Dell Precision 650: Dell targets video and 3D markets with a robust, high-end workstation.

Dell computers have long been dependable solutions for home and office computing. But in the world of high-end workstation hardware, Dell is not the first name that springs to mind. To remedy that, Dell's new line of Precision PCs targets the high-end user. The Precision 650 incorporates top-class components into a PC billed as a digital media workhorse. A decked-out Precision 650 can be an all-around answer to a studio that needs highly functional and adaptive systems to carry out a wide range of demanding chores.

I asked Dell to customize a Precision 650 to fit a budget of $6000, including a high-end display. Built around dual Intel Xeon Pentium 4 CPUs, this Dell housed a 120GB 7200 RPM hard drive, DVD + RW and DVD drives, and 2GB of high-quality DDR RAM, as well as an Nvidia Quadro FX 1000 graphics card. And it packs a heck of a punch.

Sitting pretty at my desk, the Precision 650 handles all sorts of media content creation. 3D applications, such as Alias's Maya and Discreet's 3ds max, ran smoothly with the Quadro FX card. As a matter of fact, Maya 5 ran on dual screens at 1600x1200 resolution per screen without a hitch, and Adobe's Premiere Pro ran like a champ across both monitors for video editing. I was very pleased to see those applications and all my other content creation applications, such as Photoshop and After Effects, run with stability and fantastic performance. This is no doubt due to the hefty specs of the machine, notably the dual Xeons and 2GB of memory, which are key for such a system.

The system effortlessly multi-tasked Maya 5, After Effects 6, Photoshop 7, and Premiere Pro, all without stopping my train of thought once. It is frustrating to close and launch applications or move to another machine entirely to integrate and visualize your work. Using a single system made for such a great work flow that I transferred a valuable personal project from my meticulously built workstation tower to the Dell by installing the drives into the Dell's case.

The case is well constructed and expandable to accept additional 3.5-inch drives and a 5.25-inch drive, which I used for a removable drive rack--useful for media work. A slightly larger and more accessible case with more open bays and a reset switch up front would have been nice, although most people will never need to enter or expand the system. Dell prefers to build the workstation to ...