Dell XPS 420

December 13, 2007 11:26

4.5/5
Just wanted to clear up some of the other reviews. I found the dell site flexible, there is an option for no monitor and depending on which 420 base model you start with you have plenty of options.

I researched other similar computers, the closest competition was the HP Pavilion Elite. I chose the Dell because the HP system does not have a good graphics card option, likely because of the weak 350 watt max power supply. Contrary to the other review the power supply is automatically upgraded to 425 watts to match the nvidia 8800GT video card (which is the ultimate card for the price hands down). Also the video and sound card options were more complete with the Dell vs the HP. Check out the Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic card that is not offered on other systems, THX certified HD music!

So if you can handle a weak graphics and sound card then check out the other systems...

- eyeej

December 23, 2007 07:45
Excellent
2.0/5
I'm not sure whether my problems with stability are specific to this machine or with the Windows Vista operating system. Either way I am very disappointed.

The machine keeps suffering from "unexpected restarts" particularly when it goes into sleep mode. The hot fix that Vista identifies as being required to address it (see KB938194) will not install (it says that "update does not apply to your system"). The most recent restart resulted in Vista going through its "Startup Repair" process. So this really disappoints me as I decided to buy rather than build a new machine specifically to avoid this sort of nonsense. I'm not even sure I can trust this PC with documents and spreadsheets I am working on.

There are several other annoyances that are more to do with Vista

- Windows media center's TV guide does not support broadcast digital TV sub-channels (even though its TV guide provider does. This, along with the instability problems, makes it a useless DVR for me . . . . So that was a waste of $100 or so on the TV receiver card.

- Added Bluetooth capability and a set of Bluetooth headphones to the configuration I purchased from Dell. Using the headphones is a real pain. There is way too much fiddling about in the control panel and audio properties before they can be used. I still can't get some of types of audio to be delivered by the headphones. This should not be so difficult. . . and I feel I wasted more money on these options.

I have had the machine a couple of weeks now and have spend many hours installing software and transferring data from my old (but stable) PC. I don't want to start again with another PC. So I am hoping that Windows updates will eventually fix the stability problems.

In summary, I am disappointed by this machine and the operating system that comes with it. To give you some idea of how disappointed I am you should know that this is the first time I have ever taken the time to submit a review for any product.

- datilson

October 26, 2007 07:52
Spectacular
2.5/5
So the new XPS 420 has been described as mediocre, receiving polity applause, and not quite there to compete with other machines in the same category. Lets take a quick look at why, hope someone from Dell reads this and fixes these simple oversights.
Things that are just too limited:
1: Any Video Card choice with any model. Let people choose NVIDIA or Radeon if they want to.
2: NVIDIA cards in any model and without Blu-Ray. Dont force people to buy Blu-Ray just because they want a high end video card. (The format war is not over, and consumers should play neutral until it is)
3: Why can't you get any monitor you want (or none) Dell is very limiting here, you can't even get the 24" Ultra sharp which CNET rated as very good, (or no monitor for that matter).
4: A variety of 2nd HD choices
5: A variety of dual dvd/r/rw components
6: More 1333MHZ FSB offerings.
The Bottom line, Dell, just let people order what they want. Everyone knows you package and push what you have when you have it, and that is how you stay price competitive, so push it, and discount it. But if people don't want it, give them the option of what they do want. Why can I build a computer I am happier with (24" monitor and better HD choices and video card options) if I go to www.Dell.ca than www.Dell.com?
If Dell makes a few simple tweaks and lets the consumer decide what they want in their XPS 420, rather than letting them choose from a limited pool, they will sell XPS 420s like crazy. But if the consumer doesn't have options, the HP Blackbird and plenty of other machines are just waiting to be picked up.

- CompX78

July 30, 2008 08:55
Terrible
0.5/5
Truly a waste of money. Once you finish upgrading you spend a ton on a fancy aluminium box...because when it stops working (and it will), Dell tech support ("welcome to the XPS Experience"--hint: it sucks) will be unwilling to help you fix it. You'll be shunted from one tech in the Philippines to another.

