First time buyer needs advice!

[curiousabout]

Greetings, everyone. I've been researching for months, and I'm finally ready to buy a desktop to replace the dinosaur I've been using for the last (mumble, mumble) years. A USED dinosaur at that. Anyway, I want it primarily for online gaming, and probably digital editing. My interests are sure to expand once I have a capable system. Here's what I've been looking at:

Dell XPS 720 -Black

CPU- Intel core 2 Q6600 quad core (8mb L2 cache, 2.4 ghz, 1066 fsb)
OS- Windows XP Media Center 2005 w/ reinstall cd
Mem- 2 gb Corsair Dominator DDR2 SDRAM 800 mhz (factory oc'd to 1066 mhz)
HD- 500 gb Seagate 7200 rpm, SATA 3.0 gb/s, 16mb cache
Vid- 768 mb Nvidea GeForce 8800 GTX, SLI enabled
Optical- d16x cd/dvd burner (dvd+/-rw), w/ double layer write (included)
Monitor- 20 inch Ultrasharp 2007WFP (included)
Sound- Soundblaster Xtreme Music Sound Card (included)
--13 in 1 Mediacard Reader
--Dell AIO 926 printer
--Dell A525 30 watt 2.1 speakers w/ subwoofer
--3 yr in home service/parts/labor, 24/7 phone with US based XPS specialized support
Keyboard, mouse, and McAfee for 15 months included.

This config totals $2,968.00. Now I know I could spend much less if I built it myself, but I just don't have that kind of confidence. I'm pretty new to all this stuff. Does this sound like it would be a good (if expensive) investment? I would like to keep it around for as long as possible! I'm also considering upgrading to the 24" monitor... Any input at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[Fraggable]

Besides the fact that you'll pay nearly double what you could build it for yourself, nope, looks good to me. I'd go with Vista Home Premium and 4GB of RAM if it were me, but I know some people just aren't going to go with Vista until SP1, which makes no sense to me since there are no major known issues with Vista in the first place - at least for home users.

You can always post in the general hardware forum with a list of parts you want and we'll all make sure your stuff is compatible and help you build it. I hate to see people spend money with Dell, their service just stinks.

 

[curiousabout]

Thank you for your response, Fraggable. I would prefer to go with Vista, actually, but I have read and heard from a number of people about incompatability issues with current games. I'm still looking into that.

I would enjoy building my own computer someday, but I have waaaay too much to learn before I could feel comfortable doing that. I'm looking forward to learning, but it will definately take quite a while, and I have very little free time now. The forums at this site will absolutely help me along, though. You guys (and ladies, of course) really know your stuff, and seem to be genuinely helpful (I'm even new to message boards- seriously, I have so much to learn!). Its very much appreciated.

Concerning Dell's service: I have recently read some good things about their new XPS specialized service, but of course, time will tell.

I probably will go with 4 GB of ram...

So you think the 500GB HD is a good size for non-hardcore use? What about a smaller (150GB), faster (10,000rpm) drive? My sense is that the faster speed is not going to make a huge difference for most gaming, or average use. Correct?

This system comes with a 750w power supply. Should be fine?

One last thing. Any thoughts on 20" versus the 24" Dell widescreen? My impression is that a good result on a larger screen is basically limited by the graphics card (and the GTX should have no prob with that). Is that right?

Thanks again, I really do appreciate the feedback.

 

[Daleon]

$3k, ouch... I see about $2k worth of parts there. The 3 year warranty and XPS support is costing you the extra $1k. If your not comfortable with building and replacing components yourself then its probably worth it.

As for HD's... its really nice if could get a 150gb raptor 10k rpm for your OS drive. Then a larger drive for your storage needs. Its not a huge thing but its nice if you have the option to wipe your OS drive without loosing all your movies, music, etc everytime or without having to back it all up on an external or burn it.

As for monitor, the 2407 is better. period. Obviously costs more though.

Power should be fine.