Dell XPS 420 First Impressions

My baby survived the Windows Vista SP1 install

Keith Combs' Blahg — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:31:23 GMT

As you'll recall, back in December I purchased a Dell XPS 420 then posted comments about my new toy. 

re: Dell XPS 420 First Impressions

Keith Combs — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:25:08 GMT

Ari,

M-Mode cards will work just fine in them, they just won’t multistream since the hardware doesn’t support it.

I have friends with a mix of both M-Mode and single stream cards and they worked without any issues in their particular implementations.

I guess it depends on the system supplying the feed. But you are right, it's probably best to request the single stream cards since there's no point in having the multistream card if it doesn't buy you anything.

re: Dell XPS 420 First Impressions

Ari Tai — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:36:22 GMT

re: webguide to (re)stream and play remotely.

Yes, check out the postings by Steven Lindsay at www.on10.com. Even transcodes to low enough bit rates for viewing on your smartphone.

Best to play the vid as rendered in the search returns <a href="http://www.onten.net/Search/Default.aspx?Term=lindsay"here</a> (bad url otherwise).

re: Dell XPS 420 First Impressions

Ari Tai — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:28:26 GMT

fyi, the ATI Wonder digital receiver require single stream (channel) cablecards. The latest Tivo (v3) and some CE appliances support multiple (2) stream cablecards.

Comcast by default is sending out their installers with the multistream cards, so be sure to ask for singles or risk a wasted morning.

re: Dell XPS 420 First Impressions

Robbie — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:06:48 GMT

Hello there, im an Xps 420 owner too. I purchased a 2.4 Quad Core, 4g Ram at 800mhz, 500g hard drive wtih the 8800Gtx 768mb card on Vista Ultimate 32bit (Dell failed to mention the 32bit wouldnt recognise 4g of Ram) and i have it on a 24 inch Phillips hd lcd tele.

So far all ive used it for is College work and minor gaming, i want to challenge my computer. But to be honest i really dont know to much about computers just a tad more than the average person.

So can anyone tell me what i can use this for other than college??

Thanks Rob

re: Dell XPS 420 First Impressions

Shannon — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:53:45 GMT

Fantastic Post.

Has anyone tried using WebGuide for Windows with their ATI/Cable card tuner.

Specifically, can I watch my encripted channels on my laptop while travelling from my home WebGuide computer??

Best,

Shannon

re: Dell XPS 420 First Impressions

Tim W — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:01:46 GMT

Answer for James above: My Quadcore Optiplex 755 at work came with XP Pro and shows 4 CPUs in the performance meters - and they all get used.

I really like my XPS 420, thanks for this page.

re: Dell XPS 420 First Impressions

Darrell — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:13:18 GMT

Well mine should arrive tomorrow, thxs for all the info hope its works as well as everybody says, is my third dell and they always been good. Any comments on a good multi-func-printer to replace my 940 printer. Thxs Darrell

re: Dell XPS 420 First Impressions

James — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:12:13 GMT

Hello,

I purchased this computer and it's awsome! The only downside is that a few of my Audio programs act funky with Vista. As a result I will have to install windows XP pro.

My question: Will Windows XP support 4 cores?

re: Dell XPS 420 First Impressions

Obel — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 05:44:51 GMT

Hi Mark,

Could you confirm that you indeed got a DVI-HDMI adapter for 2400 (128MB version?) with XPS 420 purchase? Mine was delivered around Jan. 30 and didn't come with one.

BTW my 2400 has no problem at all driving a 720p HDTV (37" LCD) at 1360x738 resolution through VGA connection. Even with a 1080i HD playing in VMC, a Sling Player, and a HD WMV playing at the same time, the GPU usage was less than 80%. I did boost clock speed to 600MHz through CCC though.

Obel