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New Adamo too Advanced for Primitive "Open" Button

Paul Lilly — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:48:50 -0500

Perhaps in the future, all notebooks will measure a mere 9.99 mm thick, rendering today's laptops laughably obese by comparison. And if we're to take Dell's upcoming Adamo XPS as a representative of things to come, you can kiss the "open" button goodbye.

According to a report in BusinessWeek, Dell's super-slim notebook will feature a "heat-sensing strip on the lip that, when swiped with a finger, glows white and automatically opens the aluminum lid."

The article wasn't focused on the Adamo, however, and unfortunately no other details were given, so we still don't know what kind of hardware Dell plans to cram inside the skinny frame.

Image Credit: Gizmodo

Dell's Website Reveals High-End XPS 435 Desktop

Andy Salisbury — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:11:30 -0600

It looks like Dell, keeping with their latest trend of sneaking machines onto their website, has added a graceful new addition to their line of Studio XPS desktops; the Studio XPS 435.

Under the hood of the 435 you’ll find a 3.2GHz Core i7 running on an X58 chipset, room for up to 24GB of DDR3 RAM, and 4.5TB of storage across three hard drive bays. To make it all show up on your monitor, they’ll include a Radeon HD4870. And, of course, to help sweeten the deal they’re tossing in a Blu-ray drive, a 15-in-1 card reader, and a whopping eight USB ports.

Currently there’s no word on pricing or availability, but we’re guessing that a machine packing stats like those will give one’s checking account plenty to worry about.

Image Credit: Dell

Dell Quietly Launches Two New Studio XPS Laptops

Andy Salisbury — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:58:42 -0600

Dell, playing to the beat of their own drummer, has oh-so-secretly snuck some new Studio XPS laptops onto their online store.

The new machines, the Studio XPS 1340 and Studio XPS 1640 are upgraded versions of the previous Studio XPS 13. Both of the machines bear the exact same $1,199 price tag (seriously), pack Intel Core 2 Duo processors, and Vista Home Premium. The main discernable difference is that the smaller, 13-inch version is packing Nvidia GeForce 9400M G graphic while the slightly bigger, 16-inch version is rocking an ATI Mobility Radeon M86XT chip.

While both of these notebooks look like pretty solid additions to Dell’s lineup, the lack of a price difference is a bit confusing.

Image Credit: Dell

Dell Supercharges Its XPS Desktops with Core i7

Paul Lilly — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:19:42 -0600

Dell, Intel's BFF in the OEM systems sector, has outfitted a couple of its desktops with the chip maker's new Core i7 processor, one of which represents a brand new product line in the Studio XPS.

A baseline configured Studio XPS desktop starts out at $950 and comes equipped with Intel's Core i7 920 clocked at 2.66GHz. The sub-$1000 configuration also includes a 3GB triple-channel DDR3-1066 memory kit and a 500GB hard drive. A 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 provides casual gaming chores, with the option to upgrade to a 512MB HD 4850 for $200 more.A 16X DVD burner and the standard assortment of ports complete the feature-set. For those with a little more jingle in their pocket, up to 1.28TB of storage can be configured in a RAID 0 array, along with a speedier CPU in the Core i7 940 clocked at 2.93GHz.

The other series getting a Core i7 infusion is Dell's XPS 730x Gaming Desktop. Starting out at $2000, the 730x comes standard with Intel's Core i7 940 and, like the Studio XPS, 3GB of tri-channel RAM. Pixel pushing power is provided by Nvidia's 512MB GeForce 9800GT. For $4850, Dell upgrades the processor to an Intel Core i7 965 Extreme factory overclocked to 3.73GHz, doubles up on the RAM to 6GB, tosses in an Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 videocard, and beefs up storage duties with a 750GB hard drive. If spending the entire holiday bonus, the XPS 730x offers options for Western Digital's Velociraptor drive and/or up to 2TB in a RAID 1+0 array, along with an option for dual GTX 280 videocards in an SLI configuration.

Studio XPS systems are available now, with most XPS 730x systems expected to start shipping by early or mid-December, according to Electronista.

