Dell XPS One. Now with blue ray drive.

Dell offers four basic configurations for this new XPS One all-in-one system, and our $2,399 review sample represents the highest-end model. Complete with a Blu-ray burner, 802.11n wireless networking, and a TV tuner, it competes well against other higher-end all-in-ones, namely Sony’s high-end VAIO LT19U. Overall, though, HP’s cheaper, small-scale Pavilion Slimline s3200t desktop and its HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive outshines any all-in-one in price and versatility. Apple’s iMac also maintains its hold as the best overall computer in the all-in-one category. That awards the XPS One the prize for most affordable all-in-one with a Blu-ray drive. If you’re looking for a system in that narrow category, you should check it out, especially because it has some unique usability features. Otherwise, you can get better overall computing and home theater experiences from other systems.

We could make several direct comparisons to the XPS One. The HP Slimline is one of our current favorite systems for its HD DVD/Blu-ray combo drive and its low price. Pair it with a $500 24-inch LCD and you’d still be ahead of the 20-inch XPS in terms of price, screen size, and overall functionality. Of course there’s an elegance factor to the modern all-in-one desktop that you can’t duplicate with even a smaller desktop like the Slimline, thus, the Sony VAIO LT19U becomes the best matchup for Dell’s new rig.

	Dell XPS One	Sony VAIO LT19U
Price	$2,399	$2,999
CPU	2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6550	2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500
Memory	2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM	2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Graphics	256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2400	256MB Nvidia GeForce 8400 GT
Hard drives	500GB 7,200rpm	500GB 7,200rpm
Optical drive	Blu-ray burner	Blu-ray burner
Networking	802.11n Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet	802.11n, Gigabit Ethernet
Operating system	Windows Vista Home Premium	Windows Vista Ultimate
Screensize	20-inch wide	22-inch wide
Maximum display resolution	1,680×1,050	1,680×1,050
TV Tuner	Integrated ATSC/NTSC tuner	Integrated ATSC/NTSC tuner, external ATI Digital Cable tuner

 

Sony can claim the advantage with a few features, probably most importantly its larger screen and the unlisted VESA mount-compatibility that lets you stick the VAIO on a wall or a support arm with relative ease. But overall, the Dell has just as much to offer in the way of multimedia features, it welcomes interaction with mobile devices via its integrated Bluetooth receiver, and it costs $600 less. If you intend to use an all-in-one as a standalone device for movie-watching, perhaps in your kitchen, office, dorm, or other non-living-room setting, the Sony’s larger screen might give it the advantage, but overall, we’d rather save $600 and live with the smaller display.

Because of both its all-in-one design and its lack of a video-out, however, we can’t categorize the XPS One as a home theater PC, and we wonder just how many people out there are interested in dropping $2,400 on a secondary Blu-ray system. It does have digital audio-out, so you can send music to a full-fledged sound system. And because it has 802.11n wireless networking, you can also stream nonencrypted HD video to a Windows Media Center Extender hooked up to your main television. The problem is that you cannot send the content from the XPS One’s Blu-ray player over your network. For primary living room HD-movie watching, and arguably as a secondary system paired with a traditional standalone LCD, the HP Pavilion Slimline s3200t is a shockingly better deal than the XPS One, both in terms of its $1,500 price and its hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD drive that embraces both HD formats.

If it’s not the best pure living-room PC, the XPS One is also not the best productivity-oriented desktop, even among other all-in-ones. In that category, Apple’s iMac still rules the day. The performance charts more or less speak for themselves.