Dell 5150 Dual Core 2.8GHz inc 19" LCD Monitor & Free Printer £429 (merged)

wildeep

argh!!!
i'm being so indecisive over this deal, I keep nearly ordering then don’t. Can anyone help?

Basically, if I buy this computer I’m not going to use it for the next two months (coming up to my finals). I really need a new computer. I don’t want to miss this deal if it’s fantastic, but I don’t want to get it now only for a better deal to come along in two months!

From anyone’s experience – how much of a one-off deal is this? Would I be better to wait or buy it now!????!

Also, about graphics : I rang up dell and they said they could give me a 256mb geforce 7700 (not sure if the numbers are right but def began with a ‘7’!), how does this compare to 6600 that people on this forum seem to keep referring to? I need some gaming ability…civ 4 especially!

thanks for any help

gc

My sons after a new pc and this looks like a bargain, Just a couple of concerns, The only upgrade for the graphics card is the 128MB ATI Radeon® X300 SE, will this card play games ok until the warrenty runs out when I can then up grade? Which of the backup/ media CD's do I ned to select? Is connection to a WAN just a matter of getting a USB thingy?
TIA
gc

Roger_Rampant

Basically, if I buy this computer I’m not going to use it for the next two months (coming up to my finals). I really need a new computer. I don’t want to miss this deal if it’s fantastic, but I don’t want to get it now only for a better deal to come along in two months!

From anyone’s experience – how much of a one-off deal is this? Would I be better to wait or buy it now!????!

They do new offers every Thursday, you might as well wait

The only upgrade for the graphics card is the 128MB ATI Radeon® X300 SE, will this card play games ok until the warrenty runs out when I can then up grade?

That card isn't much better than the onboard graphics

Which of the backup/ media CD's do I ned to select?

None of them

Is connection to a WAN just a matter of getting a USB thingy?

Yes, it has a Network Interface Card

trakshark

trakshark...

Seems like a fair swap to me.

M.

Will handle the latest games, just won't be able to play at very high quality settings.

Quote:
Originally Posted by trakshark
I will basically be using this pc for everyday tasks, video encoding and editing. But from time to time would like to play the odd game. Is this card capable of handling any of the latest games at all?



nearly all dedicated cards will play games, just depends on how much eye candy you want.

call of duty 2 has the option to play in DX7 mode for example.

generally the more expensive the card , the better the quality ( like shadows , smoke etc ) will be , and the higher the resolution.

any monitor ( tft) 19" and under is limited to a max res of 1280x1024, it doesnt go up until you get a 20" tft

Thanks for all the advice. Was wondering as I've gone for that 19inch TFT what kind of max resolution the 256MB Nvidia Geforce 7300LE would handle. Better still anyone point me and anyone else interested in the direction of a website which spells out to PC game newbies what kind of image they'll get per £ spent on graphics card and any screen shots would be nice to. Thanks again for everyone's help and advice.

Streeet

Try Toms Hardware

From the beginning:
Graphic Card benchmark Article

If you want to go straight to the benchmarks:
Benchmarks

fox2319

trakshark wrote:

Thanks for all the advice. Was wondering as I've gone for that 19inch TFT what kind of max resolution the 256MB Nvidia Geforce 7300LE would handle. Better still anyone point me and anyone else interested in the direction of a website which spells out to PC game newbies what kind of image they'll get per £ spent on graphics card and any screen shots would be nice to. Thanks again for everyone's help and advice.

Check out http://tomshardware.co.uk/2005/12/02/vga_charts_viiiuk/ - They seem to be pretty independent and they've got a pretty decent comparison of the latest grfx cards from a few months ago.

Jeff

bookshifter

Streeet wrote:

bookshifter have a look at this article from the Citizens advice bureau:
Can I Cancel it
You have up to 7 working days from reciept to canel it.