Image Credit: Dell

Dell Bumps its XPS One iMac Clone to 24", Priced at $1700

Andy Salisbury — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:57:56 -0500

So, you’re in the market for an all-in-one computer with a 24-inch screen, but you’re not looking to splurge on one of those yucky iMacs, huh? Well Dell has got your back, and it comes in the form of the XPS One 24.

The 24-inch beast packs plenty of powerful features, too. Including a gigantic 1920x1080 native resolution on a 16:9 display, 4GB RAM (standard), Intel GMA X4500HD graphics (or an upgraded Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT) and an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor. Should you feel the need to donate money to some worthwhile causes without actually doing so yourself, there’s a (PRODUCT) RED version available too.

While admittedly the name isn’t the best we’ve ever seen (seriously, say it out loud), it is shaping up to be a very worthwhile media machine. Some upgraded speakers and a built in TV tuner are looking to drive that point home. It’s shipping now, and will run you $1,700 for a base model.

Image Credit: Dell

Apple's Notebooks Take On the PC Competition

The Maximum PC Staff — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:14:14 -0500

MacBooks have become the darlings of the computer press. They’re capturing the attention of first-time notebook buyers and even converting a growing number of long-time PC owners who are looking for that elusive “perfect” mobile computer. A report on recent notebook sales figures reflects the MacBook’s momentum.

Findings by market research firm the NDP Group show that brick-and-mortar sales of Apple notebooks experienced a 50 to 60 percent growth in the first quarter of 2008, while Windows notebook sales remained flat. In the premium notebook category—encompassing machines costing $1,000 or more—Apple now claims a whopping 64 percent market share.

But are these slick hipster notebooks worth the hype and their spendy price tags? What do you really get for the money when you throw down for a MacBook, and how do these Apple computers compare to their PC counterparts in terms of performance, features, overall usability, and price?

Maximum PC tests and reviews the MacBook Air, the standard MacBook, and the MacBook Pro against five PC models sporting similar price points and formfactors. It’s time we set the record straight.

Categorical Differences

Apple’s presence in the notebook market spans three distinct classes. Here’s how we define them and the key features we think each class demands. Click each heading to jump to the relevant page.

Ultraportable

Maximum 4 lbs. lap weight
11- to 13-inch screen
Minimum 4-hour battery life
Transflective screen surface
Real keyboard
Video output
ExpressCard slot
Optical drive (optional)

Mainstream

Affordable
Dual-core processor
160GB or more storage capacity
Maximum 7 lbs. lap weight
13- to 15-inch screen
Optical drive
Appropriate expansion slots

Professional

Dual-core processor
Discrete graphics
15-inch or larger screen
Maximum 8 lbs. lap weight
Appropriate expansion slots
Robust video-out
DVD burner

Our Testing Strategy

Evaluating a notebook is very different from evaluating a desktop PC.

A notebook PC isn’t like a desktop rig. Tricked out, water cooled, and overclocked like a mutha, your Guns of Navarone desktop rig will live a life that’s similar to your mom’s PC: sitting safely underneath your desk. And while you can freely upgrade your PC’s peripherals—its keyboard, monitor, and mouse—a notebook is everything it’s ever going to be the first day you get it. The trackpad can’t be replaced nor can the LCD screen. If the mushy keyboard annoys you, tough luck.

So our reviews of these notebooks focus on not only performance but also usability and price.

Usability

This is a crucial factor in a notebook’s success. It includes the keyboard’s feel, the placement of the trackpad, the number and variety of ports, the machine’s weight and size, the thermals, the quality of the screen, as well as the overall look and feel. It’s a lengthy list of review points, which explains why usability figures so prominently in our final assessment.

Performance

Don’t get us wrong—performance matters. Unless your activities are strictly confined to Microsoft Office and Firefox, you’re going to notice when, for example, it takes five minutes to enact a simple photo edit. To test a notebook’s performance, we look to our standard suite of desktop benchmarks, which stress video editing and encoding, photo editing, and slide-show creation. We also run two older games at moderate resolutions to see if a notebook will function as a stand-in gaming machine.

Obviously, we can’t run our benchmarks in OS X because the majority of our tests don’t offer OS X support. To truly assess how well Apple’s notebooks measure up as PCs, we dual-booted the MacBooks into Windows Vista Home Premium and ran the benchmarks in that OS—for an apples-to-apples comparison among all models. (To get a sense of the performance difference between a MacBook running OS X vs. Vista, see page 43, where we show the results of tests using apps that are native to both OSes.)

