4. NVIDIA-Dude, You're Getting A Dell

The new Dell design is not only sleek with its special LEDs, but much lighter as well. Weighing in at 8.7 lb (about 3.9 kg) the XPS Gen2 is about 28% lighter than the whopping 12 lb (5.5 kg) Clevo based systems, such as those offered by Sager, CyberPower, and Hypersonic. Even the charger is 18% lighter, at just over 2 lb (0.93 kg).

The preview unit was surprisingly fast. Even compared to the 3.8 GHz Hypersonic and CyberPower systems we reviewed two weeks ago, the 2.13 GHz Dothan responded quickly. This system came equipped with 1 GB of Samsung DDR2-533 and was loaded with features to satisfy the majority of end users.

Samsung PC2 4200: M470T6554BG0-CD5, Timings 4-4-4 (CL-tRCD-tRP)

Audio buttons are located on the front of the chassis for easy access. In addition to the two USB ports located on the left side where the DVD burner is, four more are found on the back, for a total of six ports.

The burner is a NEC ND-6500A.

The modem and Ethernet ports are also located on the back of the system, as are the power, DVI and VGA connectors. This is nice as it keeps most if not all of the cables away from the front, avoiding potential interference with your mouse hand.