Ultimatley you dont want to have to cancel but you will if its the only way to get the spec pc you require (which happens to be on their website for the same )

Thanks for your advice streeet ..... I think I will fire off an e-mail to Dell Customer Care and see what they advise.

Has anyone here returned an offer from a previous week and bought another one in the following week without any complications?

To be honest I don't want to get into the mire of returns and watching payment activity on the credit card and such. I hope they may offer me a discount but I am 99.9% it wont happen (call me a cynic if you must). Plus I'd rather have a PC now as opposed to after Easter. How do you organise a return, is the return free or do you pay for the carriage?

I got an Acer SA60 off ebuyer about 4 weeks ago and if you opened up the tower you broke a seal which voided a warranty, is this the same with Dell? (I hope not)!

Roger_Rampant

I got an Acer SA60 off ebuyer about 4 weeks ago and if you opened up the tower you broke a seal which voided a warranty, is this the same with Dell? (I hope not)!

No

How do you organise a return, is the return free or do you pay for the carriage?

In theory you would pay for it, in practice (if you sound to them as if you genuinely are going to send it back) I think they will offer you a compromise, although they are toughening their stance over things like this

bookshifter

Roger_Rampant wrote:

NoIn theory you would pay for it, in practice (if you sound to them as if you genuinely are going to send it back) I think they will offer you a compromise, although they are toughening their stance over things like this

bookshifter wrote:

In my opinion the deal now on is better!

£40 for the extra 512MB Ram and 80GB HDD seems well worth it to me (correct me if I'm wrong)....... the only thing not given 'free' is the McAfee virus protection/firewall.

I is slightly gutted :mad:

I guess you have to be so watchful!

Thanks for your advice Roger. At least I can attempt an upgrade without worrying about warranties.

I will e-mail Dell tomorrow just to illustrate my position. I think anyone who buys this offer this week (til 10/04, its on a 3 day special) will get a pretty good deal ....... until Dell offer an updgrade of a DVD Rewriter and a Radeon X300 for to make the 5150 retail at £499 ........ I think that offer would appeal to many people who are squeamish re installing a DVDRW or graphics card themselves (although I note that the X300 Dell offer is not too good).

Whirly

For anyone thinking of installing a second SATA HDD I've done it this morning so I'll share the important points:

1. According to the BIOS the 5150 is SATAII enabled (quotes a link speed of 300Gb/s)
2. You do need a right-angled SATA lead!
3. If you want the cable nice and tidy and along the same route the Dell one follows (there are spare clips) you'll need at least a 60cm long SATA lead - I got 45cm and was stuck routing it over the CPU fan housing.

Installation tips (for beginners)

(BTW everything here is at your own risk, I take no responsibility, etc.)

Ground yourself! Touch an unpainted part of the case while the power is off but it's still plugged in (so the earth wire is still connected to your mains earth) or look for tips on doing it on google.

Taking off the cover - simply pull the handle on the top of your case backwards and the cover will come away.

Lay the Base unit flat to work on. (Not necessary, just a lot easier)

Locate the spare 3.5" drive bay (right at the bottom front of the case) and you'll see a spare HDD bracket (blue plastic on mine). Simply push the tabs in towards eahother and pull to release.


No screws are required just clip the drive into the spare bracket. Then slide the drive (in the bracket) back into the bay and connect the power cable that's already positioned for you. Connect one end of the SATA lead to the motherboard (follow the Dell SATA lead back from the first HDD to find the spare connector) and the other to your newly installed HDD. Tidy up the cable by clipping it in the same places as the Delll cable. If you have a shorter cable try bringing it over or to the side of the CPU Fan housing.

Replace the cover.

Turn on the computer.

Press F2 right away and you should (after a few seconds) get the bios screen.

Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll down to the HDD options, press enter. Select SATA1 and change it to ON. (it should be set to off)

Now press the ESCAPE Key and select "Save & Exit" (or words to that effect).

Let you PC boot.

For details on how to make the new HDD useable in Windows see here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000/

Hope this helps.