Dell Dimension E521

Editors' Note: We updated this review on May 4 with the results of the new SYSMark 2007 Preview tests. The updates are highlighted below.

The Dell Dimension E521 represents the entry point for Windows Vista Home Premium. Sure you could run that Vista edition with less (1GB instead of 2GB, single core instead of dual core), but in my opinion, this E521 is the effective minimum configuration to keep you computing in good stead for the next few years. With the introduction of more programs that take advantage of Vista's new features, and with the extra add-ons like Vista Gadgets and (missing) security software, you'll need the future-proofed features if you're the type of user (beginning multimedia enthusiast or budding power user) who wants Vista Premium instead of Vista Home Basic.

The Dimension E521 comes in Dell's standard mid-tower BTX case, with room for a couple of hard drives, a couple of optical drives, expansion cards, and memory. It's got the standard Dell level of tool-less upgradeability: you don't need to turn a screwdriver to add memory, an extra drive, or PCI or PCIe expansion card. Not that the system requires anything else: the E521 I tested came with a discrete ATI Radeon X1300 Pro graphics card, though the system can accommodate more powerful enthusiast graphics cards, too. You could argue for a higher-powered graphics card or a TV tuner, but these components cost extra, and I'm not sure if they're necessary on a basic midrange PC.

Last year, finding an AMD processor in a Dell would've been notable, now it's routine. The E521's AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ processor is a decent midrange dual-core processor. Along with the ATI Radeon X1300 Pro graphics, it's more than powerful enough to run Vista in full-blown Aero mode. Day-to-day activities like web browsing and casual games were snappy and performance was as expected. The E521 came with 2GB of memory, which is plenty for even multimedia tasks like video encoding and photo editing. Gamers and professional users may want to upgrade to 4GB or more, but mere mortals should be able to run with 2GB. The E521's 160GB SATA hard drive is good for a mainstream system, and you can add DataSafe for about $80 extra. (DataSafe adds another 160GB hard drive as a live backup.)

The E521's 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro graphics card is enough to activate the neat Aero features in Vista. Windows pop up in a 3D effect on the system's 20-inch widescreen, and the translucent window borders are lovely. Vista is a much more attractive operating system than the six-year-old Windows XP, but if you are an XP power user, you'll need to learn where certain things are. The control panel layout has totally changed, particularly the "Personalize" control panel, which used to be called "Display". It will take a few hours of using the system to get used to it, but it's all still there. Whether on Vista or XP, the Radeon X1300 isn't a gaming graphics card: we were only able to get 10 fps on our Company of Heroes test, exactly matching our results testing the same system under Windows XP. That said, the Aero interface didn't seem to slow day-to-day operations down either.

The E521 came with Dell's standard set of trialware and freeware, including a 30-day trial of PC-cillin's Antivirus suite. I'd like to see at least a year to fifteen months as standard on all PCs, but you can add your choice of AntiVirus utilities on Dell's website for under $100. Media Center is now part of Windows Vista, and it's a beaut. Media Center works well with the Dell USB multimedia keyboard, including dedicated playback buttons. It's still not quite as polished as Apple's iLife suite, particularly since MCE has to contend with competing music and movie stores online, but Vista's MCE is noticeably improved over the 2005 version.

UPDATE (May 4, 2007): The E521 is one of the first systems we've tested with BAPCo's new SYSmark 2007 Preview benchmark, and the results are a good indication of how much performance is actually "lost" to Windows Vista in a mainstream system. On the whole, I didn't see a big difference in performance between the E521 with Vista and the E521 with XP. This is partly due to the typical user's ability to absorb minor performance hits, but mostly because those performance hits in this case are that minor. The overall SYSmark score in XP (80) is only a few points behind the score in Vista (76). That translates into only about a five-percent difference, which is negligible. The scenario sub scores—such as E-Learning (76/77), Video Creation (85/78), and 3D modeling (83/81)—were also tightly grouped, meaning that there is barely any difference in performance between XP and Vista for these tasks. This is a good thing, because it means that you should be able to buy this PC with Vista installed, and your favorite apps should run pretty much the same way they did in similar systems equipped with XP.

The Dell Dimension E521 is attractive when compared with other mainstream desktop systems, like the HP Pavilion a1600 series and Gateway dx420 series. Sure, the E521 doesn't have a TV tuner, but these days you can legally watch many of the most popular programs on the network's Web sites or through online stores like iTunes. The system's 160GB hard drive is enough for digital photos, music, and home videos. The E521's optical drives work with neither Blu-Ray nor HD-DVD. I'm sure that one or the other format, or better yet a combo drive, will appear in Dell high-end and mainstream systems before the year is over. (Dell is going with Blu-ray on laptops.)

At just over $1,000 when bundled with a 20-inch widescreen LCD monitor, the Dell Dimension E521 represents a good value for a mainstream dual-core desktop PC with Windows Vista Premium. It will serve a moderately demanding user well, and does so at a decent bang for the buck. Keep it on your short list if you're looking for a PC with a bit more than a budget PC, especially if you don't want to pay more than about $1,000.

Benchmark Test Results
Check out the Dell Dimension E521 (Vista)'s test scores.

SYSmark 2007 Preview Benchmark Test Results
Check out the Dell Dimension E521 (Vista)'s SYSmark 2007 Preview test results.

See how the Dell Dimension E521 (Vista) PC measures up to similar systems in our comparison chart.

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