Is a Dell worth buying?

[bgruver]

A friend of mine wants a new PC. I put together the cheapest Dell that I could. I went to Dell b/c of the name brand. Are there other options available and if so what are they? Could someone give me feedback on this system? And is it worth bumping up to a P3 1000 from an 800 Celeron for $50? She will be using the PC mainly for singing on the chat rooms and possibly recording her voice onto the hardrive.

Here is the system:

Dimension L Series MicroTower (Required): Dimension® L Series Intel® Celeron Processor at 800 MHz

Memory: Special Offer! 128MB SDRAM for the Price of 64MB
Keyboard: QuietKey® Keyboard
Monitor: 17 in (16.0 in viewable,.28dp)E770
Video Card: Intel 3D AGP Graphics
Hard Drive: 20GB Value Hard Drive 20SL
Floppy Drive: 3.5 in Floppy Drive
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 98 Second Edition W982
Mouse: MS IntelliMouse®
Network Card: 10/100 PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
CD ROM/CD-RW: 48X Max Variable CD-ROM
Sound Card: SB Live! Value Digital
Speakers: Altec Lansing ACS-340 Speakers with Subwoofer

 

[neuralfx]

well... normally i would be the geek that says build it yourself... but if thats all she is using it for and, your getting a good deal.. which i hope you're not payin much for, then i guess its ok.. yes its worth the extra 50$ to go from a celery to a P3... as far as that "special memory deal" that it states in the add.. i mean 128 is like 30$ anyway... like i said, for that system, i hope you're not paying too much for it.. my 2cents...
-neural

 

[SXMP]

Ok, my 2 cents:

Depending on your computer savyness, why not just go ahead and build the computer yourself. Its a great learning experiance, and the money you save from building yourself, you can keep for profit! (Hehe, if you won't do it, I WILL!)
Otherwise if you're stuck on Dell, DEFINATLEY pay the extra $50 for the PIII 1GHz.

 

[TheLizardMan]

I will shadow what these guys have said and BUILD YOUR COMPUTER. When you buy $1000+ of computer parts and have no computer, but parts... YOU WILL FIND A WAY TO PUT IT TOGETHER

or if worse comes to worse get a dell or micron. gateway, Compaq and all the other brands suck more then dell or micron.

 

[TheLizardMan]

Ahhh!!! also at least get a geforce2 card. the mx version sucks and the gts/pro versions and nice. Get one of them.

 

[Wingznut]

I wouldn't build a PC for her. Mostly because of tech support. She doesn't sound like she's very PC saavy, and will be calling you if there's something that she doesn't understand, or doesn't work right, or whatever.

I believe right now Dell has a free upgrade to a CD-RW. Be sure you ask about that.

Make sure the hard drive is a 7200rpm unit. Otherwise that system should suit her just fine, if she's not a gamer.

 

[mithrandir2001]

How much is that Dell system?

I can tell you that 80%+ will tell you to build your own. That's the normal song and dance you get for any buy-or-build question. Since you are helping out a friend, forget building it...you will become the tech support contact for that individual. Leave that stuff to Dell, or at least, use them to fall back on.

For $50, I'd opt for the P3 1000 over the Celeron 800. The Celeron is plenty for her, but $50 is not much for about 30-35% more CPU horsepower.

 

[bgruver]

The price for the Dell as listed was $779 with free shipping. With the PIII it's $850.

I could build one for her but then she won't get the software and such. I built my last system and loved every bit of it. I don't know if I'd be able to put together a system for about $800 dollars shipped. What does everyone think?

I'm not too worried about supporting her b/c it's my future sister-in-law.

Regards,
BG

 

[Kingofcomputer]

yes.
dell 4100 P3 1G without mon is a good deal.
8100 P4 1.5G without mon is also a good deal.
Dimension L is not a good deal.

 

[Zepper]

Dell generally makes good boxes so I echo most others. However I note that she is very into music. You may want to upgrade the sound card. A lot better than the integrated can be had for around $20. (Yamaha, CMI, ESS based).
.bh.

 

[MWink]

Let me just say that Dell's "legendary support" is just a myth. They have horrible support and screwed me big time. I will NEVER buy from/recommend Dell again.