Dell Computers

[breezer]

I used to make pc's for frinds etc (to their requirements) now i do not bother as even pc world are selling them cheap.

its actually easy to do:

case, mobo, processor / fan, memory cd/dvd drive, 3 1/2 floppy
mobo has onboard graphics/ sound all done, but then you have to buy the o/s that cost the most

 

[2scoops0406]

I mean £369 Inc vat plus delivery for

Processor
Intel® Celeron® D Processor 330 (2.66GHz, 533fsb, 256k cache)

Operating system
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

Memory
256MB DDR RAM

Monitor
17" CRT Colour Monitor (15.9" v.i.s 0.28 dot pitch)

Hard Drive
80GB Hard Drive (Was 40GB Hard Drive)

Optical Drive
48x CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive

Graphic Card
Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics

Speakers
Dell Stereo Speakers

Ok it's not the finest components in the world, but there is no way an individual could create a similar spec'ed legal PC for this, the OS alone costs about £90.

Mind you looking at the machine more closely, apart from surf the Internet, you can't really do much with it it you don't already own some additional software

 

[breezer]

enough said

 

[wickerman]

OK point taken, but stuff Dell, you are treated like dirt, especially when i asked for my money back, impossible, they have you by the short and curlys, as they say they dont sell ready made pc, every one is made for the individuel who orders it, legally they have you. Also the last time i needed technical support, they had moved to India i think, and i couldnt understand a word he was saying, and i dont think my Brummie accent helped either. All i can say is avoid Dell. Oh yeah just remembered when the delivery driver came to pick up my faulty pc the day after he dropped it off, he had 4 others on the back of his van, and his exact words were " i bring em and i take em back "

 

[pipme]

.......... i bring em and i take em back "

In case you thought he repaired them too !!

Down the years friends have bought systems which were in vogue ... some were happy .. some not, the 'nots' were invariably displeased with the service provided when things went wrong .. the 'happys' believed their unbroken m/c's were the finest on a desk ....

P

 

[andy*1975*]

I bought a Dell laptop (an Inspiron 8600)

i ordered the same, and they delivered two!! ..i love dell!!..

hi all im andy, nice forums.

the inspiron 8600 is indeed a good peice of kit. The screen is outstanding, and ive replaced the obligitory 512 ddr 333 ( 2x256 ) with 1gb ( 2x512 ) ddr 400. With the first 7200rpm HDD released in laptops ( at the time ), these things go like like sh*t off the prverbial shovel.

As for desktops, dell suck. Get off your backsides and build your own! you know you want to!

now, back to ordering the new sony vaio, or is it to be the new acer ferrari??

 

[petewood]

I bought a dell inspiron laptop 1 yr ago. The price was good and the computer is excellent. I didn't go for the dell printer as I couldn't find compatible (non-manufacturers) cartridges for it.

I have tried refilling cartridges in the past but it is fiddly, a bit messy and doesn't always work very well. If the cartridges are chipped I think the printer will refuse to use them after you have refilled them as it will think they are empty.

I now have an epson all in one printer and buy compatible cartridges which are about £5 each instead of about £17. If I knew then what I know now I would have bought a printer that uses unchipped cartridges because when the printer thinks they are empty and you know there is plenty of ink left in them you can just take them out and put them back in again and the printer thinks it is a new cartridge.

 

[andy*1975*]

I mean £369 Inc vat plus delivery for

Processor
Intel® Celeron® D Processor 330 (2.66GHz, 533fsb, 256k cache)

Operating system
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

Memory
256MB DDR RAM

Monitor
17" CRT Colour Monitor (15.9" v.i.s 0.28 dot pitch)

Hard Drive
80GB Hard Drive (Was 40GB Hard Drive)

Optical Drive
48x CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive

Graphic Card
Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics

Speakers
Dell Stereo Speakers

Ok it's not the finest components in the world, but there is no way an individual could create a similar spec'ed legal PC for this, the OS alone costs about £90.

