new desktop pc - your opinion please

[stillin1]

Oh knowledgable ones - assistance required please. Is this DimensionTM C521offer from Dell as good as it looks for £329+ VAT and shipping?
AMD AthlonTM 64 X2 dual-core processor 3800+
1024MB DDR2 RAM (533MHz)
160GB SATA Hard Drive (7,200rpm)
16x DVD+/-RW Drive
Graphic Card 256MB PCI Express ATI X1300 Pro
Network Card Integrated 10/100 NIC
19" flat panel analogue monitor
To me, it initially looks like it is , and I am gonna have to upgrade soon. Are there any "must haves" missing?
thanks in anticipation chaps & chappesses:confused:

[IO540]

Looks fine to me.

At that price, don't expect good build quality on anything, but Dell is usually a safe option which I readily recommend to any friend.

The monitor also won't be high quality (decent ones are over £300 alone) but will be OK for anything short of graphics design & such.

[blackace]

Are there any "must haves" missing?

yes there are.

How about the sound card ?

The only problem with dell is that they use crap generic motherboards, on a low end machine its probably not going to make much difference but their mid/high end machines I wouldn't touch for that reason alone. Its a like putting a Ferrari engine on a Lada chassis.

But Dell build quality is OK and their after sales service is very good so for anyone looking for a fairly safe option a Dell is a good choice, I even got my mother to get one.

I myself prefer to get a decent mother board first. How about taking a look at MESH computers, they don't use generic mother boards. I got a high end machine from them and was VERY impressed with it and their after sales service.

Here is a good one with a bit more bite than the dell for about the same price.

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=174269

* AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 3800+ - Socket AM2
* Genuine Windows® Vista Home Basic Edition
* Mini-Tower Micro ATX Case +250W PSU - Black
* ASUS M2NPV-VM ,AM2,Geforce 6150+nForce 430,PCIe,1394,GbE- Micro ATX Mainboard
* 1024MB DDR2 533MHz Memory - (2x512MB)
* 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
* Super Format SONY 18x Dual Layer DVD Writer +R/-R/RW/RAM
* 128MB nVIDIA GeForce 6150 PCI-Express - (onboard - non DVI)
* 5.1 Channel Surround Sound Audio-SoundMAX (on-board)
* BullGuard Internet Security 6.0 -AntiVirus/Firewall/Backup/Spamfilter -90 day trial
* Classic Warranty - 3 Years Back-to-Base - Parts & Labour

[blackace]

woops.
Just noticed the above price doesn't include a monitor, but still look at the MESH site anyway, always best to have alternatives to consider.

Just looking at the dell site i see the graphics card you said came with it is an extra £70 on the price. the card it comes with is a...

Integrated nVidia® GeForce® 6150 LE graphics

It also does have Integrated sound. BUT NO SPEAKERS. that's an extra £20 to £30.

When I run through the system configuration and just leave everything as it should be (included in price) it comes back with a final cost of £447.69

You have to be careful with these FROM prices, they are not always a good indication of the price you will eventually pay. Best to run through the configurator.

[frostbite]

Make sure when you buy Dell that there is everything 'inside the box' that you are likely to need. There are not usually any spare plugs/sockets for later add-ons such as 2nd HD etc.

Also check for unoccupied PCI slots.

[oldbeefer]

would recommend a browse through this forum http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/search/index.cfm?search_forums=1&searchtype=forums&action=dosearch&searchorigin=forums&forumstosearch=2&thecriteria=mesh&submit=GO before buying Mesh

[blackace]

oldbeefer.

doing any search for any maker will turn up similar results, it returned 99 for dell for instance as opposed to the 51 returned for Mesh.

I'm quite happy with my Mesh and my mum is quite happy with her Dell. I have no complaints about customer service from either company. But it is true that the generic mother boards of Dell machines are no where near the quality of a branded product.

Both companies offer good quality systems at good prices. Both also suffer from very noisy complainants. Those who buy systems, from both Dell and Mesh, then have no problems, are in an overwhelming silent majority.

Some wouldn't touch Dell - others wouldn't go near Mesh.

Each to his own.

[oldbeefer]

blackace.

Fair enough, but Mesh do seem to figure more frequently that most in the PCAdvisor forums. We have a large network of Dells where I work and have never had a problem with any of them.

[blackace]

It seems that most complaints about Mesh are about after sales service or delay in delivery.

Dell on the other hand has very good after sales service and most of their complaints are about failures.

I've had personal experience of 2 dell machines going faulty within days of purchase at my office, both were mother board failures. But we only have Dell machines at work so I have nothing to compare that failure rate to.

I suppose most companies these days fall down in one area or another. I would love to find a good PC maker that has a perfect record, but I suppose that's just wishful thinking.

You pays your money and takes your choice I suppose.

[airborne_artist]

I bought a cheapy Dell 1100 13 months ago for £400 with a 15" TFT and XP pro upgrade. It's been superb, for what it is, and well worth it. I'm less sure about their laptops, but the desktops seem OK.

[born2fly_au]

These days i would be going for a digital monitor not an analogue one. Much better picture quality.
born2fly

[IO540]

I don't think a sound card is relevant - one doesn't normally expect hifi from PC sound.