Price

The Mac has historically been at a price disadvantage to the PC, but is this still the case today? Read on and you’ll see how these x86 Macs stack up in terms of specs and price. While not quite as important as performance and usability, price will also figure into our verdicts.

Next: Ultraportable Notebooks Face Off

Individual Ultraportable Reviews

Best in Class: Ultraportable

Not too big and not too small, the ThinkPad X300 delivers the perfect balance of performance and size in a killer package.

After running the benchmarks, crunching the numbers, and spending days doing usability testing the old-fashioned way—using the laptops in real-world situations—we decided that of the three ultraportable machines tested here, the one we’d buy with our own money is the Lenovo ThinkPad X300. Even though you can buy two MacBook Airs for what this ThinkPad cost.

The decision in this category ultimately came down to survivability and usability. Both the Sony Vaio and MacBook Air seemed fragile, and we worried about their ability to withstand the wear and tear of heavy use. The ThinkPad feels sturdier than laptops twice its weight, and its SSD drive should deliver better survivability than the old-school spindles and heads in the other two machines. Unfortunately, that SSD also adds at least a grand to the X300’s price, which is a huge premium to pay if your idea of high-risk computing is balancing the machine on one knee while you veg out in front of the tube during Shark Week. Lenovo desperately needs to add a budget X300 using standard hard drives.

The ThinkPad’s screen might not shine like those of its glossy-paneled completion, but it actually makes the notebook far more versatile. When we took all three of the ultraportable models outdoors, only the X300 remained usable—turns out there’s something to be said for the screen’s dowdy anti-glare coating, which is not an option with the Air and Vaio. Add to that the X300’s comfortable keyboard and plethora of input options and you have a solid all-around offering. Sure, it could stand a few more inputs and outputs, but with three USB ports we’re satiated.

Performance is less crucial in the ultraportable category, but the ThinkPad delivered more than respectable scores in most of our benchmarks, losing to the Sony by a smaller margin than we expected, given the differences in hardware. We’re especially impressed with the X300’s Photoshop results, which show the read benefits SSD users can expect.

That said, none of these laptops is bad—if you don’t mind dealing with the abundance of crapware on the Vaio, that is. Folks shopping for a relatively inexpensive 3-pound laptop will find the MacBook Air to be a stunning value at $1,800. We’d never advocate using it as your only PC, but as a mobile option it’s pretty compelling. The Sony Vaio delivers impressive performance, but we’d expect more solid build quality for the $2,600 price.

Next: Mainstream Notebooks

Ultraportable Benchmarks

	Apple MacBook Air	Sony Vaio SZ Premium	Lenovo ThinkPad X300
Premiere Pro CS3 (min:sec)	59:21	47:22	59:01
Photoshop CS3 (min:sec)	6:07	3:08	5:36
ProShow (min:sec)	95:11	35:44	63:25
MainConcept (min:sec)	174:11	59:52	119:36
Fear (fps)	WNR	WNR	WNR
Quake 4 (fps)	WNR	WNR	WNR
Battery Rundown (hrs:min)	2:39	3:02	3:01

Best scores are bolded.

Individual Mainstream Notebook Reviews

Best in Class: Mainstream

The MacBook wins the sprint but loses the marathon

If laptops were dogs, we’d award Acer’s TravelMate Best in Show. The MacBook may be the cute dog that’s the crowd favorite, but its refusal to obey commands cost it points. And the Asus F8Sn would be stuck in its crate in the back doing the one thing it can do right: spin in a circle.

Things would be different if we looked at just a single category. Take gaming, for example. Hands down, the F8Sn crushes the other contenders with its built-in GeForce 9500M GS videocard. The TravelMate’s discrete graphics are no match for the F8Sn’s performance, and the MacBook—well, four frames per second in a game like FEAR is downright shameful, solidifying the white laptop’s standing as a gamer’s foe.

But the F8Sn’s gaming prowess comes at a great cost. To keep the machine affordable, Asus includes a paltry 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo CPU. Thus, the other laptops in this category speed past the F8Sn in nearly every other non-gaming benchmark. And worse, the F8Sn’s mighty graphics card sucks the battery life during normal use.

