Cooling down: Now from $399 (Dell SB 4550 from 339 w cdrw and 256MB ram)

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: Yo2
Thanks to a $200 MIR and a 10% coupon free CDRW drive upgrade and free double memory systems start below $360 yet are semi-loaded. A DVD burner is only $72 more, $18 gets you a 2.66 proc, another $27 gets you a decent grapphics card and another $54 gets you 512MB ram - so for $540 you get a loaded system with DVD burner

Yo

Great deal, Yo2!! - Thanks!

The deal may even be a bit better than $360. On my order they took the 10% off the $599 price, bringing it down to $539 before the $200 MIR.

 

[k000]

Originally posted by: superblast

Originally posted by: k000 Thank you sir ! I would appreciate if someone else can also confirm that I can put an additional HD later on in this 4550 and also tha tthere will be 2nd 5.25" bay available for second cd-r drive (even if I don't buy it from Dell now) Thanks

Yes, in fact Dell makes it really easy for you to add an additional hard drive and CD/DVD drive in a 4550. The rails you need to screw on to your drives are included inside the case. You just open it up, screw the rails on your drives, click them into place and attach power and IDE cables... then you're ready to go. Set your drive jumpers to "cable select" and it should detect just fine.

Great.. that make 4550 cooler than what I currently have. I agree with the CD-RW part... but I have L933r currently from Dell... and it is not customizable. HD I had to use krazy-glue.... to put under my CD-RW.... anyways... I am getting new Dell, dude !

 

[k000]

Originally posted by: Cyberian

Originally posted by: Yo2 Thanks to a $200 MIR and a 10% coupon free CDRW drive upgrade and free double memory systems start below $360 yet are semi-loaded. A DVD burner is only $72 more, $18 gets you a 2.66 proc, another $27 gets you a decent grapphics card and another $54 gets you 512MB ram - so for $540 you get a loaded system with DVD burner Yo

Great deal, Yo2!! - Thanks! The deal may even be a bit better than $360. On my order they took the 10% off the $599 price, bringing it down to $539 before the $200 MIR.

Apparantly you are going with the 2.53 or not taking a floppy drive....

 

[Budmantom]

I am in "SHOCK AND AWE" of this deal.

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: k000

Originally posted by: Cyberian

Originally posted by: Yo2 Thanks to a $200 MIR and a 10% coupon free CDRW drive upgrade and free double memory systems start below $360 yet are semi-loaded. A DVD burner is only $72 more, $18 gets you a 2.66 proc, another $27 gets you a decent grapphics card and another $54 gets you 512MB ram - so for $540 you get a loaded system with DVD burner Yo

Great deal, Yo2!! - Thanks! The deal may even be a bit better than $360. On my order they took the 10% off the $599 price, bringing it down to $539 before the $200 MIR.

Apparantly you are going with the 2.53 or not taking a floppy drive....

Correct.

I Thought that was the configuration Yo2 used, but I probably misunderstood.

 

[Yo2]

Originally posted by: swNYC
You can add another HD. In fact, if you dont have the floppy drive, there are 3 empty 3.5" bays!
My friend's 4550 has a 30GB and the factory 60GB in it (He got in on the previous deal)

It is true that without floppy you have 3 empty bays, however there are only two IDE controllers that will allow you to add two devices each for a total of 4 (four) including HDDs, CDRWs DVDs etc.

Yo

P.s.: I will edit the title - I was stupid and I apolgize for my ignorance, and to the heroc soldiers who fought a brave battle - I mis-spelled Baghdad and I will edit the title right away to correct the spelling ONLY

 

[Yo2]

Originally posted by: Budmantom
I am in "SHOCK AND AWE" of this deal.

LOL

 

[280Z]

I'm grabbing this, thanks for the tip.

But, I want to get a 21 inch monitor too. Does anyone know if the 21 inch P1130 FD Trinitron dell is worth $127 more than the 21 inch SONY CRT MONITOR CPD-E540B at newegg.com? From the specs I've found they seem fairly similar.

Newegg monitor link
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=CPD-E540B

 

[PsYwhY]

jumped on this. missed the last one. wouldn't wanna miss this out.

Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.66GHz w/533MHz front side bus/ 512K L2 Cache
Sound Card SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital Sound Card
Memory SPECIAL OFFER! 512MB 333MHz DDR SDRAM for the price of 256MB!
CD or DVD Drive FREE UPGRADE! New 48x/24x/48x Max CD-RW Drive
Hard Drive 30GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive
Mail-In Rebate Offer $200 MAIL-IN-REBATE
Video Cards New 128mb DDR ATI Radeon? 9700 TX Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI

$839 - $83.90 - 2% - $200 + tax
= $577

 

[Smolek]

When is this deal expected to run through ?

