Superb for ADVANCED applications!
Written: Aug 27 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
|
|
|
Pros: Known Reliability, Extremely Quiet, Looks cool
Cons: Funky case design may cause a bit of trouble when installing long PCI cards.
The Bottom Line: Highly Recommend: You can't ask for a better Price/Performance combination with a dealer that has a great track record.
|
|
|
| rootk's Full Review: Dell Dimension 8200 Series |
Background
This is my 3rd Dell computer system at home. (5th if you count my 2 at work..) It all started in 1997 with a PII 450, then in 2000 I got a PIII 866, and then in July 2002 I got a PIV 2.26GHz. I've always had good results with Dell, so why change if things aren't broken.. right?
Introduction
I own a video production company and do intense video editing. I customized this system quite a bit when placing my order with Dell, specifically for video editing. Here's how what I got:
PIV 2.26 GHz w/533 Mhz front side bus
512 MB PC800 RDRAM
64 MB Video card w/TV out
40 GB 7200 RPM system drive
80 GB 7200 RPM Video Drive 1
DVD-Burner
Cheesey 56K Modem
Sound blaster audio card
2 speakers w/ a sub
Along with the computer I got:
80 GB 7200 RPM Video Drive 2 (which is removable and transportable via a cartridge) (~$200)
Pinnacle Pro One Video Capture Card (~$900)
Epson C80 color printer ($~100)
How it Works
As always, I ordered it and received it about 3 or 4 days after placing my order, even though they say it will arrive 2 weeks after order placement date. lol But hey, I'm not complaining.
Hooking it up was a no brainer for me, as I am a tech junkie of sorts, but in case you aren't a techno junkie and this is your first computer... everything is color coded and there is a handy big piece of cardboard that explains how to hook things up.
I did run into a bit of a problem installing the Pinnacle Pro One Video capture card into the Dell 8200. The problem is this, the way the 8200 shell opens, (V-shape) the little U-shaped braket at the bottom of the case which locks it closed was getting in the way of the Pro-One.
I originally tried to install the Pro One in the last open PCI slot on the system... since it was the only one left, and I didn't want to move all the other cards around.
Anyways, the Pro-One Video Card is about 12" long and runs the complete length of the inside of the 8200 shell and wasn't letting the case close fully without popping out of the PCI slot. So I did have to re-arrange the cards and put it up near the top.
That was the only minor hassle I had though. I installed all the software as directed in the Pro-One manual and was able to capture video that night.
I'm using the 21" monitor from the 866 system since it still works great... which is how I save a chunk of change on this system too.
How it works part II
This is what I term a 'stand alone' system, meaning it is not connected to the internet, which helps keep garbage off of it and virus free. The 866 is going to be the new internet computer (as soon as I clean off the 450, which is currently the Internet computer).
All I can say is, wow. The raw processing power is fantastic for editing videos. The Pro One is a real-time card and having all the newest technology working behind the scenes in the Dell is wonderful. I've worked on several projects and have only had ONE major crash. (Blue screen of death, physical memory dump... something related to the Pro One Card, but everything appears to be ok now. lol)
The 8200 is SO unbelieveably quiet. You can tell the engineers have worked on this. My other 2 sound like airplanes taking off compared to this thing. (slight exaggeration, but you get the point).
The speakers are decent, it's nice to have a sub that will throw out some bass.
Conclusions
In my title I say "Superb for Advanced Applications" stressing the advanced. I say this because, if you're simply doing normal run of the mill stuff like MS Word, Powerpoint, Excel etc, all the extra horsepower isn't going to necessarily do you any good and you may be better off getting a lower end system if money is an issue for you.
Overall I am totally satisfied with the quality, features, and performance of this new Dell 8200. Looking forward to seeing where we stand in about 2 or 3 more years when it gets time to upgrade again. I highly recommend Dell computers!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1400
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
rootk
|
|
Member: Java Boo Boo
Location: Decatur, Alabama
Reviews written: 83
Trusted by: 23 members
About Me:
These opinions have been supplied by me!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.