Dell Launches XPS 410 with CableCARD
I was out of town when Dell
launched their first CableCARD PC, so here is a bit of catch-up on Dell’s
first entry into the market.
The XPS 410 was chosen as expected, and unlike HP and
Sony they actually offer single or dual CableCARD tuners. Even better, the Digital Cable Tuners will cost
you $236 each, which is pretty good.
However, unlike HP it doesn’t include an ATSC tuner in the package (at least,
not that I could tell.) Another first
for a top tier OEM is the option to upgrade to Vista Ultimate.
The base specs include a Core 2 Duo E6320, 2GB of RAM, a
NVIDIA 8600GT and 250GB hard drive. And
now the interesting bits. First, it
includes a Blu-ray drive with no option for HD DVD or even to leave the Blu-ray
drive out for a standard DVD burner.
Second, they want to include a monitor with the PC. However, at this point that can be hacked by
selecting "I will select a 27in wide flat panel monitor from the large
display section" and then simply don’t select one.
Using that monitor hack, the final price for a single
tuner machine is $1435. Not too bad at
all, but it would be nice to officially be able to exclude the monitor and
Blu-ray drive to knock that price down even more.
Anyone tempted by the Dell XPS 410, or are you still
looking for something different.