Read the System Shootout FAQ before proceeding!All images and logos are copyright (c) 2008 the respective companies.

DATE CONFIGURED: 08/07/07

Best of Field
(in my opinion)
Apple 24" iMac
Dell XPS 210 w/24" Digital LCD
Design/Styling:
Silver/Black
Mobility:
all-in-one ultraflat; 25 lbs. total;
VESA mount compliant
Tower + LCD; appx. 31 lbs. total;
display is VESA mount compliant
Component Access?
easy access to RAM slots
easy access to all components
Cords/Cables:
4 cables/cords total
8 cables/cords total
Desk Space Used:
appx. 181 sq. in.
appx. 231 sq. inches total
"Ultraquiet fans" (25 dB)
"QuietCase" cooling fans
Max. Energy Use:
280 Watts (maximum)
275 + 360 Watts total (maximum)
Processor:
Notes
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
L2 Cache:
4.0 MB L2 cache
4.0 MB L2 cache
RAM Type:
DDR2-SDRAM PC2-5300 (667 MHz)
DDR2-SDRAM PC2-5300 (667 MHz)
Front Side Bus:
800 MHz bus
1,066 MHz bus
RAM Amount:
1.0 GB (2 DIMMs)
2.0 GB (2 DIMMs)
Max. RAM:
4.0 GB (2 slots)
4.0 GB (4 slots)
Hard Drive Capacity:
320 GB
320 GB
Hard Drive Type:
Serial ATA
Serial ATA
Hard Drive Speed:
7200 RPM
7200 RPM
CD-RW:
24x16x24x CD-RW (slot-loading)
48x4x48x CD-RW
DVD-/+RW:
8x4x8x DL DVD±RW (slot-loading)
16x8x16x DL DVD±RW
Floppy/Other Drive:
--
--
PCI/AGP Slots:
1 filled PCIe slot
1 available PCIe slot + 1 filled
Internal Bays:
1 3.5" drive bay (filled)
1 3.5" drive bay (filled)
External Bays:
1 5.25" drive bay (filled)
1 5.25" drive bay (filled) + 1 3.5" bay (filled)
Mouse:
4-button, 360º trackball optical USB mouse
USB Optical 3-button scroll mouse
Keyboard:
ultraslim USB Keyboard w/2 USB 2 ports
(includes volume/mute/eject/media keys)
USB Multimedia Keyboard
(includes volume/mute/playback keys)
Remote Control:
Apple Remote included
--
USB Ports:
3 USB 2 on CPU + 2 USB 2 on keyboard
3 available (5 total)
10 USB 2.0 total
(6 in back, 2 in front, 2 on display);
8 USB 2.0 available
FireWire Ports:
1 port @ 400 Mbps + 1 port @ 800 Mbps
1 port @ 400 Mbps
Other Ports:
--
--
Infrared Reception:
Yes
Video Card:
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO
ATI Radeon X1300 Pro
Video RAM:
256 MB GDDR3
256 MB DDR
VGA Out:
optional adapter
1 VGA out
DVI Out:
optional adapter
1 DVI out
RCA-Out:
optional adapter
optional PCI card
S-Video Out:
optional adapter
1 S-Video out
TV Tuner:
optional (Elgato Systems)
optional PCI card
Dual Display Support?
Yes (mirroring or spanning)
Yes (mirroring or spanning)
Display:
24" widescreen glossy digital LCD
24" widescreen digital LCD
Display Upgradable?
No
Yes
Display Resolution:
1920x1200 / 2.3 Mpx
1920x1200 / 2.3 Mpx
Brightness/Contrast:
380cd/m; 750:1 contrast
450cd/m; 1,000:1 contrast
Viewable Angle:
178 deg. horiz.; 178 deg. vert.
178 deg. horiz.; 178 deg. vert.
Audio In:
Built-in microphone; Analog & Optical Line-in
Line-in; Integrated 7.1 channel audio
Audio Out:
Headphone jack, Analog & Optical audio out
headphone jack; Integrated 7.1 channel audio
Speakers:
Integrated stereo speakers, internal digital amp
AS501 10W Flat Panel Attached Spkrs
Video Camera:
integrated iSight full-motion video camera
--
Ethernet:
10/100/1000 Base-T
10/100 Base-T
56k Modem:
optional USB modem
56k modem
Wi-Fi Card:
built-in 802.11a/b/g/n (248 Mbps) card
optional
Bluetooth Card:
built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR module
optional
Printer/Scanner/etc:
Canon PIXMA iP4300 Printer
--
Included OS:
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger; BSD Unix;
X11 Window System included
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Support:
Native via Boot Camp or 3rd-party Virtualization
Native
Mac Support:
Native (OS X)
Mac OS 8 (via emulation)
Linux/Unix Support:
Native (various builds)
Realtime Metadata Search/Organization:
Spotlight (system-wide)
(includes Smart Folders, Content Search, etc)
Instant Search
Window/App Management:
Dock / Cmd-Tab / Expose
Task Bar / Flip / Flip 3D
Modular Desktop Utilities:
Dashboard (system-wide)
Gadgets/Sidebar
Task Scripting:
Automator/AppleScript (system-wide)
Windows Script Host
Save-as PDF:
Native
--
Faxing:
Yes (requires optional modem)
optional
Zero-Config Networking:
Bonjour
Handwriting Recognition:
Inkwell
Pen Computing
Voice/Speech Recog:
Voiceover
Yes
Web Serving:
Apache w/Perl, Python & PHP included
--
Data Backup Utility:
(iBackup, PsyncX, etc. available as free download)
Scheduled Backup
Developer Tools:
Xcode, Script Editor, etc.