I hope that I was clear on how awful the XPS Experience is.

- doctorfederalist

February 6, 2008 10:59

4.0/5
I got a great deal on this computer, a 4 year warranty, 2.4 Quad Core Processor, 3GB 800mhz memory, 320GB SATA 16mb cache hard drive, 256mb Nvidia HD 2600XT DDR4 video card, bluetooth, media card reader, dual layer DVD+RW drive, Wi-Fi, & 56k modem all for $1200.. When I got it I had to re-format the entire drive (got rid of Dell's BS restore partition, I want all of my hard drive space, hell I paid for it!) & re-installed Vista w/o all the B.S. Dell puts on their images that makes the computer crawl.. After doing so & tweaking it just the way I wanted it, the computer was great, performance was right where it was suppose to be!.. I love the case, & the XPS Mini gadget viewer on the top of the tower (Don't really use it, but it looks good! LOL).. I love the speed of this computer and the fact that I can upgraded this machine to my hearts desire.. Plan on upgrading the power supply some time down the line, perhaps a 500+ watt power supply?... Memory is expandable to 8gb, which is very nice.. RAID capabilities are a nice added feature in the BIOS, plan on utilizing it when I add another hard drive.. So far so good! My money was well spent on this machine.. If youre looking for a mid range computer that you can expand later on, this is it!.. Nice job dell!..

- jayawhy

June 25, 2008 03:06

3.0/5
After a few months of battling Vista, I gave up. I was trying to use my XPS 420 for business applications. After having to upgrade several of them including ACT, WS-FTP, Ultra Edit, etc .. I still was not happy. It hung up, crashed and reminded me of the old Windows 98 days. So I punted the OP Sys, went to Fry's bought a couple new hard drives, and a copy of XP PRO. I saved the old drives in case I want to go back to Vista maybe after the next service pack.

The big question was what drivers would I loose. Dell told me the XPS was strictly a Vista machine... but I didn't listen to my mother either. In the end the things that did not work were the sound card, the NIC, and the mini viewer (cute but a waste in my opinion), and the wireless card. I grabbed a creative labs sound card a Intel NIC card, and a Net Gear wireless card (2 out of 3 I already owned).

The net result is I have a fast, stable system I'm sure I will be able to use for years.

If you don't want to go through all this buy a XPS 630 I did, and it's great with XP out of the box. You may have to look for a refurbished one as I understand Dell is no longer going to offer XP... big mistake, let microsoft bury themselves.

I was looking for this information when considering changing the OS so I hope it is helpful to someone.

- dogmansdad

February 6, 2008 10:26
Spectacular
2.5/5
Bought a Dell XPS420 with 2.6 GHz quad core, 4 GB ram, raid 0 500G drives, Vista ultimate and dual cable card tuners.
The computer itself is powerful. It has some glitches, sleep mode seems to scramble its ability to function as a DVR; Ill wait for Microsoft and Dell to find a solution. It was able to play Battlefield 2142 (64 players) and record a standard definition program at the same time with no noticeable lag, which stunned me.
The Bad: Only one of the ATI external digital TV tuners works. I have now spent 4 weeks elapsed time and about 5 hours face time trying to return the defective unit. Supposedly it shipped on Monday but I still cant log on to Dell support to status the RMA. On the working tuner I have updated the firmware and the tuner now locks on most of the HD channels, but not all, and the ability to record an entire program seems to have gone the way of the dodo. Basically you better have absolutely no noise on your cable connection (good luck with that) and maybe this stuff will work after Vista service pack 1. I paid a lot for this system and while the computer itself works well, as any type of dvr/media player the thing just plain sucks.
I am personally tired of the studios, networks, cable providers restricting everything they touch. I have several MP3s legally bought (not rented) that will not play because the outlet I purchased them from went belly up and the DRM crap has locked the files. I believe in paying for what I use but this continual screwing of the customer is pushing me to buy hacked systems and take what I want. As you sow so shall you reap, corporate America does not seem to understand this; Executives, enjoy your shrinking bonuses as legitimate customers start to steal what they would have paid for because you have made the process impossible.

