Thursday, December 27,2007 @ 1:10pm
Mossberg: XPS One poses threat to Apple, Gateway
Dell's recently-launched XPS One computer may pose a serious threat to Apple's iMac, says popular columnist Walt Mossberg. Like the iMac or the Gateway One, the XPS One combines the internals of a computer with an LCD monitor, making for an extremely compact system. Mossberg notes, however, that the XPS comes with features even the iMac does not, such as a TV tuner and a built-in card reader, as well as a wireless mouse and keyboard bundle which Mac users must pay extra for.
The design is also more convenient in some ways, with USB and headphone ports mounted on the side instead of the rear, and a dedicated button for turning off the screen without shutting off the computer. Furthermore, where simplified media playback requires a remote and a new menu (Front Row) on an iMac, XPS users must only interact with a touch panel on the system's right border.
Mossberg is ultimately recommending the iMac though, as he argues for the superiority of Mac OS X Leopard over Windows Vista, primarily because of the included iLife suite and less vulnerability to malware. He also notes that a comparable iMac is at least $100 cheaper, despite having a dedicated graphics card. [via Wall Street Journal]