Dell computers

[TraD_MaN]

What's the specs of your current comp? could be cheaper just to slap some more ram in it

i have no idear what the specs are, its like 3 years old thats all i know :slap:

man i never knew these dells where so bad? looks like ill be going custom. ill go into the PC shop in town where we got this computer from and see what they can do for us.

[idb]

i have no idear what the specs are, its like 3 years old thats all i know :slap:

man i never knew these dells where so bad? looks like ill be going custom. ill go into the PC shop in town where we got this computer from and see what they can do for us.

I'm no expert, all I can say is that I've had one for about three years with no probs at all.
Photoshop, AutoCAD plus scanner, CD writer (time for a DVD writer as well) etc.
Get the best specced machine you can afford and it'll last you longer.

[N4CR]

I will reccomend these guys: www.computerlounge.co.nz

Good white guys who understand what you want and tailor to your specs (not just the pre-built stuff on the site). They dont muck you around and get the job done properly. A few of the chinese places are rather dodgy, from experience...

I wouldn't touch anything dull/hp/comcrap whatever, custom is the way to go - none of this OEM 'gotta get the right parts or you got no warranty' bullshit.

Laptops are... as said.. another story though.

[Marmoot]

A few of the chinese places are rather dodgy, from experience...

Yes. Definitely get someone you trust that can speak the lingo.
Plus, the discount is more. And also more if you pay cash. Mention it to the seller before you ask for the final price.

[N4CR]

Yes. Definitely get someone you trust that can speak the lingo.
Plus, the discount is more. And also more if you pay cash. Mention it to the seller before you ask for the final price.

Dunno if ya taking the piss or not, but I really prefer talking to some guys who actually know what they are talking about rather than getting fobbed around by someone who can't even help you. Not to mention various RMA return horror stories I read with faulty products that went down the drain when it got to the shop. There are some great chinese places, but they are rather rare to come across.

I'm recomending computerlounge out of experience. ascent.co.nz is good but if you want somethign custom and made for you they can't do it.

[Mooch]

Most of the home users I know of that have brought Dell have been happy.
Performance wise they are fine. I'd also say that of all the desktop brands used in the last 11 years the Dell's have been the most reliable (We buy several 1000 PC's at a time). Laptops are a different kettle of fish.
Spec wise the Dell's components are well matched and more importantly the drivers are normally well sorted. Looking at the spec your after I'd change it's Ram memory to 1 gig as the video card is using shared memory. The dual layer DVD burner will be excellent for backing up your photos.250g 7200 RPM disk is good as well with plenty of storage.

You can go down the custom PC for a bit more go , but unless your into gaming or video rendering I believe the support issues aren't worth it unless you know what your doing. Don't forget to get a surge protector for the mains power. Hopefully everyone hasn't confused you with there opinions.

[kro]

Dell's do represent good value for money, but be warned, if you are going to use photoshop and other graphical editing software, that the major downfall of a Dell, is typically they have no graphics cards in them, and share around 64 meg of their meagre 256mb of memory (RAM), with the onboard graphics system.

This will tax the PC heavily when using Photoshop, trust me on this, I know. If you want a PC with a warranty, then buy thru Harvery Normans/Noel Leeming/Dell, but be prepared to pay up to 6 times the nett worth of the components if buying from a department store.

I build PC's on the side, and have yet to have one crap out on a client. I am currently building one for a workmate, that is costing her 750.00 and will eat anything Dell has to offer, by a large margin. For the love of Jiminy Cricket, don't ever buy a Compaq (if they still exist).

[DMNTD:Me]

I had my last PC built by Able Business Machines down in Wellington. Great service and got a LOT for my money. Recommend them

[Marmoot]

Dunno if ya taking the piss or not

Not taking the piss. That was a serious suggestion.

Good stuffs are there in sealed boxes. You just need to talk in a same language.

Another suggestion is to buy them in sealed boxes and assemble the PC yourself. Saves $150 at least, and only takes 1 hour.

Besides, I have paid my income tax already. I don't believe in paying GST for someone selling if the person is willing to pay the GST for me. That's one-eight of the price.

[TraD_MaN]

Hopefully everyone hasn't confused you with there opinions.

nah im not at all confused

ok so far ive learnt dell is crap, but they are not so crap but are kinda crap?

custom looks good but i got no idear what all these thingis are that goes in computers...

all i know is i want heaps of RAM and a big hard drive and a good graphics card and has to be in my parents budget, they where looking at the cheaper dells but i told them not to go there!

[Cookie]

nah im not at all confused

ok so far ive learnt dell is crap, but they are not so crap but are kinda crap?

custom looks good but i got no idear what all these thingis are that goes in computers...

all i know is i want heaps of RAM and a big hard drive and a good graphics card and has to be in my parents budget, they where looking at the cheaper dells but i told them not to go there!

I have bought two Dells and have had nothing go wrong.

Overall in my experience, they are cheep, no-brainers. You tick the boxes for the things you want, and they arrive, you plug them in and they go.

Yes you could custom build one, but it sounds like that's not your cup of tea, so waste hours of your time getting up to speed with the latest PCI adaptors and SATA interfaces, or buy a Dell.

People say you have trouble with the service. Yes the help desk is a long way away but buy something cheap from your corner computer store - if something goes wrong, suddenly the English is not so good....

Your millage may vary, but mine has been okay.

Good luck.

[Colapop]

I'm no expert, all I can say is that I've had one for about three years with no probs at all.
Photoshop, AutoCAD plus scanner, CD writer (time for a DVD writer as well) etc.
Get the best specced machine you can afford and it'll last you longer.

CAD man?? Ooo that piqued my interest sitting here (at work) doing nothing - no engineers here this week.

[Oakie]

My turn.
This thread is why I hardly ever log on to the computer forum I belong to any more. Different people have VASTLY different opinions so asking for an opinion on a particular PC product can result in you wanting to tear your hair out because for every person who thinks something, there will be one who thinks exactly the opposite. Have a look at pressf1.co.nz and pick any thread if you don't believe me.
Main question is ....What is your budget. No point thinking too high spec if you've only got $1500 to spend.
Second question is ... what is it to be used for? You mentioned using photoshop. This would mean that you probably need to go for a separate video card rather than integrated graphics. Apart from that, the specs in the advert looked OK for everyday use. (Shame that '$100 off 'deal closed yesterday though)
Comments: Dell is fine for the home in my opinion and I know of many government departments and large businesses that use them. I've got a Dell desktop bought online 6 months ago and apart from a small problem right at the start which was caused by some rogue 3rd party software... it has performed flawlessly.

[N4CR]

And just to stir the thread up a little more, go for AMD chips over Intel... cheaper, they have the performance advantage in pretty much everything and you save $60+ a year on power usage (waste/heat issues from most of their recent cpu lineup.. aka the Intel prescott cored cpus). This is at the current point in time.

Enough of that.. bit too geeky but yeah - just a wise tip.

/me waits for the fan boys to come out and play (tiggerz...?)

[TraD_MaN]

budget around 1500 max at 1800

im so confusedddd now lol but its givin me a good idear on what to look for, im not letting my olds go alone on this they will stuff up

yeah it will be used for photo software mostly.