The disk and stuff will probably survive ok, but you won't be able to see if it works because the Nvidia graphics chip will have been knocked off the motherboard:
The £399 version is a bit more basic than the one you mention ... 160GB disk, celeron processor, USB keyboard. Plus, took a bit of time for me to spot how to get to it as its not listed in the standard configs (usual Dell technique - advertise low price then on web page steer customers to more expensive versions while keeping the low price version "available" but not always easy yo find!)
A Celeron will happily decode MPEG2 at 1080p. Or it will with some help from a capable GPU. If you want to watch heavily compressed H.264, forget it. Not even 720p.
My dual-core 2.2GHz Dell M1730 can play 1080p Matroska packaged H.264, *until* it gets to very complex scenes. This is with me using not-so-intuitive (and one not-so-free) software products to bring as much efficiency as possible to the process.
Looking at the pics I thought the design does look pretty neat and cool, until I saw that horrid *Dell* badge on the side. Duhhhh - that's not gonna fly with the in-crowd methinks!
And no 7200rpm HD I imagine 'cos they'll only be squeezing 2.5" drives in there.
Very nice! Would be even better if they offered a solid state drive. OCZ have a brand new 64GB drive that reads at 120GB/sec. Low power, blisteringly fast, and deadly silent.
I'd prefer a "no-OS" or an "XP" option rather than Phista.
Oh, and a quad core option would be good too, but I guess they'll add that in the future. It looks like a better deal than a Shuttle.
Now, can they do the same trick with their servers? I'd like a server that uses 70% less power please. With a Ruby Red case. ;-) Paris 'cos she's like one of these too.
most people don't need much more than this anyway..
quite bizarre retailers punting out these quad cores for machines that don't really run much software that can use it..it's just a waste of power! (i.e. "redundant power")
dell always seem to know where the button is, even if they don't hit it every single time..they hit it more than most, imo.
Microsoft have banned them from selling it with XP.
As such, since I'd rather let Michael Jackson adopt my children, Harriet Harman educate my boys, or Gordon Brown ru(i)n the economy, than use it, I'm not going to buy one. I think the phrase from Good Morning Viet Nam says it best. "Vista sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls."
(Except I wasn't going to buy one anyway, I was going to buy 4 - study, living room, kitchen, and bedroom - if the first one was quiet - like silent quiet.)
Don't you mean brown, green, and red? As for quartz, I think its natural state is clear or opaque, although it can come in a huge variety of colours. Come on James, don't go all namby pamby on us...;)
Its on the front page of Dell UK now. I, like many will only use XP. I suggest everyone who thinks the same could go onto their online sales chat and ask if its available with XP, or you won't buy one. Its a nice looking little box and I would seriously consider it for a new PC I need to buy shortly. but Vista sucks.
If you just wanted a cheap unit to watch HD movies on, then, and I hate to say this being a PC fan through and through, wouldn't a PS3 be cheaper and more reliable? Sod the games aspect, as a media streaming front end, with Blu-Ray support, you can't do better for the money really.
Flame on I guess, but it isn't meant to be flame bait, I promise.
>>>Very nice! Would be even better if they offered a solid state drive. OCZ have a brand new 64GB drive that reads at 120GB/sec. Low power, blisteringly fast, and deadly silent.
Actually, in a comparison against a notebook HDD, SSD's perform WORSE on the power consumption scale. This is because SSDs don't have an idle power-down mode, so they run at full power all the time, whereas most of the energy an HDD consumes is from spinning up the disk initially and moving the actuator arm for reads and writes. And HDDs not in use can be powered down to reduce consumption. Not so with today's SSDs.
More here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-hdd-battery,1955.html
I like these mini desktops, and if it came with XP I'd have one. How about its performance in hot weather? I had a PC with an AMD64 which gave up after a few weeks of 90+ degree temps here in California, and that was with lots of active cooling. Will this one give up when the temperature rises?
