gettin a new computer...

mbdyer12

Computers become outdated within 6 months if you're doing anything but the basics, sadly enough. Going with a processor about 2 steps behind the new stuff (2.8ghz vs 3.2ghz) can save you money, with no huge difference in performance. That 3.2ghz P4 will drop in price probably $200 within a couple months. Is it worth the $200 extra just to be "top of the line" now?

exalted512

worth it to me
after all--im not paying for it:)
not the best way to go about things in life...but oo well
-Cody

mbdyer12

You never mentioned nothin about not paying for it. You better have selected top-of-the-line everything! Haha. Who's paying for it?

neomagus00

hmmm... any way you can get the money for the top end, then buy the near-top-end that has been discussed, and keep the change?

exalted512

actually im pretty much maxed out on what i can spend right now
im pitching in $300, the 'rents are paying for the rest
nah--cant keep the change...lol
-Cody

neomagus00

o well... great source of income

mbdyer12

Bottom line, it's gunna be an awesome system no matter what. Enjoy

AustinKP

BTW, that was a pretty good price on the Printer/Scanner/Fax, assuming it was a decent brand. If it's a canon or lexmark, I'd skip it though. They eat ink and are not reliable, respectively. I'd definitely go HP for a printer, even if it costs a little more. In the long run, you'll save on Ink cartridges and repair costs.

neomagus00

w00t for hp! for ink cartridges, you don't want to pay more than a dollar per millilitre - $1/mL - cause any more means you're gettin ripped off. i dont remember if this is for color or black cartridges, though.

PoweredByDodge

wow. lots of replys...

cody -- i'd go with dual hard drives... instead of one 250 gb SATA, go with two 70 or 80 gb sata's... stripe them running in RAID so that if one crashes, your entire computer is backed up on the other one... this will increase task time, and seek time... write time will not be affected as they'll sync up on downtime. Western Digital Raptors are my suggestion, they come with a 5 year manufacturer warranty -- maxtor and hitachi can't even come close to the quality you'll get from WD Raptor. those 10,000 rpm drives are friggin fantastic, but you'll have to fan cool them, especially with two running striped in RAID.

get the beefiest processor you can get around 2.5 ghz... anything faster than that is a waste of your cash AT THIS POINT IN TIME (5 years from now probably not, but i've found that right now anything around 2.5 GHZ is peachy keen for building monster systems).

get a gig of ram... you want th emost you can get... PC3200 or better if they're making anything faster now.

you should go with only a single burner... that'll al you need... one that burns BOTH DVD's and CDRW's.... then get a plain jane CD/DVD READER drive so that you can "copy on the fly" either cd's or dvd's by putting hte original in one drive and the copy in the burner drive.

you should go with no less than a 450 watt (preferably 500 watt) power supply... you'd need roughly 2 exhaust fans, 1 or 2 intake fans, processor fan, two hard drives power, floppy power, and two cd drives power as well as motherboard power.

dell builds their own motherboards, which sucks, i wish they would just sell direct intel reference or Shuttle, Tyan, or even SOYO boards.... shuttle is pimp ****.

you really dont need above a 32 meg graphics card unless you're runnin some SICK WICKED games.... if u're gaming, go with the 128 ATI Raedon or an INVIDIA GeForce 4 or better card... if you're not gaming then an INVIDEA Geforce 2 or 4 32 meg card IS PLENTY.

I don't know who makes dell's ram, but if you have the option, request CRUCIAL BRAND NAME ram... they make by far the most "unkillable" sticks on the market. IBM blade E-servers used Crucial during their development.

as far as applications....

you'll want at least Windows XP Home (pro is unncessary dude... it just has some built in firewalls and garbage which dont work... zonealarm is a pimp firewall). MS Office XP Pro is essential -- its a GREAT suite of programs.

DVD X COPY PLATINUM WITH RIPPER is also essential, else you wont be able to copy copyright protected dvd's.... Nero Burning Rom 6 would also be a nice thing to have... dont bother getting a Norton suite, just Norton Antivirus of McAffee... and if they'll give you Black Ice or Zonealarm firewalls for free - by all means, grab em, if not, you can DL cracks on the net.

anyway - hope that helps.

