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Are any prebuilt systems actually a good value?

N

Noriaki

Lifer
Hmmm....how odd...I always thought that systems from a place like Dell were a fairly good deal. I don't use them because I like building my own it's my hobby and what not. But I thought they were fairly well priced...I didn't think I was saving any money building my own....but apperntly I am I got a Dell catalog in the mail the other day and almost choked reading it...

Dell Optiplex GX200 1000MT: $2499 Canadian
[*]P3 1Ghz
[*]Optiframe Mini-Tower Tool-less chassis (power supply not mentioned)
[*]128MB of PC700 RDRAM. Ugh...700...not even PC800...ick
[*]20GB Hard Drive (anyone know what kind?)
[*]17"/16" vis M781p Monitor (is this a good monitor?)
[*]Integrated 8MB AGP 4X Graphics with 8MB Upgrade
[*]Integrated 3Com 10/100 NIC
[*]48X Max CDRom
[*]Integrated AC'97 Audio (wow! SBLive! Value upgrade for a mere $105...I paid $80 for mine 2.5 years ago.....)
[*]MS Windows 2000 Pro
[*]Business software optional
[*]3 Year Next Business Day Warranty (ok this is worth a fair bit...if you'd ever use it...I wouldn't).
[*]Dell Quiet Key Keybaord and Dell System Mouse


Now mine (this is my current rig..and prices are based one when I bought the parts, so some are probably a little high)..I don't have a fancy name for it. So lets just call it the Noriaki Special: $2920 Canadian (yes it's $420 more...but wait)
[*]Athlon 1Ghz AXIA (with AMD761 board)
[*]InWin Q500N Fulltower with Enermax 450Watt powersupply
[*]512MB of PC2100 DDR SDRAM
[*]2 hard drives, one is 30Gig one is 45Gig both IBM 75GXPs
[*]17"/16" vis Proview 786N .25dp, capable of 1600x1200 (not that you'd want it on a 17" but it's a pretty good monitor for a 17&quot😉
[*]V5-5500 32MB (this is not a 64MB card regardless of what the marketters tell me)
[*]Linksys 10/100 NIC
[*]12x40 Toshiba DVD/CD Rom
[*]SBLive! Value (yes that comes with the package! No $105 upgrade fee!)
[*]Logitech NewTouch Compact Keyboard (an older ergo keyboard)
[*]Logitech Optical Mouse
[*]Win2000 Pro
[*]I to will leave out extra software as optional.

So for $420 you get 3.75x the hard drive space, 4x the RAM (and it's not cheap grade Rambus), a V5-5500 instead of whatever integrated card, and a DVD Rom. Also it's a much more overclockable CPU...and why the hell would you build a Win2k rig with 128MB???

Ok now I admit...I don't have much of a warranty on my Rig...but still look at the difference....

I'm trying to find a good deal on a rig...he doesn't care if it's home built or "Pro" built....does Dell or anyone else offer any really good deals on Rigs?

I always thought you actually got a fairly good deal buying from a place like Dell...obviously not.

Are there any places where you can get a decent built rig at a decent price?
 
Optiplex are the Workstation line, so you can expect not quite so good value for money. I've always found the consumer level Dimension series to be relatively good value.
 
I'm trying to find a good deal on a rig...he doesn't care if it's home built or "Pro" built....does Dell or anyone else offer any really good deals on Rigs?

Yes but usually only in the USA, a good pre-built system is harder to find in Canada. I would recommend checking out the Dell Dimension 4100 or 8100, but if he doesn't care I would suggest he gets the Noriaki Special which although it costs $420 more, it's well worth it. Go AMD and screw the Dell bloatware software they install (trust me there's a lot of it). I would look into getting the Samsung 900NF monitor and consider an SMC or Netgear NIC but Linksys is just as good.
 
but supposedly you get the "supperior" DELL (or any other company for that matter) customer service... although, my experiences w/ Dell... umm... suck.