While the MacBook owns the competition in a few of our encoding benchmarks, thanks to its nifty Penryn processor, the notebook falls flat on more memory-intensive tests. The single gigabyte of DDR2 RAM proves to be this laptop’s undoing once video conversion and high-definition picture processing come into play. Still, the MacBook achieves nearly three hours of battery life—a full 20 minutes more than Acer’s TravelMate.

So how does one decide a clear victor? It’s not easy. Each laptop comes with little bits and pieces that we’d like to see changed: the TravelMate’s 160GB hard drive and inclusion of Windows Vista Business, the F8Sn’s horrific processor speed and lackluster battery life, the MacBook’s lack of external connection options and poor gaming performance. But at this price point, the midrange laptop class is all about sacrifices. You’re not going to find a perfect notebook in this cohort, but you can definitely find one that includes most of the qualities you’re seeking.

In that sense, the TravelMate comes out on top by a wide margin, mostly because you don’t have to sacrifice a great deal of performance to get what you want. Its gaming prowess isn’t the best we’ve seen, but the laptop holds its own in our benchmarks without crushing the machine’s overall battery life. Its application performance rivals the MacBook’s best, and we’d much rather have the extra 40GB of hard drive space, faster Premiere and Photoshop times, and larger display—not to mention the external connection options, where the TravelMate far exceeds the MacBook’s limited offerings.

When it comes to mainstream notebooks, we’d happily take Acer’s TravelMate on the road any day of the week. But if someone gave us a MacBook, we wouldn’t complain—we can’t say the same about Asus’s F8Sn.

Next: Professional Notebooks

Mainstream Notebook Benchmarks

	Apple MacBook	Asus F8Sn	Acer TravelMate 5720
Premiere Pro CS3 (min:sec)	38:43	48:38	35:59
Photoshop CS3 (min:sec)	5:48	4:12	3:53
ProShow (min:sec)	38:10	56:53	40:32
MainConcept (min:sec)	68:11	83:10	68:08
Fear (fps)	4	22	15
Quake 4 (fps)	10.3	79.2	29
Battery Rundown (hrs:min)	3:26	1:42	2:32

Best scores are bolded.

Individual Professional Notebook Reviews

Best in Class: Professional

Don't rub your eyes, the MacBook is the winner (!)

In many ways, Dell’s XPS M1530 is the better notebook of the two. Its screen is better by a country mile in photo rendering, it’s faster in gaming, it has built-in EVDO—something you can’t even get from Apple—and it costs $500 less for comparable hardware.

So why are we declaring the MacBook Pro the winner? We had a few issues with our XPS unit, such as unexplainably low scores in our Premiere Pro CS3 test that gave us the shivers: It took more than twice as long as our MacBook Pro to render video and was quite a bit slower in our Photoshop CS3 test.

We have no idea why. The XPS was just about as fast as the MBP in our MainConcept encoding test and faster at slide-show creation, which would typically translate to comparable scores in our two Adobe-based benchmarks.

As for the XPS’s beefy 9-cell battery, the machine pooped out after 2:45 (hrs:min) of DVD playback. The MacBook Pro, running the OS X-based DVD app, had us up past midnight waiting for the damned thing to die at 3:15—and that’s using an internal battery that doesn’t pork up the formfactor. Whether the weak rundown time was caused by the unoptimized Windows Media Center DVD player or some CPU-sapping third-party app that Dell installed on the XPS, we weren’t happy with the results.

The XPS is redeemed in port selection, with three USB ports, as well as S-Video, HDMI, and VGA, compared to the MacBook Pro’s single DVI and two USB ports. And the XPS clearly has the better screen. Although favored by professional photographers, the MBP’s screen is subpar and displays horrible banding in OS X. The XPS also bests the MBP with EVDO.

And remember, the XPS is $500 less—and that’s without taking into account the cost of a Windows license if to run your games or other applications on the MBP.

That’s what makes our pick stick in our craw so much. The XPS is better in many respects, but it has the same weaknesses as most OEM PCs. From the get-go, even though Dell’s load out is better than most others here, it’s still bogged down by third-party bloatware. And Vista drivers might be better today than they were, but something, somewhere in the XPS is dragging down battery life and performance.

