk is clamped on vertically just behind the fascia, which is partly why it's so audible from outside, but this does free a front-opening 5.25in bay for another device. There's a single 3.5in bay spare as well - also front-opening - but the system already has an Iomega Zip100 drive so this may not be urgently needed.

There are lots of cards in the system, including the 4Mb STB graphics controller, a DVD card, the AWE64 and the US Robotics voice modem. This offers 56K via the X2 route, as opposed to the K56Flex upgrade path. This leaves only two PCI slots left for further add-ins, but since the storage cupboard is pretty well stocked to begin with this isn't a serious problem.

The memory sockets are easily accessible, with two free for upgrades, although you need to remember this is a PII/400 with a 440BX motherboard chipset, so it will require 100MHz SDRAM to keep up with the fast CPU-to-memory bus.

Compared with most systems on the market, the XPS R400 is certainly fast, but it's not quite up there, in performance terms, with the similar Gateway G6-400XL (reviewed p144), the Mitsubishi LS-500 (reviewed p145) with its 128Mb of RAM, or the ludicrously powerful Evesham Monster (reviewed p147). Overall it's toe-to-toe with the Gateway as a high-end choice for those who want everything, but the Dell's lower price gives it the edge.