PoweredByDodge

ps... i've got an ASSSSSLLLOOAD of cracked software, including windows xp, office xp, dvdxcopy, all the goodies with cracks... if u want, u can buy a blank computer and i'll send you all this **** on a stack of cd's.

exalted512

Ok, lets try something different
I'm just going to paste every single option Dell lists and you guys can pick and choose from that...lol
remember this is the ABSOLUTE HIGHEST i can go
prices are listed(how much you should add or subtract) so youll know how much the options you choose are going to be
mind you it would be nice to lose about $200
one thing that IS an option is that i can buy stuff AFTER i get my computer(software or hardware)
what i have is marked with "*****" in front of it
**NOTE** it does not come with an option for no operating system, if is there is not a "none" option listed here, there is not a none option on the website
some stuff is not listed either b/c i know its what i want or theres only one option
also, something things like Dell Media Experience have no price, that is because even without it, its the same price
what you see here is exactly what you get on the website
here we go:
Dell Dimension XPS:
Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology 3.2GHz Extreme Edition [add $795 or $24/month1]
*****Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology 3.2GHz w/800MHz FSB
Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology 3.4GHz w/800MHz FSB [add $170 or $5/month1]
Operating System:
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition [subtract $70]
*****Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
Operating System Enhancements:
*****None
Microsoft® Plus! Digital Media Edition [add $20 or $1/month1]
Microsoft® Plus! for Windows XP [add $20 or $1/month1]
Combo: Microsoft® Plus! for Windows XP and Digital Media Edition [add $30 or $1/month1]
Memory:
2GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz [add $300 or $9/month1]
4GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz [add $2,180]
512MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz [subtract $150]
*****1GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
Video Card:
*****128MB DDR ATI RADEON 9800 Pro Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI
NEW 256MB DDR ATI RADEON 9800 XT [add $220 or $7/month1]
Dell Media Experience:
*****Dell Media Experience
No Dell Media Experience Selected
Hard Drive:
80GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM) [subtract $160]
120GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) [subtract $130]
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) [add $20 or $1/month1]
*****74GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (10000RPM)
NEW 120G RAID 1 (2 x 120GB SATA HDDs) [add $180 or $5/month1]
NEW 148GB RAID 0 (2 x 74GB SATA HDDs) [add $270 or $8/month1]
NEW 240G RAID 0 (2 x 120GB SATA HDDs) [add $180 or $5/month1]
NEW 250GB RAID 1 (2 x 250GB SATA HDDs) [add $430 or $13/month1]
NEW 500GB RAID 0 (2 x 250GB SATA HDDs) [add $430 or $13/month1]
2nd Hard Drive:
*****None
80GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM) [add $130 or $4/month1]
120GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM) [add $180 or $5/month1]
120GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) [add $190 or $6/month1]
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) [add $400 or $12/month1]
External One Touch Hard Drive:
*****None
160GB USB External Hard Drive (7200rpm) [add $229 or $7/month1]
250GB USB External Hard Drive (7200rpm) [add $316 or $10/month1]
CD or DVD Drive:
**NOTE**All DVD Drives include Cyberlink PowerDVD LE. All CD-RW drives shown below include Sonic RecordNow. All DVD+RW drive shown below include Sonic RecordNow and MyDVD LE.**NOTE**
Single Drive: 16X DVD-ROM Drive [subtract $20]
Single Drive: FREE UPGRADE! 48x CD-RW Drive [subtract $20]
Single Drive: FREE UPGRADE! 48x CD-RW / DVD-ROM Combo Drive [subtract $20]
Single Drive: FREE UPGRADE! 8x DVD+RW Drive [subtract $20]
Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + FREE UPGRADE! 8x DVD+RW Drive [subtract $20]
*****Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + FREE UPGRADE! 8x DVD+RW Drive
Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + FREE UPGRADE! 48x CD-RW Drive [subtract $20]
**NOTE**I KNOW WHAT ON THE FLY IS, I USE IT ON THIS COMPUTER, I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BURN ON THE FLY WITH WHAT I HAVE SELECTED? THATS THE MAIN REASON I SELECTED IT WAS BECAUSE I THOUGHT ID BE ABLE TO BURN ON THE FLY**NOTE**
Enhanced Software for CD or DVD Burner:
**NOTE**These are upgrades to the basic software packages included with the CD-RW and DVD+RW drives listed above.**NOTE**
*****None
RecordNow!Deluxe:Burn,Copy CD Music/Data,Backup,Labeling(CD-RW/DVD+RW only) [add $30 or $1/month1]
MyDVD Deluxe:Copy DVDs,Edit Video,Effects,Photo Slideshows (DVD+RW only) [add $40 or $1/month1]
Combo: RecordNow! and MyDVD Deluxe (DVD+RW only) [add $50 or $2/month1]
Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices:
*****3.5 in Floppy Drive
3.5 in Floppy Drive and 64MB Dell USB Memory Key [add $29 or $1/month1]
3.5 in Floppy Drive and 128MB Dell USB Memory Key [add $49 or $2/month1]
Modem:
*****56K PCI Data Fax Modem
56K PCI Telephony Modem [add $20 or $1/month1]
Printers:
Dell A920 Printer with 1 YR Advanced Exchange [subtract $40]
*****Dell A940 Printer with 1 YR Advanced Exchange Print, Copy, Scan & PC Fax!
Dell A960 Printer with 1 YR Advanced Exchange [add $50 or $2/month1]
Dell P1500 Printer with 1 YR Advanced Exchange [add $120 or $4/month1]
Monitors:
17in (16.0 viewable,.25dp)M782 CRT Monitor [subtract $59]
*****19 in (18.0 in viewable) M992 Monitor
21 in (19.9 in viewable,.24AG)P1130 FD Trinitron® Monitor [add $390 or $12/month1]
15 in (15.0 in viewable) E152FPb Flat Panel Display [subtract $59]
15 in Samsung 153T Digital Flat Panel Display [add $221 or $7/month1]
17 in E172FPb Flat Panel Display [add $120 or $4/month1]
17 in Samsung 173T Digital Flat Panel Display [add $320 or $10/month1]
17 in 1703FP Ultrasharp Digital Flat Panel Display [add $310 or $9/month1]
18.1 in 1801FP Dell Ultrasharp Digital Flat Panel Display [add $380 or $11/month1]
19 in 1901FP Dell Ultrasharp Digital Flat Panel Display [add $490 or $15/month1]
20.1 in 2001FP Dell Ultrasharp Digital Flat Panel Display [add $820 or $25/month1]
Video Ready w/o Monitor [subtract $149]
Keyboard:
*****Dell ® Quietkey ® Keyboard
Dell® Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard [add $20 or $1/month1]
Productivity Software:
Productivity Pack including WordPerfect® and Money® [subtract $279]
WordPerfect Office® 11 with Money® [subtract $230]
Microsoft® Works Suite including Money® [subtract $250]
Microsoft® Office Basic Edition 2003 [subtract $130]
*****Microsoft® Office Small Business with Money® Includes Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft® Office Professional with Money® [add $120 or $4/month1]
No Microsoft Office [subtract $279]

