Dell to Roll Out Dual-Core Offerings

Dell Inc. is preparing to introduce dual-core processing first in its entry-level workstation and high-end consumer PCs.

The Round Rock, Texas, company over the next few weeks will roll out the Precision 380 workstation and Dimension XPS powered by Intel Corp.s dual-core Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, said Darrel Ward, worldwide marketing manager for Dells Precision workstation.

"Dual-core technology, at least initially, is going to be broadly deployed and utilized in the high-end, but over time it will be adopted broadly in both the office and consumer worlds," Ward said.

Dual-core processors, which offer two processing cores on a single piece of silicon, are commonplace in the Unix world, but both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. this year will begin rolling out in their x86 PC and server processors.

AMD, of Sunnyvale, Calif., is expected to introduce its 64-bit server chip, Opteron, with dual-core capabilities, next week during an event in New York celebrating Opterons second anniversary.

Intel, of Santa Clara, Calif., also is readying dual-core capabilities in its processors.

Read more here about Intel preparing to release its dual-core processors.

Ward said Dell is offering the Precision 380 and Dimension XPS because those systems are powered by the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition and the accompanying 955X chip set, which Intel will initially offer with dual-core capabilities.

To read PC Magazines review of the Dell Dimension XPS Gen 5, click here.

Eventually, he said, all of Dells PCs, workstations and servers will offer dual-core Intel processors.

The Precision 380 will support up to 8GB of memory and will offer a chassis that can be deployed in a tower or desktop configuration.

Click here to read more about Dell officials predictions of growth for the company.

The Dimension XPS is targeted at high-end consumers and gamers.

Both systems will be available over the next few weeks.

Pricing for the Dimension XPS will start at $2,999, Ward said.

Pricing for the Precision 380 will be released at a later date.

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