Dell Dimension 8200... all around good performer
Written: Feb 04 '02
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Pros: powerful system, good quality, price deals, multiple options at purchase time
Cons: increasingly poor customer support. love it or leave it case design.
The Bottom Line: Dell has been for the most part a fairly reliable company making reliable products. However, their customer support has become more lax and unreliable.
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| yusakugo's Full Review: Dell Dimension 8200 Series |
If you're a reader of my many reviews, you'll note that I am a big recommender of Dell computers. I've owned over 6 Dell computers with another one on the way. So far so good with Dell.
The Dimension 8200 series represents the top of line desktops with Dell. They run with the latest Intel chipsets for Rambus memory... (i.e. the fastest and most expensive memory out there as of this writing). Dell also has the cheaper 4300 using SDR SDRAM which is the slowest memory type and the slightly cheaper 4400 using DDR SDRAM which is the middle of the road between the two. We'll get into whether the models or memory types should matter at the end of the review.
There are so many configurations to the 8200 that you can purchase that it's ridiculous to even try to go through all of them.
The Basics
Since you're considering buying a Dell computer, I would recommend knowing what the major purposes of the computer will be. This way, you don't start throwing money around the place for things you don't need. For the most part, if you want just word processing, finance management, and internet surfing with occassional gaming. I wouldn't recommend going beyond the base system... heck, I would look at Dell's cheaper systems as well (4300 and 4400 Dimensions). This review is also going from the viewpoint that you're looking at the Home and Home Office part of Dell's website (the 4300 has been replaced already by the 4400 Dimension). Prices these days have become ridiculously low in the desktop market and you get way more for your money now than you ever did before.
The basic system is an Intel Pentium 4 at 1.8 GigaHertz (GHz) with 128 MB of RAM and a low end GeForce 2 MX model (the card's performance is definitely not low end however and will still run games decently). A 20GB Hard Drive for storage is included with the basic package. Sound is integrated with the basic package as well as a 56k modem. No network card but you do get a decent 17 inch monitor. The prices can widely fluctuate for the basic system depending on the deals that Dell is offering at that time. You get a cheap pair of harman kardon speakers that you can upgrade and depending on the home or business site, even remove the speakers from the package. The very basic package comes with Microsoft Works (i.e. just the Word program and a few other toy programs usually)... $150 more gets the Small Business Microsoft Office XP edition.
This basic system will perform most tasks very well unless you are a hardcore gamer, an engineer, or someone who uses high powered graphics and/or engineering/architectural programs. Even these groups will find a respectable machine. So far, the Dimension has performed faithfully with the occassional glitches... which I feel is due to Windows XP since I've had the glitches on other computers as well (non-Dell ones). No real downtime on the computer as of yet.
I've had no problems installing my own equipment (CD-RWs and add-on cards like graphics and SCSI cards). Well, I've had problems with adding the SCSI cards where the system didn't recognize the card and I solved that by putting the card in a different PCI slot.
System Style
In a way, the 8200 series Dimensions follow the 4300/4400 case style. No longer do you get a biege bland box saying Dell on it... you get a more stylish black and silver box saying Dell on it. Well, it does look nicer than Dell's traditional desktop cases. The opening of the case is a tad bit unorthodox from biege box tradition as well. Now you have two buttons on the top and bottom of the system. One button pops half the case open to access the motherboard, power supply, and add-on cards... the other button accesses the drives. It seems like an odd way of accessing the inside of the computer and it requires you to unplug the computer to open it up. It's also seemed easier to access the inside with the computer lying on its side. The case is a pain if you need to access the inside quickly or troubleshoot equipment with the computer on. However, accessing the individual components of the computer seemed alot easier than Dell's older case designs.
There is a nice hidden panel on the front which you depress to reveal 2 USB ports and a headphone jack. Seems like Dell learned from their competitors on that point. You also get 2 USB ports on the back panel too! 4 USB ports total. However, no Firewire port still! You can have up to 4 drive bays... 2 5.25 inch bays (for DVD, CR-ROM, CD-RW drives, and other nice gadgets) and 2 3.5 inch bays (for floppies, Zip drives, and other little things).
Inside, the entire Dimension 8200 computer is wrapped up nice and neat with cables tied to the side out of the way. You can see all the components on the motherboard. There is a duct attached to an external fan just for your CPU (i.e. Intel processor) to help with heat venting issues. Overall, a quality job on presentation and packaging.
