Pros: Offers wide connectivity features, versatile configuration and pleasing exterior design.

Cons: Pricey without the superb performance

Review:
Dell XPS 8300 desktop comes with a Second Generation Intel Core i7 CPU and is pretty perfect for practically any task but is not ideal for hardcore and dedicated gamers. This PC has stylish look and does not harbour old-fashioned slots and ports. You will not be able to see PS/2 or VGA ports, instead there are two DVI ports, 8 USB 2.0 ports, DisplayPort, Gigabit Ethernet, eSATA and HDMI. But it does not have USB 3.0 ports, wireless card and digital TV tuner.

It is housed in a small case around 450mm deep, 190mm wide and 410mm high. It comes with a sliding door that hides the two USB 2.0 ports, another two USB 2.0 ports and audio parts at the top of the machine. In front of the USB Ports is a recessed area that can be used to rest a phone or MP3 player safely while it is charging. This location of the USB ports only goes to show that it will be most convenient when placed on the floor instead on the desk top. Overall, its size is pretty small only that it appears a little chunky as it has thicker front panel at the bottom rather than the top.

The inside of the XPS 8300 is quite haltered. It comes with a micro ATX motherboard decked out with Intel Core i7-2600 CPU, AMD Radeon HD 5770 graphics card and 8GB of DDR3 SDRAM. Its storage is supported by a 2TB hard drive Seagate Barracuda XT and comes with a DVD burner. The XPS 8300 hard drive performance is stellar and the Seagate Barracuda XT showed a good transfer rate for single drive. There is plenty of room with its 2TB space available. It also features 4 SATA ports on motherboard the supports RAID 0 and RAID 1.

The machine runs quietly even when under heavy load but is noticeable when in a quiet room. It comes with four fans, a graphics card fan, the CPU fan, 460W power supply fan and a rear extraction fan. The noise of the hard drive can be noticed as well when the heads write or read data.

Dell installed few bits of software that provides better user experience and to make it a lot easier to obtain support and data backup.

Overall, the Dell XPS Desktop 8300 is a fast and user friendly desktop but for performance enthusiasts and gamers, this may not be the most suitable laptop for their activity.