My New Computer?

Wow! My parents finally figured that we needed a new computer. Our 3 year old Gateway 733MHz is getting kinda old for games and such so they decided to get a new one! We'll be getting it VERY soon but we haven't ordered it yet. We're still looking.

It has to be less than $1,800, have a flat-panel monitor, 3 year warranty, and be from a reputable company. Those were the terms. Next, I had to give up a computer for unknown reasons. So under much sorrow, I decided to give up this IBM titanium laptop. Its not even mine, its the company's. But I get the current Gateway in my room which is even better than my laptop for development. I can even play some games on it. I loose the mobility, true, but sacrafices must be made.

So, I went looking and found this. What do you think about it? Its the top-of-the-line Dell model as of now (8250). I especially love all the free goodies!

BTW, the 9700 Pro costs $180 more so I think we'll be sticking with the TX model. The only difference I saw was that the processor is ~60Mhz slower. 10-20 FPS less from 300? Hahahaha! 180 bucks! Hahaha! The Pro runs at 324Mhz and the TX at 267Mhz.

And, we have Office 2000 so all that software down there, its really just sh!t.

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Dell Dimension 8250 Series
Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.53GHz with 533MHz system bus/ 512K L2 Cache

FREE UPGRADE! 512MB PC1066 RDRAM 2X256 modules
60GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive
Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet
56K Telephony Modem for Windows
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

3.5 in Floppy Drive
16 Max DVD-ROM Drive
FREE UPGRADE! New 4x DVD+RW/+R Drive w/CD-RW

SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital Sound Card
Harman Kardon® HK-395 Speakers with Subwoofer (2.1)

New 17 in E171FPb Flat Panel Display (400:1 contrast ratio, 250cd brightness)
New 128mb DDR ATI Radeon™ 9700 TX Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI

Dell® Quietkey® Keyboard
Dell® 2-button scroll mouse

WordPerfect® Productivity Pack with Quicken New User Edition
Dell SecurityCenter by McAfee, 90-day introductory offer
Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH
Dell Picture Studio,Image Expert Standard
3 Year Limited Warranty plus 3 Year At-Home Service
6 Months of America Online Membership Included

$150 OFF Special Offer
FREE Shipping and Handling

Price: $1,758.00

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cool

My tip... Make sure it can handle a lot of RAM. That's what every computer almost always needs when upgrading. So, if you aren't gonna get a ton of RAM in it, make sure that it can handle more than is already there.

My tip... don't buy a Dell.

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Originally posted by CheesyMoo
My tip... don't buy a Dell.

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Alright, what other reputable, known computer company can I get a good deal from? This looks pretty good to me. Please offer suggestions if you can... :p I'm always open...

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Originally posted by CheesyMoo
My tip... don't buy a Dell.

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why the hell not? I never buy anything from anyone else. If your not going to build your own, Dell is THE best thing you can do! From performance, to support, and right up to the warrenty! I have set many people up with Dell notebooks and Desktops, as well as having owned a few of each myself, and everyone has been very very happy. They have parts to you next day if u ever need them, at no cost, and are always around to help you on the phone.

Dell is far more than you could ask from a computer company, and i dont see how your one incident, if you even had one, represents the entire company.

Go dell.

For the best company, I would suggest IBM...

But overall I wouldn't even suggest getting a computer straight from a company, with 1,800$ you could get a beautiful custom made PC.

Hear of Fry's Electronics?
www.outpost.com

There are alot more for custom made shops, but I guess you have to get a company made one, in which case Dell would be superior to say, Gateway(Ugh...) and definately better than HP.

Oh well good luck.

Edit--------

I didn't know why I said this earlier, you said you game alot, and code so:
ALIEN WARE

Look here, for a full computer at $1,500. You can easily upgrade it with your extra $300 and you would have an awesome PC.

Standard that comes with a better mobo and video card. You have a buttload of RAM, and can get plenty more with your money. It's got a DVD drive and a CD-R/CD-RW reader/writer. I mean, Alien Ware 0wnz j00.

Alienware == BIG $$$

The lowest model base price is 1400; and thats without a monitor. What more its Athlon and I want to learn SSE2 ASM programming and such with the P4 and the Athlon is slower than a P4. Remember, prices are <1800 and they have to be company built.

And I do game alot :D I heard Dells were great for that.

I showed my parents cyberpowerpc.com (great amazing prices), nope, real company.... :mad:

But I think this will do ain't it? *If* we order it, its gonna be tommorow.

It's not AMD either it's got the same processor as the Dell you selected.

It's also $200 less.

Also tell your parents that Alien Ware is a company, and they build the computers.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, I just think you could get a better deal.

There's just a one problem with that 1500 Hive-mind. It doesn't have a flat panel monitor. That alone is a lot of money. With their flat panel on, their lowest is 2000. Then again, I could buy my own but that goes over the 1800 no doubtly. They know what Alienware is btw.

