Dell Dimension 8400 (High Spec) + 17" Monitor only £468

biglugs

Why do you need a soundcard? Surely the on-board sound should be sufficient?

Lady_K

I don't know, I just saw it said it had no soundcard so thought I had to add one... I don't know anything about onboard soundcards either, it just doesnt explain much really... maybe I should ring them

Lady_K

I just rang them and they said it has one onboard that will be ok for computer sounds ect but as for music and things and video it wont work for that so therefore I have to add one. I forgot to ask about the floppy and reformatting though but as far as my friend who has the machine already is concerned they said they had to buy one and they were not very pleased about finding that out after they had brought it

fantasia_2

the onboard sound is just fine, dont worry.

if you want more of a bargain, try the dell outlet site, but be persistent.

you should pick up a much, much better system with 256 graphics for 450 - 500.

MikeT_3

Lady K the on board sound is 5.1 and more than good enough for most people.

The floppy drive is only needed if you have 2 or more hard drives set to raid array so dont worry about that you dont need one with just one hard drive.

I think the Dimension 8400 series especially the D05845 is a real bargain atm, ok so it has a crt monitor with it but nothing stops you from getting another TFT one somewhere else and selling the brand new crt one for say £40 making your purchase cost £389 plus whatever you pay for a TFT of your liking from elseware.
A DVD rw from somewhere else will only cost you £35 so then you can have it all covered!

Lady_K

Thanx

I wont get a soundcard then but I hope it will still play cds and vids. I am a bit concerned about reformatting the sata hardrive though. My friend only has one hardrive just as he brought it, but he still had to get a floppy... I get in a mess just reformatting my oem system so I just hope its simple to reformat a sata system, is there much difference

MikeT_3

You shouldnt need to reformat the hard drive, dell hide a partition from you with a backup of everything the machine came to you with in it.
If you mess up big time and cant get xp to load etc, then just read the manual on reinstalling xp. It will show you how to use just 2 keys at boot up to get dells back up to completly overwrite your mess, in less than 10mins you should have a machine that behaves exactly as it did when you booted it for the very first time when it arrived.
You will of course have lost any personal data/files you didnt back up before you messed up

Hope that helps you.

Phonix

selling the brand new crt one for say £40 making your purchase cost £389 plus whatever you pay for a TFT of your liking from elseware.

You'll struggle to sell any 17" CRTs on ebay you may as well give them away. I have two that I'm finding hard to sell even locally.

nujjy

Ok. Let's get a few things cleared up:

1.) The soundcard in the 8400 is fine, if not very good. It is the Soundblaster Live! 24-bit. Only if you need premium sound quality do you need the SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS. If you need confirmation, gohere: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/learnmore/learnmore.aspx?c=uk&l=en&ref=CFG&s=dhs&~id=sndcard&~lt=popup&~series=all&~tab=details

They are both very similar, except the 2ZS has more inputs/outputs and is 'THX Certified'.

2.) Don't want a Dell 17" CRT monitor? Then don't get one! I was having the same problem as you. I phoned up Dell today (0870 907 5818) and requested to purchase a PC without the monitor. What did the assistant do? She knocked off £70 (inc. VAT) off my total purchase!

3.) Haggle! Phone them up, like I did and you should be able to get a better deal. I got the following spec:

Intel® Pentium 4 processor with HT technology 630 (3.00GHz, 800FSB, 2MB cache)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition SP2 - English
2048MB Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz
250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
3.5in 1.44MB Floppy Drive
256MB ATI Radeon X850XT Platinum
16x max. DVD+/-RW and 16x DVD
Dell A425 Midnight Grey speakers with subwoofer
IEEE 1394 Adapter

Dell 1905FP 19" UltraSharpTM Flat Panel Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand

plus the other usual stuff, including Keyboard, Mouse etc.

Dell's online website were charging £1538. I got it for just £1250 by persistance. She quote me £1538. I said that I could get the monitor cheaper elsewhere. Then, the assistant rang back 10 minutes later, and offered me the package for £1300 (already a £238 discount)! I still said that was a bit too much and told her to knock off another £50. Indeed, she threw in free delivery (the equivalent of £50) and I was one very happy chappy. Comparing this to Mesh, Evesham, Sony and other competitors, I definitely got a great deal.

iwantitnow

iwantitnow wrote:

This Dell Dimension 8400 seems a great deal
NOW ONLY £409 and includes the following

Pentium 4 processor 530 with HT technology

1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz [2x512] Memory

160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache

128 MB PCI Express™ x16 ATI Radeon™ X300 SE


Use evalue code D-D05841 and change the warranty 1 Year European Collect and Return Service

Remember you get a further 2.5% cashback and you can Keep up to date with all the Dell Bargains and misprices here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=488255#post488255

Looks like this offer will finish on Sunday night so get in quick