As much as Techies like to help others spend some money I was hoping some of you computer whizzes could help me out. I work on a computer everyday at work but I know how to operate one and that's about it. I am in desperate need of a new one here at home right now. I bought this PC for about $2600 back in early 2000. It has a 650MHZ processer with 128MB Ram and an upgraded video card because I used to play Flight Sim alot. It's been a faithful soldier and still works okay but it's running on Windows 98 and it's getting worse every single day as far as freezing up, running slow, and all the other little weird quirks about it. Okay now to the good stuff here's where I need your help.

All I do on my PC at home is surf the web, email, and quite a bit of digital picture editing. I would like to get into downloading music....ya I'm way behind the technology curve. I don't do much gaming but would like to be able to play Flight Sim occasionally if I ever get back into it. I currently running on broadband cable internet.

I would prefer to stay with Dell since I've had such good customer service with them and the fact that this 6 year old beast still works okay and I've watched both my parents go through about 3 PC's each in the same time frame that were Gateway's and Hewlett Packards.

I need one with a DVD player and a burner and some extra USB ports if they make them that way. I'm currently running a 4 port hub down on the floor to accomodate all my crap.

The final kicker is all I need is a Tower. I have a 19" monitor, good printer, scanner, and sound already.

The reason I ask for help is because the last time I bought one I ended up with a whole bunch of crap that I didn't need and never use. This fancy internet keyboard I'm typing on that I have never once used the buttons across the top is a fine example. My buddies around here are all gamers and tried to get me to buy a computer that was WAY out of my league. I've poked around on the Dell site a little bit but once again I have no clue what I'm looking at as far as what all the numbers mean. I am not cheap when it comes to electronics but I dont' need top of the line by any means.

I know we have some technology guys on here so hook a guy up.. Thanks in advance for any help.

UK

 

Joey, it sounds like you need another Dell then.
But I would call them up and tell them:

1. Need a separate graphics card, most are PCI Express now, AGP is fading away.
The separate vid card will allow some good gaming.
On board video on the mobo sucks for games.

2. Since you will not be gaming a lot, the built in soundcard on the mobos these are pretty good for occasional gaming and music.

3. Dell is getting into AMD CPUs now, you might want to check them out too, more bang for the buck than an Intel CPU.

Others will chine in here what speed vid card to get in a PCIe flavored vid card, as I am not up to date on PCI Express yet.
I am still building up my current system with an AGP based vid card, but next buildup this summer will be an all out gaming rig.

Most rigs these days are coming with DVD burner as well, and they also burn CDs.

Now the clincher is if you call them up to discuss what we tell you here, is if you can get someone you can understand.
Most of Dell's tech, customer service, and sales are based out of India, and I hate talking to them.
I can not understand anyone with an accent hardly.

But sometimes you can get someone you can understand pretty good.

Time for me to go work on my PC now, ripping it apart and putting in a new PSU and SATA drive.
FUN

 

Honestly, for what you do with it you'll probably be happy with their low end ones, the basic entry level ones will all seem like speed demons compared to what you have now. For less that $500 you should be all set. Their cheapest config on that page is a little light on memory & HD space, 512mb is the minimum memory I'd want for windows XP. If it was me choosing one of those, I'd probably take the one with a free 17" lcd & ditch your 19" monitor you have now (assuming your current one is a CRT).

Then again, you kept your last pc for 6 years, spending a little more now should improve your chances of getting a lot of use out of this one. The cheapest XPS 400 is just under a grand, and has a REALLY nice setup. no DVD burner is the only thing it seems to lack.

 

PCI? AGP? AMD? PCIe? Anybody wanna translate? I told ya Corey I'm a PC illiterate..hahaha

 

This page looks like it would suit your needs:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...=19&l=en&s=dhs

If you have the money, I'd go with the configuration on the left. It's got a lot of cool features and seems like it would be well suited for what you want. Are you sure you want to keep your monitor, as you can get Dell's Ultrasharp 19" Flat Panel for $120 more. That's a pretty good deal. It's also got a new feature called DataSafe, which is basically a second hard drive that mirrors your main drive. So in case you ever have any problems or failures, you'll have that backup.

It's hard to go through the configurations, as I don't know what exactly you need. As far as the computer itself goes, I'd leave the hardware stuff alone as it's a pretty good configuration. Only thing I'd change is the DVD/CD-ROM combo drive, since you stated you want a DVD burner. Other stuff such as accessories, you'll have to figure out.

Since you like to keep your machines a while, spend a little more now and it'll last you longer. Those cheaper ones are good for those who tend to buy frequently.

Let me know if I can help with questions. I'll be glad to.

 

Ehh, scratch the system on the left. Don't know what I was thinking. The XPS 400 on the right is much better for what you want to do and cheaper to boot. It also comes with a free 19 flat panel upgrade. Again, you'll have to upgrade the DVD/CD-ROM to a DVD Burner, but that's no big deal.

 

That XPS looks pretty sweet. In the CD or DVD drive it says Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 48x CD-RW Drive That would be all I need to burn music/data CD's and watch DVD's right? I dont' need to burn DVD's I only own like 10 of them and they are all wheeling videos..haha. That flat panel would be nice too. This 19" I have is a freaking beast that weighs about 9000 lbs. Granted I have a whole room for my PC/Hobby room it would still be nice to have the extra space on the PC desk.

EDIT: Here is something else I just noticed. What software package would I need to get Microsoft Word, and Outlook Express to do email with? Looks like you don't get squat for software included in that price.

 

Joey, kind of hard to type here guy, I am on the laptop, and I hate typing on this old one.
It is for adming UT2004 only, most of the time.
My PC is up now, but it is copying the old C rive to the SATA drive.

As far as all the words we are throwing at ya, you can Google them to learn more:
SATA
PCIe
AGP
ect, ect, ect...

What you want is Microsoft Office 2003.
It is a $450 program, but it comes with
Word
Excel
Front Page 2003
Outlook

Outlook is far better for email than Outlook Express.
I just upgraded to the new Office less than a month ago, there is a thread here in this section.

Boeing is switching everyone over to it, and new Dell PCs with a 19" Dell LCD.

Check with your super, they might be able to get an Airforce discount on that $450 app.
I got it through Boeing for $16 :bounce2:

If you are still going to run games, ask for a PCIe video card.
Good to go with an NVIDIA based one at least a 6600 GT.
6800 would be a little overkill for you, unless you are hardcore, or are going to play games an awful lot.

 

Yeah, the dual drives would handle your DVD playing and CD burning needs.

As far as your Office needs go, I saw an option for a slimmed down version of Office 2003 which included Outlook, Word, and Excel for like $200. Just checked... yeah, it's called Microsoft Office Basic. Sounds like that'd fit the bill as far as what you'd use. But follow Corey's advice and see if you can get it cheaper through work.

 

yeah, the cd/dvd drive it has does everything but burn DVDs. The flat panels are awesome, and a 19 LCD actually has more viewable area than a 19" CRT. OpenOffice might be enough for you as a Word replacement, and it's free.

As for gaming, the XPS has a PCI express graphics card, like Corey is recommending, 128MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory. Overall, really nice specs, should last you a long time. In 6 years you can post up about getting your next one & we'll all laugh at it