Dell Salutes Military with discounts.... THANKS!!!!
Written: Jul 26 '03 (Updated Aug 22 '04)
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Pros: Inexpensive, stunning design, great performance.
Cons: Default mouse and keyboard: BORING; no firewire in the front, and loud fan.
The Bottom Line: The fan is a little loud for my taste, however, I've seen WORSE!!! Everthing else has been wonderfull. I highly would recommend this system.
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| bongnpinoy's Full Review: Dell Dimension 8300 (D83RL) PC Desktop |
Intro:
Having been stuck with a dying PC my mom first bought when I was in middle school, I figured it was about time to purchase a new PC, now that I have my own income. My first PC was a Compaq Presario with 300 MHz Pentium II with 64 mega bytes of RAM, so please forgive me if I’m going to sound a little bit overwhelmed with my review.
But first I’d like to note that I did not purchase my system directly from Dell, but rather from a special site that Dell has for military personnel and their family through AAFES.com. If you’re in the military or a family member and in the market for a computer, I would absolutely recommend you check out the site. I saved nearly 900 dollars on the system (NO KIDDING!!) compared to precisely the same configured system at the regular Dell site. About two hundred of the 900 dollars saving came as a result of having free shipping. For Alaska and Hawaii residents Dell’s Free Shipping Promotion doesn’t include us, thus we end up with nearly 200 dollars fee for shipping. Prices do fluctuate like that the prices on the regular site, I just recently priced the same system and it would have cost me 500 dollars more, so I’d recommend you watch the prices first.
Like all Dell system, they’re built to order, so before I continue with my review here is a short summary of my system:
Specs:
3.0 GHz Pentium 4 with Hyper Threading
256 Pc3200 DDR Ram (will upgrade it myself soon, it’s cheaper that way, to 1280 gigs of memory)
120 GB of Hard Drive
Radeon 9800 graphic card (not the pro version)
DVD Drive
DVD Burner (Free upgrade)
17 inch Flat Panel monitor (Free upgrade)
Also included a 200 dollar mail in rebate and 150 dollar instant rebate
Shipping:
Let me first commend Dell for their fast shipment, it took less than a week from the time I made the purchase to the time it was delivered. Unfortunately, I was at the field for two weeks when the system was delivered. I was a little frustrated when I realized that the packing slip was missing, the packing slip is required for the rebate. However, after calling Dell, the issue was resolved. It takes ten week for rebates to be processed, it seems pretty lengthy, but I’m not holding that against Dell, since it's a common practice with mail in rebates.
First impression:
First off the system is absolutely stunning, it’s the kind of computer system you want put in your living room and show off to your friends. The 17 inch Flat Panel monitor is magnificent; I’d say it’s about ten pounds. The viewable area is larger than a standard 17 inch CRT which actually only has a 16 inch viewable area.
The System:
I was worried that I might have not purchased enough memory for it to function effortlessly, however, to my surprise, it worked flawlessly. With only 256 of memory the system worked without a glitch when playing Command & Conquer Generals, and RalliSport Challenge. The system does start to slow down dramtically when it came to editing videos, however, this can be easily be solved by simply purchasing more memory right out of the bat or go to the cheaper route and installing it yourself, which I plan to do.
CD-R/RW Drive:
It took a-little-over five minutes to burn a full audio CD. On the other hand, burning a 4.7 Giga byte of video took 12 minutes. The DVD+R disk, I burned, did play on my Panasonic DVD player. The DVD player manual did not state it could play DVD+R media, it only listed DVD-R, so that was a good suprise.
The Fan:
The Fan is QUITE loud, but tolerable. It especially gets loud when playing games or editing videos.
Complaints:
The system comes with two USBs and a headphone jack in the front. I was very disappointed when I realized there was no firewire in the front. Two Firewire are located in the back, along with six other USBs.
As default, system comes with nonoptical mouse, and nonenhanced keyboard. There's nothing wrong with the basic keyboard and mouse, I'm satisfied with it. Although, it be nice to have volume and internet hot buttons on the keywboard and two thumb buttons on the mouse. Dimension 8300 is a top of the line nongaming system --these types of keyboard and mouse shouldn’t even be offered at this model. If you must have an optical mouse and enhanced keyboard, an upgrade is an option. Note, however, it's sometimes cheaper to buy it elsewhere.
The system came with Microsoft Works 2003. It would have been much better had they given the DVD-ROM version instead of five CD-ROMs.
Flat Panel Monitor:
17 in E171FPb
There’s no beating the picture of CRT monitor, for now at least. I would have been satisfied with a CRT monitor, but ironically with the promotion Dell had at the time, it would have actually cost me $50 more to have chosen a 19 inch CRT. However, this is not to say I regret choosing an LCD. The picture quality isn’t as good, but the space saved is worth it. The E171FPb is Dell's Value Flat Panels which has an analog connection. Perhaps, if you purchase their more expensive Ultra Sharp Panels with a digital conection, you'll receive better results.
I have read in PC magazines that if you mostly view text, LCD is the way to go. However, I must disagree; text on bright white background on LCD causes me eyestrains. And depending on the angle you’re viewing or the angle of monitor some portions of the monitor isn’t as clear. They are, however, great for watching online videos and movies.
I would highly recommend Dell Dimension 8300. There is some room for improvements, but nothing that would justify me from not loving this system.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1195
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
bongnpinoy
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Member: Moreland Nagal
Location: Honolulu, Hi, U.S.A.
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Twenty-years-old college student originally from the Philippines -- U.S. Army Reservist.
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