Options and more Options
Why is it that Dell gets so many customers? Likely due to their reputation of high quality and more importantly, the ability to customize the machine with various parts. Dell's ace in the hole really. If you wanted a hardcore graphics and gaming system, you added the better video card like a GeForce 3 Ti 500 or a ATI Radeon 8500 card (different options appear based on the Home site and Small Business site as well as Dell's own whim). You can put up to 2 GB of RAM (i.e. memory). You can have up to a 120GB Hard Drive (i.e. storage). However, all these options can really inflate the price of the Dimension. You can also add a scanner, printer, and various other peripherals. Want a DVD no problem... just add another $60 to the price. 120GB hard drive from 20 GB... no problem just add $280 to the price. You could put in just about anything. Don't worry about the parts being Dell branded, the parts come from quality companies anyway. Some of the Dell monitors come from MAG and Viewsonic. The Dell memory is really from Micron. If you want THX certified sound quality, you can upgrade to the appropriate sound card and speaker set... again for a big price!
Weaknesses of a Dell system
If you're a do it yourself upgrader and installer with moderate knowledge of computers... there should be very few problems with your Dell system. It's those that get a bad part or a non-working (which is rather rare) system as well as those that need the phone and other customer support which will have problems.
You have the option of various customer service plans ranging from 1 year to 4 years with options like Complete Care and in-home service. Complete Care service adds anywhere from $100 to $200 to the service plan. 4 years costs way more than 1 year of service. In-home service also increases the price. The standard plan is the 3 years at Home service with unlimited phone support. So far the service plan sounds pretty good. Complete Care costs an additional $99.
What is Complete Care though? As per Dell, Complete Care will replace any accidental damage to the computer as per Dell. Dell does have to evaluate the computer first to make sure that it isn't damage on purpose... by what means they do that, I have no clue. I don't have it so I don't know how well Dell sticks to it.
The biggest problem with the customer service is getting a live person to speak with you. Dell has too many customers now and it's nearly impossible to get help over the phone in a reasonable amount of time. E-mail help is decent and response come within 3 days... usually within 12-24 hours with exceptions usually occurring over weekends. Dell's web database is rather good though and downloading drivers is a snap since Dell programs that into the computer (so when you log into the Dell website, you automatically have options pertaining to your particular computer!) The major sticking point is the lack of phone customer service so if that is not a major concern, Dell has all other customer service areas well covered. Note that most large computer selling and making company have similar problems.
Saving money
Increasing your RAM by buying from Dell is rather expensive. Purchasing from say www.crucial.com (a division of Micron electronics) will get much better prices than that of Dell. By the way, Micron is a major supplier of memory to various computer makers... including Dell, so that memory you buy from Dell could very well come from Micron!
Dell often runs various deals on their computers. The deals can run from doubling memory for free, increasing the hard drive size for free, instant or mail-in rebates, free printers or scanners, coupons, free shipping, or any combination of those deals. Deals typically run anywhere from 3 days to 1 week long. A few may be 1 day only and others may be 2 weeks long. Just find the deal that you are comfortable with.
Don't buy scanners and printers from Dell. Dell charges the full MRSP on these items and they are NOT covered by the computer warranty no matter what ANYONE tells you! No computer company does that! You can get these peripherals from other sources for better prices. Secondly, Dell will charge additional S&H charges for items like printers and scanners! However, things that need to be installed into the computer like network cards, sound cards, and the such are covered by Dell's service warranty. The trade off is the price you're paying Dell to install and purchase the part but get the computer warranty to cover for problems versus getting the part for cheaper (maybe even 25-50% cheaper) elsewhere. If you like tinkering with the computer and upgrading parts, there isn't a reason to buy additional parts from Dell.
Another annoyance is that some parts can't be removed. You can't remove the modem if you don't want it. You can remove the speakers on some configurations. These are just minor annoyances.
Conclusions
Overall, the Dell Dimension 8200 is a good buy for novices and experts alike. It allows good expandibility and decent to excellent service options for the customer. As long as you don't need phone customer service, you should do fine using the other service options.
I will say that the only other problems are that AMD processors are not sold by Dell as they are ardent Intel supporters. Regardless the majority of customers will be happy with Dell... the Dimension 8200 is a overall good machine with good to excellent performance. However, the Dimension is not the king of the hill in any catagory... Athlon processors seems to perform better on business applications at a lowest speed. If you're a gamer, specialized gaming companies offer machines that can outperform Dell by a substantial amount (like Falcon Northwest and Alienware). As I said, the Dimension 8200 is a good to excellent overall performer across the board but specialist in none... then again most customers need that overall excellent performer than the specialized computer rig!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): over $1000
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 41-50
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yusakugo
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Losing Sleep and Lacking Time... sigh...
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