Dell, HP, and iBuyPower Back-to-School PC Roundup

by Marco Chiappetta — Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 12:40 PM EDT

We pinged three system builders -- Dell, Hewlett Packard, and iBuyPower -- and asked each one to send us a back-to-school PC equally suited for work and play (read: Mainstream). What we're looking for is a flexible configuration that's able to put its nose to the grindstone during the week to tackle multimedia projects, whether they be for school or for work, yet capable of running wild on the weekends with sufficient pixel pushing power to satisfy our jones for blowing something (or someone) up, in the virtual world, of course.

Our request leaves a lot up for interpretation, and wouldn't you know it, each vendor took a different path towards the same goal, yet they all chose Intel's Sandy Bridge platform to build around. Dell sent us its compact XPS 8300 system with a Core i7 2600 processor, AMD Radeon 6770 graphics card, and proprietary software to share and sync your digital life; HP sent its Pavilion Elite H8-1050 PC with a Core i7 2600 processor, Radeon 6850 graphics card, and built-in TV tuner; and iBuyPower configured a decidedly showy system with a Core i5 2500K processor, Nvidia GeForce 550 Ti graphics card, and off-the-shelf components with a barebones Windows install and flashy NZXT Phantom case. Three systems, three approaches, and three verdicts...

Dell, HP, and iBuyPower Back-to-School PC Roundup

Tags: Dell, HP, XPS, systems, IBuyPower, round-up, Pavilion, Hewlett Packard, Gamer Power BTS11, Pavilion Elite H8 1050, XPS 8300

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com