I want to grab a new desktop for home, and came across this. For the tech guys out there, does this seem like a good deal? Any component on there I should stay away from? Its just for everyday computing, no video games or movie making.
I like Dell a LOT so I say go for it. Seems to be plenty for every day computing though. I could probably build you a machine for less with specs not much worse than that. I built my cousin one for watching movies, internet browsing, kids homework, for like $450. If you want, I can put together a shopping cart and see how much a comparable system built would cost.
The downside of having a custom PC is you don’t have one warranty for everything. Some parts are 30 days, some are 3 years, etc.
Spend 3/4 of that price and get a good laptop instead. If you are not in a rush, just check deal sites daily for a great deals.
I just got a quad core Samsung laptop with 4gb ram and 750gb hd for $350 at staples. Added another 4gb ram to it for $20 and OC’d it from 1.6 to 2.2 stable. Plays Borderlands in medium setting with 35~40fps avg.
That seems like a good price, thanks for the offer man. I’m looking to get something pretty quickly though, and i could have this one on my doorstep in a few days. Also doesnt hurt i’m able to throw it on the credit card…
I had my heart set on a laptop for a while, and then i thought about it more. My current laptop spends 99% of the time on my desk. I’m going to start working from home soon and i would like to ‘spread out’ with a bigger unit (keyboard, screen, etc). I’ll still have this one to take anywhere so i think its a wiser choice for me.
I get all the parts on NewEgg.com so you can use your CC on that as well and they usually come within a day since they have a warehouse in Cali and in New Jersey. But yeah, that’s another option should you need it. The only thing you can’t put on a CC is the cost of me building it…although…after the labor…it would probably be close to $500 so I don’t even know if it’s worth it :lol. Dell is a good choice though. I love Dell.
I get this thing all set up, start using it, and I notice its making a pretty loud, weird noise. My gf said it sounded like a spring “boing, booooing, booiiing” I contacted dell and they sent a tech out for repair. They replaced all the fans in the unit, and the heat sink. Also the memory card reader was not working, they also replaced that.
The tech leaves, and the next day I use the computer. The weird noise is gone, and now all i can hear is the tower rattling. If i put my hand on it, it goes away. Also the usb ports on the front are now not working I take a look at it and it seems that they are not secure in the tower, and i cant get the thumbdrives in all the way to the port. I take the cover off, and fiddle with the panel containing the usb ports and memory card reader. It works now, but still doesnt feel as secure as i’d like when inserting or removing devices from that port.
The final issue, this thing rattles pretty bad. Its loud enough to distract and annoy me when i’m working from home on the computer. I have about 4 days to get this back to newegg, where i got them to agree to give me store credit, rather than replace with the same unit. AFter doing more reading online about this unit, the rattle seems to be pretty common. Some people spoke with dell, who sent a tech out to replace with a new panel, that still rattled. ONe guy said he took it apart himself and put some epoxy in there, which stoppped the rattling.
Do you guys think i should return it and go with a different manufacturer, or just find a solution myself? I dont mind doing it, its just that when you spend a certain amount of money for a new product, you dont want it to have all these issues from the get-go. The other risk is, if they get the pc back and determine there is no “defect” with the machine, i have to pay to have it shipped back to me, on top of being without it for probably weeks or more…
I think you should return it and buy mine!
lol, what is it
Do it.
Honestly, this is why I buy Dell’s business class models.
Meaning:
Desktops - Optiplex
Laptops - Latitude
They are known to rattle cases (out of 700 of my PC’s at work, maybe 10 do). But the business class ones seem to be built a little better. Either way, I prefer Dell over anything anyone else makes.
That being said, if you aren’t happy with it, no sense in keeping it. Just get LKSi’s.
So you would say it is ‘normal’ then for a home computer? Or at least not out of the ordinary?
I’d say it’s pretty normal to have a computer a long the line of production come out with some kinks (rattling case for example) but I wouldn’t say it’s normal as in 50% of the time or whatever. But, it does happen. The fan issue was definitely not normal, but they took care of you on that.
That’s the cost of mass production…out of 1,000 products…not all are perfect.
You have any ideas on how i could enable the hdmi output to my monitor? I have a hdmi cable hooked up, and selected hdmi on the monitor, but the screen was blank. I also switched it to auto mode and it defaults to the standard (vgi?) cable…
It’s a VGA cable. The only difference between the two is the HDMI tranfers both audio and video across the cable. My new video cards came with a mini-HDMI port and when I hooked it up to my monitor the picture was significantly worse so I went back to VGA.
You’re not using both cables at the same time are you? If so just use one.
VGA is analog, HDMI is digital. Two different animals! DVI and HDMI use the same digital video format, but obviously HDMI packages audio in as well.
:tbu I was thinking of DVI not VGA when I made my post, I havent used VGA in years.