Dell computer, $349, free shipping - sound like a good deal?
 

I've been thinking about getting a new computer so I've been browsing around lately. My friend just sent me a link to this:

DellSB - Dimension 2400
Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.66GHz with 533MHz front side bus
256MB at 333Mhz DDR SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive
48x CD-RW Drive
3.5 in Floppy Drive
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
various software and XP home I think


$349 after $200 rebate with free shipping, expires tomorrow at midnight (2/25)


I could do an upgrade on the memory, and just about anything else, if I want. I have an external dvd+rw already and a 19 inch monitor.

Does this sound like a pretty good deal for a basic computer?

Link:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...d24h4a&s= bsd

The rebate is with a broadband contract but it still seems like a nice deal.

looks good for the simple run of the mill computer, but. u arent the run of the mill webmaster are you?

It sounds good but ...You get what you pay for..The Dells will start breaking on you in a matter of months...Its like trying to run anything on a Celeron Its great for the first 3 months then shit will crash n Burn

Yeah it has 333/256D SDRAM What type?
80GB HD what type? its ATA 100 which sucks now there is ATA 133
Even Raptor with 10k and 15k RPM

Other Nic cards and "intraged is crap"
Notice it dosn't say power supplie?
what is it a 200? lol

I could build that pc for around 170-200.00 with a power supplie w/case.

No upgradable graphics, and single channel memory are the downfalls.

But, if you arent doing anything really special with it, go for it.

Are you sure? I thought that was another separate rebate. The other mail-in rebate is listed towards the top. You think that's what they're talking about?

Dells come with RDRAM. Not exactly cost effective to upgrade. It's proprietary RAM, and ONLY RDRAM will work in their systems. At least mine did anyways. But, I got the 8250.

This will be used for run of the mill stuff, only. ;)

If your going for Cost...Why don't you pick up an Athlon XP?

House Brand - -
Complete sys - AMD Athlon XP 2600 NO OS
Details:
-256MB DDR ASUS A7N8X-VM 80GB HD Integr.
LAn Audio
Video Geforce4 w/TV encoder AGP8x
Asus CD-Rom 52X.
Part - UMIXPOSA7N8XVM33
Updated - 2/21, 9:06 AM

348

http://www.unitedmicro.com/sysw.cgi?...CD0020++10++20

I mainly wanted something with a warranty from somewhere that will still be open in a few months, and will just fix whatever shit goes wrong. I don't want to fool with building something, or lugging it around everywhere when something goes out. Just something ready to go, and under warranty.

Dell's Warrenty play is not as great as you think it might be..

Unless you "pay for the warrenty"

My friend worked with Dell. Sales rep Phonecall orders

You could also buy that same PC at wal-mart.

You can retun anything at wal-mart :-x

Dells are great. Got 2 off ARS Rewards.

yeah they're awesome

The specs say "256MB at 333Mhz DDR SDRAM". You think that's bs? You can upgrade to 512 or a gig, but it says it's ddr, too.

I've had a lot of problems with Dell and we share the same opinion about their support and quality sometimes.

A clone is not the answer, my friend. For a ton of reasons. With a clone, you buy the components and throw them in a case and call it a computer. Maybe it works, maybe not. What happens when you run into compatabilty issues between the HD and motherboard for some apps?

Dell, IBM, Gateway and so on have engineering departments that look at modes of failure, design motherboards and test combinations of devices before they start selling them. Well that's suppose to be the plan anyway. Even on a screwup they can see after the fact a problems keeps popping up. So the whiz bang engineers get together and write a fix to the bios or patch a driver. You go to the Dell web site and download your solution. Not as easy if you did the clone yourself.

If a problem can NOT be fixed by software, you still get to call Dell, wait on hold for awhile and hope you speak the same lanquage as the support tech on the other end of the line. They will have you do all types of tests if you let them and then send you replacement parts. I find, most of the time if I just tell them I'm smart and this is the problem, send me a mother board, they go along with it (most is about 7 out of 10). Just mention your EE degree and A+ cert.

That support on most Dell buys is three years and all that is worth the effort and expense alone over a clone.

Need software like Windows and Office. Dell and the others can bundle that solution for you and at a much lower cost that you could build a clone for. So unless you can live with an all Linux solution (most of us can't -esp endusers), you need the Dell's of the world. You could steal the software I suppose, but that option is going away for the most part over time. Plus you get caught! Not for me, can't afforf to lose that MS partner deal.

You started shouting component parts like quality harddrives, NICs and prolly meant to include a decent chipset and mother board. Oh, you want sound to and high end graphics too. That clone is going to cost more than stated - period.

I hate 'em all too and could go on for hours with war stories. Sadly, a clone is not the answer.

My advice to all is to stick to the brand names. Your cost of ownership will be less.

For some reason or another I can't upgrade my fucking 512. I bought a new stick right from their website, but my friends brother (a tech for the Navy) tried to install it but said it wasn't the right type. I don't really understand. So now I have a stick sitting here doing nothing, while I still have memory issues. Grr...

looks like a pretty good deal

Other than the fact that i really dont like Dells...GO FOR IT! :)

Can you buy an opti-plex at Wal-mart. I think not. If you're in biz, Wally-mart is the WRONG place to buy a PC.

