prophetik music

i loved it. i thought kylo's performance was stellar - he's not some implacable foe (which we didn't need more of), he's this deeply conflicted dude who is not necessarily the strongest of jedi, or even the strongest dude. i mean, look at him, he looks like he should be cashiering at a discount shoe store, and he's trying to live up to this galactic badass. his acting was fantastic, if you recognize that being awkward and difficult to get along with and riding the struggle bus emotionally is good acting  (in this case, it totally was).
i love the concept of finn's character, as well as rey. i like that there wasn't one major character who realizes that they're going to save the galaxy and becomes awesome just in time to suck in the sequel. finn's groundwork is set for him to eventually be a hero, but they didn't need to make him blossom in this film, and that'll make it better when he eventually does. and rey's just phenomenal. great acting, great character, great job fitting the role and the actress, etc. i don't think it's strange at all that she was able to pick up concepts of the force quickly (it's not like they had her creating a lightsaber from scratch, the concept of imprinting your will on someone else is something everyone wishes for and 'practices' from young childhood), or that she was good at dueling since she had the stick and was obviously trained at it. once she remembered to draw from the force - which, according to ep 5, comes as naturally as breathing to someone who has the potential - her actions were fluid, defined, and not desperate at all. conceptually difficult to render on a screen but i'm sure that a well-written book would be able to make that be clearer without assistance.
someone else mentioned how lived-in the world felt. i think that's a great way of putting where the initial series succeeded and the prequels failed. they were so sterile, and here it was much more realistic that the areas had existed for a long time.
i loved it. i want to watch several more of it. i wish my thread (which started on thursday night!) was the main star wars thread though

i loved it. i thought kylo's performance was stellar - he's not some implacable foe (which we didn't need more of), he's this deeply conflicted dude who is not necessarily the strongest of jedi, or even the strongest dude. i mean, look at him, he looks like he should be cashiering at a discount shoe store, and he's trying to live up to this galactic badass. his acting was fantastic, if you recognize that being awkward and difficult to get along with and riding the struggle bus emotionally is good acting  (in this case, it totally was).
i love the concept of finn's character, as well as rey. i like that there wasn't one major character who realizes that they're going to save the galaxy and becomes awesome just in time to suck in the sequel. finn's groundwork is set for him to eventually be a hero, but they didn't need to make him blossom in this film, and that'll make it better when he eventually does. and rey's just phenomenal. great acting, great character, great job fitting the role and the actress, etc. i don't think it's strange at all that she was able to pick up concepts of the force quickly (it's not like they had her creating a lightsaber from scratch, the concept of imprinting your will on someone else is something everyone wishes for and 'practices' from young childhood), or that she was good at dueling since she had the stick and was obviously trained at it. once she remembered to draw from the force - which, according to ep 5, comes as naturally as breathing to someone who has the potential - her actions were fluid, defined, and not desperate at all. conceptually difficult to render on a screen but i'm sure that a well-written book would be able to make that be clearer without assistance.
someone else mentioned how lived-in the world felt. i think that's a great way of putting where the initial series succeeded and the prequels failed. they were so sterile, and here it was much more realistic that the areas had existed for a long time.
i loved it. i want to watch several more of it. i wish my thread (which started on thursday night!) was the main star wars thread though

i loved it. i thought kylo's performance was stellar - he's not some implacable foe (which we didn't need more of), he's this deeply conflicted dude who is not necessarily the strongest of jedi, or even the strongest dude. i mean, look at him, he looks like he should be cashiering at a discount shoe store, and he's trying to live up to this galactic badass. his acting was fantastic, if you recognize that being awkward and difficult to get along with and riding the struggle bus emotionally is good acting  (in this case, it totally was).
i love the concept of finn's character, as well as rey. i like that there wasn't one major character who realizes that they're going to save the galaxy and becomes awesome just in time to suck in the sequel. finn's groundwork is set for him to eventually be a hero, but they didn't need to make him blossom in this film, and that'll make it better when he eventually does. and rey's just phenomenal. great acting, great character, great job fitting the role and the actress, etc. i don't think it's strange at all that she was able to pick up concepts of the force quickly (it's not like they had her creating a lightsaber from scratch, the concept of imprinting your will on someone else is something everyone wishes for and 'practices' from young childhood), or that she was good at dueling since she had the stick and was obviously trained at it. once she remembered to draw from the force - which, according to ep 5, comes as naturally as breathing to someone who has the potential - her actions were fluid, defined, and not desperate at all. conceptually difficult to render on a screen but i'm sure that a well-written book would be able to make that be clearer without assistance.
someone else mentioned how lived-in the world felt. i think that's a great way of putting where the initial series succeeded and the prequels failed. they were so sterile, and here it was much more realistic that the areas had existed for a long time.
i loved it. i want to watch several more of it. i wish my thread (which started on thursday night!) was the main star wars thread though