That puts the admittedly overpriced MacBook Pro in the pole position. While that’s likely to piss off many PC diehards, perhaps it’s time those folks finally admit the MacBook Pro to the power-PC family.

Next: OSX: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

Professional Notebook Benchmarks

	Apple MacBook Pro	Dell XPS M1530
Premiere Pro CS3 (min:sec)	30:12	65:00
Photoshop CS3 (min:sec)	3:44	4:08
ProShow (min:sec)	34:21	32:28
MainConcept (min:sec)	56:17	57:09
Fear (fps)	45	49
Quake 4 (fps)	83.5	103.3
Battery Rundown (hrs:min)	3:15	2:45

Best scores are bolded.

OS X: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

The biggest difference between an Apple notebook and its PC counterparts is the operating system. Sure, Apple’s adoption of the x86 architecture makes it quite possible to run Windows on an Apple machine, but here’s a crash course in the unique features Apple’s home-grown OS offers and the pitfalls of running Windows on a Mac.

OS X is a Lot Like Windows

Switching OSes is always tough, but Apple does a good job of making Windows users feel right at home. Many Windows-specific keyboard shortcuts function similarly in OS X and basic file browsing is the same.

OS X is Completely Different from Windows

In other ways, OS X is a very different beast. For example, instead of storing all the bits and pieces of your installed apps in a folder on your hard drive, everything the app needs to run is stored in a container file. To start the app, you double-click the container. It’s deceptively simple, and we like it.

Windows on a Mac is a Little Weird

Installing Windows on a MacBook is easier than installing it on many enthusiast PCs. You start the installer from inside OS X; when the Windows install completes, you run a single app that installs all necessary drivers. Unfortunately, some commonly used notebook functions, such as tap to click on the touchpad, don’t work.

OS X is Really, Really Slick

Using an operating system that’s designed for power users and newbies alike is truly glorious.

You'll Need to Rebuy All Your Applications

Replacing apps could cost you nothing—or thousands of dollars.

You'll Need Cooler Pants

When people see you toting a MacBook around, they’ll expect that you’re a little more Justin Long than John Hodgman, and your circa 1987 Lee’s don’t send that message, chief.

Performance in OS X is Pretty Darn Good

We last compared OS X and Windows performance right after Apple switched to Intel x86, and the results for OS X were ugly, thanks possibly to the emulation layer that most Mac software used. Now two and a half years later, we can say things are looking far better for OS X. Photoshop, which was a total joke in 2006 on the Intel Macs, is definitely improved. Though still slower than on Windows Vista, at least you won’t be firing cruise missiles at John Warnock and Steve Jobs.

In other applications, OS X performance is quite peppy. We used Bibble Pro to convert 233 Canon EOS 5D RAW files to JPEG. OS X outsprinted Vista. Using HandBrake to convert an episode of The Rockford Files also saw OS X in front. Not every application has been optimized for the “Mactel” machines, but it looks like the worst storm clouds are over for Apple in performance.

Back to the First Page

Benchmarks

	OSX Leopard	Windows Vista Home Premium
Photoshop CS3 (min:sec)	3:56	3:44
Bibble Pro (min:sec)	14:18	24:46
Handbrake VOB to iPod (min:sec)	4:26	5:41

Best scores are bolded. All tests were run on the MacBook Pro.

Daily News Brief: OCZ Tries Hand at DIY Gaming Notebooks

Paul Lilly — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:08:08 -0500

OCZ Joins DIY Notebook Revolution

Those looking to build their own notebook may not have nearly as many avenues to exploit as desktop builders do, but they'll have at least one more as OCZ jumps into the fray. OCZ today announced their DIY Gaming Notebook Program, giving users the option to purchase a barebones notebook, customize it, and then ultimately build it. Initial runs will come standard with a 15" screen and 8600M GT, taking some allure out of the 'Gaming' moniker.

Another One Bites the Dust

E-tailer ClubIT.com has become a forum favorite in recent months, with many longtime members migrating over from the 'Egg, but that all comes to an end today. On their website, ClubIT.com states "We are sad to announce that PC Club and ClubIT are now closed." Customers with "pending orders or concerns" are being asked to contact customerinfo@pcclub.com. It was a little over a year ago that Monarch Computers, another e-tailer on the up and up, shut its doors for good.