Mind you looking at the machine more closely, apart from surf the Internet, you can't really do much with it it you don't already own some additional software

sorry to say thats naff fella, ebuyer prices from last month

winxp home - £45
17 inch CRT - £50
case - £10
mobo ( as used in cheap pc world systems ) - £25
ram - £28
processor ( well im not even bothering quoting celeron prices as they are so bad ) - Athlon xp2800 - £48
80gb HDD - £38
8xDVD burner - £30
floppy - £5
wireless optical mouse - £10
wireless RF keyboard - £12

total= £301 for a much better LEGAL system

so for the extra 60 quid you would spend on a crap pc world box you could buy a semi decent graphics card like a 9600 or 5700 and have a system that would burn dvd's, play games AND browse the internet..

 

[2scoops0406]

I mean £369 Inc vat plus delivery for

Processor
Intel® Celeron® D Processor 330 (2.66GHz, 533fsb, 256k cache)

Operating system
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

Memory
256MB DDR RAM

Monitor
17" CRT Colour Monitor (15.9" v.i.s 0.28 dot pitch)

Hard Drive
80GB Hard Drive (Was 40GB Hard Drive)

Optical Drive
48x CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive

Graphic Card
Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics

Speakers
Dell Stereo Speakers

Ok it's not the finest components in the world, but there is no way an individual could create a similar spec'ed legal PC for this, the OS alone costs about £90.

Mind you looking at the machine more closely, apart from surf the Internet, you can't really do much with it it you don't already own some additional software

sorry to say thats naff fella, ebuyer prices from last month

winxp home - £45
17 inch CRT - £50
case - £10
mobo ( as used in cheap pc world systems ) - £25
ram - £28
processor ( well im not even bothering quoting celeron prices as they are so bad ) - Athlon xp2800 - £48
80gb HDD - £38
8xDVD burner - £30
floppy - £5
wireless optical mouse - £10
wireless RF keyboard - £12

total= £301 for a much better LEGAL system

so for the extra 60 quid you would spend on a rubbish pc world box you could buy a semi decent graphics card like a 9600 or 5700 and have a system that would burn dvd's, play games AND browse the internet..

This of course all goes together straight away with no problems, and comes with a 1 year warranty, and is still true 4 months after the original post. You still have no sound, possibly have not added VAT and / or delivery

You can also browse the Internet with the original PC, ISP subscription notwithstanding, and play games (with sound), if that is your thing.

Oh, and this is not a PC world spec PC, as per the subject of the post.

Sorry, also, you need a PSU, unless suplied with the Case. All the interconnects, unless supplied. Oh, and some speakers unless supplied with the currently non existant sound card. Sorry, pal, not entirely convinced.

 

[Igorian]

Ebuyer is a good supplier in general. We buy a lot of stuff from them because their retail prices are better than most of our trade suppliers. Their returns policy is as you would expect, but if you make big regular orders, they seem to jump a bit quicker. Not had many bad parts from them either, but we tend to use components at the quality end of the market

I priced up a budget system based on Eds spec and to a similar quality as a Dell and got it to £340 inc VAT & delivery. I would prefer 512MB because the integrated graphics will eat 64-128MB of that and running XP with less than 256MB of RAM is not too good.

I think in general, Mr & Mrs average PC user are blinded by manufacturer specifications and lack the knowledge to ask the appropriate questions before buying.

IMHO, I think that 'cheap' in the computer world doesn't always equate to value.

 

[andy*1975*]

eddie,

first off,

A 300 quid pc world box will not have an audigy in it..

The system i quoted ( with a 25 quid mobo ) would have onboard sound, as would the pc world box. Onboard sound these days is totally acceptable, and as thats what nearly all pc world computers use we will go with that.

secondly,

speakers, well you got me there. OK, so add £5 to the price i quoted, for a set of naff speakers ( you aint getting no creative DTS set up on the pc world box.. )

thirdly,

the price i quoted comes with all connections. The supplied case comes with either 300 or 350 watt PSU.

