Bring home your own multimedia studio with Dell XPS 420

Dell recently announced the XPS 420, the absolute entertainment hub for the home.

The XPS 420 offers cutting-edge performance and professional-grade options designed to help achieve creative mastery. This high-style system features world-first options like an integrated LCD screen and an integrated media accelerator to help slice, dice and manhandle media like a true virtuoso.

Dell also announced a new 20-inch widescreen flat panel display, its first to include a built-in Web cam, completing the user's total immersion into a multimedia world. As well as these additions to the consumer range, Dell has refreshed its line of popular all-in-one inkjet printers with the Dell 948 and 928.

Priced from R9 780, including VAT and delivery, for anyone who wants one system as the centre of their digital household, the XPS 420 is it. Powered by multi-core Intel processors, including Extreme Edition, and a choice of ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards, make fast work of creating, editing and capturing complex digital media activities.

The exclusive Dell Xcelerator option muscles through one of the most time-consuming digital activities: grabbing video to go or preparing video for upload onto a social networking site. Whether it's transcoding, transrating or transcaling video, the Xcelerator is indispensable for a hectic lifestyle, reducing the burden on processors by up to 86% and getting video ready up to 25% faster. The XPS 420 is the first desktop system to integrate Microsoft's SideShow technology. Ideally situated on the top of the XPS 420 system is the LCD colour display, which provides easy access to stored media, certain system functions and standard Windows Vista SideShow "gadgets", without using the keyboard or mouse; a truly impressive multi-tasking tool. Standard gadgets include a date and time default screen, audio playback, picture slideshow, video playback and PC monitor.

Optional software includes the powerful Adobe Elements Studio suite, which features:

* Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 - Helps amateur photographers make the most of digital photos, correcting flaws, creating customised layouts and Web galleries, organising and sharing photos as well as videos in one central location.
* Adobe Premiere Elements 4 - Provides aspiring directors the power to move videos off the camera and in front of an audience with easy drag-and-drop editing, audio and visual effects; it also supports uploading to a blog or burning to a DVD.
* Adobe Soundbooth CS3 - Features powerful yet intuitive audio editing tools to cut, copy, paste, manage and stretch audio assets. Smart integration with Adobe video applications makes it easy to bring video and audio together.

"Our goal is to help people turn their digital lifestyle dreams into reality, whether it's organising family history, creating videos for MySpace and Facebook, recording TV shows or converting vinyl album libraries to digital files," said Gavin Slevin, client products brand manager of Dell South Africa.

"The new XPS 420 makes it easy to harness creativity, imagination and share ideas, style and personality. The integrated LCD display adds function to form, delivering an expansion to your Vista-enabled media powerhouse."

The XPS 420 design blends a sleek form and function with a focus on convenience.

For example, the glossy black front and top panels blend seamlessly with home theatre systems and easily accessible input/output ports. For consumers who want portable devices ready to go at any moment, the top of the XPS 420 features a specially designed storage area with built-in cable management to charge and dock portable devices.

For additional information on the XPS 420 and other XPS products, go to www.dell.com/xps420.