Been hearing good things about IBM - Had some problems with compaq/HP recently.

Do you have rdram, too?

Depends, I have built and rebuilt 1000+ PC's I was a Tech at my high school they all had Dell's I know whats goes wrong. And HATEWAY's suck also..

As for the White box/Clone as you call them..

Yes and No.

Everyone knows ASUS and nvidia are the top best

You also have AOPEN and MSI mid Range.

as for chip sets go its a Toss up on what your going to be doing.

I always build my systems as GAMER BOX's Normaly they require the best hardware..

Asus board w/ nvidia 8x
Raptor HD, Wester Digital or IBM
+ nvidia video card/
Samsung memory.

Thats what I would use.

I wouldn't USE

BIOSTAR,ECS,Syntax or gigabyte

I know we could debate this forever also. I am heading to bed. :-)

Although If you really know what your doing. You can build a Kickass system for less. Then what Mainstream will do.

I agree... you're also not paying for Dell's labour or marketing, and you should still get a warranty on the individual parts. You're also choosing exactly what (high quality) components you want, instead of getting stuck with whatever dubious "brand x" components Dell decided to use to increase their margins.

Are you sure you use RDRAM? If you bought RDRAM, and you need something else, let me know, I might buy your RDRAM from you. :)

I also have an hp. Never had any problems with it. I've never owned a Dell before. Even if it sucked, I figured I wouldn't be losing that much and I can always end up doing other stuff with it.

Looks like you're right girl.

Go for it. Can't really go wrong with that price... Nice find.:thumbsup

The debate could go on for hours I'm sure. Since I really hate Dell, it makes it hard for me. having said that. Dell has buying power to make up for marketing costs. As for labor cost, I wonder? I'm sure much labor is offshore and at 50 cents to two bucks an hour.

If ya start talking software costs, they win casue of big guy deals with MS.

I've built clones and serviced Dell, Gateway, and am old enough to include DEC a a bunch of others - LOL.

Can't say I built any in highschool :-) - But am and have been a consultant for a number of years. Add EE degree, grad work in Computer Science.....

To those that read the threads that are not geeks, they are by far better off with a brand name. If they are in the biz and plan to do Photoshop or Macromedia work etc. --- It is my STRONG advice not to buy a clone and not to buy a computer from Bestbuy, CircuitCity and the like. They typically do NOT really sell the computer you need.

Dell (ouch, damn) has an oulet area on there website, you can get the deals there if you know what to buy. So get a geek or hire a consultant to help. It will save you $ fast. Take a look at IBM too.

Starting to repeat my self a bit here. If you're a geek, you have a better chance at making that clone work for you. Linux servers can be clones. Games, that's not me - buy an x-box?

When you get online in the morning KMR Stitch, you're welcome to the last word. We simply disagree on the final answer. A little debate is what the board is about.

Side notes - Built and sold clones for awhile. All the boxes in my shop are now Dells, Compaq and a single e-Machine.

OK -I'll digress. That e-Machine was bought on a Sunday evening at Best Buy just before they closed in an emergency. Our fucking DELL Exchange Server hardware crashed and we had to move quick. So we needed a temp fix fast. Bought it and an extra harddrive (don't even remeber the brand) - So it was on the cheap and a prayer that it would work. A few hours later, we had an Exchange Server up and going. Went very smooth. As with all temp hardware, it stayed in place over a year and we're still using that e-Machines box. The HD is just hanging inside - no place to mount it. I never do work like that, but.... Can't tell ya though how many times, I have run into compatibility issues on high-end apps such as Exchange or SQL-Server. There is always an exception.

I've bought about a dozen of the Demiension 2400. YOu can do better with no rebate. Go to http://www.dellradio.com and follow the $349 link. Prices chaneg constantly.

People actually pay for that shit?

Here's the link to the Dell outlet:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/defa...=28&l=en&s=dfb

Suggest if you're doing anything except the basics, start with opti-plex or higher. Dimensions are good for the production desktops - Office etc. If you're gonna get into graphics, you need a little bit more of a machine I think.

You have to decide what is needed and what the budget is.

If you're referring to MS Office products and operationg systems - yes.

MS and BSA send letters and threats of litigation too.

Maybe you've been to sites, you shouldn't tell us about.

The link you gave me goes to the same link I posted, I think. I didn't see anything any better. It's the $349 after $200 rebate.

Why people willingly pay for garbage is beyond me.

Rorschach is just a filthy spammer. Don't pay attention to him.

the deal is not that bad
but the computers are not good enough for the average webmaster here

Holly, think you got more of a response that you wanted here!!

At $349 - it's start and not a big risk. If you only make $500 mistakes in this biz, you'd be very lucky. Not saying that machine is a mistake.

Agree.

If the budget is tight and that's what ya squeeze out - well like I said it's a start. You can always buy another computer after you make a few bucks.

Check out the 26 sponsors in my sig.

Nah, I've got other machines. This was just gonna be to dick around on the net with. Either way, I don't think I'd lose money because I can always do something different with it. I probably don't even need one.

Ah.... screw it. I'm going to K-Mart.

Went with a girl once that had a K-Mart fetish!!! Lived for her next trip....