Dell Dimension 3000 P4 2.8GHz - Advice needed!!

feival

Can you help me. I am after a PC and having spoken to some freinds and discussed searcehd the web I came up with the following system. I have the budget but I want to check it is a great deal! I need the PC for interent, MS office, pghoto editing and shortly video editing - just splicing video footage and adding titles and music. Nothing too demanding on the video side but I understand that is processor intensive!

Cheers

£473 Includes VAT & Shipping
Base:
Intel® Pentium® 4 processor (2.80GHz, 533fsb, 1MB cache) 18139
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition SP2 - English 8213
1 Year Collect and Return Service 18599 [680-12654] 30
Memory:512MB Dual Channel DDR333 (2x256MB) 4233 [370-11182] 3
Hard Drive:160GB (7200rpm) IDE Hard Drive with 8mb DataBurst Cache
FP / MG 17in (E173FP) TCO99 Value Midnight Grey Flat Panel 14858
16x max. DVD+/-RW and 48 x CDROM
Speakers Dell A215 speakers 6659
Modem Dell v92 Data/Fax modem 6716
Keyboard Dell Enhanced Multimedia keyboard
Mouse Dell USB Optical Mouse 7188
Microsoft Application Software:Microsoft® Works 7.0 - English 9078

T4i

Do Dell do AMD range computers?

1GB RAM would be nicer if you can afford it, this is a bonus for photo editing.....specially if your using a scanner.

Save yourself loads by going AMD processor.

feival

Thanks. I don't think they do - I think they are all Intel. What would be the equivalent AMD processor? Of course I don't want to pay just for the Intel brand name and I am sure that is part of the cost!

T4i

Like with any brand it costs you.....Pentiums have always been more expensive than those of AMD. Not by a couple quid too......

Pentiums are known to be better processors for video/picture editing....AMDs have always been a good gamer processor....

All processors of this generation are fast.....end of!

IMO the 'everyday' user needs (so its future-proof too) :-

2GIG+ CPU
512 or 1GB 'Branded' RAM
Audigy1 Soundcard (due to its stunning noise/signal ratio) or onboard if its not essential
380+ PSU (not a £15 "no-make" psu)

Stuff like graphics card, cdr/dvd-writer & tft/crt are dependent on what the machine will be used for.

Have you tried http://www.aria.co.uk/newAriaSystems.asp to biuld a machine? You will get better after customer sales support from places like aria or http://www.cclonline.com/ than 'dell' or 'tiny' or 'pc-world'

That dell 3000 looks a good deal though.....

asot

feival your correct in thinking Dell don't provide AMD processors in desktop computers for consumers.

The equivalent processor from AMD is the XP 2800+. Since the Intel processor in question is no longer in their current line up I would suggest it would already be very competitive against an AMD processor in terms of price and speed.

I would recommend going for the 3yr onsite warranty pack which doesn't cost too much extra. Dell PCs are generally reliable and good value, you can try looking around for a PC with an AMD processor but I doubt it will be that much cheaper. I would also second the recommendation to upgrade the RAM to 1gb.

Finally three things to note are:
* Dell always has a sale on so don't worry about those sale end messages which are on 365 days a year.
* Dell Outlet PCs aren't always as cheap as they seem - try configuring a new Dell and comparing the price.
* Check the software upgrade prices if you need extra software you may be able to save by bundling them in with the PC. Don't assume you'll be saving though, check.

T4i

feival did you click update price after selecting your configuration?

I just put the system in above......and got this ?? Dimension 3000 (D03306)

From £953
Now From
£796
Includes VAT & Shipping
Discount Details

Pay Nothing for 12 months 1

£473 Just seems very cheap for a pentium/tft system.

feival

I did. I started by entering thid code ANY-D03306b. Doing it by building it from scratch did come up with a much higher price. Now having second thoughts since people at work are also saying I should get 1Gb of RAM! Hmmm. Decisions decisions...

Jazzy_B

It's not a difficult job to instal more memory if you need to. It seems daunting because you have to unscrew the case, but full instructions are in the manual.The first time I did it I was sure I would muck it up, but i've done it on half a dozen computers now
This website is great and tells you what you need http://www.crucial.com/uk/.
You may find that this system is fine without any increase in RAM

Darren21

Jazzy_B wrote:

It's not a difficult job to instal more memory if you need to. It seems daunting because you have to unscrew the case, but full instructions are in the manual.The first time I did it I was sure I would muck it up, but i've done it on half a dozen computers now
This website is great and tells you what you need http://www.crucial.com/uk/.
You may find that this system is fine without any increase in RAM

Then enter computeractive in the coupon box and get 4% off!