Posted 10/24/08 at 10:15:27 AM by Paul Lilly

In a joint collaboration with Universal Music Group (UMG), Dell has begun offering preloaded MP3 bundles on new systems. The move, according to Dell, is to give consumers a "simple, economical way to jump-start a digital music library."

For $25, users can select a 50-song bundle devoid of DRM, or $45 for a 100-song bundle. Song bundles are broken up into several categories, such as Rock Titans, which includes tracks like Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kryptonite by Three Doors Down, or Afternoon Delight represented with tracks like On Bended Knee by Boyz II Men and Crazy by Patsy Cline. Sadly users aren't allowed to create their own bundle, but then again, who doesn't have both Patsy Cline and Boyz II Men in a single playlist?

Music packs are available now on both laptops and desktops, sans XPS ONE, Inspiron Mini 9, and operating systems XP, Vista 64-bit, and Linux.

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drm, dell, music, rigs, prebuilt

Posted 10/16/08 at 11:25:20 AM by Paul Lilly

Gateway made quite a splash in the mobile gaming community this past summer when it released its P-7811 FX notebook. Packed with gaming goodies usually reserved for high priced boutique OEM offerings, Gateway managed to cram a full blown desktop replacement into a sub-$1500 package (at one point, Best Buy was selling the FX notebook on sale for $1249 plus a free game). Having reintroduced itself back into the enthusiast sector, Gateway this time is focusing on the desktop market with a pair of new models, the FX6710 and LX6200.

The copper color trimmed FX6710-01 ships with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 processor clocked at 2.66GHz with 6MB of L2 cache on a 1333MHz frontside bus. Not often seen on a value priced desktop (if ever), the new FX boasts 6GB of DDR2 memory. A 750GB SATA II hard drive rounds out the non-volatile storage duties, and an ATI HD 4850 videocard with a 512MB frame buffer provides pixel pushing power on the gaming front. Other specs include an 18x DVD burner, 15-in-1 media card reader, 6 USB 2.0 ports, eSATA port, 2 Firewire ports, 7.1 onboard sound, and Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

On the AMD side of the fence, Gateway's LX6200-01 comes configured with a Phenom X4 9500 quad core processor clocked at 2.2GHz with 2MB of L3 cache. The LX boasts a little more DDR2 RAM at 8GB, while the videocard gets downgraded an integrated ATI HD 3200 graphics.

Both the FX6710 and LX6200 are available now with an MSRP of $1200 and $780 respectively.

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Desktop, gaming pc, Gateway, OEM, prebuilt, fx6710, lx6200

Posted 10/14/08 at 10:58:08 AM by Paul Lilly

Acer's making a bid for your living room with its new AX3200 desktop PC. Sporting dimensions of just 10x4x14 inches, it should have no problem wiggling into an HTPC environment. Nor will it have much trouble mingling, as Acer's new desktop comes with a Blu-ray drive, an HDMI-out port, and support for Dolby Home Theater 5.1 surround sound.

Other components include a triple-core AMD Phenom 8450 processor clocked at 2.1GHz, a 640GB hard drive, 4GB of memory, a multi-card reader, and a bevy of ports including no less than nine of the USB 2.0 variety and an eSATA port.

"Offering 64-bit Windows, a Blu-ray drive, and significant memory, the Acer AX3200 packs plenty of power for tackling the demans of multitasking and the latest digital entertainment," said Stephanie Eggert, senior manager for Acer America's Retail Desktop Product Planning.

With all that the $680 PC comes with, a cut had to made somewhere and that happens to be in the graphics department. Gamers will find little to lust over with the integrated Nvidia GeForce 8200 GPU.

The AX3200 is available now through Fry's, though it's currently priced $70 over Acer's MSRP.

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Blu-ray, Acer, OEM, prebuilt, triple-core

Posted 10/11/08 at 10:36:47 PM by Paul Lilly

Despite the strides that have been made with high-end air coolers, serious overclockers still turn to water to gain that extra cooling edge, and with it a few extra MHz as well. But diving into water can often be a costly venture, particularly in the prebuilt sector. Or at least it used to be.