 

[280Z]

Originally posted by: PsYwhY
jumped on this. missed the last one. wouldn't wanna miss this out.


$839 - $83.90 - 2% - $200 + tax
= $577

What's the 2%?

 

[Smolek]

Originally posted by: 280Z

Originally posted by: PsYwhY
jumped on this. missed the last one. wouldn't wanna miss this out.


$839 - $83.90 - 2% - $200 + tax
= $577

What's the 2%?

ebates

 

[Smolek]

One other question. Does Dell give one of those "restore" discs or do they give a copy of the OS ?

 

[k000]

Originally posted by: Smolek
One other question. Does Dell give one of those "restore" discs or do they give a copy of the OS ?

Definitely a restore disc.

However, I was told by a Microsoft's tech support that Dell's restore CD has pretty much the same OS as Microsoft not like other OEM versions

 

[Salvador]

However, I was told by a Microsoft's tech support that Dell's restore CD has pretty much the same OS as Microsoft not like other OEM versions

It's a full version, but it appears to be locked to the system BIOS. I bought a Dell system a while back as a backup system and wanted to do a clean install and wipe all the Dell crap off of the hard drive. I played around with it and as long as I used ANY hard drive in the Dell system, I could install the OS no problem. As soon as I took the Dell hard drive out of the system and tried to install the OS on the Dell hard drive in another pc, the backup cd would not let me do it.

It's my guess that it has to be locked to the system BIOS. Not great if you ever plan to upgrade the mobo later on. Then again, you'd have to replace the power supply as well because of Dell's proprietary power plugs on the mobo and power supply.

Sal

 

[synapse88]

Did you have any luck stripping all that dell bloatware than comes preinstalled??

 

[Immortal1]

Originally posted by: superblast

Originally posted by: k000
Thank you sir !

I would appreciate if someone else can also confirm that I can put an additional HD later on in this 4550 and also tha tthere will be 2nd 5.25" bay available for second cd-r drive (even if I don't buy it from Dell now)

Thanks

Yes, in fact Dell makes it really easy for you to add an additional hard drive and CD/DVD drive in a 4550. The rails you need to screw on to your drives are included inside the case. You just open it up, screw the rails on your drives, click them into place and attach power and IDE cables... then you're ready to go. Set your drive jumpers to "cable select" and it should detect just fine.

Yep easiest computer I've ever worked on. Just added the new 80 gig from last weeks Staples special into my new Dell 4550 from the last special (which I think was a better deal just cause it fit my needs better and only required a $100 mail in rebate) along with a 52x burner.

 

[cjsh]

Ordered one for my kid who is going to college. thanks

 

[linuxthinker]

Wait, Dell will pricematch if you bought the same unit within 30 days or something?

 

[huesmann]

Originally posted by: Salvador
It's a full version, but it appears to be locked to the system BIOS. I bought a Dell system a while back as a backup system and wanted to do a clean install and wipe all the Dell crap off of the hard drive. I played around with it and as long as I used ANY hard drive in the Dell system, I could install the OS no problem. As soon as I took the Dell hard drive out of the system and tried to install the OS on the Dell hard drive in another pc, the backup cd would not let me do it.

It's my guess that it has to be locked to the system BIOS. Not great if you ever plan to upgrade the mobo later on. Then again, you'd have to replace the power supply as well because of Dell's proprietary power plugs on the mobo and power supply.

Now I remember why I will never own a Dell computer.

 

[nagibbs]

I ordered one of these Dell 4550 systems and called their tech support about adding another hard drive later. I was told that there is one additional bay for a hard drive. Hope this helps.

r.gibbbs@insightbb.com

 

[Oakenfold]

For some of you trying to figure out what the deal is with the OS.
I installed XP home on a different hard drive, on a different rig.
Installed with no problems, however I did not activate it.

 

[Thump553]

smolek:

Dell has a practice of ending deals early if they get real hot. Don't count on any expected end date, if you want it get it now.

I'm becoming convinced Dell picked up my credit card limit off the last thing I bought there and is doing its absolute best to FORCE me to max it out.

 

[SoLiDus88]

Anyone ever bought the E772? I need a monitor with this deal and its only 100 more (90 with the 10%).



Also...Can i just swap out hte 30 gig hd and add in my own 120gig and instal my own OS?

 

[k000]

Originally posted by: SoLiDus88
Anyone ever bought the E772? I need a monitor with this deal and its only 100 more (90 with the 10%). Also...Can i just swap out hte 30 gig hd and add in my own 120gig and instal my own OS?

As some people have replied, there is an extra bay for additional hard-drive in the system, so you don't need to swap it, but could add the HD if you want to.