Raises hand to ask question. I don't get it. If they can do a laptop for £299 with a screen and battery included, why is this thing £100 more? I can see a big market for these mini desktops now every man and his uncle has a 42"+ monitor sat in their lounge, but not at more than £150-200. After all, anyone wanting a full blown media centre will buy/build the beast. These little tiddlers are just right for a casual bit of surfing with your TV dinner on your lap, but currently too expensive for such infrequent use.
If you don't like Vista, upon first booting your computer refuse the license and give microsoft a call, they will talk you through your free XP downgrade.
Easy as Pie, I personally like Vista but it will crawl on these wee machines
MacMini does all this in a prettier package and has been doing so since the middle ages. Pimping the case won't make the dell match anyone's living room. It'll just clash like a golfer's jacket unless you've had all your furniture made out of shiny plastic.
And @whoever mentioned 5400 only, my laptop's running on a 7200rpm hitachi in a 2.5" form factor so it could easily be an upgrade.
Velocity Micro Edge Z30 Midsize Desktop (2.66GHz Intel Core i5 750, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, DVD±RW DL, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit)
Apple iMac All-In-One Desktop (3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR2, 1TB, DVD+-RW DL, Mac OS X v10.5 Snow Leopard, 27" LCD)
HP (Hewlett-Packard) Pavilion p6210f Mini-Tower Desktop (2.6GHz Athlon II X4 620, 6GB DDR2, 640GB HDD, DVD±RW DL, Windows 7 Home Premium)
HP (Hewlett-Packard) Compaq Presario CQ5210F Mini-Tower Desktop (2.7GHz Athlon 64 X2 215, 3GB DDR2, 500GB, DVD±RW DL, Windows 7 Home Premium)
Apple iMac All-In-One Desktop (3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR2, 500GB, DVD+-RW DL, Mac OS X v10.5 Snow Leopard, 21.5" LCD)
Dell's dinky designer desktop
IM Phartain
Stability #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 09:49 GMT
Will it cope with being knocked on its side?
Daniel
Re: Stability #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 10:29 GMT
The disk and stuff will probably survive ok, but you won't be able to see if it works because the Nvidia graphics chip will have been knocked off the motherboard:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/28/dell_nvidia_chipset_glitch/
Linbox
Vista Only #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 10:29 GMT
Oh dear.
*delete*
Anonymous Coward
But it it? #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 10:29 GMT
HDMI Out for watching Blueray on @TV??
If so I'll consider one, for the living room.
David Shepherd
GBP400 version? #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 10:42 GMT
The £399 version is a bit more basic than the one you mention ... 160GB disk, celeron processor, USB keyboard. Plus, took a bit of time for me to spot how to get to it as its not listed in the standard configs (usual Dell technique - advertise low price then on web page steer customers to more expensive versions while keeping the low price version "available" but not always easy yo find!)
Think I'm still waiting for the Eee Box though!
paul
price and windows tax #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 10:42 GMT
putting me right off. If it doesn't have HDMI - then not interested in at all.
Simon
HDMI #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 10:42 GMT
For a camcorder? Why didn't you say the most obvious... a TV!
Unless there is a reason this won't work on a TV, if so, it should have been mentioned.
But, for £400, compact media player, nice. Media player with BluRay even nicer (yes, but for more).
Whats the Intel® Celeron™ Processor 550 like at 1080p? And (real world) compatibility with XP?
Jonathan Schnittger
MediaPC? #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 11:31 GMT
Would the Intel Gfx X3100 chipset have enough umph to decode HD content? Not much point having BlueRay if it doesn't...
Andraž Levstik
Why would anyone want... #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 11:32 GMT
...to use a digital restrictions management crippled interface to get pics or video or etc... from his own devices...
Insanity...
Stefan
@ Simon: HDMI #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 11:32 GMT
A Celeron will happily decode MPEG2 at 1080p. Or it will with some help from a capable GPU. If you want to watch heavily compressed H.264, forget it. Not even 720p.
My dual-core 2.2GHz Dell M1730 can play 1080p Matroska packaged H.264, *until* it gets to very complex scenes. This is with me using not-so-intuitive (and one not-so-free) software products to bring as much efficiency as possible to the process.
Hi Def can be a costly business.
