Name: Dell XPS X8700 Review
Item: Dell XPS X8700-3130BLK
Author: Alan Morrison

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Nestled between the gaming-oriented Alienware gaming PCs and the popular consumer systems of Dell’s Inspiron line is the powerful Dell XPS X8700-3130BLK. This mid-tower PC is designed to handle high-end graphics and media creation as part of a power user’s daily workload, with some gaming power thrown in for good measure.

While its not a replacement for HP Envy 810-160 Desktop or the HP ENVY Phoenix h9-1320t as the Editors’ Choice for mid-level gaming machine. The Dell XPS 8700 is a choice machine that will meet your computing needs ably last for years to come.

The XPS 8700 is a standard tower, with a glossy black front panel, shiny chrome accents, and a honeycomb grill for ventilation. To a larger extent, it resembles last year’s Dell XPS 8500. On the front of the system is a tray-loading multimedia drive, along with two USB 3.0 ports and a multi-format card reader.

Design

The XPS 8700 comes with a wired Dell Multimedia Keyboard as well as a wired Dell USB Laser Mouse. While many users will flush this out for their preferred peripherals, the included keyboard and mouse are pretty good for a bundled set. The keyboard features chiclet-style keys that offer impressive key travel and a comfortable typing feel, while the mouse has an ambidextrous design that will appeal to lefties.

On the top of the tower is a recessed tray where you can set a smartphone, external hard drive, or other device, alongside two additional USB 2.0 ports (one designed for charging your gadgets), and jacks for headphone and microphone.

The back of the tower is dotted with an additional six USB ports (four USB 3.0, two USB 2.0), Gigabit Ethernet, several video outputs (DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI), and outputs for audio and Digital Surround Sound. Connectivity is well set on the XPS 8700, with both networking and wireless options being outfitted with an Intel Centrino Advanced-N card for 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

Performance

The XPS 8700 is equipped with with a 2TB, 7,200rpm hard drive and 32GB solid-state drive (SSD) cache for faster performance. A fourth-generation Intel Core i7-4790 processor and 16GB of RAM offer potent quad-core performance, while an Nvidia GeForce GTX 745 GPU provides the muscle for gaming and graphics-intensive applications.

You’ll also find some room to grow, thanks to an open optical drive bay and a vacant hard drive bay for expanded storage. The XPS 8700 also benefits from an Nvidia GeForce GTX 745 graphics processor, which lends itself to gaming and other graphics-intensive applications.

Preinstalled on the hard drive is Windows 8.1, along with a handful of somehow useful programs, like Microsoft Office Trial and Cyberlink Media Suite Essentials, but Antivirus Software isn’t included in the bundle. Dell covers the XPS 8700 with a one-year warranty, which includes phone support and in-home service after remote diagnosis.

Summary

For a multimedia desktop, the Dell XPS X8700-3130BLK is a prosumer system that fits the perfect needs of a user who wants to dabble in graphics arts, video editing, and some-bit of 3D gaming. The inclusion of a fourth-generation Intel Core i7-4790 processor, lots of RAM.

While the gaming rig HP ENVY Phoenix h9-1320t tops the list thanks to its superior gaming prowess, the Dell XPS X8700-3130BLK stands the competition as being a smart pick for a mid-tower multimedia PC thanks to a lower sticker price, with more storage and a higher tier processor, making it a great value.

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