Buying new PC from Dell - Advice?

Revan

after many years of putting this off and convincing myself that my 10 year old machine works fine, I have finally decided to chuck the thing and upgrade. I've looked around a little bit (elara, overclockers, etc) and figure that Dell give pretty decent value.

My budget is somewhere around €750 ish.

I've been told not to go below 4Gb memory and figure will need at least a 500Gb hard drive.

The processor, optical drive and graphics card have me stumped tho.

Do I need quad-core if I'm not going to be running games and will just watch videos? I'd like a blu-ray but will I have to buy something else as well to ensure the computer has a HDMI output? What exactly is a graphics card and is it only for games or is it generally a good idea to spend an extra €100 and get something better than the integrated one? Also are there some Dell models that can be expanded (meaning I could buy memory or a new optical drive later and install it myself) and some that can't?

I have some idea about computers but haven't had to purchase for ~8 years. Don't want to buy a kick ass machine and have it sit there underused!

darealtulip

This is the building and upgrading bit and I think every one here will advise you not to buy a Dell.

Building your own or even get one from one of the websites that build it for you will give you better value.

karltimber

Hi Raven,

I am by no means an expert on pc building but have built 3 in my geek-life

IMO - if I were you I would built my own unit. Take your time and pick up components over a few weeks. Like this Dell monitor sale today

Get a good graphics card -like my post below - and built it up.

A dell would be fine but not very upgradeable in a 1 or 2years time.
I built my current quad core system and am upgrading the gc now - an can add up to 4 hd's in it when needed (all spaces taken now).

Go with the self build or get komplett to build it for you - better to be future proof in the long run.

just my 2 cents

k

Antar Bolaeisk

I would also recommend building the pc yourself as Dell tend to use non standard shapes for some of their parts which make them a pain in the rear end to upgrade.

Slutmonkey57b

This is a guy who hasn't upgraded in 10 years and isn't doing anything strenuous.

I'd be quite happy to recommend dell - the only thing to remember is that dell's basic computers are good value, but they charge a fortune to do upgrades on the base spec if you do it via their website. There is no point in you buying enthusiast grade components because you will NOT get the use out of them. Dell machines are reliable, quiet, and well put together for the most part.

A dual core with 4gb ram and a 500gb hard disk won't be too expensive. If you need to add another drive later, it won't be a problem. All the ATI 4xxx series cards will do hardware decode if you buy a blu ray drive to go with it.

Solitaire

If you can assemble it yourself how does less than €400 delivered sound?



Yes, I'm talking a modern fast Core 2 system with Blu-Ray and a HDMI-equipped graphics card to run it properly, plus you get Audio-Over-HDMI to boot. No need to mess around trying to shoehorn it in later

Does Dell have anything even close to that for under €400? Not with a Blu-Ray drive thrown in I'd think!

yoyo

Solitaire wrote: »

If you can assemble it yourself how does less than €400 delivered sound?



Yes, I'm talking a modern fast Core 2 system with Blu-Ray and a HDMI-equipped graphics card to run it properly, plus you get Audio-Over-HDMI to boot. No need to mess around trying to shoehorn it in later

Does Dell have anything even close to that for under €400? Not with a Blu-Ray drive thrown in I'd think!

The E5200 chip isnt part of the Core 2 family btw to clarify, its a pentium Dual Core chip, still is decent value though,

Nick

PogMoThoin

Solitaire wrote: »

If you can assemble it yourself how does less than €400 delivered sound?



Yes, I'm talking a modern fast Core 2 system with Blu-Ray and a HDMI-equipped graphics card to run it properly, plus you get Audio-Over-HDMI to boot. No need to mess around trying to shoehorn it in later

Does Dell have anything even close to that for under €400? Not with a Blu-Ray drive thrown in I'd think!

Hardwareversand will assemble it for €20 and even
Install the operating system for €34.99, (does not include OS, You must buy this spereately)

Solitaire

yoyo wrote:

The E5200 chip isnt part of the Core 2 family

BAD BOY! *spanks yoyo* Don't spread Intel-inspired lies and half-truths in here!