hey, this was me! =D i'm so happy you're into it. you did say you wanted my favorite album on lp and interesting soda or chocolate, so there you go =)
 
for those who don't know:
1. cheerwine is a primarily SC/NC-based pop company that's actually one of the oldest (if not the oldest) family-owned fountain drink maker in the country. they make what's basically the best black-cherry pop in existence. it's also very reasonable as an add-on item from amazon, and (best of all!) should be available everywhere in the states in grocery stores by 2017 or so. i'm surprised you've tried it before, flex, i checked and didn't see you'd lived in the carolinas area. i only had it once or twice and absolutely loved it.
2. mexican hot chocolate is really good, and the stuff made the old-style artisanal way is the best...stone-ground chocolate that's a bit gritty in a pleasant way. fantastic for sitting around and listening to...excellent bluegrass on lp! speaking of which...
3. nickel creek (and, by extension, mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile) is one of my favorite musical groups, and 'why let the fire die?' is easily my favorite album of theirs. i was super nervous you'd be like "ew bluegrass" so i'm really happy you're into it! they play extremely progressive music, stuff that does a lot of mixing of styles including jazz, folk, and rock. it's pretty involved stuff, has some excellent lyrics, and is a real musical journey. i have been more influenced in my own music by this group than any other. i wasn't super excited to see that the lp changes the order of the tracks, but it's still a fantastic experience. if you like this, flex, check out Thile's new albums under Punch Brothers. their newest album, Phosphorescent Blues, is even more on the progressive side, about as much folk as kid a is rock. really, really experimental in an awesome way. the first track (familiarity) blew my mind with how imaginative it was.

just got my gift. jen/jade sent me all the DLC for Rocket League, and a copy of Planet Explorers! i am super excited for both =) planet explorers is also a cool one, an early access game that combines the blocky building elements of minecraft and cube world, the big dinosaurs of games like Ark and Turok, and an over-the-shoulder FPS view similar to most of the valve games. i played a little of it a while ago and always wanted to try it now that it's getting farther along. thanks so much!

i'm just glad i got a list that was interesting. i had a few extra bucks this holiday and wanted to give someone something that'd really give them a nice day, and it sounds like i succeeded. merry christmas flex =D

Definitely gonna have to check out Punch Brothers, then, since I'm officially now a big fan of Nickel Creek. I grew up listening to a lot of bluegrass as a kid, and it remains one of my favorite genres. I'm super happy that you got me that record, despite my reputation as "the EDM guy" here on OCR. My vinyl collection is solely comprised of either albums that have some sort of cultural and historical significance, or things that are oddball and interesting (such as the set of barbershop quartet records Stevo gave me this year), or albums that have earned a place in my "favorites of all time" list. This, I think, will be falling squarely into that last category.
 
And like I said, there are some specialty shops here in Phoenix that carry Cheerwine, as well as a ton of other great specialty sodas, and I spent a lot of money in my late teens and very early twenties on various kinds of soda. Still a total soda junkie, but it's a luxury item that has taken a back seat to a lot of other things now that I'm a "responsible adult" or something (and by that I mean I actually have bills now, lol). However, that means that when I do receive something like a whole four-pack of the stuff, I'm super thrilled!
 
I'm saving the hot chocolate for when I have an evening to sit down and relax. It sounds amazing and I'm looking forward to it!
 
