Dell has fulfilled my needs
Written: Feb 10 '01
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Pros: Quality, customization, tech support, price
Cons: none that I can think of.
The Bottom Line: Dell is a good choice.
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| pomona's Full Review: Dell Dimension 4100 Series |
Purchase Date: Tuesday January 2, 2001
Ship Date: Thursday January 4, 2001
Arrival of Computer: Monday January 8, 2001
Arrival of “Dell-Ware”: Thursday January 11, 2001
Payment: Dell E-Check
Type of Shipping: Ground 3 – 5 days
A Little Background
The reason I purchased a computer was simple. I would eventually need one for when I go to college (after hearing the horror stories of using campus computers). Plus, at home it was getting extremely hard for us to share one computer. Not to mention our computer is ancient and hardly upgradeable (it doesn’t even have a 56k modem).
Why I Chose Dell
I wanted to purchase something that was reliable, yet at a reasonable price. That crossed out laptops for me because I didn’t want to spend the extra money (even though the mobility and small size are very tempting). I wanted something that could process tasks at a fast speed. I would be doing a lot of things such as word processing, graphics, creating web pages, surfing the web, and even some games, among other things. I wanted a decent amount of space to store lots of files. It’s not too great trying to store large files on a 2 gig machine. I didn’t want to run out of space so quickly. I wanted something with a good reputation. And Dell has that. They have been rated number one in customer service for a couple years I believe.
I didn’t get sold on Dell that fast though. I have been checking out computers in stores and online for a couple years now. It’s about time I settled on something. There were a few other brands that interested me. Some of those being Gateway and Hewlett-Packard. I liked some of the systems I saw, but they never really sold me on anything. I wasn’t as naïve about choosing a computer as I was when I chose the family computer six years ago. I knew for sure what I wanted now.
Ordering
I chose to order directly from the Dell website. There’s also the option of ordering over the phone. It was a fairly simple process. First I customized my computer, and saved it. Later on I opened up my saved information and looked at it again, and made sure that was what I wanted. I continued to do that. I didn’t want to be disappointed with my choice. It’s something I suggest others do, too, unless you are extremely confident of what you want. I will get into some specifics about what I ordered later.
Once you are set with what you want, you can order it. This is done under a secure connection, which is necessary when ordering anything online, so no one else can view your information. You enter all your billing information, such as your shipping and billing address, and type of payment. You can pay with a credit card, use their monthly plan, or pay with the e-check. I opted for the e-check since I didn’t have a credit card. With the e-check, you send them your checking information (bank name, account number, routing number, check number, as well as your driver’s license) and they deduct it right from your account. It’s very safe. They only do it with your permission.
They have a space on the website where you can track your order. And it’s not just basics like it will ship on so and so date. They give you some detail as to what part of the process your computer is in. They will tell you such things like your computer is having the software tested, or it’s in pre-production. These things go by fast. It doesn’t take long for your computer to be put together. My computer was shipped two days after I ordered it.
The Arrival
Ah, the day I saw the UPS truck pull into my driveway was a glorious day. I had calculated that it would arrive Monday at the earliest, and it did! I lugged the three boxes up my stairs and into my room. Opened each box one by one, and pieced everything together. It was a simple job for me, and I didn’t even have to refer to the instructions. Took me about an hour to get it up and running. If you’re not so fortunate to be computer literate, the instructions are very easy to follow. And it doesn’t hurt to have things color-coded.
The Computer Itself
I was very pleased with my choice for a computer. These are some of the specs I chose for it:
Pentium III Processor 866MHz
Though now, a month later, they offer 933MHz as the minimum. (This is an example of how fast things are growing.) It’s still not a bad speed. There’s also the option of getting a 1GHz. And Pentium III’s are quite reliable.
128MB SDRAM at 133MHz
I believe this was the default when I ordered it. You can beef this up to as high as 512MB, and lower it to the slightly outdated 64MB. I would recommend going one step higher, cause with the all the software running in the background (such as Norton AntiVirus), for me I can have as low as 59% of my resources free. I’m considering adding more memory within the next few months.
20GB Ultra ATA-100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
This wasn’t the default when I ordered, but it is now. RPM refers to the speed of your hard drive. All the hard drives they offer at the moment are 7200 RPM, with exception of the 80GB drive which operates at 5200 RPM. I assume in the very near future it will be available with 7200 RPM. For $30 less than what I got, you can get a 20GB with 5200 RPM. I don’t see why anyone would want to do that, unless they wanted to save $30.
32MB NVIDIA TNT2 M64 AGP Graphics
I don’t know much about video cards. But this seemed like a good choice. From the website, it doesn’t look like they offer this as a choice anymore though. They have six video cards to choose from right now, ranging from 16MB to 64MB, with the latter being quite pricey. I would just stick with the lower end cards if you’re not too familiar with what they do, but not too low.
8x/4x/32x CD-RW Drive
Dell offers numerous options for the first drive bay. Besides the CD-RW, you can get a regular CD-ROM (currently at 48X), DVD-ROMS (at speeds 12X and 16X), CD-RW/DVD combination drives, and some newly introduced higher speed CD-RW’s.
I opted to only get one CD-ROM drive. I have been used to have only one for so long, that I didn’t feel a need to get two. But having the extra drive bay available with this particular model would be useful if I ever decided I wanted it. As for the CD-RW, this is something I always wanted. It’s a great tool for saving large amounts of data onto a CD. Someday, I will make a photo library on a CD – when I have the time to spare. It’s also great for transferring files to another computer, and making audio CD’s.
17” (16.0 viewable, .28dp) E770 Monitor
This is the default, and I went with it because I didn’t know the difference between a .28dp and a .26dp. But now I know that the .26dp is of better quality, and provides a bit finer image on the screen. It’s only $50 more for the 17” with .26dp. Plus there’s a couple 19” monitors available, even a 21”. I think that’s impressive. Also, there are some flat screen monitors available for 15”, 17”, and 19”. If you have the money to spend, then I say go for the better monitors. The very high quality ones are extremely pricey.
Altec Lansing ACS-340 Speakers with Subwoofer
I love these speakers! I have only used my stereo once since I got my computer. They even make midi's sound good. They may be small in size, but they sure to put out great sound. They do offer better speakers now, including surround sound which is now the default.
There are many other things to choose from when buying from Dell, so if you don’t like to choose or are completely dumb about computers, go have a salesperson at Circuit City or Staples try to sell you one.
Dell always seems to be offering special offers. At the time I purchased it, I got $100 off. Now they are offering free shipping. Those are basically the same thing because shipping for one desktop computer is $100. In the past they have been known to throw in a free printer, scanner or webcam.
I use the computer everyday. The computer runs pretty well, being equipped with Windows ME. In the beginning, I experienced a few freezes and blue screens. But they are less common now. This seems to be a common complaint with many Win ME users. It’s also a very fast computer. And I enjoy clicking on Outlook Express and having it appear in two seconds.
The software was not plentiful, but that’s a good thing because it’s not fair being stuck with a bunch of unwanted software that you didn’t ask for. Some things I received were Norton AntiVirus, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Money, MusicMatch, and internet software of course. However, you can choose to add more software with your order if you want to.
Conclusion
All in all, I think this computer was a good choice for me. It suits my needs, and doesn’t give me much of a hassle. It’s a far cry from using an incredibly slow, barely upgradeable, COMPAQ with Windows 95. I recommend this to anyone who is stuck with a slow machine, and wants a change. Or anyone on the market for a new computer. If you are interested, go check out the site and see what it has to offer. Dell is a good choice.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1480.10
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 801-900
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
pomona
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Member: Kim
Location: Connecticut
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 19 members
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