what am i getting myself into? my aunt gave me a goal of purchasing her a $500 desktop and i found a great deal on a dell. my only questions are, how reliable are they?, can i add a videocard in the dell vostro 200 (slim)? here's the deal if anyone needs a decent cheap desktop. includes free next day shipping. Vostro 200 Slim Tower for $449 E-Value code 65029-BRPCS0F You save $330 and get free next business day delivery ($109 discount). Intel® Core™2 Duo Proc E4500 (2.20GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800FSB) Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic or Windows XP Home (Can upgrade to Vista Premium for $29) 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz - 2DIMMs Dell 19 inch Widescreen E198WFP Analog Flat Panel Monitor Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ Single Drive: 16X (DVD+/-RW) Burner Drive Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Its a pretty good deal since you are getting the 19' LCD with it also. I have seen some similar deals like this one on Fatwallet: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=18&threadid=788117 I personally have 5 Dell desktops (don't ask me what I do with all of them), and they have never given me a problem. The only one that went bad on me was a Dell SC 430 Server I bought for $250 a few years ago. It went bad after 3 years. Nowadays, its cheaper for me just to buy a new computer from Dell, than upgrade an old one. Dell has the best mix of quality and cost efficiency these days.
how do i cancel my order? i found a even better deal for the same price. instead of 1 gig of ram, i can get 2 gigs.
Canceling is a pain with Dell once you have placed the order. You will most likely have to call them. Most other places you can cancel via email.
That's a great deal. Even better than the one I purchased for my aunt. Too bad her budget is only $500, the extra $150 could net her that computer.
this is a difficult situation for me. i build computers, but she doesn't want a custom computer. she wants one from a factory..... the warranty would put her over the $500 limit she's set to spend. for the extra money invested in the warranty, i could build a computer with higher quality for less. she's just very cheap and hopefully her dell won't break down on her in a year or two because i'm going to be the scape goat.
If you're looking to stick a video card in a so-so desktop, especially from big brand companies, dont. Their PSU(power supply) does not meet the demand of the modern video cards, even a below average video card (typically around $150) will require at least 400watts and enough amps on your v12 rails. and the Dell slim case design will not let you fit in a normal ATX(or ATX2 not sure) PSU. let alone a video card, it'll burn get hot without proper cooling, which the slim designs does not offer. I am a casual PC gamer myself, and i just want to give you a heads up before making such purchase never purchased a dell for home use, so i cannot comment on their reliability
i have a old x800xl i was planning on throwing in for her. this would be leaps and bounds above the igp. i believe the budget/200 series include a 300 watt ps which i think is sufficient for this video card. ive never cracked open a slim, so im not sure if there's room for the video card. if it fits, i'll make it work. if it breaks, i'll call dell, haha.
I build 'em too, but unless you're building a gaming rig, you might as well get a factory setup. If you're handy with computers, she may not need a warranty...but I can tell you from experience that these are the most common parts that go out on Dells: 1. Hard Drive 2. Power Supply (proprietary) 3. Motherboard (proprietary) So you're going to have to spend money, probably on ebay, if 2 or 3 go out.