Seriously, this was a fantastic gift, and I'm incredibly grateful. You, sir Burr, are a gentleman and a scholar.

hey, this was me! =D i'm so happy you're into it. you did say you wanted my favorite album on lp and interesting soda or chocolate, so there you go =)
 
for those who don't know:
1. cheerwine is a primarily SC/NC-based pop company that's actually one of the oldest (if not the oldest) family-owned fountain drink maker in the country. they make what's basically the best black-cherry pop in existence. it's also very reasonable as an add-on item from amazon, and (best of all!) should be available everywhere in the states in grocery stores by 2017 or so. i'm surprised you've tried it before, flex, i checked and didn't see you'd lived in the carolinas area. i only had it once or twice and absolutely loved it.
2. mexican hot chocolate is really good, and the stuff made the old-style artisanal way is the best...stone-ground chocolate that's a bit gritty in a pleasant way. fantastic for sitting around and listening to...excellent bluegrass on lp! speaking of which...
3. nickel creek (and, by extension, mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile) is one of my favorite musical groups, and 'why let the fire die?' is easily my favorite album of theirs. i was super nervous you'd be like "ew bluegrass" so i'm really happy you're into it! they play extremely progressive music, stuff that does a lot of mixing of styles including jazz, folk, and rock. it's pretty involved stuff, has some excellent lyrics, and is a real musical journey. i have been more influenced in my own music by this group than any other. i wasn't super excited to see that the lp changes the order of the tracks, but it's still a fantastic experience. if you like this, flex, check out Thile's new albums under Punch Brothers. their newest album, Phosphorescent Blues, is even more on the progressive side, about as much folk as kid a is rock. really, really experimental in an awesome way. the first track (familiarity) blew my mind with how imaginative it was.

hey, this was me! =D i'm so happy you're into it. you did say you wanted my favorite album on lp and interesting soda or chocolate, so there you go =)
 
for those who don't know:
1. cheerwine is a primarily SC/NC-based pop company that's actually one of the oldest (if not the oldest) family-owned fountain drink maker in the country. they make what's basically the best black-cherry pop in existence. it's also very reasonable as an add-on item from amazon, and (best of all!) should be available everywhere in the states in grocery stores by 2017 or so. i'm surprised you've tried it before, flex, i checked and didn't see you'd lived in the carolinas area. i only had it once or twice and absolutely loved it.
2. mexican hot chocolate is really good, and the stuff made the old-style artisanal way is the best...stone-ground chocolate that's a bit gritty in a pleasant way. fantastic for sitting around and listening to...excellent bluegrass on lp! speaking of which...
3. nickel creek (and, by extension, mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile) is one of my favorite musical groups, and 'why let the fire die?' is easily my favorite album of theirs. i was super nervous you'd be like "ew bluegrass" so i'm really happy you're into it! they play extremely progressive music, stuff that does a lot of mixing of styles including jazz, folk, and rock. it's pretty involved stuff, has some excellent lyrics, and is a real musical journey. i have been more influenced in my own music by this group than any other. i wasn't super excited to see that the lp changes the order of the tracks, but it's still a fantastic experience. if you like this, flex, check out Thile's new albums under Punch Brothers. their newest album, Phosphorescent Blues, is even more on the progressive side, about as much folk as kid a is rock. really, really experimental in an awesome way. the first track (familiarity) blew my mind with how imaginative it was.

hey, this was me! =D i'm so happy you're into it. you did say you wanted my favorite album on lp and interesting soda or chocolate, so there you go =)
 
for those who don't know:
1. cheerwine is a primarily SC/NC-based pop company that's actually one of the oldest (if not the oldest) family-owned fountain drink maker in the country. they make what's basically the best black-cherry pop in existence. it's also very reasonable as an add-on item from amazon, and (best of all!) should be available everywhere in the states in grocery stores by 2017 or so. i'm surprised you've tried it before, flex, i checked and didn't see you'd lived in the carolinas area. i only had it once or twice and absolutely loved it.
2. mexican hot chocolate is really good, and the stuff made the old-style artisanal way is the best...stone-ground chocolate that's a bit gritty in a pleasant way. fantastic for sitting around and listening to...excellent bluegrass on lp! speaking of which...
3. nickel creek (and, by extension, mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile) is one of my favorite musical groups, and 'why let the fire die?' is easily my favorite album of theirs. i was super nervous you'd be like "ew bluegrass" so i'm really happy you're into it! they play extremely progressive music, stuff that does a lot of mixing of styles including jazz, folk, and rock. it's pretty involved stuff, has some excellent lyrics, and is a real musical journey. i have been more influenced in my own music by this group than any other. i wasn't super excited to see that the lp changes the order of the tracks, but it's still a fantastic experience. if you like this, flex, check out Thile's new albums under Punch Brothers. their newest album, Phosphorescent Blues, is even more on the progressive side, about as much folk as kid a is rock. really, really experimental in an awesome way. the first track (familiarity) blew my mind with how imaginative it was.

