Please recommend a Dell for CS5.5

[Jon Doughtie]

I know, some of you would nor prefer to recommend a Dell, and I understand your preference. But a Dell is what I will be able to get, so. . .

Please share what model you would recommend and your reasons, if you would!

[Ann Bens]

I do not think folks are eager to do your homework for you.
Pick some models and post them here.
And see what the experts have to say.
Some reading:
http://forums.adobe.com/community/pr...hardware_forum

[Jon Doughtie]

Thank you Ann. I am doing my homework. I am simply seeking outside opinions to see if a particular consensus appears. Rather than asking others to do my homework, I am asking them to share their experiences. The two are rather different.

[Corey Graham]

Jon,

What's your budget for this? Dells run the spectrum.

I just had a Dell, but cannibalized some of it when I built a new computer. It was one of their Studio desktops. All in all, a reliable computer, just not fast enough for AVCHD editing.

[Tom Dickerson]

I don't know what Adobe Premiere CS5.5 recommends as I only use Premiere Elements 8 and Edius. However, about a year ago I purchased a Dell Studio XPS 8100 I5 with 12GB RAM and then added an external SATA hard drive.

I edit mixed formats with Edius fairly easily and have done 3 tracks (using AVCHD) before it started to slow down a bit.

I guess it depends what you plan on doing with it, but I see Dell offers newer 8300 and 9100 I7 models for around $1000.

[Robert Young]

I've had a totally satisfactory experience using CS5 Production Suite (now CS5.5) with the Dell XPS Studio tower: Intel i7; Win7 64 Pro; 24 GB RAM; RAID 0 media drive; USB3 project drive; Quadro fx 3800 GPU; LG Blu Ray Burner.
I bought the system in a rather stripped down state for a very reasonable price- then added RAM, RAID drives, GPU, BD Burner, etc. myself.
For long form projects I use Cineform DI for editing, shorter projects I edit natively.
This system has been remarkably stable and competent :)

[Harm Millaard]

If you can find a Dell in standard configuration that meets your requirements - and the chances are very slim - it can be a good option. If you need anything else, not in the standard configuration, you are a thief of your own wallet, since Dell steals you blind on everything that you add to the basic package.

Add to that the crippled BIOS, the meager PSU, the impossibility to overclock, the usually lousy configurations available and you can see why I hate Dell for video editing. For servers they are great, but not for video editing. Better go to a dedicated system builder that is specialized in video editing and can help you configure what you really need and give you the support to go with it.

Look at companies like http://www.adkvideoediting.com/ . They will build a machine that is much better suited for your requirements, performs way better than any Dell in the same price range and give you better support.

[Jon Doughtie]

Harm, believe me when I say I definitely hear your concerns. Ultimately I am spending someone elses money in this case, and they will have some say on how that money is spent. That's why I am seeking the counsel of many others - on this and some other forums too.

I wanted to see some feeback without mentioning out front what I was considering. I did not want to skew initial responses. Now that so many of you have responded (thank you!) please offer your thoughts on this configuration. . .

Dell XPS9100, Intel® Core™i7-960 processor(8MB L2 Cache, 3.20GHz), Windows® 7 Professional 64bit, 12GB Tri Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 6 DIMMs, ST2220L 21.5-inch Full HD Widescreen Monitor, ATI Radeon HD5670 1GB GDDR5 (this would be changed out to an Adobe-approved card), 500GB Data Security RAID 1 (2 x 500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM HDDs), Blu-ray Combo Drive (8X BD-R, DVD+/-RW) with DVD+R double layer write capability, Dell AX210 Stereo Speakers, Dell Consumer Multimedia Keyboard, Dell Laser Mouse, THX® TruStudio PC™ Sound card.

Media storage would be in external 7200rpm drives via eSATA connector.

We will still be shooting SD for the near-term future, but this is intended to pave the way for HD, as is the Panasonic HPX-170 P2HD camera for field shooting.

[Harm Millaard]

Here you go. Dump the sound card, use on-board sound. Dump the 6 x 2GB memory sticks, get 3 x 4GB instead or 6 x 4 GB. Add at least two internal 7200 RPM SATA disks. Only use eSATAp connections for externals if possible. Get a bigger case for the other disks you will be needing in the future. Insist on at least 3 empty 5.25" disk bays when you have the first 4 disks (2 x Raid1 plus 2 separate disks) and the BR burner installed. Get rid of the ATI card and get a nVidia GTX 560+. No need to go for a Quadro.

Even if you are spending other's money, you will see that it really adds up and since it is not your money, you should be even more careful.

[Ray Bell]

At my work we are using Dell Precision T7500's ( loaded )

Its a little overkill but I've never had any issue out of them at all...

as an added suggestion, get more than one monitor...

[Ron Chau]

Have you looked at the Dell Alienware line ? Looks like get more options suited for video editing.

[Chris Hurd]

Be sure to first browse the offerings at Dell Outlet before buying
anything new from Dell. Everything I've ever bought from Dell has
come from their outlet at very attractive prices. I've never bought
anything brand new from them.

[Steve Kalle]

The one thing I NEVER see anyone suggesting is good audio (aside from a good monitor). The on-board audio on all motherboards is crap. At a minimum, I would use a $165 M-Audio FireFire Solo external box (or a PreSonus box). Personally, I have found the Blue Sky International EXO2 2.1 speaker system very good for under $500. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/655020-REG/Blue_Sky_International_EXO2_eXo2_Active_2_1_Desktop.html
Stay away from everything Mackie makes that requires a computer to use it. I have found that their drivers are a joke. My $600 Onyx 1220i randomly stops working and requires a power reset; makes random clicks and pops through my speakers and does not like Vimeo at all - audio will stop working after a few seconds of playing any video on vimeo.

On the other hand, my M-Audio Firewire410 has been rock-solid for the last 4 years.

Oh, and I completely agree with Harm about Dell over-charging for upgrades (almost everyone does this, though). Hard drives and ram seem to have the highest markups even though they are the easiest to buy and install yourself. $460 for a $160 2TB drive is ridiculous (last price I can recall at Dell or HP several months ago). However, at least with HP's Business department, I get 25% off without asking, which made my Z800 a lot easier to afford ($6000 -> $4500).

If you do get everything from Dell, you should call their Business department and talk to a salesperson because they will work on the price for you. I was able to get amazing deals for a client and all of his office's PCs. When I discussed building a server for this office, I said that their drive prices were way too high and the salesperson said that he could reduce the cost substantially. However, I decided to build the server from scratch to minimize cost.

[Pete Bauer]

I also use an M-Audio Firewire 410. It took them forever and a day to get the Win7 drivers written and released so that was kind of a big "hit" on M-Audio as a company, but once released everything worked just solidly as it did under XP. Absolutely no issues.

I suppose as 1394 becomes legacy in the years to come, I'll have to transition to an add-in card solution.

If you're not going to be doing very heavily audio-centric editing including mult-channel mixes and punching in voiceovers, etc, I'd agree that onboard sound out to a decent set of stereo speakers would be adequate and of course save money for other components. I just find that for a polished production, I spend as much time on audio as I do on the video timeline so I do find the upgraded sound system important for my work.

[Don Blish]

Agree for CS5/5.5 a quadro card is a must for good smooth full HD monitoring. Do assume you will use two large monitors. I have two 23s, so while in PPro one is the desktop and the monitor window is dragged to the other screen. When PPro minimized, its great to have all that real estate, ie 1080x3840

Don