Dell XPS 27 AIO

This entertainment-savvy All-in-One PC is a little pricey.

Things can change a lot in four years. That how long it’s been since we reviewed the Dell XPS One 27 Touch, an All-in-One PC that sported Blu-Ray drive options and relied on integrated graphics.

Since 2012, the standard has shifted for desktop PCs. With the advent of Microsoft’s Surface Studio, manufacturers are now expected to think outside the box and come up with forward-thinking AIOs engineered for versatility, while catering to designers and gamers – the 2017 Dell XPS 27, with its 27-inch Ultra HD display, 6th generation Intel Core i7 processor and discrete AMD Radeon GPU is certainly up for the challenge, especially when you factor in its six front-facing speakers and subtle, albeit weighty, design.

Pricing

There’s no getting around the £1,699 ($1,349) price range that the Dell XPS 27 inhabits. Even with standard specs it’s more lavish than a baseline 24-inch iMac, which starts at £1,049 ($1,099). Note, that’s without the touchscreen and articulating hinges. Even so, the Dell XPS 27 is more of a 5K iMac rival – it’s certainly more enticing.

Although the version we were sent is valued at £2,599 ($2,799), it has a lot more on offer than Apple’s top-end £2,249 ($2,299) 5K iMac. For that sum, the Dell XPS 27 is graced with an Intel Core i7 processor and an SSD. It also gives you 8GB more RAM and a graphics card with double the VRAM.

However the Dell simply seems overpriced when compared to the HP Envy AIO 27, which is similarly specced, but only costs £1,999 ($1,899). For almost a grand less, you’re getting an almost equivalent configuration with a touchscreen, an Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB of Nvidia VRAM, 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 2TB hard drive combined with 256GB of PCIe SSD storage.