Well i guess you could say this has been a 3 year review in the making. In this review im going to point out many of the Ups and Downs to buying and owning a Dell PC. The technical specifications for the system that was tested (initially) are listed below.
CPU: Intel P4 2.4 GHz Processor
Memory/RAM: Dell, 2x 128mb Dual DDR SDRAM
Motherboard: DMI(Dell) with Intel NetBurst, and basic Intel Chipset
GFX Card(initial): GeForce 4 64mb GFX Card
CD/RW Drive: NEC 1100A DVD CD/RW Combo drive
Hardrive: IBM Deskstar 180 GXP 74gb HDD
Network Card: Intel Pro/100
Floppy Drive Included
Now my first thought when recieveing this computer in 2003 when i first recieved it from Dell was "what a waste of $1500!" Yes thats right, a whopping 1500 dollars was spent on this machine, that at the most was sporting the top of the line processor? Only a guess at its most powerful component. It wasnt exactly a buff gaming PC at all, but it ran BF1942 very well at the time, since it was the big game that me and my clan played. The tech support was great for someone who had no idea what they were doing, but not for someone who does, and at this time they offered Tech support for when your computer was hacked. Now, im not going to totally flame Dell's PCs because it is still a reliable pc. It has run (Literally) nearly non-stop for these three years, cutting it off only to reboot, and maybe the occasional overnight shutdown. Very reliable PC for long term use.
Now, I am going to however give an opinion on Dell's decision to move its tech support to India. It is very difficult to understand these people and you often spend 10 minutes spelling every word said. Which in turn led to Dell's policy of Saying things like "ok now that's, D for dog, E for eel, L for long, and L for lap, correct?". Something that was all too common from their tech support agents. Nonetheless, 95% of the time when you hung up your phone, the problem was solved. I am going to state that if for ANY reason you reformat your hard drive, and go from windows XP Home to Professional, Dell will no longer give tech support for your computer, which is ridiculous if you ask me.
Ok on to the computer itself. Most of their higher end (usuallly 4600 and up) PCs are relatively upgradeable. EX: about a year about (2 years after purchase) I was sick of 30 minute load times from games like BF2 and stuff like that so i decided to upgrade the memory and get a new GFX card. I then was abrubtly forced to return all the items i bought because you can ONLY buy the GFX card and RAM from Dell. Which is a total rip-off considering the most wonderful Newegg. But i was satisfied with my Nvidia Geforce 6200, and the 512mb more of ram i bought for it. The computer now runs relatively well and has so for a long time. It runs UT2004 flawlessly (besides the occasional jerky movement every hour or so when many characters are firing on the screen at once, but that issue has been traced back to the processor's inability to process the information, long story...), and is able to run Photoshop in a smooth manner.
Recently i saught to Overclock my CPU for the reason stated above. It turns out that it is IMPOSSIBLE to overclock a Dell PC, without first replacing the motherboard all-together. Another reason i will never purchase a DELL PC. But for the average casual gamer/PC user this is overall great computer. It has trouble runnign next gen games like morrowind and stuff though. Overall i am satisfied with the Computer over the past 3 years, but am yearning to build a new PC. As a matter of fact, Im selecting the Thermaltake Armor Series case with the 250mm side fan :-D.
Coclusion:
Pros: Good PC for family use, or the average user. Very Very quiet, and reliable. Runs windows very well. Upgradable.
Cons: Bad PC for Gamers, Modders, Programmers, or anyone that likes to tinker with things. HDD Size is smaller than advertised (advertised as an 80GB)
Final PC Upgrades:
GFX Card: BFG Tech. Nvida GeForce 6200 OC xAGP
RAM: Dell 2x 128mb 2x 256mb Dual DDR SDRAM
Hope this helps someone.
Tim
CPU: Intel P4 2.4 GHz Processor
Memory/RAM: Dell, 2x 128mb Dual DDR SDRAM
Motherboard: DMI(Dell) with Intel NetBurst, and basic Intel Chipset
GFX Card(initial): GeForce 4 64mb GFX Card
CD/RW Drive: NEC 1100A DVD CD/RW Combo drive
Hardrive: IBM Deskstar 180 GXP 74gb HDD
Network Card: Intel Pro/100
Floppy Drive Included
Now my first thought when recieveing this computer in 2003 when i first recieved it from Dell was "what a waste of $1500!" Yes thats right, a whopping 1500 dollars was spent on this machine, that at the most was sporting the top of the line processor? Only a guess at its most powerful component. It wasnt exactly a buff gaming PC at all, but it ran BF1942 very well at the time, since it was the big game that me and my clan played. The tech support was great for someone who had no idea what they were doing, but not for someone who does, and at this time they offered Tech support for when your computer was hacked. Now, im not going to totally flame Dell's PCs because it is still a reliable pc. It has run (Literally) nearly non-stop for these three years, cutting it off only to reboot, and maybe the occasional overnight shutdown. Very reliable PC for long term use.
Now, I am going to however give an opinion on Dell's decision to move its tech support to India. It is very difficult to understand these people and you often spend 10 minutes spelling every word said. Which in turn led to Dell's policy of Saying things like "ok now that's, D for dog, E for eel, L for long, and L for lap, correct?". Something that was all too common from their tech support agents. Nonetheless, 95% of the time when you hung up your phone, the problem was solved. I am going to state that if for ANY reason you reformat your hard drive, and go from windows XP Home to Professional, Dell will no longer give tech support for your computer, which is ridiculous if you ask me.
Ok on to the computer itself. Most of their higher end (usuallly 4600 and up) PCs are relatively upgradeable. EX: about a year about (2 years after purchase) I was sick of 30 minute load times from games like BF2 and stuff like that so i decided to upgrade the memory and get a new GFX card. I then was abrubtly forced to return all the items i bought because you can ONLY buy the GFX card and RAM from Dell. Which is a total rip-off considering the most wonderful Newegg. But i was satisfied with my Nvidia Geforce 6200, and the 512mb more of ram i bought for it. The computer now runs relatively well and has so for a long time. It runs UT2004 flawlessly (besides the occasional jerky movement every hour or so when many characters are firing on the screen at once, but that issue has been traced back to the processor's inability to process the information, long story...), and is able to run Photoshop in a smooth manner.
Recently i saught to Overclock my CPU for the reason stated above. It turns out that it is IMPOSSIBLE to overclock a Dell PC, without first replacing the motherboard all-together. Another reason i will never purchase a DELL PC. But for the average casual gamer/PC user this is overall great computer. It has trouble runnign next gen games like morrowind and stuff though. Overall i am satisfied with the Computer over the past 3 years, but am yearning to build a new PC. As a matter of fact, Im selecting the Thermaltake Armor Series case with the 250mm side fan :-D.
Coclusion:
Pros: Good PC for family use, or the average user. Very Very quiet, and reliable. Runs windows very well. Upgradable.
Cons: Bad PC for Gamers, Modders, Programmers, or anyone that likes to tinker with things. HDD Size is smaller than advertised (advertised as an 80GB)
Final PC Upgrades:
GFX Card: BFG Tech. Nvida GeForce 6200 OC xAGP
RAM: Dell 2x 128mb 2x 256mb Dual DDR SDRAM
Hope this helps someone.
Tim