Dell Desktop Great Deal

[BoredOutOfMyMind]

Originally Posted by CC1

Dell actually has some preconfingured systems at Sams Club and Wal Mart right now (also Staples and soon to be Best Buy).

They are good general systems and most have nice 17", 19" or even bigger LCD monitors bundled with them.

However I don't think most or any of those had firewire and they all had just an integrated graphics card. Plenty of hard drive, RAM, and a CD/DVD burner though. For 95% of people those systems are great and sell between $589 and $899.

I did not realize WM sold Dell Machines. Acer and eMachines are about one step off the old Packard-Bell machines that could not be upgraded and were very problematic.

I would not get a free AOL CD from BB. Be glad the GS only turned one screw and did not do worse. Surprising they did not charged you $59.95 and keep your machine 3 days to do this.

[CC1]

UPDATE;

Best Buy starting to sell Dell Computers was kicked off in a big way today. The Sunday circular for Best Buy has a great deal on a Dell desktop package.

A nicely configured Dell computer with 2 gigs of RAM, DVD / CD burner, 320 gig hard drive, etc AND a 19" LCD monitor AND printer for just $599

If you have been waiting on a good deal for a good all around computer this is it.

It doesn't have the most powerful processor out now but it is no wimp. The Athlon 64x2 4000 is a dual core chip so many times better than the Intel Celeron chips you usually see in inexpensive systems.

This is a good time to buy because these great dual core chips are giving way to quad core chips right now so their price is going down.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by CC1

The one I just bought I had configured with a 256mb NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT video card. Of course I don't know who the actual card mfg. is. I do, however, know the specs of that card and it has tow DVI connectors for digital monitors and supports dual monitors. The card is designed for High Def video, has open GL, etc.

I plan on using this sys for video editing as I am getting a Canon H20 High Definition (HDV) camcorder to replace the DV camcorder I lost in the Loch in Scotland. High Def video takes a lot of computing power and storage to handle so I really needed this new system.

I think if someone built my system they could beat the regular $1000 price but I don't think you could do it as configured for any better than the $650 I paid. You could if you did your oddball operating system but for us NORMAL folks who want Windows......LOL!!!

Thats what I have in our multimedia PC at church. Great card. Most cards though today come with two DVI out or at least one and one vga with an adapter. What's next? blu-ray?

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by BoredOutOfMyMind

www.ubuntu.com

CC1> I have a GeForce card in my box. It is fantastic. I run a 20 inch monitor and no lag at all. It frees up my 512 Meg RAM for the system.

I've been a die hard Nvidia user for years. I never used ATI

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Stephen Hoover

I need one. Think this is a better deal than buying a $599. Acer or e-Machine desktop from Walmart?

Yes....there are reasons why machines like that are so cheap. LIke I said, check out who made the MB, the video card...if it even has one, sound card, ram

Who made the HD? Is it refurbished? How much space on the HD? How fast? etc etc...those cheap machines are adequate to get your mail and use a Word Processor....after that you need something better

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by CC1

Dell actually has some preconfingured systems at Sams Club and Wal Mart right now (also Staples and soon to be Best Buy).

They are good general systems and most have nice 17", 19" or even bigger LCD monitors bundled with them.

However I don't think most or any of those had firewire and they all had just an integrated graphics card. Plenty of hard drive, RAM, and a CD/DVD burner though. For 95% of people those systems are great and sell between $589 and $899.

I wanted a system specifically for editing High Definition video which needs a lot of "ooomph" in processing power, RAM, and graphics card capability.

For that reason the $350 off promo code worked better for me as I was able to forego a monitor, speakers, etc that comes with the store packaged and instead get a more powerful processor, lots of RAM, and a dedicated 256mb graphics card with support for dual monitors (digital DVI at that!). What I got for $650 is truly amazing.

If I had been buying a computer for just general use like internet surfing, digital photos, word processing, etc then one of the bundled packages at a store would have been fine.

Bored is correct about Wal Mart employees not being any help if anything goes wrong but even with service going down some in recent years Dell is still one of the best at customer support so if you bought a Dell at Wal Mart you wouldn't have to deal with them locally.

I will tell you it paid off for me buying my Toshiba laptop last spring at a Best Buy that has the ""Geek Squad" desk on site. I wanted to put more RAM in and the cover to the RAM would not unscrew. I took it to two little computer shops. One guy tried and couldn't open it and the other wanted fifty bucks just to try. I took it back to Best Buy and the guy at the Geek Squad desk had it open in a couple of minutes with no paperwork, no charge! I had bought it at Wal Mart I would have been out of luck and would have either been out fifty bucks or would have broken it trying to open it.

The next few months will be a good time to buy as the new Quad processors become the new big thing and prices will drop on what has been the top end most powerful dual core processors.

I have a firewire "card" if anyone needs it. You have to have an onboard (mother board) port to connect it too

[Steve Epley]

I have two nieces that want to buy a simple laptop any suggestions. Can't be complex one is a blond.

[TRFrance]

Originally Posted by BoredOutOfMyMind

Do you remember the Yugo?

Think about a crash. Do you see the 18 yr old temp from Walmart helping you in 11 months if you have a problem?

Originally Posted by Stephen Hoover

Dell fills that gap?

I think Dell gives you either 6 mos or 12 mos telephone Tech Support with the purchase of a PC. I called them once when I got into trouble and they were pretty helpful.

[CC1]

Originally Posted by Steve Epley

I have two nieces that want to buy a simple laptop any suggestions. Can't be complex one is a blond.

Best Buy runs specials all of the time on Toshiba Satellite laptops that are great deals. For $599 they have had ones with 15.4 true brite screens, dual core processors, card readers, Vista Home Premium, CD / DVD burners, 1 gig RAM, good size hard drives, etc.

Lately Wal Mart & Sams Club have had good deals on Dell desktops and I know that they also have notebooks but I have not checked those deals out but I bet they are good.

In today's newspaper one of the three office supply chains (office max, office depot, or Staples) has a basic laptop for $399. It would be fine for surfing the internet and doing school work, etc but if one could afford the extra two hundred bucks the one I described first in this post is worth the difference in money.

[CC1]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

I've been a die hard Nvidia user for years. I never used ATI

What is interesting is that I had the option of choosing a 256 mb ATI graphics card but was glad I went with the NVIDIA when afterwrards I did some research.

It turns out that even though on paper the ATI has faster clocking, wider bandwith, etc and should perform better it does not. In comparison tests I found on the web in almost every application the 8600GT beat the ATI card.