**NOTE**VINCE-IF YOU COULD GET ME SOME OF THESE PROGRAMS IT WOULD SAVE ME $280...**NOTE**

Digital Music:
*****Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH
Dell Jukebox PLUS powered by MUSICMATCH [add $20 or $1/month1]Jukebox Premium powered by MUSICMATCH [add $60 or $2/month1]
No Digital Music Software Requested
**NOTE**TO DATE, I HAVE NEVER DOWNLOADED A SONG ONLINE, BUT THAT WILL CHANGE WITH A HIGH SPEED INTERNET AND A COMPUTER CAPABLE OF DOING SO--I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I WILL DO SO, BUT I WILL DOWNLOAD SONGS**NOTE**
Digital Photography:
*****Dell Picture Studio, Paint Shop Pro Trial, Photo Album Starter Edition
Dell Picture Studio, Photo Album Premium [add $30 or $1/month1]
Dell Picture Studio, Paint Shop Pro Edition (8.0) [add $60 or $2/month1]
Dell Picture Studio Combo, Paint Shop Pro, Photo Album Premium [add $80 or $2/month1]
No Digital Imaging Software Requested

okay, thats everything--thanks for all of your patience and helpfulness!!:)
-Cody

neomagus00

Originally posted by exalted512
Hard Drive:
80GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM) [subtract $160]
120GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) [subtract $130]
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) [add $20 or $1/month1]
*****74GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (10000RPM)
NEW 120G RAID 1 (2 x 120GB SATA HDDs) [add $180 or $5/month1]
NEW 148GB RAID 0 (2 x 74GB SATA HDDs) [add $270 or $8/month1]
NEW 240G RAID 0 (2 x 120GB SATA HDDs) [add $180 or $5/month1]

