It's Dell day for video pros, as the computer giant announced a line of Precision mobile workstations and new entry-level desktop systems, and 25- and 27-inch UltraSharp monitors. The new workstations support sixth-generation Intel Core processors, the first mobile Intel Xeon processors, and future Intel Xeon E3-1200 processors.

Redesigned Mobile Workstations
Dell first started updating its mobile workstation design in 2013, when it shipped the Precision M3800, a powerful lightweight system obviously designed as an attractive, Windows-based competitor to the MacBook Pro. Its successor is the new Precision 15 5510, which weighs 3.93 pounds in its basic configuration thanks to the use of carbon fiber materials. (The M3800 started at 4.15 pounds.)

The 5510's "InfinityEdge" display — so-called because its minimal bezel reduces the footprint required by the 15.6-inch display — will be available in HD or UHD touchscreen versions covering 100% of Adobe RGB color space. It supports up to 2 TB of SSD storage and comes with Nvidia Quadro graphics hardware.

The Precision 5510 starts at $1,399.

A little way up the food chain are the Dell Precision 7510 15-inch and 7710 17.3-inch workstations, which supersede the previous M4800 and M6800. They bring more power to the table but are somewhat heavier and bulkier than the sleek 5510, despite taking similar advantage of carbon fiber. They support SSDs via an M.2 connection, offer the option of a UHD screen, and offer both AMD FirePro and Nvidia Quadro graphics options. The 7510 supports up to 3 TB of SSD storage and the 7710 can handle up to 4 TB, both with support for RAID-0, -1 and -5.

Dell has taken the opportunity to jettison some legacy features, including optical disc drives, VGA connections, and ExpressCard slots. The 7510 starts at $1,199 and the 7710 at $1,699.

All of those new mobile workstations have Thunderbolt 3 on board and support DDR4 RAM with overclocking options.

On the low end of the line-up is the Precision 15 3510, a 15-inch notebook starting at 4.92 pounds with AMD W5130M graphics on board that replaces the current M2800. Thunderbolt is an option with Intel Core i7 and Xeon processor configurations, but not on Core i5 machines. The Precision 3510 starts at $999.

New Entry-Level Towers

New to Dell's desktop line-up are the Tower 3620 Mini-Tower and 3420 Small-Form-Factor workstations. They come in single CPU configurations with a choice of Intel Core i3, i5, i7 or Xeon E3-1200 v5 (four-core) processing. DDR4 RAM tops out at 64 GB in both systems. Nvidia, AMD, and Intel integrated graphics options are available with the limiting factor being 150W of graphics power in the 3620, and just 50W in the 3420. 

Both systems support an SSD drive via M.2, along with two 3.5-inch or four 2.5-inch drives in the 3620 and one 3.5-inch or two 2.5-inch drives in the 3420. Thunderbolt is available via a hardware option. The systems can be loaded with Windows 7, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10; RHEL 7.2; Ubuntu 14.04 SP1, or the NeoKylin 6.0 OS that is catching on in the Chinese market.

The Tower 3420 starts at $679 and the Tower 3620 at $729.

Dell declined to specify ship dates for individual models, saying that they will be available starting early in the fourth quarter.

Remote Management Software
Dell is also launching version 3 of the Dell Precision Optimizer with these sytems. It allows central management of systems across a facility, including the ability to enable application profiles, track usage, and gather various analytics. It is available on all of Dell's Precision Workstations except the existing M3800.

QHD UltraSharp Displays
Finally, Dell announced new QHD (2560×1440) UltraSharp 25 ($650) and UltraSharp 27 ($900) PremierColor thin-bezel monitors. The two monitors are said to cover 100 percent of Adobe RGB, sRGB and Rec. 709 as well as 98 percent of the PCI P3 color gamut.