E5200 = Wolfdale. That makes it Core2 from an anatomical standpoint just like every E- and Q- series (and P- and T- mobile) CPU released over the last few years. Due to the E5000 series being too popular Intel rebranded them and circulated BS rumors that they were based on P4 rather than Core2 to scare people into actually buying the much more expensive E7000/8000 chips and shifting that mountain of E7200s lying around Intel HQ :P (the E8000s were pricey but good, but back then the E7000s were massively overpriced tripe that everyone ignored)

E5200 does lack a few advanced McGuffins like virtualization support (when AMD released the new AM3 budget chips Intel was criticized for this move and they put it back in the new E6300) but unless you need the extra speed boost when running multiple instances of an emulated OS for code testing I don't think you'll miss it all that much...

yoyo

Solitaire wrote: »

BAD BOY! *spanks yoyo* Don't spread Intel-inspired lies and half-truths in here!

E5200 = Wolfdale. That makes it Core2 from an anatomical standpoint just like every E- and Q- series (and P- and T- mobile) CPU released over the last few years. Due to the E5000 series being too popular Intel rebranded them and circulated BS rumors that they were based on P4 rather than Core2 to scare people into actually buying the much more expensive E7000/8000 chips and shifting that mountain of E7200s lying around Intel HQ :P (the E8000s were pricey but good, but back then the E7000s were massively overpriced tripe that everyone ignored)

E5200 does lack a few advanced McGuffins like virtualization support (when AMD released the new AM3 budget chips Intel was criticized for this move and they put it back in the new E6300) but unless you need the extra speed boost when running multiple instances of an emulated OS for code testing I don't think you'll miss it all that much...

My appoligies, was just going by the description you posted, I persumed it was a simple typo, not really to up to date on the latest hardware lately, can't aford to be :pac:

Nick

Unregistered.

Solitaire wrote: »

BAD BOY! *spanks yoyo* Don't spread Intel-inspired lies and half-truths in here!

E5200 = Wolfdale. That makes it Core2 from an anatomical standpoint just like every E- and Q- series (and P- and T- mobile) CPU released over the last few years. Due to the E5000 series being too popular Intel rebranded them and circulated BS rumors that they were based on P4 rather than Core2 to scare people into actually buying the much more expensive E7000/8000 chips and shifting that mountain of E7200s lying around Intel HQ :P (the E8000s were pricey but good, but back then the E7000s were massively overpriced tripe that everyone ignored)

E5200 does lack a few advanced McGuffins like virtualization support (when AMD released the new AM3 budget chips Intel was criticized for this move and they put it back in the new E6300) but unless you need the extra speed boost when running multiple instances of an emulated OS for code testing I don't think you'll miss it all that much...

You astound me.

Blazer

E5200 only has 2mb of L2 cache which isn't worth a bollix for high-def playback...at least not without stuttering.
And stay away from the Studio Hybrids from Dell...overpriced and underperforming.

darealtulip

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

This is a guy who hasn't upgraded in 10 years and isn't doing anything strenuous.

I'd be quite happy to recommend dell

OK I take that back, there is one person who would recomend you a Dell on this forum!

Slutmonkey57b

For entry level bog standard machines, Dell are hard to beat. If you have to buy a copy of windows, you can't compete on price compared to build your own where a copy of windows would cost about a third of what the parts do, they're very quiet, and they last. If you want a bit more oomph, then yes you're better off building yourself. Sub €500, for someone that's not playing games, Dell and the like are the way to go.

Slutmonkey57b

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

E5200 only has 2mb of L2 cache which isn't worth a bollix for high-def playback...at least not without stuttering.
And stay away from the Studio Hybrids from Dell...overpriced and underperforming.

You can get graphics cards for €30 which will do highdef decoding for flawless playback.

Solitaire

Ergo the HD4350; that one has low-profile brackets included and a HDMI port built-in, and unlike nVidia it has an integrated soundcard for Sound Over HDMI. So long as the CPU is faster than a sub-1GHz Sempron you can use the HD codecs for stutter-free playback.

darealtulip

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

For entry level bog standard machines, Dell are hard to beat. If you have to buy a copy of windows, you can't compete on price compared to build your own where a copy of windows would cost about a third of what the parts do, they're very quiet, and they last. If you want a bit more oomph, then yes you're better off building yourself. Sub €500, for someone that's not playing games, Dell and the like are the way to go.