The good news is you can now purchase a pre-assembled OEM rig with water running through its veins. The sub-$1000 watercooled PC - being called the Red Blizzard - comes courtesy of Visionman Computers and will be sold through WidowPC. Providing the watercooling is CoolIT's PURE CPU cooler, an all-in-one solution that combines a radiator, pump module, and CPU Fluid Heat Exchanger (FHE) into a single apparatus which, by itself, streets for around a C-note.

The bad news is that you won't find any voodoo magic taking place behind the budget price tag. At the heart of the system sits a modest Intel E5200 processor nestled in an Asus P5N73-AM motherboard based on the aging nForce 650i chipset. Other components include 2GB of DDR2-800 RAM, a 500GB Western Digital hard drive, a single LiteOn 20X DVD burner, and a 9600GT videocard with a 512MB frame buffer. To be fair, there isn't much of a markup on the individual parts, but we can't imagine this self-described "disturbingly powerful" system will live up to its promise of "blow[ing] the socks off all the latest titles."

The Red Blizzard is available now now from WidowPC's website.

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rigs, prebuilt, watercooling, visionman computers, widowpc, Coolit pure

Posted 10/02/08 at 10:59:47 AM by Paul Lilly

Last summer Acer teased gamers by announcing the menacing looking Aspire Predator gaming PC along with a color-matching metallic copper 24-inch G24 LCD display. Now the company says it's ready for the US market and, presumably, to take on HP, Falcon Northwest, and Alienware in the high end OEM gaming segment.

It would take an orgy of high end components to live up to the machine's "Faster. Deeper. Harder. Further." tagline, though Acer's also offering a more moderately priced configuration. Starting at $1,649, The G7700-UQ9300A sports an Intel Core 2 Quad 9300 water-cooled processor, a GeForce 9600GT videocard, 8GB of DDR2 memory, two 640GB hard drives, a DVD reader and DVD burner, and Vista Home Premium 64-bit. For those with a little more loot, $2,199 nudges the processor up to a Q9550 and exchanges the 9600GT for a 9800GTX.

On the monitor front, the Acer G24 widescreen display boasts a 50,000:1 contrast ratio, a 1920x1200 resolution, and 2ms (grey to grey) response time.

Does Acer's Predator appeal to you? Hit the jump and post your thoughts.

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rigs, prebuilt, acer aspire, predator

Posted 07/29/08 at 12:15:54 PM by Paul Lilly

Adding to its colorful Studio collection, Dell today launches its Studio Hybrid, a mini-PC the company bills as the "most environmentally responsible consumer" computer on the market. It could also rank as one of the most affordable PCs, checking in at only $499 without monitor or as low as $699 with a 19-inch widescreen LCD.

In addition to 6 interchangeable color sleeves (or bamboo), the new Studio Hybrid also sports a sideways oriented slot-load DVD burner and several ports, including HDMI, three USB 2.0, DVI, Ethernet, and audio.

Underneath the hood customers can choose between a range of Intel Mobile processors from the T2390 (1.86GHz/533MHz) on up to the T9500 (2.6GHz/800MHz). In addition to the widescreen monitor, the $699 configuration buys you a T2390, 2GB of DDR2-667, a 250GB 5400RPM hard drive, 8x DVD burner, integrated graphics and audio, and Vista Home Premium with SP1.

Dell claims its Studio Hybrid line is about 80 percent smaller than the typical desktop minitower, and uses up to 70 percent less energy. Further appealing to the environmentalists, Dell claims its tiny green PC uses 30 percent less packing materials than a typical desktop, almost all of which is recyclable.

Between the recent push towards low power computing and Apple continuing to sell a generation on hip gadgets, Dell thinks it has a winner in its colorful PC with green roots. What do you think?

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dell, Desktop, OEM, rigs, studio hybrid, prebuilt