This isn't to say the 700m One has nothing to distinguish it or recommend it. Its modern, angular design, complete with a chic glass display base, gives it a more distinctive appearance than the retro iMac or the vaguely monolithic Gateway One, and of the three it feels like the biggest contribution to a given room's décor. It's also the only all-in-one we've yet seen with an adjustable screen, so you can view the integrated 20-inch wide-screen display at an angle that works best for you.
The slot-loading optical drive on the right side of the display can be configured as a 2x Blu-ray drive, if you're into high-definition movies. On the lower right are a line of capacitive media keys that don't appear until they sense movement within about a foot, at which point they glow blue. This helps reduce distraction while watching a movie in a darkened room and carries an undeniable cool factor,much like the display's on/off control, which isn't a button per se, but provides just enough force feedback when “pressed” to make it feel that way.
The 700m One comes with six USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire jack, and an Ethernet port; an eight-format media-card reader; Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11n wireless—a good amount of connectivity. In addition to a built-in microphone and Webcam array, a wireless keyboard and mouse, and a two-year warranty, there are also some nice extras available on the software side: In addition to the de rigueur 15-month McAfee trial, the top configuration also comes with Microsoft Office 2007 and Adobe Elements Studio, which includes Photoshop Elements 6, Premiere Elements 4, and Soundbooth CS3, for home-media manipulation across the spectrum of projects.
Still, we were left somewhat unimpressed by the 700m One's other technical elements. For a general-purpose computer, the 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of DDR2 memory are fine, and the 500GB hard drive is a must for any PC with TV-recording potential. But once you choose a configuration, you're stuck with it,you can't upgrade the 700m One yourself as you can the Gateway One, so if your needs change down the line, you might be in trouble.
A bigger problem for some will be its relatively limited entertainment-PC potential. You can't get full 1080p on the 20-inch display , and that renders the Blu-ray drive option somewhat pointless. And though Dell touts the 700m One's clean look, the stick-out speakers on the display's sides somewhat spoil its lines, and your only choice for an integrated TV tuner is a hybrid model; any other input must be handled through an external plug-in device. You do, however, get a Dell remote control to simplify interaction with Vista Home Premium's Windows Media Center.
The 128MB integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2400 graphics are just acceptable, and not ideally suited to any heavy-duty 3D tasks, especially gaming. We attained 15.6 frames per second on our Company of Heroes test; the Gateway One delivered nearly double that, and at a higher resolution. We couldn't get Futuremark's PCMark05 test to run, but our other productivity benchmark tests placed the 700m One slightly above average. Our Windows Media Encoder 9 test required 6 minutes and 40 seconds to finish, Cinebench 9.5 returned a score of 712, and our iTunes conversion test finished in 4 minutes and 40 seconds.
©2001 - 2008 www.new-laptop-battery.com.