A new Dell has dawned
Written: Aug 22 '02 (Updated Nov 04 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
|
|
|
Pros: fast, quiet, easy set-up.
Cons: the bay slots are annoying
The Bottom Line: It's easy for anyone to install and yet powerful enough for those that want a computer that can stand being put through it's paces.
|
|
|
| KatScarlett's Full Review: Dell Dimension 8200 Series |
I had an old Dell 4100 that I really loved a lot and in late July it began dying a horrible painful death. It would make what my husband and I came to call "The Bad Noise" and then it was dead in the water. It's one of those things that happens to computers every now and then, my hard drive died. It had served me well though so when I started looking for a new computer I looked to Dell again.
I got the 8200, Pentium 4, 2.4 GH, 40GB hard drive, CDRW/DVD drive, 512 MB RAM, with new speakers & subwoofer, and a new monitor. All in all a nice little package, not my dream computer, but not bad.
The first thing was that shipping was delayed. For some this may not be a problem at all. For me, I was really disappointed. I love my computer and struggling by with the one I had (on the rare occasions it was still working) was just not working for me. Oh well, that's life, delays happen. However, something that I didn't realize until later was that my last computer from Dell was also delayed in shipping from the date they originally gave me. At this point I'm wondering if this is a trend or just my bad luck. You can read my review for my last computer here (http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-4CE2-A2F28C0-39BFC2A8-prod1) to see that this was also a problem then.
Once I did get the computer I opened everything up, actually read the instructions (at the insistence of my husband) and we put it together. It took me longer to clean up my desk and computer room than it did for me to set up the computer. The fast start directions were simple, to the point, and fairly easy to follow. One thing I would change is that being literate (as I assume most computer users are) I would prefer more words and less pictures for descriptions on how to put things together, but I managed okay.
The first thing my kids noticed was that it's black instead of the old cream/off white color of our old computers. I thought it was okay but I have to say, the kids were VERY impressed. The entire thing has this new "slick" black look. Whatever, as long as it works I wouldn't care if it was puce with tiger stripes.
The operating system is Windows XP Professional, which after struggling and fighting with Windows ME for the last 2 years is like having lived in darkness your entire life and finally emerging to the light. Okay, maybe that's a little over the top, but man, I really HATED ME. I have had not one single problem with the OS as far as running. I did have to download a few new drivers for my old printer, my digital camera, my scanner, and that sort of thing, but that wasn't a problem. In the month I've had it I haven't had one single "system crash." I've had programs crash but not the entire system. WOW! I'm what I call a "power user" so I'm constantly running a ton of programs in the background doing 10 things at once and I have to say, much to this systems credit, it's taken the punishment I have handed out AND exceeds my expectations. I'm incredibly happy with this.
We have a home network and use a common DSL connection. Getting the new computer hooked to this was an absolute DREAM! It was incredible. My last Dell I was fighting with it for a full day just to get the DSL to work. Moving the DSL modem card (we had an internal modem at the time), trying different configurations, different drivers. It was a mess. This time around, literally, all we did was plug in the line, set a few options (which we were prompted to do) and it was up and running. INCREDIBLE!
As far as adding hardware and software, again, so far it's been a breeze. I did have to download a second driver to get my HP printer printing on both sides of the paper, but I just checked the HP site and was in business again. My digital camera software has been a little more difficult and crashes with some regularity. I see this as more of a problem of the camera manufacturer though. I really love my camera and until XP never had a problem with the software but now I do. The old software that came with my camera was really great, I love it. However it really just doesn't work with XP. I decided to bite the bullet and buy the newer software (which claims to be XP compatible) but my problems are that I really don't like the new version of the program AND while it crashes less often than the old software on XP it still crashes. Not XP or Dell's fault, just that Olympus needs to get a little more on the ball. All the other programs I've installed so far, which is many, have been absolutely trouble free.
Things I don't like now. I don't like that I don't have any choice but to run Window's Messenger in the background. That really peeves me. I'm a control freak when it comes to my computer and don't @#*% run something if I don't say to run it! Sorry, I'm out of luck this time. If I want Outlook to work for my mail, messenger has to be running. As my own personal protest I'm just not using messenger, as if that makes a difference.
