Here is a message I submitted to CNET in response to a review of the Dell Dimension 4100. Am I alone thinking that OEMs are the worst computing solutions on the face of the earth? Who are these people that call themselves enthusiast and buy OEMs? Read the response, and let me know if I am alone.
<< I was much like most people on this board, clueless towards computers. Many people here boast about their specs and how their systems screams, etc. However, in a year, when you have to upgrade this machine. You'll be shaking your heads and wishing you went with a mom and pop shop or built your own machine. Heed my warning: ALL OEMs are bad. I've owned two in the past couple of years and they all have the same problems: integrated parts, limited expansion, poor support a year down the line when they release new models, and pitiful performance when compared to PCs who are custom built by their owners or local computer shops. Customization and Configuring your system are two different things, you are not customizing your system on DELL.com your simply choosing from products they have already selected to be cost-effective for them. Those cases that DELL ships are horrible, and you'll see why come expansion or upgrade time. You'll also notice how support suddenly fades away when Dell is completely on the Pentium 4 bandwagon. Speaking of the Pentium 4, did you know that AMD offers a 1.2Ghz Athlon that is more than $400 less and matches or BEATS the Pentium 4 during benchmark tests. Yet, Dell doesn't want to offer AMD processors. Moreover, the PC133 RAM that Athlon requires is cheaper than Rambus DRAM and offers comparable performance. Do you have any idea the brand HD? RAM? "Its 7200RPM, and has 40GB it doesn't matter!" WRONG! There is a siginificant performance difference between brands, and FYI accept nothing else than an IBM Deskstar 75GXP. Do you know the CAS rating on those DELL RAMs? "It doesn't matter I have 256MB" WRONG! Again, you want CAS2, but knowing DELL they ship CAS3. Same goes with the graphics card, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc. The brands represent quality, something that is lacking in OEM parts. My advice: build your own PC or get one custom built at a reputable local computer shop, and don't call yourself an enthusiast if your buying OEMs -- that just proves you don't enough about computers because if you did you wouldn't go the OEM route. Check out independent hardware sites on the internet (i.e. anandtech.com, sharkyextreme.com) for starters and learn something about computers before you buy. Commercial sites like these will never reveal the flaws of OEMs, and fool consumers into buying one. I would know, I listened to these commercial sites and magazines and got burned twice from two different OEMs. I got nothing against OEMs, but from what I've experienced and learned, you will go wrong with them. You can flame me if you want or heed my advice, either way, OEMs are still awful computing solutions. >>
<< I was much like most people on this board, clueless towards computers. Many people here boast about their specs and how their systems screams, etc. However, in a year, when you have to upgrade this machine. You'll be shaking your heads and wishing you went with a mom and pop shop or built your own machine. Heed my warning: ALL OEMs are bad. I've owned two in the past couple of years and they all have the same problems: integrated parts, limited expansion, poor support a year down the line when they release new models, and pitiful performance when compared to PCs who are custom built by their owners or local computer shops. Customization and Configuring your system are two different things, you are not customizing your system on DELL.com your simply choosing from products they have already selected to be cost-effective for them. Those cases that DELL ships are horrible, and you'll see why come expansion or upgrade time. You'll also notice how support suddenly fades away when Dell is completely on the Pentium 4 bandwagon. Speaking of the Pentium 4, did you know that AMD offers a 1.2Ghz Athlon that is more than $400 less and matches or BEATS the Pentium 4 during benchmark tests. Yet, Dell doesn't want to offer AMD processors. Moreover, the PC133 RAM that Athlon requires is cheaper than Rambus DRAM and offers comparable performance. Do you have any idea the brand HD? RAM? "Its 7200RPM, and has 40GB it doesn't matter!" WRONG! There is a siginificant performance difference between brands, and FYI accept nothing else than an IBM Deskstar 75GXP. Do you know the CAS rating on those DELL RAMs? "It doesn't matter I have 256MB" WRONG! Again, you want CAS2, but knowing DELL they ship CAS3. Same goes with the graphics card, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc. The brands represent quality, something that is lacking in OEM parts. My advice: build your own PC or get one custom built at a reputable local computer shop, and don't call yourself an enthusiast if your buying OEMs -- that just proves you don't enough about computers because if you did you wouldn't go the OEM route. Check out independent hardware sites on the internet (i.e. anandtech.com, sharkyextreme.com) for starters and learn something about computers before you buy. Commercial sites like these will never reveal the flaws of OEMs, and fool consumers into buying one. I would know, I listened to these commercial sites and magazines and got burned twice from two different OEMs. I got nothing against OEMs, but from what I've experienced and learned, you will go wrong with them. You can flame me if you want or heed my advice, either way, OEMs are still awful computing solutions. >>
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