DELL phone support - is it any good

twohooter_2

I am considering buying a desktop PC from Dell as I have seen an XPS 8500 which seems to have a good spec for the money. I have never purchased a Dell computer before and am wondering how good their customer support is. They will include one year free telephone support with the deal and tell me that they will give me telephone help in setting up the new pc to a wireless router, set up e mail, wireless printer etc. I am not very technically minded and have never set up a new system before so the thought of having a free helpline to guide me through it sounds appealling. However, I am wary about believing all I am told and don't want to end up stranded with kit I can't get to work. So, my question is simply, could I rely on Dell to get me up and running? Thanks in anticipation of any useful advice.

closed

If your use hasn't changed from photo's and music, a top of the range I7 machine is OTT. Machines are out of date as soon as you purchase, but they will still work as they did when you get them, provided you dont install bloat. Attempting to future proof means you end up spending far more than you need to.

Any help you need is free here, plug the ethernet cable into the router, and pc, and go

email guides will probably be available on your isp site.

twohooter_2

Hi Closed. You probably have a very good point. This machine is for my father who is of the generation that wants something to last more than 24 months (preferably 24 years:rotfl:) I have the responsibilty to source the machine and get it set up for him and being a fairly inexperienced computer user myself I am feeling very apprehensive about the whole thing as I don't want to land him with a pup. What he will do on the PC will be very limited but his expectations on speed etc are high. I would be very grateful if you would advise what minimum spec I should look at based on decent storage capacity for all his music, fast enough speeds to allow him to stream movies, surf the net, watch you tube, create stuff in MS publisher and edit his photos/videos (obviously not all at once but maybe two of these programmes running at any one time).

macman

If you already have a wireless router then you do not need to do anything other than connect it up to the new PC, all the connections settings are held in the router and are retained. Similarly with a printer-W7 will detect it and download the necessary drivers.
If you use Windows Easy Transfer, then setting up the new PC and copying over your settings and data will be a breeze-you shouldn't need any support at all.
NB: a new PC will not make his internet connection any faster-that is down to the line speed. An i7 is completely OTT; any decent i3 or i5 processor will do those tasks, along with a 1TB drive and a minimum 4GB of RAM.
I'd consider one of the Dell Vostro's, much better than the consumer PC's.

closed

Whats the budget?

i5 with 4GB should last a while and be speedy for a long time. For average user operation, 8-10 years is the sort of time period that operating systems and new software/hardware/media standards tend to start to make older hardware feel dated.

Buying medium range is much more cost effective than top, because the money left over will enable purchase of a faster/cheaper/newer one later, should the owner feel the need.

Desktops don't generally come with a wireless card, if it needs to be used wirelessly

Windows 8 is out in 3 months

twohooter_2

Thanks guys - your help is appreciated!

His present router is broken and so we will need to set up a new one for the new PC. His old system operated with a wireless dongle so hopefully that dongle will work with the new one. What is Windows Easy Transfer please? Is it something I would need to pay for?

Do you think Windows 8 would be worth waiting for and is it still the case that new operating systems take a while to settle whilst the gremlins are sorted out - if so, he may be better with the more established Windows 7.

There is no set budget - but like most people we want to get good value and more importantly the right product for the purpose. Having your advice I am leaning towards an i5 if he would not benefit from an i7.

twohooter_2

Also, could I please ask if it is possible to pull MS office home and business off the old PC and load it onto the new one. I have a key rather than disks and it was a one PC licence. Does this mean it can be installed just once on one PC and thus dies with the PC or can the licence be moved from PC to PC so long as only one copy is in use?

macman

You can transfer Office if you have the licence key (and uninstall on the old PC) but you'll need a copy on CD to install on the new PC-you can't copy programs over. Most Dell PC's come with Office Starter edn installed anyway.
Easy Transfer comes pre-installed on all W7 PC's and can be installed on the existing one, if running XP or later.

spannerzone

I'd agree, the Vostro desktops are pretty good performers, the V470 has wireless built in. The Insprion 660 desktops are virtually identical to the Vostro 470 but aimed at home users (Vostro is aimed at small business but still ideal for home)

and i3 or i5 with 4GB and 1TB hard drive should be fine for ages, I'd personally not worry about Windows 8 but that's your choice.

The Vostro 260 and the Inspiron 620 are last years models (no wireless and USB2) so probably not such a good buy unless they start flogging them off cheap (unlikely)

Most of these Dells come with Office 2010 starter edition (word and excell with some features removed and a little bit of advertising) but should do the average home user.

gonzo127

twohooter wrote: »

Thanks guys - your help is appreciated!

His present router is broken and so we will need to set up a new one for the new PC. His old system operated with a wireless dongle so hopefully that dongle will work with the new one. What is Windows Easy Transfer please? Is it something I would need to pay for?

Do you think Windows 8 would be worth waiting for and is it still the case that new operating systems take a while to settle whilst the gremlins are sorted out - if so, he may be better with the more established Windows 7.

There is no set budget - but like most people we want to get good value and more importantly the right product for the purpose. Having your advice I am leaning towards an i5 if he would not benefit from an i7.

for a person who want stability i would say go windows 7 over waiting for windows 8 as there will be bugs thta have not been found in beta testing of W8 as there always is in new software.

as to i7 most people will not make full use of a i7 as its big advantage is hyperthreading and most normal consumer software does not make use of multithreading, so i would suggest a i5 aswell as the others

however i would also say if speed is a demand then you should seriously consider getting a system with a SSD installed as these really speed up your system for everything from boot up times to application loading times,

the big problem with an SSD is the price to capcity ratio which is quite high, but most people get around this by having a smaller 'boot' drive as a SSD and have windows and the main applications installed on it (office, photoshop etc) and then a second larger 'normal' hard drive to store all the data on such as the photos and music - but of course this willmake the overall system more expensive

twohooter_2

Thanks for all the advice - taken on board and very much appreciated. Have opted for an HP with Windows 7, i5 processor and 4GB RAM (expandable if need be to 8GB).