Dudes/Diary, I’m Buying a Dell…
Written: Jul 02 '04 (Updated Jul 15 '04)
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Dear Diary, July 1st 2004 - Today I sat down at my oh so very old PC; a very lazy Pentium III which from time to time would tell me that it couldn’t recognize a hard drive upon startup – and I checked yet again on the delivery of my new PC; a Dell Dimension of some silly number. It was about then that I decided – maybe I should start to review this product before I have even received the product. Listen to me! I felt, that way I can write about all the wonderful and not so wonderful things in my journey towards a new PC without having to think hard during my hopeful excitement. I mean, this sort of thing doesn’t happen too often in these parts. Gosh! the last time I can remember getting a new PC, it must be over 6 years ago.
Dear Diary, (sometime in 1998) – I called the number. Yes I did. A kind man on the other end informed me of my options and although trying to be careful, I purchased a new PC just a sliver over $2,500. It is a massive beast - II Pentiums, a whopping 128 megs of RAM and it even comes with this new device called a D..V..D in it. Not quite sure what to make of that!
Dear Diary, July 2nd 2004 – After reminiscing for a bit, I decided to check on the status of my new Dell. Yet again, I was updated with very little. My package was now, “In Transit”, which seems to differ very little from “En Route”, the label it proudly displayed 24 hours before. It is quite sad but I feel yet another reminisce coming upon me, maybe you’d like to hear the story of how I found myself in this predicament.
Dear Diary, June 28th 2004 – Today was the day I got a Dell. I got one because…
Dear Diary, May 14th 2004 – Those money hungry b*stards! over at Sony rejected my purchase of a new VAIO PC. I know, Diary dear…I probably could have lived without the expensive graphics card, the built in PVR software, and the RAID – but it was my dream PC! So much for dreams, eh?
Dear Diary, June 28th 2004 – …sorry to interrupt. Today I got my Dell.
Dell had been advertising for the last several weeks a Dimension PC; a line of product they offer, for a mere $499. This fit exactly into my budget but the Desktop was built upon the Celeron line of computer processors – a line I’m not willing to visit – blood or not. It was then that I decided I wanted to search out more Dell’s, higher in price, but perhaps within a budget I could live with. And so, I applied for credit.
The credit process was quite – ordinary. I filled in my private personal information, the name I gave my first born PC, twinkled my nose here and there, said a small prayer; and soon and I must say, I was a bit amazed that I was given credit. A total of $1500. Perfect I thought! Enough to buy a PC better than a Celeron but not enough to buy the PC of my dreams.
I’d have to sacrifice! I started out by getting the Dell I thought I couldn’t live without at the moment.
The website was clearly labeled in this regards. Upon clicking on the line of product that didn’t include a Celeron processor I saw that by my initial choice I was no longer in the $499 range but now more clearly in the $699 range.
I was determined to buy my new Dell, taxes, and shipping all under my $1500 limit.
From $699 I decided to upgrade as many of the internal components as I could. The Dell website was very clear in these regards. Sometimes too clear, they “suggested” quite a few times that my choice was “not as good as it could be” by highlighting a better choice but even still I upgraded the size of my hard drive, I upgraded my CD/DVD ROM, I upgraded my memory, and I upgraded to include a floppy drive.
I upgraded following the pretence that - I’d rather upgrade all the components I felt I could and still be in budget, without stress about upgrading later.
Even as an above-average PC user – I’d rather the manufacturer put in (and put it in under the included warranty) a little extra memory, a little of this and that, inside – since I’d rather purchase at a later point that flat screen monitor, external hard drive, Office product and/or memory chip that feels in my hands to be a $100 potato chip!
In the end, my Dell cost a little over $1400 – not bad I thought. Free shipping didn’t hurt until, as you know Diary, the anticipation and excitement set in!
Dear Diary, July 29th 2004 – I received an email today delivered to my “extra email account reserved for buying/doing things online”. My purchase was under way. I was excited!
My excitement skyrocketed when the first of three boxes shipped! I couldn’t believe it! After six years my new PC was on its way. I clicked the links given in the email, passed Dell telling me about the process of putting things in order, till I got to the point of declaring what they were actually shipping at that moment. My, remote control. Oh, okay. Nice! Good. It’s part of it!
Dear Diary, June 30th 2004 – My remote control is still on its way. My PC is being boxed, and my free printer is being built. They have to build the printer?
Dear Diary, July 1st 2004 – Still waiting…
Dear Diary, July 2nd 2004 – Odd? all three packages that seem to contain my entire PC unit have now been delivered and will soon ship from UPS all at the same time, grouped together quite efficiently into an easy to use tracking number.
Today, I grew a bit frustrated as I was constantly told that the billing had been successfully received but nothing seemed to be happening.
Upon returning home, I received something from Dell in the mail. No, it wasn’t my PC. Heck, it wasn’t even the remote control that seemed to have shipped three days earlier. It was a welcome letter to a Dell credit line. For an APR that would seem silly to any one actually applying for a credit card (maybe it is supposed to look good for us pitiful folk who had to ask for credit to buy a PC) - Dell asked if I wanted to join the Dell line of credit.
Dear Diary, July 2nd 2004, 6:50pm – I said NO!
Dear Diary, July 2nd 2004, after 6:50pm – Still waiting. Due to the pending holiday, UPS states my shipment has been redirected till July 6th. Is something being “redirected” supposed to make me fell all warm and fuzzy inside?
Is it ever going to get here Diary?
[July 6th 2004] my Dell arrived. [Reviewed]
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? A Dell PC
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lynus
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Location: Las Vegas, NV
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Slowly trying to get back to the thick of things.
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