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Buying a Dell


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Well I figure it's time to get a new computer and I'm able to spend a little over $1,400. Lately I was planning on getting a iMac 17" with 1GB of RAM, but I went to dell's XPS page to see how much there computers cost and I relised how much I can really get for $1,400.

 

I'm planning on getting a

 

Dell XPS 400

3.0 GHz Pentium D Processor 930 Dual Core 800FSB

256MB nVidia 7900 GS

2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs

250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive, 7200RPM, 8MB cache

16x DVD-ROM Drive

16x DVD+/-RW, Double Layer Write Capability

19" Ultrasharp 1907FP Digital Flat Panel

Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition

Dell USB Keyboard

Dell Optical USB Mouse

 

I have a few questions though.

1. Will this run OS X at all and so how well?

2. Is the Pentium D 930 SSE3?

3. Can the two DVD drives I'm buying read CD, CD-R, and CD-RW as well as write them?

4. Should I buy IEEE 1394 Adapter for the extra $30, I'm not really sure what it is, but according to dell it improves the sound quality of my sound blaster.

5. Is all of this good hardware, or am I just buying a crappy computer?

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The Pentium D Processor Isnt as good as you think.

Intel is slowly phasing out the pentium processor line for the core duo/solo chips now.

I would really reccomend buying an intel core duo computer, as once

Memrom arrives the Pentium D will be obsolete by 3 generations.

 

But thats just my advice.

 

Now for your actual Questions:

 

1. Im not sure about it. Check The Wiki.

 

2. The Pentium D is SSE3

 

3. Yes the DVD drives are both burners.

 

4. Go for what you think, sometimes audio quality is good enough, especially with a sound blaster.

 

5. The Computer will probably Run most of the latest games and applications for a good while.

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Okay thanks. Right now I'm used to running a 4 year old sony vaio with 2.2 GHz Pentium 4, 512MB DDR RAM, 8x DVD drive and 24x CD drive, intergrated SiS 7012 sound, 120GB 5400 rpm hard drive, and a 256MB radeon 9600 pro. So obviously this computer should be a huge improvement for me? Also, they don't offer the Duo Core chip for the XPS 400, only for the XPS 700, which is way out of my price range.

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Just as a comment to Dell reliability:

I am currently running a dimension 8400 - it was fine for 6 months then an optical drive broke.

Then aother 6 months later the other drive died - so I installed 2 new ones. Also, I know 2 people whos Dell laptops had problems very soon after purchase. I don't know what their reputation is like overall - but that is my experience

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I have a few family memebers and friends who have dells and they all have had them for 6 months+ and there all working just fine. The only problom I've heard from them is one of my friends overclocked his pretty high and a few months later the parts started to die out, but I don't plan on overclocking anything.

 

Also matthunter3, so the 7900 GS will work just fine with OS X?

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I should have been more clear sorry

 

The nVidia card will work in Vesa mode, so no QE/CI/GL but it will run but if you have a wide screen display Vesa does not support wide screen.

 

If you call Dell to place your order sometimes they will let you pick another video card that is not listed on the site as long as they sell it in one of there systems you can get it.

 

As for Dell's reliability my Dell Dimension 8300 has been running 24/7 for the last 2 years without any problems.

 

It's like any system you buy custom or OEM you ether get a rock solid system or a lemon, it's just hit and miss

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I will never buy a Dell computer -ever- again.

 

I bought myself a Del Inspiron 1150, and the computer was fine (except the system actually ran slower then it does on my PC now - when it died, I took out it's processor and it runs faster in here then it did in the dell O.o) for about six months. Then my power connector wouldn't stay in the laptop. Tried fixing it with a large sort of grippy block, which worked - i now had a box sticking out of the back of my computer. Another couple of months go by. Now a very odd problem - when on, it had to be used rather steadily, otherwise it would inexplicably shut off. Annoying, but fine. I chugged along. More months. Now the laptop shut off with the slightest touch - gently using my keyboard would shut it off at times, and I could never open up the DVD-drive while the computer was on.

 

More months.

 

Now my dell decides that it simply doesn't want to turn on at times. It decided that it simply was too good for me, and refused to turn on. Sometimes it would be "Half on", where lights were blinking all over the place, or maybe i could hear the computer working - but no screen. When it did THAT, it was a pain in the ass shutting it off.

 

Well, I found out that even though I took extreme care of my Dell laptop, the motherboard had cracked in a spot. I will never go back to Dell computers again, my only exception being their beautiful monitors, which I have yet to have a problem with.

 

Don't go Dell - it's not a wise choice.

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If this happened in the first year why did you not get service from Dell.

 

Also your talking about a low budget laptop ($1000) something Dell has never done well. Their desktop system are better except their low budget systems, something that Weebs is not buying. The old saying is so true " You get what you pay for" buy cheap get cheap components

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If this happened in the first year why did you not get service from Dell.

 

Also your talking about a low budget laptop ($1000) something Dell has never done well. Their desktop system are better except their low budget systems, something that Weebs is not buying. The old saying is so true " You get what you pay for" buy cheap get cheap components

By the time it turned off when it was moved, it was outside the warranty. I didn't put too much thought on it before it got that severe. It's simply my experience with a Dell brand laptop. Similar things could happen with him.

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1. Yeah, it will run just fine, except with the nVidia card which I hear around these parts are not really QE/CI friendly. I would at least get the cheapest card that you can get and replace it with a card that is compatible with the whole QE/CI thing.

2. yes.

3. Only your DVD+/-RW will only burn cd's and dvd's, both drives will read cd's and dvd's

4.The adapter should not matter, its just an IEEE 1394/Firewire 400 card, which you may want if you perfer to use firewire devices.

5. To tell you the truth, your hardware is already outdated because of your processor. If you could afford it, you should really consider going to the 410 which includes the Core2Duo and a 20 inch widescreen FPD. Other that that, its just fine the way it is.

 

Hope that helps.

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Only thing aboutdon't really have enough money for the 410 :offtopic: I'm sure I'll do fine with the 930 though. Thanks for all the help everyone.

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Hmm good idea. Leave it on 24/7 like I do with my vaio, I already play games all the time, leave benchmarking programs on all night :)

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My experience of dell has always been you get what you pay for. I've never dealt with their customer service on anything other than a corporate level and that has always been fine - but i imagine there is a reason their consumer customer service is nicknamed Dell Hell.

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