New PC - DELL?
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- Atkinson
Ni Hao, anyone any experience with Dell? I'm looking at this for £750
SYSTEM COMPONENTS(D07517) Dimension 5150 Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® D 940 Dual Core Processor (3.20GHz, 800MHz, 2x2MB cache), Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2 (incl Operating System Re-Installation CD) Unit Price Incl. VAT £765.37
Catalog Number: 202 D07517
Module Description Show Details
Base Intel® Pentium® D 940 Dual Core Processor (3.20GHz, 800MHz, 2x2MB cache)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2 (incl Operating System Re-Installation CD)
Memory 1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz [2x512] Memory
Keyboard Dell™ Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Ire (QWERTY)
Monitor Dell™ 19" Value Flat Panel (E196FP)
Video Card 256MB ATI Radeon® X600 HyperMemory graphics card
Hard Drive 500GB Dual Hard Drive Non RAID (2x250GB - 7200rpm)
Floppy Drives Internal 13-in-1 Media Card Reader
Mouse Dell™ USB Scroll Mouse
Modem No Modem
CD/DVD Drives 16x DVD+/-RW & 16x DVD Drives
Sound Cards Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ ADVANCED HD software
Speakers Dell™ A225 Stereo Speakers
Shipping Documents System Documentation with UK Power Cord
Gedis Bundle Reference List D07517 Dimension 5150
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Works 7.0 - English
Standard Warranty 1-Year Collect and Return Service
Cover It with Dell Support Services No service upgrade selected - 1-Year Collect and Return service only
AntiVirus & Security Software McAfee® Security Centre™ 15-month subscription
Digital Photography No Photo Organising & Sharing Software/No Photo Editing Software
Order Information Dimension Order - UK
Dell System Media Kit No Resource CD
Ghost 10 No Secure Data Software
Adobe Reader Adobe Reader 6.0 - English
Promotions Hidden Option Class 512MB RAM FREE - Double Memory Promo 2x512 MB 533MHz
Promotions Hidden Option Class Free 15 month McAfee Security SW upgrade
Promotions Hidden Option Class Free Upgrade - 320GB SATA - 500GB SATA (2x250GB) SATA - NO RAID
Dell Internet Order Dell Internet Order.
Network assistant 90 days trial of Network Assistant included
- OeufOeuf0
Any reason why you don't want to try and build your own?
Specs are decent. But if I was going to buy a whole new setup, i'd wait a bit for the Intel Core 2 Duo's.
What are you planning on using this machine for? 3D work, gaming?
- cram0
I have nearly the same system and I'm happy with it.
- jackfoley0
Their customer supports is terrible. All their call centers are overseas and it's impossible to understand anything they say.
- mbr0
Seems like a good deal to me, although it's too early for my head to calculate exchange ratios.
Home Support - sucks. I've never had a problem understanding them, but they have memorized a manual and repeat, verbatim.
Business Support - superb. I never wait more than 5-10 minutes, talk to someone in the US, and they've helped me do EVERYTHING, many not covered (like installing new drives/processors). You have to buy a business machine to get this, though.
I've had a 5150 (single core) for about 7 months, no problems.
I'd also suggest waiting for the Duo 2 Cores - they should be out now and are supposed to be a nice improvement.Ultimately, having some tech support is better than none, imho, which you'd get when you build your own.
- luo0
id stay away from dell if i were you-as mentioned previously their customer support is terrible. my laptop broke down 3weeks before all my deadlines for my final year in college-took about two hours to explain to the person on the phone that wat was wrong with my laptop was not fixable over the phone-and i was talked to like an idot who knew nothing about computers-dell collected the laptop to "repair" it, got it back and a day later the exact same problem occured again-i was charge 700€ for the repair(apparently the problem wasnt covered under insurance which i hav been payin them for)-demanded a refund and they woulnd budge. sorry about the rant but they make me so made! safe to say i wont be buying a dell again! :P
- luo0
id stay away from dell if i were you-as mentioned previously their customer support is terrible. my laptop broke down 3weeks before all my deadlines for my final year in college-took about two hours to explain to the person on the phone that wat was wrong with my laptop was not fixable over the phone-and i was talked to like an idot who knew nothing about computers-dell collected the laptop to "repair" it, got it back and a day later the exact same problem occured again-i was charge 700€ for the repair(apparently the problem wasnt covered under insurance which i hav been payin them for)-demanded a refund and they woulnd budge. sorry about the rant but they make me so made! safe to say i wont be buying a dell again! :P
- OeufOeuf0
If you opt to go with building your own, there are lots of PC tech forums out there that can help when you should you run into problems.
For my first machine I was going to purchase a Dell, but after doing some reading and pricing out a similar machine, which came out to about $300 less than the Dell, I chose to build my own. Putting it together went pretty smooth and I learned alot about PC's in the process.
If you're not scared to get your hands dirty with electronics than I say build it, if the thought of electronics scares you then go with Dell.
- Atkinson0
Cheers everyone, bit of a neglected post! I'll be using it for dreamweaver / photoshop / music / general. The prob I have at the mo is waiting upto 5 mins for each process to complete on photoshop. But then I only have 256 at the mo!
- Nairn0
*shudder* I'd never buy a Dell PC - their monitors can be great, but the (lo-end) PCs I've seen are cheapie and always appear to have flawed details (on board graphics/slow memory/crappy ports etc)
Personally, I'd always build my PC or get an independent co. to do it (ie. local, or one of the trustable companies from computer magazines), for two reasons - generally cheaper, and you get what YOU want (ie. fewer, but higher quality and more relevant features)
I'm desperate to upgrade, but I'm going to wait for the Dual 2 Core things to come down in price a bit - they really are worth it.
Mind you, if you're chugging along with 256mb, maybe you'd be content with a Dell.
- Nairn0
oh, and if you're ever going to do anything beyond ..well, nothing.. in Networking terms, I'd recommend upgrading to XP Pro.
- Atkinson0
Yeah, this is the problem. I use my comp a lot but at the end of the day am noit a designer, I'm more fine art / illustration and use my pc for bits rather than all...hmm
- rafalski0
I have a dell desktop at work, runs flawlessly. Not sure how old it is, but it's a 2.8GHz Xeon, 2 gig ram and the best thing about it is it came with a good old Matrox 32Mb dualhead video card - no fancy schmancy ati/nvidia crap.
If I were looking for a PC, I'd build it, always makes you feel like young Anakin.
- Atkinson0
If I were to build a pc it'd make me feel like I'd just waisted £500 on bits that are no longer useable! I know how to add a dvdrw and that's about it!
- rafalski0
Don't worry, all you need to know now is how to add ram ;)
- Atkinson0
by the horns?