A Wii Bit of Gaming News

Nintendo launched their WiiWare service this week, giving gamers the ability to download original games. In Zune-like fashion, new titles run from 500 to 1,500 Wii Points ($5 to $15), with six titles inaugurating the service: Final Fantasy Chronicles: My Life as a King, LostWinds, Defend Your Castle, Pop, V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack, and TV Show King.

Sony Living the High Life

Sony today said its annual net profit nearly tripled to hit a record high, with sales of digital cameras and laptop computers leading the charge. This despite continued losses from the PlayStation 3, responsible for keeping its games division in the red. Sony CFO Nobuyuki Oneda said he expects Sony's games division to return to profits "thanks to a reduction in the cost of PS3 hardware and an increase in the number of software titles." More here.

Dell to Wall Street Journal: Back the Boat!

Apparently reports of Dell's death knell to its XPS line are greatly exaggerated. Responding to a Wall Street Journal report, Dell wrote that "both [Dell XPS and Alienware brands] will live on." Rather than kill off the XPS line, Dell plans to expand its focus on the Alienware branding and "invest like crazy in product development, design, and engineering." Crazy? Word up, yo!

Look Who's Looking

Charter Communications plans to begin eavesropping on customers' web surfing activity to help web advertisers deliver targeted ads. But lest you let this bother you, Charter bills the new policy as an enhanced online experience." Charter promises customers won't see more ads, just ads that are more relevant to the surfer's interests. Er, cool?

Grand Theft Auto IV: Will It Blend?

Of course it will! But the real question is, does GTA IV encourage blender violence?

Dell Drop Kicks Proprietary Parts

Gordon Mah Ung — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:25:52 -0600

Dell, long dinged for using proprietary hardware in its gaming PCs, has seen the light. The company said such annoying traits such as proprietary motherboards and power supplies is now a thing of the past.

The first XPS to shed the proprietary hardware will be the new budget XPS630 gaming machine. Based on the nForce 650 ichipset, Dell claims you can swap the board, PSU out for any other ATX-spec hardware.

The change is a long overdue. In the past, Dell has used designs that looked ATX-like but were actually not. If you tried to swap the power supply in your Pentium III Dimension XPS B 733R years ago, you would have been greeted by charred motherboard as the company actually wired its PSU’s differently than the industry but did not key them differently. For years, PC Power and Cooling has made small side business selling Dell upgrade PSUs. More recently, the company has been called out over BTX support and even using a proprietary power plug in its more recent XPS gaming rigs.

Why the use of proprietary designs? Cynical observers have said the company was just trying to lock customers into buying parts exclusively from Dell. The company has long defended the practice by saying that the variations from spec were because its engineers found the specs to be lacking. But the heat from critics and machines such as Hewlett-Packard’s Blackbird 002 going all ATX apparently have forced Dell to see the light. Company officials said the mantra in Dell engineering is that varying from the spec’s must be avoided at all costs.

The change from proprietary parts won’t be the only new trick for the XPS630 though. Dell has taken a page from Hewlett-Packard and claims the XPS 630 will support either Nvidia’s dual-card SLI or AMD’s dual-card CrossFire cards. How can Dell do this? Maximum PC spoke to AMD graphics officials who said the capability is being offered only to select OEMs who take the responsibility for making sure the drivers fully work with the BIOSes on the motherboards.

So why not just release such a driver to the public to let any nForce-user run CrossFire? The company said it is worried that a certain company could affect the performance of its cards when CrossFire is run on an SLI board so public support just isn’t going to happen. In the case of Dell and HP, AMD feels both have enough influence to keep performance problems from cropping up on their systems. For now, the CrossFire support is only through drivers obtained directly from Dell.
Dell says the XPS 630 will also be the first tier one OEM system to support Nvidia’s Enthusiast System Architecture. In the XPS 630’s case, ESA will let the user control the lights in the system. ESA support for the PSU or other components will not be initially supported.

The $1,300 version of the XPS 630 will ship with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad Q6600, GeForce 8800GT and a 750 watt power supply. Dell said the BIOS on the XPS 630 will support overclocking and is upgradeable to both dual and quad-core Intel Penryn CPUs.