I just received my Secret Santa gift box today, and I'm a little blown away. 
 
- four-pack of Cheerwine
- Mexican hot chocolate
- Nickel Creek album on vinyl
 
I'm not quite sure who my Secret Santa was (please, do tell!), but you freaking knocked it out of the park on this one. I love Cheerwine, but it's only available at expensive specialty shops around here. Hot chocolate is always a good idea, and this Nickel Creek album is incredible thus far. I'm actually a big fan of bluegrass, and this has got a lot of that great Appalachian flavor to it--super thanks!
 
 
Pix because it did happen:

sorry jade  

Well, I am blown away by the gift that I received.  Wes really doesn't want me to finish my dissertation, haha.  In all seriousness, this is very humbling and I don't know how best to express how thankful I am except to say thank you.  This unboxing pic of me looking way more excited than I usually do (I intended just a very pleased smile, I confess) comes via a joke by Addie, who took the picture right after she said "Now look like I didn't schedule you a vasectomy for Christmas," causing me to laugh really hard and create an embarrassing picture of myself for everyone's enjoyment.
 

 
As an aside, I have a large pile of digital goodies for my own person, but they haven't accepted my Steam friend request.  If they don't respond by the end of the day I'm just going to spoil the surprise and PM them since I should not be sitting on gifts after receiving my own.

Wow...I haven't been here in ages. Hey everyone.

So I am ready to give my person his Secret Santa gift, but he doesn't accept friend invites so well. haha I'm going to give it a couple of more days. I wanted it to be a surprise, but this doesn't make it easy.
 
Also, that's an awesome work desk Beth!

My computer is all ssd now. No mechanicals; just 840 and 850 EVO/PROs and an M2 SSD for OS. Looove it.

QFT +100.

the main benefit of having an ssd is that it is by far the best upgrade you can make to any computer, regardless of setup, for raw performance gain. just the better performance of the OS makes it worth it.
no one uses an ssd and goes back to platter for their OS drive. nothing compares to the performance gain an SSD gives a desktop. someone else back me up here...i can't imagine anyone who has one wouldn't recommend it to others.
it'd still be worth putting omnisphere on the ssd even if it takes up some space, solely because omnisphere is really annoying when you try to put the sample files elsewhere from your actual vst file.

the main benefit of having an ssd is that it is by far the best upgrade you can make to any computer, regardless of setup, for raw performance gain. just the better performance of the OS makes it worth it.
no one uses an ssd and goes back to platter for their OS drive. nothing compares to the performance gain an SSD gives a desktop. someone else back me up here...i can't imagine anyone who has one wouldn't recommend it to others.
it'd still be worth putting omnisphere on the ssd even if it takes up some space, solely because omnisphere is really annoying when you try to put the sample files elsewhere from your actual vst file.

it is a waste to buy three small platter drives instead of an SSD and a single larger drive. for the 170 you are paying for those three, you could buy a 250gb SSD like the 850 EVO and still afford a 2tb WD caviar black. You don't get quite the throughput from the storage drives, but the SSD is so much better. no contest.

if you want an xbox one, there's a sale on thanksgiving starting at 6pm that dell's doing where you get an xbone 500gb, the Gears of War collection, an extra controller, and Fallout 4, for 300$. the gow xbox bundle normally costs 350, so this is 50$ off plus about 100$ worth of stuff. i'll be buying that. i'm playing fo4 on pc already, so i don't really need that for the box, but i can sell it for cash for close to what it's worth in-stores. it'd be worth it even without that game, honestly.
 
also, it's online only, so no stores required.
 
gonna need to find copies of the master chief collection and halo 5 now.

i'm heeeeeeere! neblix shot me a pm pointing out that i have info for people who need it =)
 
in short, if you're willing to spend 700 or 800 bucks, build your own, or have someone do it for you. you'll get roughly the same numbers for your CPU and RAM, but you'll get *way* better quality in the mobo, PSU, etc. that's the parts that let the system run for years and years without a hiccup.
 
