Desktops

If you keep up with products in the blogosphere, you might already be familiar with the Studio One 19, which is our new all-in-one computer. Darren Gladstone’s article kicked off some discussions when we introduced it in Japan last month. Today, we’re now offering it to customers in the United States and Europe.

Over the weekend, Gizmodo and others reacted to a design-focused video that Lionel featured in a blog post late last week. The Studio One 19 is an all-in-one computer that provides a great shared computing experience for families. As mentioned in an earlier post, the Studio One 19 features a simple and approachable design, with five different color options to easily match any home décor.

The Studio One 19 is no slouch when it comes to performance either. Because it’s built on a desktop chipset and features some desktop hardware like Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors and desktop hard drives. Video performance is solid too with NVIDIA GeForce 9200 graphics and 9400 performance graphics upgrade options.

For more on both the hardware and software behind the Studio One 19, take a look at this video that features Josh Duncan and Angela Blair from Dell’s product team:

Besides design and performance, the optional touch capability is something that stands out. The Studio One 19 is our first desktop to feature a multi-touch option. In case you missed it, here’s the preview of the touch capabilities we shared recently. Now that it’s here, I wanted to share more details about the touch features that the Studio One 19 offers:

• Easy multi-touch photo editing, slideshow creation, playlist compilation, notes, and even web browsing.
• Use Touch Zone to quickly locate touch applications and access media content including photos. Listen to music and create playlist.
• Unleash creativity with You Paint finger painting software.
• Record videos and upload directly to YouTube with the touch of a finger with TouchCam
• Flick to Flickr – Upload photos to Flickr to share with family and friends.
• More cowbell - Use Drum Kit to bang on the drums with the multi-touch percussion center. Lionel said this was a blast. 

You can see more photos of the Studio One 19 on Dell’s official Flickr page.

Update: Dell has also teamed with Cozi to feature the Cozi Family Organizer on the Studio One 19 (both touch and non-touch). Families use Cozi to schedule appointments and activities in the shared family calendar, to track shopping and to do lists, to keep a family journal and to send quick messages and reminders. For example how many times have you asked your teen to stop by the store and pick up a few items on the way home - and they remember half of what you needed? Well, with Cozi you speak their language by sending the grocery list via text directly to their cell phone. Really - Cozi is a simple and intuitive experience that any family member can easily use.

Cozi also offers a couple of extras on the Dell Studio One 19 including:

• Cozi Express - Launches Cozi right from the desktop for immediate access to the family's calendar, shopping and to do list and other information.
• Cozi Photo Collage Screensaver -Automatically creates and rotates stunning collages from photos stored on the PC, organizes the photos by family events and activities, and displays upcoming appointments from the family calendar.

There’s been some interest in the Studio One 19 since I first blogged about it back in March. Several folks have had some positive things to say about the upcoming touch capability as well.

Since it will be here very soon for customers in the United States, I thought it made sense to share a video that features some insight from Dan O’Neil. Dan’s part of Dell’s industrial design team, and was the main guy behind the design of our new all-in-one desktop.

More coming soon.

It was two years ago that Dell announced the release of the XPS 710 H2C, and with it a water-cooling mechanism designed specifically for the XPS itself. Designing a cooling solution for a specific chassis and component set has added advantages over the generic cooling sets you can get from your local electronics boutique, as it can be optimized for specific hardware to further increase performance. Since then liquid cooling was something Dell owners could only get on the largest of the Dell XPS machines, the XPS 700 series.

That’s now changing.

Dell customers now have the option of getting an Asetek liquid cooling solution with the XPS 625 & XPS 630 straight from the factory, bringing the benefits of liquid cooling to the smaller form factor machines in the XPS lineup. Though the cooler itself isn’t designed specifically for the XPS, the Asetek cooling hardware is tried and true, and has quickly become an industry standard. What’s in it for me, you may be asking?

First of all, I’ve got an XPS 730x sitting right next to me, and when I turn the beast on, it literally sounds like a jet engine spinning up. Some people enjoy the feeling of power they get when their computers sound like they’re about to liftoff when they hit the button, but for others, noise is a definite concern. Liquid cooled systems are very quiet. Except for the low hum of the power supply and the occasional click-whir from the hard drives, the only reason you’d know your computer is on is because you’re using it.

For the second reason I once again turn to the noble XPS 730x sitting next to me to demonstrate. I can overclock this system a good 10% or so using the air-cooled solution provided, but if it were an H2C model, I could easily triple that and still have a stable system. Liquid cooling keeps the temperature on those chips down so that instead of grinding to a halt, those 1’s and 0’s keep whizzing by. You can crank up the heat and bleed every last drop of performance from your system’s components.

Want another reason to make the switch to liquid cooling? It is far more efficient than cooling by air, and since heat is the primary factor in lowering electronic component lifespan, a liquid cooling solution can help reduce the daily wear and tear on computer components. That’s right: water cooling can actually help your gaming rig live longer.

If you really want to turn up the heat, liquid cooling is a must. At only $120 it’s a fairly inexpensive way to get the most performance possible out of the XPS 630 and 625.

A final note for all you overclocking nuts out there: the XPS 625 comes with an AMD Athlon X2 Black Edition processor, meaning you can try to push the limits as far as they’ll go. While you’re at it, feel free to bundle EVE Online with your new XPS. With the available horsepower in these beauties, you’re out of excuses.

I blogged about the Studio One 19 desktop last month when we began offering it in Japan. I also mentioned it will be available in the United States a bit later.

Until then, here’s a quick video where Josh Duncan from the desktop product team provides a preview of the optional touch capabilities that are coming with this product.

Today in China, we’re introducing a couple of new desktops with a splash of color. The new Inspiron desktops will come in two different case options: mini-tower and slim. Both versions can be ordered in any of the following eight colors: Piano Black, Pure White, True Blue, Formula Red, Tangerine Orange, Spring Green, Plum Purple and Promise Pink.

These Inspiron slim and mini-tower desktops make their debut in China today. Customers there can purchase through Dell.com, distributor Digital China or retailers Suning and Gome. These systems will be available worldwide (including the United States) later this spring.

These new desktops support a range of AMD and Intel processors, and that means they’ll be great for all kinds of common things people use computers for these days—basics like e-mail, blogging  or web applications to other things like digital entertainment (music, photos and movies) and casual gaming.

Basically, they’ll bring versatility and value just like our other Inspiron products, they’ll just do it with a little more style.

Click on the image below to see a larger version or check out the additional pictures available on Dell's Flickr page.