Best place to purchase new Dell computer? Also, VISTA vs. XP?
We’re due for a new computer, so we’ve been searching around for the best “deal” –
Here are the basic specs:
- 2 GB memory
- 500 GB – 750 GB harddrive
- Dell with Pentium 2 Core Duo
- Upgraded video card
1) Best Buy/ Circuit City (seems to be around $900, though we don’t know all specs but it does come with a monitor and photo printer)
2) Dell website (though when all is selected, it is priced at $1200 – a huge difference from the $900 Best Buy offer but with 90% of the same)
3) Other?
We’ve alloted between $950 – $1000 for the desktop and it’s going to be used for pictures as well as potentially some video editing in the future .
Also: what are opinions on Vista? If we buy from a store, we have to get vista. No options. If we buy from Dell.com, we have the option to get XP.
So on the initial view of the comparision, it seems like Best Buy is better with their $900 package.
However, I’m questioning if Dell is just marking up the costs or if I’m really making a better deal.
At this time, Mac is above our price range as most that we would be interested in purchasing over over $1200. Our limit is $1000.
The problem with building a new computer is that:
1) We don’t have any friend or relative who has experience and ability to do this
2) With 2 small kids and both of us working full time on different shifts, spending time on building a computer just isn’t going to be an option for us. We needed this computer yesterday but thanks to everyone being ill, a funeral and a survey, we really haven’t had time to look into this.
April 5th, 2010 at 7:37 am
HP with vista or iMac (no computer just a screen keyboard and mouse) with Mac OSX Leopard dont buy Crap Dell!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 5th, 2010 at 7:48 am
Ok first, I like XP over Vista but if your going to go new may as well go with Vista. Now as far as price, the cheapest way is to build your own, or have a friend build it for you, its not that hard to do. But if you want to buy try tiger direct.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlcNEW.asp?CatId=6
I have bought lots of stuff from them and its all worked great.
They have a built to order section or pick out from lots of different pre-builts.
April 5th, 2010 at 8:48 am
We own 3 Desktops all very fast and up-to-date: Dell Dimension, Gateway Media and Sony Vaio and 3 Dell Notebook PCs <= all equally fast, in fact 2 are brand new less than year old.
If you are buying Desktop PC, I think just staying with mainsteam manufacturer like Dell, HP or Gateway is fine bec replacing or upgrading parts/components on Desktops are less troublesome than Notebook PCs <= recommend only Dell and maybe HP and IBM bec down-the-road on Notebook PC you would be surprised at the difficulty and price you pay for replacement parts like Notebook Batteries when supply & demand works against you due to shortage of parts.
Oh, I almost forgot, best deals for DELLs are DELL OUTLET and yes, all my Desktops and Notebook PCs run Window XP Pro(4) and XP Media (2) but I did buy the VISTA CD upgrade. I have helped coworkers setup and reconfigure their VISTA Notebook PCs but I did run into minor problems & glitches..
Hope the Above Info Helps!