the primary difference between these two machines is the discrete card in the dell, along with the dell having bluetooth, and the xps name itself (which is still a pretty respected name in big-box machines, dell dude aside). i would disagree that either'd be able to handle a big session, though, as 8gb is not much when you get into bigger sample sets. i can max out 8gb pretty easy doing any orchestral track, and the last time i did a rock track i ran that over pretty fast too with a few instances of guitars and the drums.
 
building a computer is rarely more expensive for the same level of quality (it's usually vastly cheaper). W10 is not the daw i'd be using right now (W7 is, still, although from a perspective of W8 vs W10 I'd go with 10). having an external audio interface is super nice (i had a saffire pro 40 when i was doing a lot of mixing), but not required.
 
i disagree with virtually everything supercoolmike said - sorry, i think you're still super cool =( RAM is one of the most important things at allowing your system to scale to bigger projects, arguably even more than CPU since you can always bounce tracks to wav and just load them after you've got them iced. additionally, raw straight-line speed on a cpu isn't as important as a good multicore setup, although this is less of an issue nowadays with everything being quad at a cheap price point. the thing is, RAM's cheap enough that you can just drop in piles of it and it doesn't matter. the cpu's the thing that's hard to upgrade if you don't plan ahead with your choice and what is offered in the slot you pick.
 
here's my requirements for a good mixing pc:
-discrete OS drive
-8gb ram *minimum*. buy it in 8gb sticks so that you can expand easily...the bonus in speed from dual-channel 4gb sticks ain't worth it for the loss in potential slot use
-big quad for the CPU. plan on spending as much money up-front on this so that you don't have to upgrade later
-a good cpu cooler, since you're going to stretch the cpu most of the time
 
newegg's site's having an issue right now with searching for components, but if i was spitballing it, this's what i'd see.
 
cpu: i7-4790, 310$ (might as well pick what those machines you looked at had). 30$ more gives you a 4ghz cpu with an unlocked multiplier.
cpu cooler: hyper 212 evo is my go-to, 35$
case: cheap micro-ATX like the tx-381, 40$. and a sweet handle, too! =D
mobo: H81-based micro ATX mobo, 75$ range
psu: corsair CX500, 45$
ram: 40$ for 8gb is standard
os drive: either a samsung evo or a kingston v300 (evo for performance, v300 for cost), roughly 120gb is good for an OS drive on a pure music machine. figure 80$ for the evo or 50$ for the v300
sample drive: 1-2tb internal drive - i only buy WD, usually a Black model. 70$ for the 1tb and 120$ for the 2tb.
 
going with the v300 and the 1tb internal, and 8gb of RAM, that's 665 or so for the parts for a machine that's got waaaay higher quality parts in it than those bigbox versions, and it's got a lot more features (like the aftermarket CPU cooler, the OS drive, and a better sample drive). you'll just need a flash-drive with the windows install disc on it is all, or drop another 20$ for a dvd burner.
 
if you want to talk specifics for a custom system, ping me and we can chat. i can just about always make a system work for a good price.

i'm heeeeeeere! neblix shot me a pm pointing out that i have info for people who need it =)
 
in short, if you're willing to spend 700 or 800 bucks, build your own, or have someone do it for you. you'll get roughly the same numbers for your CPU and RAM, but you'll get *way* better quality in the mobo, PSU, etc. that's the parts that let the system run for years and years without a hiccup.
 
the primary difference between these two machines is the discrete card in the dell, along with the dell having bluetooth, and the xps name itself (which is still a pretty respected name in big-box machines, dell dude aside). i would disagree that either'd be able to handle a big session, though, as 8gb is not much when you get into bigger sample sets. i can max out 8gb pretty easy doing any orchestral track, and the last time i did a rock track i ran that over pretty fast too with a few instances of guitars and the drums.
 
building a computer is rarely more expensive for the same level of quality (it's usually vastly cheaper). W10 is not the daw i'd be using right now (W7 is, still, although from a perspective of W8 vs W10 I'd go with 10). having an external audio interface is super nice (i had a saffire pro 40 when i was doing a lot of mixing), but not required.
 
i disagree with virtually everything supercoolmike said - sorry, i think you're still super cool =( RAM is one of the most important things at allowing your system to scale to bigger projects, arguably even more than CPU since you can always bounce tracks to wav and just load them after you've got them iced. additionally, raw straight-line speed on a cpu isn't as important as a good multicore setup, although this is less of an issue nowadays with everything being quad at a cheap price point. the thing is, RAM's cheap enough that you can just drop in piles of it and it doesn't matter. the cpu's the thing that's hard to upgrade if you don't plan ahead with your choice and what is offered in the slot you pick.
 
