Very good - Very Dell
Written: Feb 12 '02 (Updated Feb 12 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Rock solid top of the line desktop at good prices. Excellent quality
Cons: Dreadful customer service. Quirky case design.
The Bottom Line: Dell products are up there in the quality and reliability stakes. The resolution of the standard tube monitor is extremely good, unlike the customer service departments which 'bite'
|
|
|
| gmeades's Full Review: Dell Dimension 8200 Series |
I recently destroyed my old computer in a fit of rage and in the space of 5 minutes, found myself in the market for a new P.C. My previous computer was a Packard Bell 350MHZ Pentium III piece of crap. I knew when I bought it that I was asking for trouble. It was a spur of the moment thing on a Saturday afternoon at one superstore or another.
From the get go, it gave problems. Without boring or alarming you with the gory details, it froze on me for the last time just before Christmas last year, and shortly thereafter, having ripped the cables and connectors from the back, I opened the front door to my apartment and summarily flung it down the concrete steps. It landed with an extremely satisfying crash on the concrete path whereupon the case broke open and the internal boards and wires reverted to their component parts in the front yard. It took me 5 minutes to sweep up the detritus and dispose of it in the dumpster. The euphoria lasted for about 15 minutes beyond that, which is the time that it took me to clean up the dust which had accumulated under the old unit, and open and consume a celebratory beer. It was at this point that I figured out why I had previously opted for the superstore method of computer purchase. Having just committed myself to buying another $1500 worth of stress, I had absolutely no clear idea of what I wanted or what was currently available. With trillions of companies and imminently obsolete models to choose from, I remembered why I had previously found the whole ordeal very wearing and why, therefore, I ended up picking the Crappard Bell as a quick fix for my overloaded brain.
So why did I end up ‘gettin a Dell dude’? Well, I currently have a corporate Dell laptop which I use for business and in general, the experience has been a pleasant one. However, after more than one bad episode with their abortionate customer service department, (see previous review on Dell4me) I was still a little wary of buying into the Dell experience. To reassure myself, I asked the guys in our I.T. dept. They basically told me that unless I was of a mind to build something myself, the Dell would be more than sufficient for my limited home needs. Also, as my laptop was a reasonably new machine, the two would be more compatible as I wanted to set up a home network to share files between them.
I logged onto the Dell website, and within a short period of time had built a machine to suit my needs. I started with the Dimension 8200 series with a 1.7 GHz Pentium 4 Processor and a 40GB 7200RPM, hard drive. I went with the 256 MB PC800 RDRAM, which crunches memory hogging software like Outlook with ease. This was the basis of my set-up as recommended by the ‘gurus’ in our I.T. department. As I run high performance CAD graphics software, I need a slightly higher spec machine to give me sufficiently powerful data processing capabilities. After that I added on all the items that I figured would make life for the next 3 or 4 years just that little bit more bearable. I went with a standard 17 inch E771 monitor as I had seen several in one of our offices and had been extremely impressed by the quality. I will be buying an LCD screen at some point in future when the prices come down a little more. I upgraded to slightly better Harmon Kardon HK-395 speaker system and a 64mb NVIDIA graphics card as I have m/s Flight Sim and like to play golf. The extra performance was well worth the investment. In the main bays, I opted for a 48xMax Variable CD-ROM drive and a 24x/10x/40x CD-RW Drive.
For software I opted for MS XP small business which gives me every thing that I need except for Powerpoint, and for the extra that Dell wanted for the professional OEM suite in order to get it, I decided that I would spend the money elsewhere, and restrict myself to using Pp on my laptop only.
With several other non essential goodies I ended up with a payment of just under $1750. It was a little more than I wanted to pay but the end result is AWESOME!
I could wax lyrical for several paragraphs about the technical marvels and merits of the 8200 series but the article would become boring techno speak. All that you folks reading this need to know is that this set up is the answer to your prayers. The machine is tight, the processor speed needs to be seen to be believed and it is quiet. The hard drive makes a noise not unlike a distant underwater scuba diver exhaling bubbles instead of the more usual loud electronic clicking and squawking. XP loads in a fraction of the time that Windows 98 did and the look of the software is fresh and pleasing, although I still find myself wondering if the format of XP has been changed for the sake of change. I was extremely comfortable with the feel of the old suite, and now have to learn all kinds of little oddities and quirks of the new-look software. However, the more I work with it, the more comfortable I become and the less I grumble. When setting the software up, I opted for a ‘classic’ look which I think is a closer representation of the old software icons and layout. I particularly like the way that XP tailors the toolbars according to the items that you use most often. If you suddenly start using a particular function repeatedly, it starts to appear in the initial drop down boxes and you don’t continually need to go down a level to find it.
In order to bring documents home and work on them, I set up a home network which was a breeze with the new machine and software. I used a Cat V patch cable to connect the two Ethernet cards. The software walks you through the process of creating a network setup disc and to coin an English phrase, ‘the answer was a coconut’. Dead easy.
My only initial dislike was the stupid front flap on the main case which covers the front USB port and a headset plug-in. Why…? I keep the case on the floor and when the flap is opened to plug in a peripheral device, I have to get down on all fours and shine a flashlight in there to see what I am doing. I am sure that it looked good on the drawing board.
In summary, if you are reading this trying to make up your mind what to buy, let me assure you that you will not be disappointed with Dell products. As I see it you are faced with three options, buy a ‘package’ system as advertised on T.V. For $600-700 you can get a machine which will almost certainly outperform your expectations. You get a 20GB hard drive, 1.4 GHz Pentium 4 processor, CD burner floppy drive and a 17 inch screen.
For $1200 - $1500 you can start to trick out your P.C. and get a machine that makes your life easy and the computer experience that much more enjoyable with better graphics card and speakers. This is where I aimed and I spent a little more than I originally budgeted because I wanted the better software to help with corporate work oriented tasks.
Finally, you can opt to blow the savings account on a top of the line system and spend upwards of $2000. The problem with this option is that for the extra $1000 dollars, you get what will quickly become the standard specification model in 6 months time. But, whatever floats your boat. To me, the choice depends on whether you live to work or work to live.
My vote is to buy Dell, hope that you don’t have to experience their exceptionally average customer support, and avoid Packard Bell products like the plague.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1741
Operating System: Windows
Processor: PowerPC G4
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
gmeades
|
|
Location: California
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Born in England, now a U.S. citizen working in construction management.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.