Eric Van Haesendonck
If it was availlable with windiows XP or Mythbuntu... #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 11:32 GMT
as well as a freeview reception card I could have been interested...
Christopher Smith
Odd marketing #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 11:39 GMT
Not available via the Office part of the site. Not available with Vista Business edition (or XP), no option for a 7200RPM hard disk.
Steven Dick
Video Playback #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 11:55 GMT
Seriously, if you want video playback, get one of these: http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/
Its cheap, plays back all the video standards, networked, HDMI, ... The list goes on.
Oh, and no f****** DRM.
Reg Varney
Really nice form-factor #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 12:34 GMT
and the missus will really appreciate the wooden sleeve look, but a bit of a pisser that it's only available with Vista.
Not wildly cheap once you start adding in all the options to get it to a decent machine either.
Still, good to see the majors starting to produce smaller kit like this
David Cornes
Stylish? #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 12:34 GMT
Looking at the pics I thought the design does look pretty neat and cool, until I saw that horrid *Dell* badge on the side. Duhhhh - that's not gonna fly with the in-crowd methinks!
And no 7200rpm HD I imagine 'cos they'll only be squeezing 2.5" drives in there.
Gary F
Should have an SSD option #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 12:34 GMT
Very nice! Would be even better if they offered a solid state drive. OCZ have a brand new 64GB drive that reads at 120GB/sec. Low power, blisteringly fast, and deadly silent.
I'd prefer a "no-OS" or an "XP" option rather than Phista.
Oh, and a quad core option would be good too, but I guess they'll add that in the future. It looks like a better deal than a Shuttle.
Now, can they do the same trick with their servers? I'd like a server that uses 70% less power please. With a Ruby Red case. ;-) Paris 'cos she's like one of these too.
b
nice! #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 13:00 GMT
the march to lower power consumption continues..
most people don't need much more than this anyway..
quite bizarre retailers punting out these quad cores for machines that don't really run much software that can use it..it's just a waste of power! (i.e. "redundant power")
dell always seem to know where the button is, even if they don't hit it every single time..they hit it more than most, imo.
like the baby laptop:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/05/29/dell_mini_inspiron/
cheers,
bill
checkout:
http://www.eupeople.net/forum
Static1812
Driving Home For Christmas #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 13:00 GMT
Like the full sized Studios I can't seem to find XP drivers for 'em so you can't put XP on even if you want to.
Bill Cumming
@IM Phartain: Stable #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 13:46 GMT
When it's off the stand they employ added "weeble" (TM) tech...
Dell Weeble's wobble but don't fall down....
used joke tag due to how bad this joke really is!
Colin Millar
80% less size = 70% less power #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 13:46 GMT
That sounds like a calculation done in the marketing department to me
@ eric - stick a tuner card in that box and all you will have is a toaster
Anonymous Coward
I've just checked. It's VISTA only. #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 14:09 GMT
No thanks.
Anonymous Coward
In most countries exposing your... #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 14:09 GMT
dinky winky is a criminal matter.....anyone tell Michael?
Paul Brown
Wheres the screw driver #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 14:09 GMT
Erm, it is just the geek me in? but how do you open it!!!
Anonymous Coward
Just been onto Dell. #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 14:26 GMT
Microsoft have banned them from selling it with XP.
As such, since I'd rather let Michael Jackson adopt my children, Harriet Harman educate my boys, or Gordon Brown ru(i)n the economy, than use it, I'm not going to buy one. I think the phrase from Good Morning Viet Nam says it best. "Vista sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls."
(Except I wasn't going to buy one anyway, I was going to buy 4 - study, living room, kitchen, and bedroom - if the first one was quiet - like silent quiet.)
The Stainless Steel Cat
Dinky or Tonka? #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 15:27 GMT
"Dinky"? It's still a big beastie compared to the Mac Mini.
Still, wood-veneer is very 1970's so at least that's a step forward for Dell...
Colin Millar
@AC Re: Just been on to Dell #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 16:11 GMT
What? No s##thouse Wifi?
Anonymous Coward
Bamboo, emerald, quartz and ruby??? #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 18:34 GMT
Don't you mean brown, green, and red? As for quartz, I think its natural state is clear or opaque, although it can come in a huge variety of colours. Come on James, don't go all namby pamby on us...;)
simon maasz
No XP. Bad News #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 18:34 GMT
Its on the front page of Dell UK now. I, like many will only use XP. I suggest everyone who thinks the same could go onto their online sales chat and ask if its available with XP, or you won't buy one. Its a nice looking little box and I would seriously consider it for a new PC I need to buy shortly. but Vista sucks.
Guy
For the money #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 18:34 GMT
If you just wanted a cheap unit to watch HD movies on, then, and I hate to say this being a PC fan through and through, wouldn't a PS3 be cheaper and more reliable? Sod the games aspect, as a media streaming front end, with Blu-Ray support, you can't do better for the money really.
Flame on I guess, but it isn't meant to be flame bait, I promise.
Steven Raith
@paul brown #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 19:34 GMT
Screwdriver? For that I think a butter knife to get past the 'sealed' chassis would be far more productive.
Or the 'old' kitchen knife that only gets used on non-food items [everyone owns one] which has helped me get into many a 'non-user servicable' item.
"Sealed unit" to me reads as "challenge".
Anyway, Vista? No. I think I'll stick around for the EeeBox meself...
Steven R
Michael
@ Gary F #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 19:34 GMT
>>>Very nice! Would be even better if they offered a solid state drive. OCZ have a brand new 64GB drive that reads at 120GB/sec. Low power, blisteringly fast, and deadly silent.
Actually, in a comparison against a notebook HDD, SSD's perform WORSE on the power consumption scale. This is because SSDs don't have an idle power-down mode, so they run at full power all the time, whereas most of the energy an HDD consumes is from spinning up the disk initially and moving the actuator arm for reads and writes. And HDDs not in use can be powered down to reduce consumption. Not so with today's SSDs.
More here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-hdd-battery,1955.html
Robert Moore
What the BOFH says about green computers. #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 19:34 GMT
"In fact, a REAL computer would have a hole in the front to push trees into and an exhaust pipe out the back for the black smoke to come out of."
JB
Small is nice #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 20:05 GMT
I like these mini desktops, and if it came with XP I'd have one. How about its performance in hot weather? I had a PC with an AMD64 which gave up after a few weeks of 90+ degree temps here in California, and that was with lots of active cooling. Will this one give up when the temperature rises?
Andrew Bush
I don't get it... #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 21:48 GMT
Raises hand to ask question. I don't get it. If they can do a laptop for £299 with a screen and battery included, why is this thing £100 more? I can see a big market for these mini desktops now every man and his uncle has a 42"+ monitor sat in their lounge, but not at more than £150-200. After all, anyone wanting a full blown media centre will buy/build the beast. These little tiddlers are just right for a casual bit of surfing with your TV dinner on your lap, but currently too expensive for such infrequent use.
David Simpson
Vista downgrade #
Posted Tuesday 29th July 2008 22:50 GMT
If you don't like Vista, upon first booting your computer refuse the license and give microsoft a call, they will talk you through your free XP downgrade.
Easy as Pie, I personally like Vista but it will crawl on these wee machines
Anonymous Coward
Yawn... #
Posted Wednesday 30th July 2008 08:12 GMT
MacMini does all this in a prettier package and has been doing so since the middle ages. Pimping the case won't make the dell match anyone's living room. It'll just clash like a golfer's jacket unless you've had all your furniture made out of shiny plastic.
And @whoever mentioned 5400 only, my laptop's running on a 7200rpm hitachi in a 2.5" form factor so it could easily be an upgrade.
Anonymous Coward
Re: I don't get it... #
Posted Wednesday 30th July 2008 09:53 GMT
I agree, why is this so expensive compared with a laptop? Is it true that you HAVE to pay Windows Tax as well?
Nice design though
Will
Get a Mac Mini #
Posted Wednesday 30th July 2008 12:58 GMT
Cheaper (Dell has shite spec) and great interface (front row)