- crapola500

November 27, 2007 02:35
Good
1.5/5
I'll try to keep this short, but I have a lot to gripe about.

First - Ordered Dell XPS 420 on 11/13/07 arrived on 11/27/07 with a nice dent in a side panel that had to happen at the Dell factory (beleive me the Dell Support person tried to blame it on FedEx, which couldn't have been due to the condition of the box and location of the dent.)

I ordered the XPS 420 with the bare minimum components, and purchased all of my desired upgrades through Newegg.com (memory, video card, sound card, and hard drives). I figured a savings between $300-$400, as long as I used those inferior parts, which I plan on doing once I finish this XPS 420 nightmare. I will most likely incur the added price of a larger power supply, as the 375W beast most likely will not power my upgraded video card.

Once I insert my purchased cards, I will have a whopping 3 PCI slots available, as the one PCIe x16 slot, the one PCIe x8 slot, and the one PCI x1 slot will be used. On the plus side I do have 8 (2 front - 6 rear) USB slots and two 1394 slots on the outside to use.

I do have 21 days from the Invoice Date (11/20/07) to return the device, that's providing I have the new system by then. That's right, instead of running a few diagnostic tests and shipping me a new side panel, Dell has decided to build me a new system and ship it to me. The replacement system is scheduled to be delivered between 12/4/07 - 12/6/07, which will leave me about a week to decide if I want to keep it or not.

- KJRatliff

December 22, 2008 12:10

3.5/5
I have had this computer for a year now...never wrote a review on it but hear it goes.

I was impressed with how nice this computer was initially until I started to try and use the tv tuner. I use my computers for all my entertainment needs and I thought the specs on this one would give me a nice start. But I had to upgrade the video card to really see how good this pc could be on the entertainment end. I added a 1gb BFG video card which runs really nice. But there was a problem for a while with the screen blanking out even after removing the original ATI graphics drivers.

Windows Media Center has also caused a bit of a problem on this unit because it's not very flexible at all. It didn't do well with my HD cable tuner. It took a while before the computer realized all it needed to do was find ONE channel to get a signal! But Windows Media Center (leave to Microsoft anything to make a computer smarter than it's own good) looked for a direct cable feed to download cable information and when it wasn't finding it, what do you know...no picture. It kept telling me it couldn't find the source. Then it would tell me I had 2 tuners running at once. I eventually took a backdoor entry to the feed and that seemed to work with no problem...tell Windows Media Center I didn't have what it was looking for. that worked! can you believe it? O_o

Other than the nightmare of a time I had getting my cable box to work with the computer, the computer has done me just fine. Vista makes it fun to use, but I still don't like certain features of the os. that's a personal thing....not to be divulge in this review. lol...

I have yet to upgrade my sound card because I run a music studio that I have a sound card coming soon for so I won't bother with that until that comes. In the meantime, I push the sound through a soundboard for the fun of it with a nice set of Creative speakers that really kick hard. so no problems with movies and music.

Other than that, it's a nice buy for the dollar...though a bit overpriced when I first got it.

- dcman1000

December 11, 2008 05:26
Mediocre
1.0/5
Brand new XPS-420. HD and/or motherboard crashed after 2 weeks use. 3 hours with awful tech support, sent out new HD & board. Another 2 hrs on phone after tech left cause it still didnt boot. Never worked properly again, Dell sent new one. However, Dell would not allow me to exchange for a different model for my own peace of mind after having it over 21 days. I used the system for 6 days during that period. Dell Safegard would not allow me to download my files, again after another hour with tech support. My book keeping for my business was down for almost 2 weeks due to the problems, missed my month-end billing. In spite of all this, Dell just didn't seem very concerned. I hope the new one works better, I do know I'll never again buy from Dell.

Updated on Dec 11, 2008

In addition, after asking to return the computer, I had to go through 2 levels of managment to even get an exchange. All they wanted me to do was spend more time with tech support that always resulted in being put on hold for long periods of time while the techs tried to research the problem. This was all after spending over $2000 this last year with Dell.

- kelly381