Dell C521 PC

mokhan11

Hi,

I have looked at DMXDimension website and found the following PC:-

AMD® Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3600+ 97541 [210-17764]
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic - English 82466
Collect & Return, 1 Year Service only 73615
Dell™ 20" Black Wide Flat Panel (E207WFP) - UK/Irish 78525
1024MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512] 91975
250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache 72810
Integrated nVidia® GeForce® 6150 LE graphics 73328
16 X DVD +/- RW Drive 90527
Dell™ Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard – UK Irish (QWERTY) 6969
Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Optical Mouse - Black 6310
List D07C12 Dimension C521 108727
C521 English Documentation with UK Power Cord 95844
Dimension Order - UK 11744
Collect & Return, 1 Year Service only 73614
Save £20 Ex VAT 63036
Dell Internet Order. 21417
Dimension Resource DVD for Vista (Diagnostics & Drivers) 90370
Integrated 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio 73326
No Speakers 6655
13-in-1 Media Card Reader 72805
No Modem 63323
No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English 89507
Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English 9078

Price:- £317.32

Do you think this is good value for money?

I will be using it for:-

Internet
Office Applications
Backup DVD's
Music

Is the spec will be OK for the above? Or do I have upgrade to a better Graphic such as 128MB ATI® Radeon® X1300 PCI Express graphics card or 256MB ATI® Radeon® X1300 Pro PCI Express graphics card .

Thanks
K11

GoofyGAT

I reckon that's excellent value & more than enough for what you'll be using it for. It includes a 20" TFT for the price, which I think is unbelievable!

My advice would be not to upgrade the graphics - you won't have any visible gains for what you'll be using the PC for. G

Mobeer

The integrated graphics included with the PC are very slow, but the X1300 is not much faster anyway. I would stay with the integrated graphics and see if this is adequate. If not you could consider an upgrade later, and probably cheaper than Dell's generally overpriced graphic card upgrade options.

GoofyGAT

mokhan11/Mobeer, keep in mind that you only need a dedicated graphics card for 3D-intensive games/tasks. My neighbour has integrated graphics & for normal everyday activities (which mokhan11 has listed) it's as 'quick' as my Radeon X800XT Platinum card which cost £300-400 3 years ago!

"If not you could consider an upgrade later, and probably cheaper than Dell's generally overpriced graphic card upgrade options." - I fully agree with this (but only ever consider it for 3D-intensive games/tasks). However, you may need a power supply upgrade too depending on the one you go for. If you want a 'quicker' PC add more memory instead (again not from Dell as their prices are a rip-off). G

msaquib

Thanks for the replies.

I have ordered the PC. Couple of more questions:-

How long does it take for the delievery? I have heard that they have backlog of orders and they are waiting for parts.

I have went through Quidco. How long does it take for the transaction to be tracker?

And finanlly I want to buy a wireless card - Should I go for the internal? is it easy to install or the external one?

Thanks
Mokhan11

Ramz_3

If you're good with computers, it shouldn't be too hard to install a wifi card, but sometimes if you just use a dongle, it might get a stronger signal strength.

kilo_2

msaquib wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

I have ordered the PC. Couple of more questions:-

How long does it take for the delievery? I have heard that they have backlog of orders and they are waiting for parts.



Thanks
Mokhan11

People are reporting quick turn around times with this unit in the last few days. i.e delivery within 3 working days. I understand that sometimes low stock of certain monitors can delay an order.

shoaib

I couldn't believe it when I saw the price on this dual-core Vista machine. The Dell™ 20" Black Wide Flat Panel (E207WFP) monitor sells for £188 on overclockers.co.uk just on its own. Meaning that you get the rest of the computer for about £130!

I'd been planning to buy the 1920x1200 resolution 24" monitor (model 2407WFP) for a while, Dell reckon their 'sale price' after 25% off is £522, while overclockers.co.uk are selling it for £470.

After seeing the deal that Mokhan11 found above I specified exactly the same system on the Dell website but upgraded it to Vista Home Premium and swapped the monitor for the one I have coveted: total price £531 before using Quidco.com and an Egg (cashback) credit card. In other words, for 'just' £200 extra I got a monitor that costs nearly £300 more when bought separately.

I agree that there's very little point in spending extra on the processor, RAM and graphics card: they will all be cheaper and faster in a year's time, there are spare slots for more memory and an AM2 socket for future processors. However, no amount of money can turn this into a machine for playing arcade games. I expect I will either sell the base unit at a profit or give it to my parents, it was only the monitor I was after.

This offer will expire tomorrow and I think it is a 'one-off' as I understand Dell have deleted their entire range of Dimension machines in favour of a new name and shape and are therefore flogging them off cheap.

If anyone else is interested, just go to the Dell website (via Quidco if you want an extra 4.5% off) and search for 'd07c12' Select the computer that it finds and change the warranty to the basic one to give you a reasonable starting price. Finally, upgrade the monitor to the 20" at least (definitely worth the £30 premium) and choose your flavour of Windows.

Reed_Richards

The Dell C521 comes with a very compact case that will only fit half-height cards, so you may struggle to find a wireless card that would fit internally. The best solution is to use an external wireless adaptor, possibly in conjunction wioth a USB extension lead if your signal is weak.

Scrooge2

Ouch ! Makes painful reading. Bought an identical spec 2 months ago from Dell for almost £75 more !!! (but that included free shipping and McFee Security). Anyway, it is still one hell of a deal, mokhan.