But I'm wondering, what are the differences and which is the best out of these cards in terms of value, quality and PRICE:

GF4 MX
GF4 4200
GF4 4600
RD 9700 TX
RD 9700 PRO

I've seen a lot of systems with the 4200. Why not the 4600?

RD 9700 Pro.

If you add the 19" Flat Monitor, it comes out to the same price as the Dell. So then it just comes down to which parts you like better.

i owned an alienware....nice computers, if you know how to fix them. Mine was always breaking, and after some talking i found i wasnt the only one with these problems.....all in your opinion though.

Through my experiences, Dell desktops are rather good while their laptops aren't so hot.

Mostly, all that I have heard is good reviews for Dell desktops.

On the other hand, my sister bought a Dell laptop and it was a POS that was always giving her errors, even during the begining. Also, the laptop was pretty close to top of the line.

i dont work for dell, i work for gateway....god please dont buy a gateway.....

I havent had a problem with either of my dell notebooks....

This is where I bought my computer from:

www.totallyawesome.com

I'll probably be upgrading this summer (for Doom 3)... Boyz!

Dells aren't good? Huh, we just rolled out over 600 Dells at my company and we had maybe 5 that had problems with hard drives and it only took a few days to get the HDDs replaced. That's great compared to a company I worked for before that got Gateways and had about 3 out of every 10 with problems. Dell has always been good for me whether at work or home so I always suggest them.

I have never had a problem with a dell that wasnt resolved within 2 days at most.

God i hate gateway.

A couple of years ago I did a work placement with a company and my job meant me going to visit the production facility of a leading computer manufacturer. All I can say is that when I got to the shop floor I was horrified at the way they treated those PCs, both desktops and laptops. The people putting them together were nothing more than a bunch of school drop-outs who really weren't interested and couldn't care less about the way they handled parts of a PC for which someone was gonna pay £1000 - £2000 of their hard-earned cash for. I had to do some laptop failure diagnostics and about 90% of them were machines that were returned even before being sold cos some monkey had put a screwdriver across the screen.














*cough*BMI*cough*

I don't like that machine; it won't run "The Dig" and therefore is inferior.

The Dig is one of the greatest games ever, along with Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, all of those good Lucas Arts adventure games

This is what I ended up buying. Its a great deal and looky at the price. I like it very much. We didn't buy a monitor/lcd because we already have a 21" CRT and its fine to keep. Maybe when the finances are better (after we cushined in this blow to the account ;)), we'll buy a new monitor. In a few months... Anyways, we'll be buying a color printer (our current ONLY prints color, not black :D) and here is what we bought::::

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Dell Dimension 4550 Series
Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.66GHz w/533MHz front side bus/ 512K L2 Cache 
FREE Upgrade! 256MB DDR SDRAM at 333MHz

3.5 in Floppy Drive
16 Max DVD-ROM Drive
FREE UPGRADE! New 4x DVD+RW/+R Drive w/CD-RW
60GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive

New 128mb DDR ATI Radeon™ 9700 TX Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI

SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital Sound Card
Harman Kardon HK-395 Speakers with Subwoofer
IEEE Firewire Card

Dell® Quietkey® Keyboard
Logitech® Optical USB Mouse

56K PCI Telephony Modem
Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet

Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

WordPerfect® Productivity Pack with Quicken New User Edition
Dell SecurityCenter by McAfee, 90-day introductory offer
Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH
Dell Picture Studio, Image Expert Standard
3 Year Limited Warranty plus 3 Year At-Home Service
6 Months of America Online Membership Included
RealOne™ Player, with 14 day SuperPass trial

$50 Special Offer
FREE Shipping and Handling

Final Price: $1,228.00
Estimated Arrival: May 2, 2003

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i got a series 4550 too a few months ago. my dad insisted on having a dell over a custom made PC. it was a good choice. i prpbably paid the same as you ..im not gonna do any conversion. i hav a 2GHz and no DVD writer... but the price went up because i took the two (CDROM and RW) in different slots). But i love my dell anyways!!
i like when a company like dell makes the comps cause then you have the best parts, custom made PC don;t always come with the best parts and if you want to build your own with the best parts, it's gonna end up costing the same as a DELL without the warrenty and the other things they put in there. dell is SO much quiter then my old pc!!!! i love that!!

btw, enjoy the pc!!

P.S: my uncle has a IBM and it keeps braking down for somereason....that's why i am a little suspicious towards IBM!! and to put in one thing, i never used a custom made PC. so i can't talk from my experience, but i;ve seen others use them.

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Originally posted by CheesyMoo
The Dig is one of the greatest games ever, along with Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, all of those good Lucas Arts adventure games

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You left out Tie Fighter and Redneck Rampage; while they're not adventure, they are :cool:

Should have gotten more RAM

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Originally posted by golfinguy4
Should have gotten more RAM

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We'll buy some more later, the price for upgrading was quite a bit. 256 is fine for now as our current computer is 196 and its runs him with XP and the games we have.

Definatly, 512 is our goal.