So really apart from the 5 quids worth of speakers, refer to my previous quote..!!

oh, and as for their 'service'..hahaha you must be having a laff. Half of my customers with broken comps have bought boxes or have taken boxes to those muppets. And as for their 'warranty' hahahaha.

No thanks.

If anyone has a little patience, time to take an hour learning what to do, build your own. All parts legally have a years warranty anyway, and some longer.

Andy

 

[andy*1975*]

I would prefer 512MB because the integrated graphics will eat 64-128MB of that and running XP with less than 256MB of RAM is not too good.

agreed, the one thing ill always recommend is 512 ram. Especially using onboard graphics.

IMHO, I think that 'cheap' in the computer world doesn't always equate to value.

thats why i think its quite important to know whats going inside your box. It annoys me seeing an xp3000 for example coupled to a 15quid pc chips board!

 

[2scoops0406]

And the OS comes from ? Oh, sorry, you included that

Still, you have to remember the original post is 3 months old. Also I'd add that you have to build the machine from the parts that you have bought. Did you include VAT plus delivery on the quotes ?

OK, reasonable point about the 1 year warranty, I know it's not worth the paper it's written on.

I still think for simplicity and ease, that you can't beat a "shed" PC.

Also had a quick look on ebuyer, I think the prices you have quoted are ex VAT. Couldn't find the case for £10, all the ones I saw were £10.99 ex VAT, no PSU.

 

[pipme]

A satisfied Dell Customer.

Am about to give away my Dell 1996 p120t desktop ... 48Mb ram, 2 HDD's, CD and floppy drive. 15" monitor ... running Win95, includes all manuals, and original CD's inc. MS Ofiice Pro '95.
While collecting the paper work together I was amazed to note that I bought it in May 1996 yep, 1996 .... £1778 !!! This was not their top of the range model, but far from bottom .... I added the extra 32Mb memory and the second, larger WD HDD down the years ... everything else is totally original, runs perfectly ok, the Harmann Kardon speakers are fine ... The time remains correct --- This machine has been well used, I think the decision to buy other than cheapo, if possible, sits on the table now !!
That is why I bought again from Dell in 2000, again near top of range, that mc is current ... Updated mem .. several peripherals, some USB... all running very well --- never reinstalled Win98se -- do use Norton utils to keep system in shape ... very satisfied.
I recently inherited virtually the same model, came with sub woofer but dead HDD, it is now running sweetly new WDCaviar HDD plus extra 256Mb mem. ... total cost £90.

So folks if you own a Dell and have been a little concerned with the flavour of posts ... perhaps this may redress the balance a little !!
P

 

[2scoops0406]

A satisfied Dell Customer.

Am about to give away my Dell 1996 p120t desktop ... 48Mb ram, 2 HDD's, CD and floppy drive. 15" monitor ... running Win95, includes all manuals, and original CD's inc. MS Ofiice Pro '95.
While collecting the paper work together I was amazed to note that I bought it in May 1996 yep, 1996 .... £1778 !!! This was not their top of the range model, but far from bottom .... I added the extra 32Mb memory and the second, larger WD HDD down the years ... everything else is totally original, runs perfectly ok, the Harmann Kardon speakers are fine ... The time remains correct --- This machine has been well used, I think the decision to buy other than cheapo, if possible, sits on the table now !!
That is why I bought again from Dell in 2000, again near top of range, that mc is current ... Updated mem .. several peripherals, some USB... all running very well --- never reinstalled Win98se -- do use Norton utils to keep system in shape ... very satisfied.
I recently inherited virtually the same model, came with sub woofer but dead HDD, it is now running sweetly new WDCaviar HDD plus extra 256Mb mem. ... total cost £90.

So folks if you own a Dell and have been a little concerned with the flavour of posts ... perhaps this may redress the balance a little !!
P

A Dell dimension XPS P120C(T?) unless I'm mistaken. I have one in the loft if you ever need any spares! Plus all the manuals!