» From $1,328.94 » Available from Dell Direct (www.dell.com.sg)
TAKE a black box, cram in four 'brains' (Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 four-core processor), a turbo-charged graphics card (nVidia 8800GT), and you get one powerful rig.
One on which you can do 3D rendering, video encoding and play a few graphic-intensive games.
Needless to say, applications like Internet surfing, word processing or instant messaging won't make the system break into a sweat.
The Vostro 410 test unit was equipped with everything wireless - including network access - and that made for a nice, clean desk.
The keyboard was pretty cool, with an unusual contour which gave the illusion that the keys were floating.
The test unit came with two optical drives: one DVD-ROM and the other, a DVD Writer. Hidden behind self-closing, spring-loaded doors, they gave the desktop case a sleek front.
However, as the drives had been pushed further back into the case to accommodate the self-closing doors, loading a CD or DVD became slightly difficult - they needed to be slanted at a shallow angle.
You know when the system is working hard because there is an increase of fan noise. This is irritating if you are watching a movie.
One way to solve this is to place the Central Processing Unit (CPU) on the floor or behind a closed cupboard door.
The test unit had four 160GB hard drives.
Of these, two drives were stand-alone while the rest were RAID
(Redundant Array of Independent Disks).
This ensures that if one of the 160GB hard drive fails, the other will be ready to take over because it is an exact copy of the original.
With Dell, you can configure a CPU according to your own requirements.
The Vostro 410 runs on Windows Vista and was able to pass through the PCMark Vantage benchmark with a score of 2,590 PCMarks.
It also completed BapCo's 2007 benchmark with an overall rating of 137 SYSMarks.
That's decent but not exceptional.
For a higher octane performance, choose an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 CPU when you select build-to-order at Dell Direct.
Final say
Dell's Vostro is a good performer and provides a basic building block for users to order a customised system.
By Chester Chen, a PC enthusiast and freelance writer
This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life on 27 August 2008.