I also was unable to install and use Yahoo messenger, but again that's a problem with Yahoo, not this computer. I read some reviews and a lot of people on XP have been having problems with Yahoo. Just one of those things some people might want to be aware of. How I got around this problem was that I had a friend of mine send me an old version of Yahoo (like 3.0 I think). I installed that version and then just upgraded that one and that finally got it working. When I tried to just install it cold off the site that didn't work at all, I wasn't even able to get logged on.
Another thing I don't like much is the bays. They're kind of inset in the face of the computer and while I'm sure it has this "neato" slick look they're going for, it's just a pain to get a floppy in if you have large hands or fingers. It's not a problem for me but my husband hates it. Personally, IMO, ease of use should never take a back seat to aesthetics.
My new monitor is a 19 inch Dell flat display monitor. It's very cool, works fine, no problems with it at all. It was also easy to set up and get going. Nothing bad to say about it is the best I can do. One of those flat panel monitors would be cool but they're really pricey. The color is good, the display controls are fairly easy to use and more or less self explanatory. We got it for a really good price on a special Dell was having and we're very happy with it.
I haven't had to call tech support once since the delivery of the computer so I can't say how good they are about this one in particular. I have dealt with Dell tech support in the past though and while the wait can occasionally be ridiculously long (as with almost any tech support) they are always helpful and always really do their best to help you with your problem. I haven't yet had that "oh you idiot" vibe from one of their support people, which in my opinion counts for a lot. Being a woman I have often called tech support for something only to get that beligerent "you stupid woman" attitude that I can't stand.
All in all I am enormously happy with my new computer and think it's well worth the money. We paid a little more to get a few extra's but like I said, I'm a power user and it's all worth it in the end.
UPDATE - 8/26/02
Well, wouldn't you know it. Karma is a funny thing. The evening after I wrote this review my monitor blew up. Not literally, but it died the big death, the can't fix it even if we wanted to death. I don't know what happened. I left my computer sometime in the early evening and all was well. Spent some time with the family, got the kids to bed and came back to see my monitor this lovely baby blue color with thin cyan lines running across it. Hmmmm, not good I'm thinking. I tried rebooting twice (because when in doubt reboot) and still no good. I got the manual for the monitor out and tried what they said in there I should try.... no good. I tell myself, at this point, to go to bed NOW or I will be up all night making myself crazy. I get like that about my computer sometimes.
It still didn't work when I got up in the morning so I called Dell Tech. Support. I told them about the lovely baby blue screen with the cyan lines and they had me try one or two things, the same I had tried the night before as per the manual instructions, and came to the same conclusion I did - it's fried. {sigh} It's gotta be replaced. The guy I talked to was very friendly and ordered me a new monitor, gave me the instructions of how to wrap my old monitor up in the box the new one comes in and that they'll send me little labels and all that I'll need. I'm good with that so we're set. He told me, on Friday, that if it didn't come by Monday to call.
Today is Monday. It didn't come today. I called Dell. They first told me that the lovely gentleman with the Texas accent made a mistake in putting the order in and so my shipment is delayed. Delayed you say? Where have I heard that before? Anyway, they tell me they're going to put me through to tech support again cause they have more information. Okay. So then the nice tech support man tells me that the problem is that it's back-ordered, not that a tech guy made an error! Okay. He tells me they shipped it today and it should be here by Wednesday. If it's not here by Wednesday give them a call back. You don't say?
I guess we'll see what happens from here. If I didn't have another monitor in my house I would have been in major trouble I have to say. Personally I'm annoyed but not overly so because of this. However if I didn't have another one I can tell you that smoke would be pouring out of my ears and I would have given those guys some very serious tongue lashings that might have required hospitalization... I can be like that about my computer... did I already mention that? Anyway, I'm hoping my new monitor will be here tomorrow and that this one won't decide to have a chip meltdown after only a month. Wish me luck!
In all fairness the people I talked to were friendly and wanted to help me out of my situation as soon as possible. I'll give them that much. What I really want is a working monitor though.
New Monitor
Well, I got my new monitor, late as I mentioned but it came and was intact when it got here. That's good right?
As soon as it arrived I got it set up and had no problems with it. I've had it for about 2 months now I guess and so far so good. No problems with it at all.
I did like how easy it was to return the old monitor I must say. I packed up the old monitor in the box the new one came in, put the prepaid labels on it, called the number they gave me and it was picked up and gone within a few hours. Very handy.
So all in all while it was a pain having to return the first monitor at all at least they made it relatively painless and the replacement monitor has been great :)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1700
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
KatScarlett
|
|
Member: Patti
Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 13 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.