here's my requirements for a good mixing pc:
-discrete OS drive
-8gb ram *minimum*. buy it in 8gb sticks so that you can expand easily...the bonus in speed from dual-channel 4gb sticks ain't worth it for the loss in potential slot use
-big quad for the CPU. plan on spending as much money up-front on this so that you don't have to upgrade later
-a good cpu cooler, since you're going to stretch the cpu most of the time
 
newegg's site's having an issue right now with searching for components, but if i was spitballing it, this's what i'd see.
 
cpu: i7-4790, 310$ (might as well pick what those machines you looked at had). 30$ more gives you a 4ghz cpu with an unlocked multiplier.
cpu cooler: hyper 212 evo is my go-to, 35$
case: cheap micro-ATX like the tx-381, 40$. and a sweet handle, too! =D
mobo: H81-based micro ATX mobo, 75$ range
psu: corsair CX500, 45$
ram: 40$ for 8gb is standard
os drive: either a samsung evo or a kingston v300 (evo for performance, v300 for cost), roughly 120gb is good for an OS drive on a pure music machine. figure 80$ for the evo or 50$ for the v300
sample drive: 1-2tb internal drive - i only buy WD, usually a Black model. 70$ for the 1tb and 120$ for the 2tb.
 
going with the v300 and the 1tb internal, and 8gb of RAM, that's 665 or so for the parts for a machine that's got waaaay higher quality parts in it than those bigbox versions, and it's got a lot more features (like the aftermarket CPU cooler, the OS drive, and a better sample drive). you'll just need a flash-drive with the windows install disc on it is all, or drop another 20$ for a dvd burner.
 
if you want to talk specifics for a custom system, ping me and we can chat. i can just about always make a system work for a good price.

i'm heeeeeeere! neblix shot me a pm pointing out that i have info for people who need it =)
 
in short, if you're willing to spend 700 or 800 bucks, build your own, or have someone do it for you. you'll get roughly the same numbers for your CPU and RAM, but you'll get *way* better quality in the mobo, PSU, etc. that's the parts that let the system run for years and years without a hiccup.
 
the primary difference between these two machines is the discrete card in the dell, along with the dell having bluetooth, and the xps name itself (which is still a pretty respected name in big-box machines, dell dude aside). i would disagree that either'd be able to handle a big session, though, as 8gb is not much when you get into bigger sample sets. i can max out 8gb pretty easy doing any orchestral track, and the last time i did a rock track i ran that over pretty fast too with a few instances of guitars and the drums.
 
building a computer is rarely more expensive for the same level of quality (it's usually vastly cheaper). W10 is not the daw i'd be using right now (W7 is, still, although from a perspective of W8 vs W10 I'd go with 10). having an external audio interface is super nice (i had a saffire pro 40 when i was doing a lot of mixing), but not required.
 
i disagree with virtually everything supercoolmike said - sorry, i think you're still super cool =( RAM is one of the most important things at allowing your system to scale to bigger projects, arguably even more than CPU since you can always bounce tracks to wav and just load them after you've got them iced. additionally, raw straight-line speed on a cpu isn't as important as a good multicore setup, although this is less of an issue nowadays with everything being quad at a cheap price point. the thing is, RAM's cheap enough that you can just drop in piles of it and it doesn't matter. the cpu's the thing that's hard to upgrade if you don't plan ahead with your choice and what is offered in the slot you pick.
 
here's my requirements for a good mixing pc:
-discrete OS drive
-8gb ram *minimum*. buy it in 8gb sticks so that you can expand easily...the bonus in speed from dual-channel 4gb sticks ain't worth it for the loss in potential slot use
-big quad for the CPU. plan on spending as much money up-front on this so that you don't have to upgrade later
-a good cpu cooler, since you're going to stretch the cpu most of the time
 
newegg's site's having an issue right now with searching for components, but if i was spitballing it, this's what i'd see.
 
