Dell Desktops vs Workstation

Dundhoone

Apart from not having a network card or WinXP pro is there any difference between what dell offers as its stand alone desktop ie teh Dimension range and what it sells as its workstation range - the optiplex?

You can buy a better specced dimesion pc compared to what you can buy for the same money in optiplex. has anyone bought dimensions and popped in a network card and used them on a network?

Is it a way of bleeding more cash out of a company or are the optiplex genuinely more stable and suited to networking?

Your thoughts please!!!!

Praetorian

All the dimensions in our office work just as well as the optiplexes. They both have built in network cards. Dell shíte on about something called network certified or something. Bull shít designed to swindle more money out of you.

Chalk

all recebt dimensions cme with an ethernet port if that helps.

stevenmu

After spending ages trying to convince us to get optiplexes, our sales guy finally admitted that the main difference is optiplexes have profit margins built in but dimensions rely on on all the extras, upgrades and accessories that home users would tend to want to turn a profit. The best argument he made was that optiplexes are quiter but the dimension 8400s we ended up with are practically silent, and the 5000s are supposed to be even quieter.

Kali

Optiplex range come different warranties.. I recently purchased 18 Optiplex 170Ls (although upgraded to 3.2Ghz/2GBRAM)... they're all still in perfect nick and the mini-desktop model is very neat and compact and extremely quiet (it sits perfectly hidden behind a 17" lcd).. Desk-space is limited these days so bulky towers are a waste of office space

Capt'n Midnight

you can get bigger discounts on the plexes because of the higher margins so if you are buying enough and you haggle the gap closes quite a lot.

workstations (precision ?) are way over priced for what they are - it used to be cheaper to buy a dual processor server and pop your own video card into it - YMMV depending on the chipset etc. but worth looking at as an option.

for laptops if you can afford the difference go for the latitudes over the inspirons.

Dundhoone

Small enough office here, so I'll be buying in lots of about 4 to 6 pcs per quarter. We've been Hp buyers until now, but it looks like I can get a better spec dell machine with lcd screen for the same price as a hp without lcd.

Im going to buy a dim 5000 and try it out.

Stephen

I use a Dell Optiplex SX270 in work, its a lovely little (and I stress the world 'little') machine. Can't imagine they're cheap though, given the laptop components used in them.
I'd certainly go for one of these if you're trying to save space.

Dundhoone

Aye, I saw that , very small very nice.
Only thing i'd be a bit worried about is the lack of any PCI slots and the integrated graphics. Still would be the business for some of the users here. They are a bit more expensive , and I reckon the more space you give people , the more mess they put in it.

Im hanging on to the crts until they go kaboom (or similar sound effect) and they can shove the towers under the swish ergonomically designed desks dagnammit!!!!

stevenmu

If integrated graphics is a no-no, when you're configuring the 5000s have a look at the 8400s too, for the same spec apart from an ATi X300 in the 8400 and integreated in the 5000 they were the same price. That was a while ago with various special deals on but it's worth a look.

Stephen

For most office users, integrated graphics is not an issue, unless they work with 3d rendering software or something.

Dundhoone

yeah we have some autocad users and a bit of photoshop occasionally so some 3d work involved. Most folks are MS office only though.

the 8400 isnt too much more expensive than the 5000 alright....temptation ......... maybe Mr adminstrator needs a new pc....muhahahahhaha

unkel

As said, there is a huge margin on the Optiplex range, so by definition it is bad value for money for a machine that is not more capable than it's Dimension brother that costs way less

There used to be more of a difference years ago when an Optiplex meant SCSI and (upgradeable to) dual CPU

Now a dual Xeon 3.4 with 2GB ram, a 400GB SATA HDD and a 17"CRT costs €6000 - good luck selling that, Dell :rolleyes: