ughh, configuring a Dell is a pita

[DrPizza]

Missed out on a decent deal earlier today. Wife is trigger happy on getting a new computer. I figure I'm better off selecting something rather than her purchasing something while I'm at work.

Right now, I'm trying to make a decision between going with a 19 inch analog flat (E197FP), or upgrading to a 20 inch widescreen digital flat (E207WFP for $50), or a 22in digital widescreen flat (E228WFP for $120) or 19inch ultrasharp 1907FP for $70.
I've been comparing prices (namely, ebay), and the price of the upgrade for the 22in is about the same as the difference in price on ebay between the 19 analog flat that's included. I couldn't find any decent reviews. Anyone here have an opinion?

Also, the model I'm looking at pretty much limits me to Vista Home Basic; no upgrade available to Vista Premium, although I can pay $199 for Vista uber-ultimate (worth it?! I'm thinking not.) I've done zero research on Vista (and would be perfectly satisfied with win98 as far as that goes; XP would also be fine. The OS really doesn't matter that much to me) But, I don't know what the limitations of Home Basic are... am I going to be crippled?

Help, tips, or a point towards a hot deal would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BigJ]

Missed out on the E521 deal eh?

According to SlickDeals, if you call up and ask about it, you may be able to still get the deal.

 

[pulse8]

Get the 20" widescreen.

 

[Brainonska511]

What model are you looking at?

 

[Dr. Detroit]

I'm not a gamer, use my Dell for surfing and burning DVD's. Downloading lots of musics, pics, and vids. Some word processing as well.

My Analog 19" Dell moniotr is fine for my needs. Coming from a 17" CRT this thing is HUGE!!!

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Call them and order - they always have room to work on the pricing for you, they call it an "internal special" that they're running or whatever, but the fact is that they are in sales and can adjust pricing to convince you to buy one.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: BigJ
Missed out on the E521 deal eh?

According to SlickDeals, if you call up and ask about it, you may be able to still get the deal.

Yep, that's the deal I missed. I'm configuring an E521 at the moment..
Components
AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+
Genuine Windows Vista? Home Basic
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache?
16x DVD+/-RW Drive
19 inch E197FP Analog Flat Panel
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

Right now, it's at $569, pending the monitor decision. Plus, I've gotta add in a modem. (I *HATE* dial-up. The only thing available is satelite, and I finally decided to bite the bullet. After 3 months of no installers within 100 miles of me, suddenly there were installers. A week later, I made the decision to go ahead and get satelite... "Sorry, that area of the satelite is full... we just launched another satelite; maybe in the next couple of months.")

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: BigJ
Missed out on the E521 deal eh?

According to SlickDeals, if you call up and ask about it, you may be able to still get the deal.

Yep, that's the deal I missed. I'm configuring an E521 at the moment..
Components
AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+
Genuine Windows Vista? Home Basic
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache?
16x DVD+/-RW Drive
19 inch E197FP Analog Flat Panel
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

Right now, it's at $569, pending the monitor decision. Plus, I've gotta add in a modem. (I *HATE* dial-up. The only thing available is satelite, and I finally decided to bite the bullet. After 3 months of no installers within 100 miles of me, suddenly there were installers. A week later, I made the decision to go ahead and get satelite... "Sorry, that area of the satelite is full... we just launched another satelite; maybe in the next couple of months.")

If you don't mind Windows Media Center 2005 and no monitor, there's a decent deal in the Dell Outlet for an E520:

Dimension E520 Small Mini-Tower: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6300 (1.86GHz, 1066 FSB)Media Bay
2 GB DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM 533MHz (2 DIMMs)
160 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)Video
256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCacheModem
56K DataFax Modem
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capabilityHardware Upgrade
Dell Optical USB 2-button Mouse
1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support

It's $569, Certified Refurbished (all the ones I've bought from them look brand new) and Vista Ready.

If you can, I'd wait to see what becomes available over the next few days in the Outlet.

 

[sao123]

Vista Version Comparison

About the only thing I can think of youll miss with vista home basic is remote desktop if you access your work pc via terminal services.

You dont get the aero experience either.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Get the list of what you want together and order it over the phone, chances are that you can score some kind of discount.

I've had luck each time doing this... got close to 15% off on my laptop after the deals that were already going on.

 

[KeyserSoze]

I can't really offer much help in terms of configuring your machine - but here is a very nifty program to use once you get your machine!

PC DeCrapifier





KS

 

[Spacehead]

You can find some good deals here occasionally, as well as the Dell Outlet as mentioned before.

 

[DrPizza]

Thanks, KS... When my school replaced their computers this summer, I recommended that program to them...

By the looks of things on my new computer this fall, they *finally* listened to my recommendation. I didn't have to go through and get rid of dozens of things running in the background that are never used.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Thanks, KS... When my school replaced their computers this summer, I recommended that program to them...

By the looks of things on my new computer this fall, they *finally* listened to my recommendation. I didn't have to go through and get rid of dozens of things running in the background that are never used.

Your school doesn't do a complete wipe and then image all computers?

 

[DrPizza]

In the past, they apparently just simply installed the software they had licenses for on one of the computers, then used an image of that computer on the rest. They never cleaned up what was on the computer before they started. Thus, every computer still had the AOL crap, the realplayer icon blinking in the systray until you did something about it, tons of printer monitoring software that was needless, etc. Since they also didn't have a ton of extra RAM, the net effect was to slow them down, at least to the point where my cleaned up computer was noticeably faster (VERY noticeably) from another teacher's computer across the room; otherwise identical configurations.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Spacehead
You can find some good deals here occasionally, as well as the Dell Outlet as mentioned before.

Thanks, but I'm striking out with that site... seems that every link that goes back to Dell is bad... at least for me. I might have something blocking stuff though.

 

[DrPizza]

"Wife is trigger happy on getting a new computer. I figure I'm better off selecting something rather than her purchasing something while I'm at work."


Found this in Dell Outlet,
Good, Bad, Ugly?

Dimension E521
(System Identifier: FX94RG07)

* Dimension E521 Small Mini-Tower: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0GHz)
* Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005

System Price : $429.00

Operating System
Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005Memory
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz (2 DIMMs)Hard Disk Drive
160 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)Certified Refurbished
Certified RefurbishedBase
Dimension E521 Small Mini-Tower: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0GHz)Media Bay
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capabilityHardware Upgrade
Dell Optical USB 2-button Mouse

The Wife....

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
"Wife is trigger happy on getting a new computer. I figure I'm better off selecting something rather than her purchasing something while I'm at work."


Found this in Dell Outlet,
Good, Bad, Ugly?

Dimension E521
(System Identifier: FX94RG07)

* Dimension E521 Small Mini-Tower: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0GHz)
* Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005

System Price : $429.00

Operating System
Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005Memory
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz (2 DIMMs)Hard Disk Drive
160 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)Certified Refurbished
Certified RefurbishedBase
Dimension E521 Small Mini-Tower: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0GHz)Media Bay
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capabilityHardware Upgrade
Dell Optical USB 2-button Mouse

The Wife....

for $399 you can get

Components
AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+
Genuine Windows Vista? Home Basic
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache?
16X DVD ROM Drive
No Monitor
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

thats new

no dvd-R of any type, but the nvidia integrated video is better, and you get 7.1 surround sound. found this at a couple of places and they say you get free shipping. buy a DVD burner after the fact if you need it.

$579 with 19" monitor

 

[RossMAN]

Brand new Dell Dimension E521 for $399
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=445787

There is nothing wrong with Dell outlet systems assuming you get a very hot deal