Processor: check
OS: I'd pick home (i'm at -$70)
OS Enhancements: check
Memory: check
Video Card: unless you're a mad gamer, check
Dell Media: since it's free, check
HD: this one's confusing - the 240G raid 0 drive setup is listed as less than the 148G raid 0 setup?? i'll assume this is correct. then, you get to pick between storage space and speed or redundancy - raid 0 will give you more space and you can access data faster. raid 1 mirrors one drive on to the other, so if one dies, the other lives on. i'd use raid 0 for the performance benefit, and get the 240G set. i still stand by my rpm beliefs. (+$110)
2nd HD: RAID!!!
External HD: check
CD Drives: check (i believe that on-the-fly burning is dependant upon the burning program, but i think you'll be okay)
Enhanced Software: check
Floppy: check
Modem: check
Printer: check
Monitor: check
Keyboard: check
Productivity Software: if you can get it off vince, then you can get the HD stuff i listed above, else you cant (-$170).

you end up with a $170 bonus and fast drives. and a couple felonies.

exalted512

i double checked the Dell site, I didnt even catch that--its right
maybe theyre different RPMs
which one would you get for the 2nd drive
only bad thing is this is only an option if vince can hook me up with some software
-Cody

neomagus00

what raid does is uses two drives together. raid level 0 splits data up and puts half on one drive, and half on the other, allowing data access speeds nearly twice that of a single drive. but, if one drive goes, you lose everything. doesnt happen a lot, but it can happen. if you have 2 140 Gb drives and you use raid 0 on them, your computer sees a 240 gig drive. raid level 1 mirrors all the data - whatever is on one drive is what's on the other drive. the synchronization takes place during downtime, so there's only a little performance hit over a single drive. using the same 2 140 gig drives in raid 1, your pc sees one 140 gig drive.

so, raid includes the second drive.

mbdyer12

To add onto what neo just said:

RAID can be with 2+ drives. I have 4 40gig drives running in RAID 0. So Windows sees it as 1 160 gig drive. Theres also RAID 0+1 which combines the features of both (high performance from 2 drives, then 2 mirrored drives), but requires at least 4 drives which I think is out of the question here. Just maybe for future reference

PBD:

stripe them running in RAID so that if one crashes, your entire computer is backed up on the other one... this will increase task time, and seek time... write time will not be affected as they'll sync up on downtime.

Striped is RAID 0. Mirrored is RAID 1 (what you described. Just for future reference...again.

The only problem with RAID 1 is you dont get the benefit of double the space. You pay double the money to get the same amount of space at the convenience of having a backup. If you aren't going to back up often, this would be a good choice. If you make a backup somewhat often or have nothing really valueable on your computer, then RAID 0 is the way to go. The chances of one drive crashing is really slim though so its not much to be concerned about.

AustinKP

Cody, the reason you can't go any lower on the CPU is b/c it's the XPS. If you'll go one step lower, you'll be able to save a substantial amount of money on a CPU, but still be able to get the rest of the stuff listed. As far as MS Office, PM me and we might be able to work something out. (Nothing illegal, of course ) Also, if you'll check your school bookstore, you can often get a "student" version of MS Office at a significant discount.

pixiedave

save some real money, buy your componants build the system yourself, and save your self the microsoft tax, 2800 bucks for a desktop you describes is insanel. Its a 32 bit machine, outdated stuff really. you could build the same system for less than a thousand if you poke around. Not that Dell is a bad choice, Id buy a dell if going to buy an off the shelf, but if you can wire a car for sound you can plug together your own system

neomagus00

agreed, the physical construction is not difficult by any means. it is the fact that you're getting dell's customer service, and that's a great benefit.

btw, i wouldn't consider 32-bit to be outdated, 64 is just coming in to the home market. as of now, there's no particular advantage to a 64 bit home pc; five years from now is a different story.

and like austin said, you can jump down a tier on the processor (assuming you can still get every other component listed, i don't know how dell organizes their offerings), lose a microscopic amount of performance, and pay significantly less - consider that it's $170 to go from 3.2 to 3.4, or $800 to go to 3.2 extreme (i dunno what this is, but it sounds cool). dropping to a 2.8, 2.9 will save you at least a hundred if not two or three. the problem w/ this is that they may not offer the high end video card or memory etc. that you've selected once you choose a different processor level. just go have a look, can't hurt.

