wilkes

WOW! THANKS YOU GUYS! You've given me a lot of good info and stuff to think about. I'm still confused but at least now, I'm headed in the right direction!

I have a Dell and it has served me well for almost 4 years.

forgot the link

http://www.dell.com/content...

also, keep in mind you can goto Dell's Outlet store and purchase a refurb machine that is guaranteed just the same as a new system for a fraction of the price. They offer Dell Inspiron 531's for prices between $219 and $539. Now, that only includes the computer... no monitor, etc, as i previously posted. The huge priced unit I quoted below had a 20" flatscreen LCD monitor with it, too.

Try this link, then click on your inspiron and select your options.

I had 2 different Dell Laptops both had thermal issues...

Both lappy's did great until the thermal problems and really I had no problems with them other than stated.

I have a Dell that I ordered online before they were available in local stores. I changed a few things from the bundle offered and have been very happy with it. The only issue I have had was a question call I made while still on warranty and had some trouble understanding the tech through his accent.

Well, you've left off a whole lot of details, persimmon. what video card, what software, what networking cards, etc.

Dell offers the inspiron 531 minitower for $769, true... but that's stripped down.

You don't want an integrated video or integrated audio card as it taps precious memory from your system, and bogs down your computer's memory.

A typical configuration you might desire to do what you're looking for would cost $1369 as described below

My Components
PROCESSOR AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 5600+ edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English edit
MONITOR 17 inch SE178WFP Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor edit
MEMORY 3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 16x DVD+/-RW Drive edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT-DDR3 edit
SOUND Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeGamer (D) Sound Card edit
KEYBOARD & MOUSE Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse edit
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER Dell 19 in 1 Media Card Reader edit
MODEM & WIRELESS Internal PCI 802.11g Wireless Network Card edit
My Software & Accessories
SPEAKERS No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system) edit
ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE No Subscription (only 30-day protection) edit
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD edit
Dell Recommends
Need Excel, Word and Powerpoint? Upgrade to Microsoft Office H&S 2007 today.
Upgrade to Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 [add $149 or $4/month1]


My Service
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 2Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor, 24x7 Phone Support edit
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr edit
DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS No ISP requested edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Mouse Mouse included with Keyboard purchase
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Labels Windows Vista™ Premium
PHOTO AND MUSIC SOFTWARE No Entertainment software pre-installed

oh! and the spec's you listed are pretty hi-end for a home comp

if all your going to do is what you listed save yourself $250.00 and buy a Dell... bundled pc at walmart or
buy one directly from Dell and save about $350.00
if your on dial-up it won't help the speed issue at all
adding memory will speed up a "dinosaur" for $25.00-$50.00

IVE OWNED SERVERAL COMPUTERS DELL , HP , COMPAQ, AND BARE BONES KITS , DELL GAVE ME THE BEST SERVICE AND STILL DOES ,I HAVE ONE I CALL DINO ITS A 10 YEAR OLD DELL OPTIPLEX AND ANY TIME MY OTHER COMPS FAIL I DRAG IT OUT AND IT GETS THE JOB DONE . I HAD A DELL DEMENSIONS 8250 IT WAS AS FAST ON DIAL UP THAN MOST COMPUTERS ARE ON DSL OR PIPELINE I COULD OPEN 20 PAGES AND IT WOULD NEVER FREEZE . ALSO ANOTHER THING I LIKE ABOUT DELL IS THEY COME WITH THE DISC TO REFORMAT WITH MOST OF THE TIME AND OTHER COMP BRANDS DONT UNLESS YOU PAY EXTRA . WELL I CANT REMEMBER I MIGHT HAVE PAIDEXTRA WITH THE DELL WHEN I ORDERED IT BUT IF YOU BY A BOXED COMP FROM THE STORE IT PROBABLY WONT COME WITH THEM . ANOTHER THING IS THAT OLD DINO DELL I NEEDED DRIVERS FOR IT ANDCOULDNT FIND THEM I CALLED THE TECH AND THEY HELPED ME EVEN IF IT WAS OUT OF WARANTY . SAME THING HAPPENED WITH MY HP PAVILLION AND HP WANTED TO CHARGE ME 40 BUCKS JUST TO TALK TO ME . TO EACH HIS OWN BUT TO ME TECH SUPPORT IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE QUALITY OF THE PC .

It comes with a 19 inch flat screen monitor. I guess I can save any programs I have on my current computer and transfer to the new one?

You might save money by ordering straight from DELL, that's what we do and they can answer your questions better that we can.

I've have two DELL computers and I love them! Excellent support team! Unless they go down hill(I don't see that happening), I won't get anything else!

That is a TON of hard drive space and memory! I have heard both good and sorta BLAH things about Dells. My mom has 3 that she (sorta) custom ordered (changed a few specs on standard, off-the-shelf machines), including one laptop and has had no issues out of them in the few years she's had them.

By today's standards that does seem like a lot for a desktop. Although you didn't mention what else comes with the system - what kind of monitor, etc. A flat panel monitor is going to start at around $200, so if one is included that accounts for some of your price. Most computers are only coming with around 200GB hard drives, an external or additional internal drive to go up to 500GB would probably run another $100-200 easy. And something to remember is that desktops are always easier to fix and upgrade than laptops.

Doubt that really helped any, but it does sound like it might be worth the money.

I have had my Dell for several year and it has been a great computer.

If I was going to pay $750 bucks for a computer,, with those specs,, it would not be a desktop,,,

I've heard nothing but bad things about dell so I may be bias,, I know
three people that have had dells with little or no happiness associated with their performance,,,

Good luck

I forgot to add that I don't play computer games, but would like to listen to radio broadcasts, see videos (You tube, TV newscasts, etc. and store pictures and articles) I'm really tired of this old computer ...it is sooo SLOW!!! Jason? Any ideas?

Can someone help steer me in the right direction? They are offering Dell computers for sale at Staples and I want to be sure I will get good use and service for years to come. The one I'm looking at is the Dell Inspiron 531 mini tower bundle with:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (2.80GHz) processor
3GB installed memory
500GB hard drive


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Do you think it's worth $750? Please let me know your thoughts if you are a computer savy person!