Dell Singapore's new store at Plaza Singapura

The other day, I was invited to Dell Singapore's new store at Plaza Singapura. It's unit #04-19. Since I have reviewed some of Dell's products, the PR extended the invite to me.

Basically, Dell Singapore has moved from Funan Centre, which has just closed for renovation, to Plaza Singapore. This store is for customers to interact with the products rather than just viewing them online. I was told you can buy stuff at the store, but because there aren't any ready stocks, your purchased item will be delivered to you instead, on the same day.

Currently on display at their stores are the many version of XPS laptops and desktops. They have many products so I shall just talk about the ones that caught my attention.

Dell Inspiron Gaming Edition

The Dell Inspiron is targeted at entry-level consumers, home and office users. However, there's one particular model that stands out because it's configured for gamers. That's the Dell Inspiron 15 7000. I was told that Dell uses the thousands '000 series to label the different quality of their computers where the higher the number, the better. So the 7000 series can be considered the premium model.

The configuration available on Dell's website, Singapore and USA, is slightly different from that on Amazon. At the time of this writing, Amazon has a quad-core 2.3Ghz 8gb RAM 256gb SSD with GTX960M at under USD $799. That to me is a very good deal because it's significantly cheaper that what we have here in Singapore. Unfortunately, that laptop doesn't ship here. The only downside to me is the 2.6kg weight.

Monitors

They have many monitors on display, but the ones that I wanted to check out aren't on the shelves though. Maybe they will put their new monitors up soon.

Dell monitors are quite good. I'm not sponsored to say that by the way. I just happen to have been using Dell monitors since 2005. My current monitor is the U2711 which is starting to show its age, but with proper colour calibration, I was still able to get good colours out of it. The other problem with my U2711 is whenever I start up, half the screen is filled with static, and I have to restart the monitor to get rid of that. I'm thrifty, so I'm just going to use the monitor until it totally breaks down.

The Dell monitors that I've reviewed so far on my blog are the UP2716D, U2717D and S2817Q. UP2716D is awesome, but currently not on display at Plaza Singapura.

I've always wanted a huge monitor and was happy to see a U3014 monitor. There's this semi gloss coating on the screen that I do not like. Anyway, U3014 is not longer on sale and the new monitor that's going to replace it is the UP3017 featuring the same resolution of 2560 by 1440. I think if you want to get a 30-inch screen, consider one with 4K resolution. If you want 4K resolution, I suggest you don't go below 30-inches.

VR

The last thing I want to talk about is VR. There's a VR gaming corner at the store where you can try out the HTC VIVE with some games that are running on the Dell Alienware computers.

This is the first time I've tried VR games and it's actually quite fun. It's definitely a very different experience compared to traditional monitors and controllers. HTC VIVE is basically a goggle with a screen built in. When you wear it, it's like watching a movie on iMAX, and when you turn your body physically, you'll be able to turn in the virtual world as well (thanks to two sensors mounted on the wall). The visual quality of HTC VIVE is fantastic. It's difficult to describe it, you have to experience it for yourself. Gamers will probably love it.

Precision and Latitude models

I've always been wondering why you can't buy Precision and Latitude laptops from Dell Singapore's website. I was told these are for corporate buyers or something to that extent. So typical consumers can't buy them easily. You have to contact Dell directly to get the pricing.

If you want to get a really good laptop, definitely check out the XPS or the Precision. I've reviewed the Dell Precision 15-inch 5000 series and it's actually really very good. I like that it's really customisable in terms of configuration.

Conclusion

That's all. I hope I can borrow a XPS to review soon and let you guys know how good it is when it comes to doing work on it. :-)