AustinKP

The reason that the Extreme Edition is $800 more is that it has 2MB of L3 cache(very expensive) as opposed to the normal 256 or 512KB. Makes it dang fast though...:)
Only reason I'd not build my own computer(even though I did) is that if any equipment craps out on you, you're out the money, unless you happened to get a warranty on it. That's the risk of the great deals on eBay. I've been very happy with my computer. It's very fast and only cost me $1000 even. It would have been over $2500 if I bought it from a normal retailer. Only problem is that my CD-RW crapped out on me and since I bought it on eBay I didn't have a warranty. Oh well, it saved me a ton of money and that was easily replaceable.

exalted512

actually, i was TOLD to get the XPS by the same people who are giving me the money to get it, so to go lower isnt really an option
reasons being, this computer will last me for a long time, the lower i go, the less up-to-date it will be many years from now
and as far as building my own, the reason why i didnt is because i like warranties and knowing me, id mess something up...lol
AustinKP, does the version you have have powerpoint, if so, thatd be awesome and ill hit you up on that for sure:D
thanks again
-Cody

pixiedave

Originally posted by neomagus00


btw, i wouldn't consider 32-bit to be outdated, 64 is just coming in to the home market. as of now, there's no particular advantage to a 64 bit home pc; five years from now is a different story.

Really, I have an early 90's alpha running freebsd alpha 64. The 64 stands for yup 64 bit. Not that the Alpha was marketed as a home pc, But it is 64 bits, it is a computer and it sits on a desk top.
The only reason "new" 64 bit machines are being marketed, is because they cant market 32 bit machines for a profit anymore.. Its all moot, I having the socket sewn into my neck next week lol!

Jstas

Cody,

If I'm not too late.

Going by the list you selected, I am assuming that the starred items are what you have already selected. It looks good, leave the starred items and get that. One amendment. For a home computer RAID'ing a serial ATA bus is gonna kill your performance and offer no real benefit for you at all. I would axe the 74 GB hard drive and get the 2 80 GB Ultra ATA's. Serial ATA has been shown to have problems with not only reliablility but also performance.

Serial ATA is like RAMBUS and I can see it failling soon. Unfortunatly, Dell is a corporate **** and buys in to whatever new technology any shister is shilling down the block. RAMBUS failed miserably because not only was the semi-conductor technology behind it flaky at best but it was unreliable. On top of that, RAMBUS used a controller that shared system resources. While that RAMBUS memory may have been running at 800 MHz, the RAMBUS controller was only running at 225 Mhz and that means that your memory is only running as fast as your controller. Serial ATA is in the same boat and unless the technology improves quickly, I don't see it staying a viable option in the market place. Currently, those 7200 RPM Ultra ATA drives will be more stable and probably benchmark just as fast as the 10K RPM Serial ATA drives. That 10K RPM only means that drive seek time is lower, it has nothing to do with how fast the bus that controlls them runs. Don't let it lull you into a false sense of speed. With Ultra ATA, you are running clean off the IDE bus which is basically hardwired into the system board. There is an IDE controller but it doesn't operate the same way as Serial ATA does. It is much cleaner and takes a hell of alot less in system resources and overhead to run.

