New Machine

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Ok I've ordered a Dell XPS 420 with the following spec:

PROCESSOR: Intel® Processor Q6600 Quad Core™ (2.40GHz, 1066Mhz FSB, 8MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1
MONITOR	22in E228WFP WIDESCREEN UK/Irish (1680 x 1050) TCO99 DVI-D
MEMORY: 3072MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024/2x512]
HARD DRIVE: Hard Drive 500GB Serial ATA non Raid (7200 Rpm)
GRAPHICS CARD: SINGLE 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT Card
OPTICAL DRIVE: DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)
WIRELESS NETWORKING : Internal Enhanced Wireless 802.11n PCIe Card

Against my better judgement, we've gone with dell for convenience sake more than anything (my current PC is a bit of a frankenstein and it's suffering from leaky capacitors and heat issues which force me to run it with the side of the case removed and a desk fan pointing in at the motherboard).

I've a couple of questions I'd be grateful if anyone could help me out with.

Firstly, I'm a Dell virgin so I'm not too up to speed with the quality of the components they ship save for what I've heard and observed, and to be honest I haven't been keeping up to speed regarding tech as of late. Is there any potential problems I should look out for hardware wise? Will the supplied PSU be adequate? Will the hard-drive last? and what's the score with the onboard sound hardware?

Secondly, I'm betwixt and between operating systems. I've held out with XP thus far primarily because I don't like bloat, but maybe it's time to bite the bullet? If I do decide to go back to XP, will I be able to get drivers for all the hardware (that wont be crippled)? I understand the mini-screen on the case may only work with Vista, is there any workarounds for this?

Thanks in advance folks.

DVD-Lots

On the XP side of things you may have a problem. I've had my 420 for a few months now and recently tried to go back to XP (Vista isn't as bad as I thought I just wanted to dual boot) but everytime I went through the setup I would get a blue screen of death. A friend also has this pronblem with a Vista laptop he has. Not sure why or if there is a solution out there but I just don't think the hardware or Dell like you downgrading!!!

Overheal

Sean_K wrote: »

Ok I've ordered a Dell XPS 420 with the following spec:

PROCESSOR: Intel® Processor Q6600 Quad Core™ (2.40GHz, 1066Mhz FSB, 8MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1
MONITOR    22in E228WFP WIDESCREEN UK/Irish (1680 x 1050) TCO99 DVI-D
MEMORY: 3072MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024/2x512]
HARD DRIVE: Hard Drive 500GB Serial ATA non Raid (7200 Rpm)
GRAPHICS CARD: SINGLE 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT Card
OPTICAL DRIVE: DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)
WIRELESS NETWORKING : Internal Enhanced Wireless 802.11n PCIe Card

neat little box there.

Firstly, I'm a Dell virgin so I'm not too up to speed with the quality of the components they ship save for what I've heard and observed, and to be honest I haven't been keeping up to speed regarding tech as of late. Is there any potential problems I should look out for hardware wise? Will the supplied PSU be adequate? Will the hard-drive last? and what's the score with the onboard sound hardware?

The machine is built. Simple as that. Dell do desktops pretty intelligently. Even if they get something wrong their warranty service is great.

Secondly, I'm betwixt and between operating systems. I've held out with XP thus far primarily because I don't like bloat, but maybe it's time to bite the bullet? If I do decide to go back to XP, will I be able to get drivers for all the hardware (that wont be crippled)? I understand the mini-screen on the case may only work with Vista, is there any workarounds for this?

Theres a Mini-Screen? Classy.

Honestly the performance difference between Vista and XP is moot at this stage. Bite the bullet, melt it in your mouth and chew on it.