On to my point... for a normal home system, and of course, for somone who knows how to maintain and put together a system, a pre-assembled Dell, CPQ, HP... IMHO is not worth it. On the other hand, there are some instances where a prebuilt system is ideal. For a corporate environment, you wouldn't want 500 (and thats a low number) different systems running around and spending more money for less performance/parts just to get the same system everywhere may be well worth it. Also, for users that no squat about computers and dont care to learn, a prebuild no haggle system may be worth it... here in lies the great customer service advantage.

anywho, not sure if its what you were looking for but theres my shpiel (sp?).
 
But the dimensions are even worse....they are P4s, with GeForce2MXs and Windows ME....and cost more....at least they come with PC800 I suppose...and it's a 1 Year limited warranty...and it costs $300 more than the Optiplex....

The "Noriaki Special" is my current rig, he'd probably pop for a 1.33Ghz TBird....and the P4 1.7Ghz can barely stand up to the 1.33 TBird let alone a 1.5Ghz...and with a GF2MX...he'd get a GTS or a Pro....

Can anyone suggestion a prebuilt that is any better?
Or should we just build one for him?
 
It also depends on if you are pirating your OS and other software or not. If you are not, then buying a new PC prebuilt tends to be cheaper....
 
Home built is always better. Same or less money for better components. And no worrying over those fricken proprietary BIOSes when it's time to upgrade.
 
BurntKooshie: I included the cost of Win2000 Pro in my system price. Dell has "Business software optional". So that's probably not in the listed cost of theirs either.
 
Noriaki the amd barely outputs the intel in office apps and the intel whops the amd over the head in multimedia. Please get your facts straight before putting down a processor.
 
I built my AMD rig around December for about $1350US which includes all costs of the hardware including those I transfered over from my previous computer. That doesn't include the OS or any other software I have on my computer. It's a hell lot better than anything an OEM manufacturer can provide for the same price.
 
Piss off steelthorn, I'm not here to start an AMD vs Intel flamewar.

Maybe my "barely stand up to" comment was a little unfair. I'm a little annoyed that a P4 1.7Ghz costs so much for similar performance to a 1.33Ghz TBird.
Check out Anand's latest P4 1.7Ghz review. If you count the number of tests each proccessor is faster in, the count is very close. The Athlon has 1 extra I think....close enough that's it not a big deal. But the P4 costs more.
If you can get even performance out of an Intel chip and an AMD chip, at the same price, I wouldn't care which I used. But the AMD chip is still cheaper.
Sure a P4 1.3 and Athlon 1.3 are about the same price, but since the Athlon 1.3 compares with the P4 1.7 in performance, it's a usless price point comparison.

But whatever...think what you want, I don't care about that.
I asked a simple question. Can you get an OEM system with good hardware and a good price. I don't give a crap if it's an AMD or Intel processor. As long as it performs well and is a reasonable price.
 


<< Noriaki the amd barely outputs the intel in office apps and the intel whops the amd over the head in multimedia. Please get your facts straight before putting down a processor. >>


DOes this comment actually have a point or was it included just to spark some flames...
 
Interesting, you can build nearly the same computer that he claims is so great for $2761 Canadian at Dell, that is less than he spent on his home built computer (just switch to a 1 year warranty, and drop MS office).
 
Compare the EXACT same parts list Dell uses, to what you would have to pay for the same parts.

Also, those fliers are priced much higher than the specials you'll find on their Web site.

They frequently sell whole systems for about $600.00 shipped, which include software, warranty etc. When somebody asks me for a budget box, I point them to Dell. I don't know too many people that &quot;need&quot; to spend over $1,000 for a PC anyway.

Damn, you spend $3,000.00 for a friggen PC and you're worried about value! 😕
 
Can you?

I'm just looking at the Catalog Dell sent me.
I didn't actually try to custom build my own.

That's the point of this thread...I'm asking if it's possible to get a good deal on an OEM rig. My friend would rather buy pre-built, but doesn't want to throw away a ton of cash.

What rig specs did you get for $2761?
 
Whenever someone asks me whether they should buy or build, unless they are a budding hobbyist I just think about if I want them calling me every day for the next six months asking for (free) help or if I want them calling Dell every day. I'd rather they call Dell. I don't know about Canada but in the US it is very, very hard to beat their prices.
 
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