Personally, I wouldn't touch the Serial ATA or even bother RAID'ing a home computer unless it was operating as a server for a home network which incorporated not only personal/pleasure use but business use also. You won't benefit from the backup and failure recovery utilities that it would offer you unless you are running a personal business off of it and your stored data changes daily. If that was the case, I'd recommend an external array for Serial ATA and still go with Ultra ATA drives for your system disks. Right now, if all you do is school work, surfing, email and the occasional video game. Serial ATA will offer you nothing except to lighten your pocket. Your backup/recovery needs can easily be served by having the 2nd hard drive to create a swap/backup area and mirroring a 4 gig primary partition off of the 1st hard drive. That would provide you with 4 total partitions, one primary, 2 secondary covering the two disks respectively and the swap/mirror partition which would give you your system backup. A CD or DVD burner would be plenty capable of providing you with a stable, quick and easy way to back up your other, critical, non-system files like term papers and other work you want to hold on to. A configuration like that would be rock solid stable for a home PC and the only benefit Serial ATA would offer you over that is striping. The only useable benefit striping will give you is the ability to share a common partition across multiple drives. That would give you one big fat secondary partition but requires volume management on top of the Serial ATA and that gets messy for a home user. Also, that secondary partition, if one disk dies, gets shot all to hell without a solid backup and recovery of your computer could take days. Personally, I don't mind it taking days at work 'cause I'm getting paid. But days worth of downtime and the associated work at home just totally sucks.

Just remember, the biggest/best/newest isn't always so.

exalted512

nope, not too late, it probably wont get ordered until the end of may at the earliest
i just started this thread so I know I could get a lot of peoples input, i had no idea id get this much great info. though
ill redo it tonite and see what i come out with
then if anything needs to be revised from the revised list, we can go from there
lol
-Cody

exalted512

ok here we go again:

things that have stayed the same:

Dell Dimension XPS:
Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology 3.2GHz w/800MHz FSB
Operating System Enhancements:
None
Memory:
1GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
Video Card:
128MB DDR ATI RADEON 9800 Pro Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI
Dell Media Experience:
Dell Media Experience
External One Touch Hard Drive:
None
CD or DVD Drive:
Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 8x DVD+RW Drive
**NOTE**I'M GOING TO CALL DELL AND SEE IF THIS GIVES ME THE ABILITY TO COPY ON THE FLY, IF NOT, ILL GET ONE DRIVE AND BUY ANOTHER ONE FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE**NOTE**
Enhanced Software for CD or DVD Burner:
NONE
Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices:
3.5 in Floppy Drive
Modem:
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Printers:
Dell A940 Printer with 1 YR Advanced Exchange Print, Copy, Scan & PC Fax!
Monitors:
19 in (18.0 in viewable) M992 Monitor
Keyboard:
Dell ® Quietkey ® Keyboard
Digital Music:
Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH
Digital Photography:
Dell Picture Studio, Paint Shop Pro Trial, Photo Album Starter Edition

THINGS THAT HAVE CHANGED

Operating System:
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Hard Drive:
80GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
2nd Hard Drive:
80GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Productivity Software:
Productivity Pack including WordPerfect® and Money®
**NOTE**THIS IS FREE, I MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT GET IT--I'M GOING TO SHOOT VINCE AN EMAIL AND SEE WHAT I SHOULD DO COMPARED TO WHAT SOFTWARE HE HAS**NOTE**

thats all
the price on the XPS actually went down since I put the old computer that i had modified on my "Wish List" so I couldn't access it anymore
the new price for what you see here is $2,516 which is fantastic--I wouldn't mind a 300 dollar deduction, but theres not much else I can do
getting rid of the Productivity Software and the XP Pro saved me more than $300
I want to thank all of you again for your patience and guidance
I know everyone might not agree, but is it closer to what you have gotten than before?
It seems the most highly debated thing is the hard drives and i went with John's idea because he knows his ****:)
-Cody

mbdyer12

I hadn't heard that about the SATA (serial ata) drives being unreliable and that bit of info about how they're handled. Thanks for the bit of info. But yeah, there really isn't much of a performance advantage over (UATA) ultra ATA drives over serial ata drives. UATA are definately cheaper for the amount of storage you get. Jstas definately brought up a valid point. Good choice in the new drives.

neomagus00

yup... id say you're set! assuming you still have access to msoffice. and a cdburning program.

exalted512

theres the basic burning program pre-installed with any burners
-Cody

TrappedUnder Ice

Screw Dell..they only use Inell garbage...Real men run AMD CPU's :P)

exalted512

yeah...and an industrial size fan

j/k
AMDs are good but simply not an option for me b/c Dell doesnt carry em
-Cody