If one wants hifi from a PC, it's no good expecting it from any internal sound card. There is far too much interference inside a PC. You need to get one of those external, usually USB attached, units. I have one here; a 96kHz 24-bit thing from Creative which cost about £150 I think.

I also can't tell any difference in the display quality between analog and digital, on my £400 CTX monitor. But that could just be having a decent video card; I can imagine that with others there might be a difference.

The thing is that for £400 for the lot, one isn't going to be expecting much. A decent reliable PC is about it.

I was very suprised the other day how slow XP pro is with 512MB RAM as opposed to 1GB. A vast difference - on the same machine.

[bladewashout]

I have a Dell 9150 machine with 2 of the 19" analogue Dell monitors on it, and it seems to be fine to me, the images are pretty good.

They only do 1280x1024. Flight simulator looks ok on them.

Never had a digital monitor, so I can't judge by comparison.

BW

[born2fly_au]

you could probably compare it to normal TV and digital TV. Or compare it to watching a movie on you local TV station to the same movie on a DVD or satellite. A much clearer picture. I am not saying an anologue picture is not clear it is just digital is a sharper image.
Allen

[Blues&twos]

It seems that most complaints about Mesh are about after sales service or delay in delivery.


As I have found, unfortunately. Bought a rather good PC from Mesh before Christmas (£1200) with which I have had no problem, an excellent machine in fact. However, some of the extra peripherals have been supplied with installation disks that don't work, a couple of other minor problems and I was forced to drive to the courier's warehouse to pick the thing up after they said they "couldn't find" my house. It's just off a main road and is clearly numbered. Despite this MESH initially refused me a refund for delivery, and when I wouldn't let the matter drop, offered me a £30 voucher. I accepted, and they've never sent it to me.

Their technical support line is of course based abroad and is largely useless if you don't have a run-of-the -mill problem. Their decent premium rate tech helpline costs £1 per min.

As I said though, PC is very good.

[blackace]

digital monitor not an analogue one

I'm confused, what do you define as a digital monitor ?

[Binoculars]

Thanks, blackace, I was wondering the same thing. :confused:

[IO540]

A digital LCD monitor is one connected with a digital connection. It's a different cable; not the usual 15-way subminiature D connector which monitors have had for many years.

[blackace]

So your talking about DVI cables then As all LCD monitors are Digital anyway.

So all we need to do is plug a DVI cable in instead of the 15 way Dsub.

I think most if not all medium to high end video cards have a DVI output and the same goes for monitors.

PS: Ive been using a DVI cable for the last 2 years ;)

[BombayDuck]

on a slight tangent here - but are these newfangled 'digital' cables susceptible to what is supposed to be a DRM issue in the future, ie Windows Vista degrading the video output if your videos are not authorized by the MPAA or whatever?

My (probably inaccurate) knowledge tells me they cannot do the same to analogue monitors like the good old CRT monitor that I've used so far. Is that true?

[Saintsman]

I haven't looked for a bit (and its blocked at work) but I have bought several PCs and laptops from HP on their E-bay site - HP Renew.

Usually discontinued models (it was okay last week then) or stuff that has been returned. All come with a waranty and you can pick up some really cheap PCs.

To be quite honest, 90% of people have a PC that is more than powerful enough for their needs so you don't always need the latest spec. Don't spend money you don't need to if all you are going to do is surf the net and write the odd e-mail.

[blackace]

My (probably inaccurate) knowledge tells me they cannot do the same to analogue monitors like the good old CRT monitor that I've used so far. Is that true?

No its not true.

All signals coming from your PC start off and are processed as digital signals, CRT monitors do not accept this signal as usable so the video card of your PC needs to convert it to an analogue signal it can process, mostly RGB. That's carried by the VGA connector (normal 15 pin D Type) to your monitor.

LCD displays are digital, so if you use the VGA connector the display has to convert this RGB signal back into a digital signal it can use.

Thats where DVI cables come in, they carry he raw digital signal to your LCD monitor. If your PC can output a digital signal and your monitor can read a digital signal why convert it to RGB and then back again.

Microsoft's vista will screw with the digital signal, so it will not be viewable on either LCD or CRT equipment.

[joe2812]

FWIW I had a Dell Insprion 9100 lappy which started overheating then melting interally due to a design fault. After about 20 mins on the phone to Dell I had a brand spanking new Inspiron 9400 with top spec arriving and a few battery thrown in.

They even left it 4 months before asking for me to return the 9100.

I've been quite happy with Dell and both my Dad and sister have Dells on the go at the mo.

[born2fly_au]

That is what i call good customer relations, Good on yah Dell. :D :D :D It is a pity it doesn't happen more often. hope you didn't lose too much data.
Born2fly

[Lancelot37]

I go for Dell every time these days. Had several makes. I buy a new desktop and laptop every two years. I spend about £1,000 on each of them.

Three days ago I spilt a double gin & tonic on the keyboard of my laptop. It went crazy for about two hours, but dried out overnight and now works perfectly.

[blackace]

Three days ago I spilt a double gin & tonic on the keyboard of my laptop. It went crazy for about two hours, but dried out overnight and now works perfectly.

Sounds like my wife.

[BombayDuck]

Microsoft's vista will screw with the digital signal, so it will not be viewable on either LCD or CRT equipment.

ah.

sigh.

Evil, thy name is M$.