To: T.R. who wrote (74859 ) 10/27/1998 11:15:00 AM From: Mohan Marette Read Replies (3) | Respond to
Product Review:DELL XPS R450 (Excellent Product-Fair Price) With its Dimension XPS R450, Dell has assembled a near-perfect package for the SOHO or enthusiast user. Though named the same, this is not the XPS R450 we reviewed just last month (see Reviews, October). The biggest difference is the faster-than-blazes STB Velocity 4400 AGP video adapter with a full 16MB of RAM, powered by the new nVidia RIVA TNT graphics accelerator chip. It's designed to boost performance on 3D apps such as games and modeling programs, but the pleasant surprise is how much it boosts ordinary 2D application performance. This R450 boasts an outstanding feature set , including a 450MHZ Pentium II, 128MB of SDRAM, a 10GB Ultra DMA hard disk and the latest generation of DVD. Superb ergonomics include Dell's outstanding 17-inch 1000HS Trinitron monitor, a good space-saving keyboard and a Logitech mouse. The sound, which comes courtesy of a Turtle Beach Montego sound card and Altec Lansing speakers, must be heard to be appreciated. The new R450 achieved a WinScore 2.0 mark of 151, the highest of any Win98 system we've tested. In large measure, this is due to the 108Mpixels-per-second 2D video throughput, which translated into impressive application scores on our DeBabelizer Pro/Photoshop, Excel and AutoCAD tests. The price for this top-of-the-line beauty is just $2,679. Performance, features, ergonomics, and service and support for the Dimension XPS R450 are all first-rate. The unit compares very favorably with the Compaq Presario 5600 on our WinList, but the Presario has an LCD and a 400MHz processor, and it costs some $600 more. The R450 earns a spot alongside it on our WinList.