cpu: i7-4790, 310$ (might as well pick what those machines you looked at had). 30$ more gives you a 4ghz cpu with an unlocked multiplier.
cpu cooler: hyper 212 evo is my go-to, 35$
case: cheap micro-ATX like the tx-381, 40$. and a sweet handle, too! =D
mobo: H81-based micro ATX mobo, 75$ range
psu: corsair CX500, 45$
ram: 40$ for 8gb is standard
os drive: either a samsung evo or a kingston v300 (evo for performance, v300 for cost), roughly 120gb is good for an OS drive on a pure music machine. figure 80$ for the evo or 50$ for the v300
sample drive: 1-2tb internal drive - i only buy WD, usually a Black model. 70$ for the 1tb and 120$ for the 2tb.
 
going with the v300 and the 1tb internal, and 8gb of RAM, that's 665 or so for the parts for a machine that's got waaaay higher quality parts in it than those bigbox versions, and it's got a lot more features (like the aftermarket CPU cooler, the OS drive, and a better sample drive). you'll just need a flash-drive with the windows install disc on it is all, or drop another 20$ for a dvd burner.
 
if you want to talk specifics for a custom system, ping me and we can chat. i can just about always make a system work for a good price.

i'm heeeeeeere! neblix shot me a pm pointing out that i have info for people who need it =)
 
in short, if you're willing to spend 700 or 800 bucks, build your own, or have someone do it for you. you'll get roughly the same numbers for your CPU and RAM, but you'll get *way* better quality in the mobo, PSU, etc. that's the parts that let the system run for years and years without a hiccup.
 
the primary difference between these two machines is the discrete card in the dell, along with the dell having bluetooth, and the xps name itself (which is still a pretty respected name in big-box machines, dell dude aside). i would disagree that either'd be able to handle a big session, though, as 8gb is not much when you get into bigger sample sets. i can max out 8gb pretty easy doing any orchestral track, and the last time i did a rock track i ran that over pretty fast too with a few instances of guitars and the drums.
 
building a computer is rarely more expensive for the same level of quality (it's usually vastly cheaper). W10 is not the daw i'd be using right now (W7 is, still, although from a perspective of W8 vs W10 I'd go with 10). having an external audio interface is super nice (i had a saffire pro 40 when i was doing a lot of mixing), but not required.
 
i disagree with virtually everything supercoolmike said - sorry, i think you're still super cool =( RAM is one of the most important things at allowing your system to scale to bigger projects, arguably even more than CPU since you can always bounce tracks to wav and just load them after you've got them iced. additionally, raw straight-line speed on a cpu isn't as important as a good multicore setup, although this is less of an issue nowadays with everything being quad at a cheap price point. the thing is, RAM's cheap enough that you can just drop in piles of it and it doesn't matter. the cpu's the thing that's hard to upgrade if you don't plan ahead with your choice and what is offered in the slot you pick.
 
here's my requirements for a good mixing pc:
-discrete OS drive
-8gb ram *minimum*. buy it in 8gb sticks so that you can expand easily...the bonus in speed from dual-channel 4gb sticks ain't worth it for the loss in potential slot use
-big quad for the CPU. plan on spending as much money up-front on this so that you don't have to upgrade later
-a good cpu cooler, since you're going to stretch the cpu most of the time
 
newegg's site's having an issue right now with searching for components, but if i was spitballing it, this's what i'd see.
 
cpu: i7-4790, 310$ (might as well pick what those machines you looked at had). 30$ more gives you a 4ghz cpu with an unlocked multiplier.
cpu cooler: hyper 212 evo is my go-to, 35$
case: cheap micro-ATX like the tx-381, 40$. and a sweet handle, too! =D
mobo: H81-based micro ATX mobo, 75$ range
psu: corsair CX500, 45$
ram: 40$ for 8gb is standard
os drive: either a samsung evo or a kingston v300 (evo for performance, v300 for cost), roughly 120gb is good for an OS drive on a pure music machine. figure 80$ for the evo or 50$ for the v300
sample drive: 1-2tb internal drive - i only buy WD, usually a Black model. 70$ for the 1tb and 120$ for the 2tb.
 
going with the v300 and the 1tb internal, and 8gb of RAM, that's 665 or so for the parts for a machine that's got waaaay higher quality parts in it than those bigbox versions, and it's got a lot more features (like the aftermarket CPU cooler, the OS drive, and a better sample drive). you'll just need a flash-drive with the windows install disc on it is all, or drop another 20$ for a dvd burner.
 
if you want to talk specifics for a custom system, ping me and we can chat. i can just about always make a system work for a good price.