This month we received the desktop machines that most of us mere mortals just dream about.
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Contents 
Introduction
Acer Veriton 7800
Alienware Aurora 7500
Apple PowerMac 2.7Ghz
HP XW9300 Workstation
Plus Altera X2 4800
Specifications
How we tested
Results analysis
Editor's choice
About RMIT |
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The sort of PCs you might find on the desk of people who expect the best, a.k.a. the CxO, and those workers who put genuine demands on the capabilities of their computer system. These dream PCs could be used equally well in a range of departments where demands include working with large files, imaging, geographic information and mapping systems (GIS), video production, computer aided design, software development, or as test beds running multiple VM sessions. Most of these users also demand dual, or more, displays, therefore one of our pre-requisites was dual monitor support.
The dream machines of 2005 come to us with some really quite varied features, the latest processors, huge HDD capacity, loads of connectivity, impressive design, and their test results were also equally impressive. This selection certainly contains some racehorses that will be able to work to the highest demands of your business.
At the heart of every computer system is the central processing unit (CPU). While the CPU is critically important to the overall performance of the machine, the box is only as good as the sum of the individual components. As with most ICT technologies all it takes is one bottleneck for the whole show to come to a screeching halt.
Interestingly the IBM PowerPC G5 chip goes up to 2.7GHz, AMD's latest is the Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ which runs at 2.4GHz, and Intel's latest is the Pentium Extreme Edition 840 which runs at 3.2GHz.
One of the Test Labs' other contracts is procurement testing for desktop, server, and notebook rollouts. Over the last 16 plus years, we have seen quite a change in the desktop and CPU landscape from 12MHz and 16MHz CPUs, to 3GHz plus.
One particular government contract we work on involves performance testing not only their initial short-list tender, but also re-testing each time the vendor changes the specs of machines. Over any three-year contract period you might have with a vendor, there is little chance the specification of the machines will remain constant. Usually specs go through four or five changes during this period. Some are simple, like hard disk improvements or changeovers from CD-ROMs to DVD-ROMs, however, others are more major changes such as mainboard or CPU improvements.
Interestingly, one particular group of notebooks underwent a change from 1.7GHz to 1.5GHz, which on paper looks like a slide backwards, but in fact, when tested, the newer 1.5GHz processor out performed the 1.7GHz -- mainly due to an increase in the internal cache.
Dell was keen to submit a product for this test and review, and indeed shipped the Precision 380 machine to us, only to have it go missing in transit. We can include the intended machine's specs in the feature table, but it is a pity we cannot include test results or more about the machine itself. Vendors who stepped up to the challenge were Acer, Alienware, Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Plus Corporation.
Talkback 3 comments
a bit lame Anonymous -- 12/09/05
Alienware Anonymous -- 13/05/06
This company's "award winning customer service" is anything but. I bought a system from them over a year ago and it literally took five months to get the order correct. In the meantime I had to ship the incorrect product back and forth to their warehouse. Each issue, and tere were too many to count, required well over an hour per issue via the phone to get this company to provide what had been paid for. My warranty, which was supposed to have been extended for two years since they consistently screwed up my order for five months. Interestingly enough it ended exactly one year after the product originally arrived even though what arrived wasn't what I ordered. The company representatives were rude, only semi-literate, and even management refused to reasonably act on what they admitted was their error. Stay away from these con artists. A pretty looking case doesn't equate to quality and you can easily have a custom built, high-end system for a third of what these crooks will charge you. Let the buyer beware!
Alienware Anonymous -- 13/05/06
This company's "award winning customer service" is anything but. I bought a system from them over a year ago and it literally took five months to get the order correct. In the meantime I had to ship the incorrect product back and forth to their warehouse. Each issue, and tere were too many to count, required well over an hour per issue via the phone to get this company to provide what had been paid for. My warranty, which was supposed to have been extended for two years since they consistently screwed up my order for five months. Interestingly enough it ended exactly one year after the product originally arrived even though what arrived wasn't what I ordered. The company representatives were rude, only semi-literate, and even management refused to reasonably act on what they admitted was their error. Stay away from these con artists. A pretty looking case doesn't equate to quality and you can easily have a custom built, high-end system for a third of what these crooks will charge you. Let the buyer beware!
Why not use cross platform tests? It seems pretty pointless to include benchmarking tests if you have to exclude one of the machines (The Mac) from the tests.