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View Full Version : Dell studio slim desktop PC (rel Nov 2008) good enough for 1080p?


PantsOnFire
2009-03-20, 05:51
Hey all, recently came across a real nicely designed case. It's the dell studio slim desktop PC.

PPl have mentioned the hybrid lately, nice, but it seems, a bit underpowered for 1080p.

The Dell studio slim is here:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/desktop-studio-slim?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

I'm wondering whether it would be fit for the task?

(solid 1080p mkv playback, bluray playing).


The immediate downside I see (for me) is only being able to fit +1 extra hdd in it. (i want something that can store ALL of my films) (have a good few). :)

Seems to be available in variety of specs, some with bluray drive, some with 2.3 C2D, others with 2.8. Most expensive with quad-core.

Anyone had a shot with these machines? Reviews indicate theyre quite quiet and pretty good with power consumption. Not so many ppl talking about the hd playback yet (its reasonably new). PPl have said that 3GHz isnt really your requirement anymore since some improvements in xbmc's codecs were made. Some ppl saying 2.7 is okay now really.

The thing is, part of me enjoys putting together a custom PC. But another side just lieks the idea of going fuck it, get this all in one pre-setup machine (as long as im not being ripped for cash, just cos its conveniant to buy this way) -- seems not to be the case with this Dell machine. :laugh:

There's also the lure of the new mac mini, and some have said it's 1080p-capable, despite being max of 2.26Ghz. Then again,... no bluray with that.. tinky remote too.

sorry, this has turned more into one man's problems with choice! didn't mean to rant, basically what im trying to establish is how good this dell box machine would be with xbmc. It has an ATI card which ive heard can cause some tearing issues.


cheers if you read that, glad if you can help.

:confused2:

Geeba
2009-03-20, 11:32
Hmmmm look good!! not seen them in the UK!

Pretty sure they will all trouser 1080P

They will have a good bash at most games out there too!

Quad with 8Gb would be nice!

abusharif
2009-03-20, 12:50
Check youtube there are couple of reviews, positive and negative

Dougie Fresh
2009-03-20, 17:22
This was the machine I was planning to get until I decided to build my own. Check them out at www.delloutlet.com. You can get one with 4GB, 640GB HDD, 2.53GHz dual-core and Blu-Ray for $539. I posted the info in another thread around here about building a HTPC.

PantsOnFire
2009-03-21, 04:18
This was the machine I was planning to get until I decided to build my own. Check them out at www.delloutlet.com. You can get one with 4GB, 640GB HDD, 2.53GHz dual-core and Blu-Ray for $539. I posted the info in another thread around here about building a HTPC.

Sounds cool, but, you got one 'what' exactly? Studio slim?
I wasn't quite sure what you were referring to.

Also, there seem to be pretty much no reviews on youtube for the studio mini. granted there are some for the non-slim version.

abusharif
2009-03-21, 12:59
Also, there seem to be pretty much no reviews on youtube for the studio mini. granted there are some for the non-slim version.

Ouch, my appologies...for some reason Dell Hybrid was stuck in my mind.
Sorry for brain fart there :(

frumpy_uk
2009-03-22, 00:13
It's ok, but really noisy. The PSU fan is the worst but I ended up replacing the case fan and the CPU fan as well. The PSU was a nightmare because it's an unusual form factor. Also, and not a Dell issue per se, you can only use low profile PCI cards which limits your TV and graphics card choices.

Given that you've looked at a custom build in the past I think you'd regret buying this PC. I certainly do.

If you do end up buying it and want to make it quiet you might want to refer to this thread on the Dell forums : http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19245001/19447680.aspx#19447680 and/or PM me.


Good luck

cheers
Paul

Dougie Fresh
2009-03-23, 22:03
Sounds cool, but, you got one 'what' exactly? Studio slim?
I wasn't quite sure what you were referring to.

Also, there seem to be pretty much no reviews on youtube for the studio mini. granted there are some for the non-slim version.

Yeah, sorry, too many pronouns -- rereading what I wrote it was very confusing.

The Studio Slim was what I was looking at for an HTPC until I decided to build a custom HTPC instead. It seemed the best bang-for-the-buck after looking around at what I could get w/o building a custom HTPC. When I was looking at Studio Slims I'd seen them for a good deal on the Dell Outlet website I referred to above. Dell Outlet is a great deal. If I had bought a Studio Slim I would have gotten one from there instead of purchasing new. IMHO, there's no real need to buy a new Dell when they have the outlet.