Visual Basic/C#/C++/J#/WebDeveloper available as free downloads
File Compression:
System-wide Zip compression
System-wide Zip compression
File Encryption:
FileVault system encryption
--
Parental Controls:
Yes
Yes
64-bit Processor Support:
Yes (no recompiling needed)
Yes (apps must be recompiled?)
Visual/Audio Accessability:
Very Good
Very Good
Word Processor:
TextEdit (Word compatible)
or OpenOffice (free download; Word comp.)
MS Works (Word compatible)
or OpenOffice (free download; Word comp.)
Spreadsheet:
OpenOffice (free download; Excel comp.)
MS Works (Excel compatible)
OpenOffice (free download; Excel comp.)
Presentation:
OpenOffice (free download; PwrPt. comp.)
OpenOffice (free download; PwrPt. comp.)
Database:
OpenOffice (free download)
MS Works
OpenOffice (free download)
Drawing/Painting:
OpenOffice (free download)
OpenOffice (free download)
Page Layout/Publishing:
--
--
Website Authoring:
iWeb
--
Font Management:
FontBook
no on-the-fly font enabling/disabling
Projects/Planning:
--
--
Web Browser
Safari RSS
Internet Explorer
Image Viewer:
Preview
Windows Photo Gallery
PDF Viewer:
Preview
Adobe Reader
E-Mail/Address Book:
OS X Mail / Address Book
Windows Mail / Contacts; MSFT Works
Calendar Program:
iCal
Windows Calendar; MSFT Works
Data Synchronization:
iSync
Sync Center
System Data Transfer:
System Migration Assistant
Easy Transfer
Chat:
iChat AV
(others avail. as free downloads: ICQ, AOL IM, etc..)
Windows Messenger
(ICQ, AOL, Yahoo avail. as free downloads)
AV Conferencing:
iChat AV 3.0
(video: up to 4 people; audio: up to 10 people)
Windows Meeting Space
(up to 10 people)
Remote Desktop:
optional (both free & commercial solutions)
optional (both free & commercial solutions)
Multimedia Software:
Front Row (works w/Apple Remote)
Quicktime; DVD Player
(WMP & RealPlayer avail as free downloads)
Windows Media Center (w/XBox 360 support);
WMP
DVR Software:
optional (Elgato Systems)
Windows Media Center
Financial:
--
--
Reference:
Dictionary/Thesaurus; Sherlock
--
Digital Photography:
iPhoto, ImageCapture; Photo Booth
Windows Photo Gallery;
Google Picassa free dload
Digital Video Editing:
iMovie
Windows Movie Maker
CD Burning/Music:
iTunes; OS X Disk Burner; OS X Burn Folders
Vista Disk Burning; WMP
iTunes avail. as free download
Audio Engineering:
GarageBand
--
DVD Burning/Authoring:
iDVD; Disk Burner
Std. Vista Burning
Games Included:
Chess
Chess Titans; Mahjong Titans; Inkball; etc.
Total Software Titles Available:
Either Fewer or More depending on whether the Mac uses BootCamp
Additional Software:
Asstd. system software
Free Services:
1 month .Mac trial
6 months Earthlink
Viruses/Trojans/Worms:
No known viruses, trojans,
worms or spyware affect OS X.
Between 1,200 - 70,000 known viruses
(depending on your source)
McAfee SecurityCenter15-months
(AntiVirus, Spyware Removal. etc).
Firewall:
Built-in, fully configurable
Hardware Warranty:
1 yr. ltd./mail-in
1 yr. ltd./mail-in
Software Support:
90 days phone
1 yr. phone
Customer Service:
Subtotal:
Base system price: $1,799
+ Canon PIXMA iP4300: $100
Base system price: $799
+ 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo upgrade: $150
+ 320 GB hard drive upgrade: $50
+ 24" UltraSharp™ 2407WFP : $650
+ 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro: $100
+ DVD burner upgrade: $40
+AS501 10W Flat Panel Attached Spkrs: $10
- Rebates if any:
- $100 printer rebate
--
+ Ground Shipping:
n/c
n/c
Total Price as configured:
(tax not included)
$1,799
$1,799
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