Don't agree HWV builds a comp to your spec for €20!!!

operating OS €76 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Windows-Premium-Service-Upgrade-Version/dp/B0013O54P8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1245441123&sr=8-1 And you can activate that on 4 comps without a problem if need to be! And windows 7 is free till march!

If you can't insall a operating system I agree with you, still not a Dell fan though!!

leninbenjamin

darealtulip wrote: »

Don't agree HWV builds a comp to your spec for €20!!!

operating OS €76 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Windows-Premium-Service-Upgrade-Version/dp/B0013O54P8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1245441123&sr=8-1 And you can activate that on 4 comps without a problem if need to be! And windows 7 is free till march!

If you can't insall a operating system I agree with you, still not a Dell fan though!!

that's not an OS, that's an upgrade pack just so you know.

but yeah, HWS have OEM Vista Premium or XP for sub 80, which is all you need.

Slutmonkey57b

So on a sub €500 pc you'd spend ~80 on the OS. Throw in a monitor, keyboard, mouse.... yes, you're pretty much at a 1/3 ratio of OS cost to component cost.

Casual users have no interest in building their own PC, and there's no reason why they should, they don't need upgradability because a) they're not upgrading, and b) their usage patterns aren't changing.

leninbenjamin

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

So on a sub €500 pc you'd spend ~80 on the OS. Throw in a monitor, keyboard, mouse.... yes, you're pretty much at a 1/3 ratio of OS cost to component cost.

Casual users have no interest in building their own PC, and there's no reason why they should, they don't need upgradability because a) they're not upgrading, and b) their usage patterns aren't changing.

it actually all depends on the user.

Most casual users will never max out the CPU (barely make use of c2ds), but end up buying a new PC altogether because they need additional RAM or HDD space that their existing retail machine won't allow for because it hasn't enough slots etc.

A lot of people** would actually save money in the long run if they did a self build, as being able to fit the PC to your needs saves cost in the long run.

**: not going to say all will, or even the majority, but a sizeable proportion definitely.

Slutmonkey57b

No they wouldn't, for the very simple reason that the OP stated:

"I haven't upgraded my PC in 10 years".

The "you save money by upgrading" argument only makes sense for people who upgrade every 6-12 months. For everyone else, it's academic, because technical standards in computers are generally obsolete in 18 months on average. What do I mean by that? Simple - the motherboards you could buy 18 months ago don't work with today's processors. Intel may have stuck with socket 775 for years, but that's utterly academic as power requirements and BIOS supports for new processors have changed over and over again. On a longer term, memory, psu and graphics cards don't work.

Take my own example - my pc is essentially 5 years old (with a couple of minor upgrades).
Since then, AMD alone have gone through 5 socket revisions.
Memory standards have changed 3 times (4 if you count FB-DIMMS)
Hard drive interfaces have changed twice.
GPU interfaces have changed twice.
None of my hardware is upgradeable. For the price of p to date components, minus the bits I can transition (if I pick carefully), I might as well buy everything brand new and junk what I've got.

darealtulip

leninbenjamin wrote: »

that's not an OS, that's an upgrade pack just so you know.

but yeah, HWS have OEM Vista Premium or XP for sub 80, which is all you need.

I know. Saw the OEM for a tenner more up there.

Revan

Thanks for the advice - have decided not to go down the self-build route. From what I can see too much can go wrong and think it's too much money to take the chance.

Prob going with Dell or maybe Overclockers.

Slutmonkey57b

There's actually very little can "go wrong" with a self build, it's a lot easier than home DIY. It's just that for someone who's not going to buy hardware for years and isn't doing anything strenuous, you don't need anything but a bottom of the range dell or the like.

Revan

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

There's actually very little can "go wrong" with a self build, it's a lot easier than home DIY. It's just that for someone who's not going to buy hardware for years and isn't doing anything strenuous, you don't need anything but a bottom of the range dell or the like.

At least you can paint over a wall if you don't like the colour!....and you probably didn't spend a few hundred quid on the paint!

I take your point tho...my needs don't warrant a self-build.

Effluo

All you have to do is go to hardwareversand.de, click on pc konfigurator then basic system and then select the components that Solitaire put in his post on the first page of this thread.

Hardwareversand build it for you and will install all the drivers and OS for only €55

you save a lot of money and have a better system.

Hank Scorpio

just out of interest how long does it take hardwareverstand to deliver once you`ve purchased a machine?