Dad's New Dell
So I bought me mum and dad a new computer. They'd suffered long enough with second-hand machines. I think they were as surprised as I was at how little it costs to buy a decent spec nowadays. We ended up with:
- Pentium P4 2.8GHz
- 512MB RAM (half of it was "free")
- 160GB Hard Drive
- 17in Flat Panel Monitor
All for a little over £400. A whole computer with a 17in TFT for less than I paid just for a 14in TFT a little over two years ago. How times change.
They must have cut corners somewhere but it's hard to tell - it's a great PC, fast and just right for what my parents want. I'll be continuing to recommend Dell whenever people come to me with their stupid talk about going to PC World to get ripped off a new computer.
There are, of course, a couple of things I don't like about buying cheap kit from the likes of Dell. My main gripe is that it comes loaded with what can only be described as crap. There are trial version of Paint Shop and other software whose creators must have paid Dell to pre-intall (AOL!). Then there's the default desktop littered with temptations to sign-up to AOL and other internet providers. It took me at least an hour or two just to remove all this junk before I could even start installing Mozilla goodies and transferring his files and emails over.
This is the first PC I've bought that came with no floppy drive. It's also the first that came with no Windows CD. Although you can create one if you like.
It must be a daunting experience for a first-time PC user to buy one of these machines and boot it up. It's like information overload. The worst part of the experience being the onslaught of warnings about lack of anti-virus protection and constantly being asked whether to allow Service X access to the internet. It's all a bit much really. You've just spend money on a computer and now you have to go and buy virus protection (a daunting experience in itself).
A much better option for the first time PC buyer would be a Mac. As fas as I can tell they aren't sponsored by AOL or Tesco and you feel a lot less vulnerable with browsing the internet naked. I tried dad with a Mac and he liked it, but he was just too stuck in the Windows way to start learning a new approach to computing.
How long now until my first support call from them for this PC?
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Don't worry Jake, this does not only on Dell cheap kits, but with other companies and bigger machines.
I bought a Compaq Presario laptop (Comaq's cheap models, I guess) which is quite powerful (1 GB of RAM, AMD Athlon CPU, 100GB HD). I'm usiing it as a desktop replacement and it's the most powerful machine I have (out of 3).
It alos came loaded with loads of crap and just like you did, I first cleaned up unwanted and irrelevant stuff. Took me about 30 minutes.
I'm guessing it's like that for every brand name machine bought, regardless of the brand and power.
Publicity is everywhere!!! Maybe an option we'll be able to add to our orders soon will be "ship with no software installed"!
>Maybe an option we'll be able to add to our orders
>soon will be "ship with no software installed"!
Nice idea. I can imagine it costing extra to have a blank machine delivered though.
The worse thing about PC world is the price of the things like cables: £14.99 for the cheapest USB cable, £12.99 for a standard PC power cable!! I have been in there a couple times and seen people buying this stuff and thought about telling them how they are being ripped off but so far resisted.
Staples are the same Dan. When I bought the Mac Mini I needed a VGA cable for it. My local Staples wanted £19.99 for it. 20 quid!! Instead I waited another day and walked round the corner to "Barry's Computers". He had one in a box full of old cables, which he sold me a fiver.
After years of building my own I bought a Dell. It was down to convenience - and that I got a great discount - double memory, double hard disk and 10% off! It's been spot on.
I've recommended them on a few occasions since - and I have to say it's been warranted.
Have you opened the case for a sneak yet? They are really impressive inside - mine opens with a hinge at the front - so it's dead easy to work on the guts. And if that doesn't do it for you - all the components are clipped in - not a screw to be seen!
I always recommend Dell as well, although in the last few months I'm starting to have second thoughts. It's started with the offshoring of the support department, and also now the sales department. Only Indians appear to work Dell. They are also incredibly agressive. I phoned up the other day about a XP Home to Professional upgrade, the price of which was a joke (£200), but the sales guy asked why I wasn't ordering straight away!
I originally started buying Dell because the quality was good and the price reasonable. Their current strategy seems to be to price everyone else out of the market, a sure sign of impending market dominance, which will then be replaced with ripping of the customer (like with the upgrade above).
You get what you pay for, as ever.
Most of my "Free Time" is spent removing malware from Joe publics machines, when I get the inevitable question, which machine do you recommend, I plump for the latest offer from Dell.
The price is getting to be unbeatable, and the build quality is excellent, if you have to work inside them they are largely toolless, and you rarely find a sharp edge.
The last one I did had two cds one was a operating system CD and the second was applications, I just reran the OS cd over it once again and forgot about the appliactions.
Unless someone has a specific requirement, i.e. video card or small size (SFF, shuttle etc), it isnt worth building a machine nowadays.
Dells are definitely the best bang for your buck IMHO. I've worked on countless of my friends' HP/Compaqs & Gateways; most of the time on some weird problem I doubt would've shown up on a better built computer.
You're right about the software though - the first thing I did to my Dell laptop when I got it was format the hard drive and do a clean install of XP.
I'll probably always build my PC's. The way technology goes, I find that I constantly reconfigure the beast. With all the component upgrades I've made over the years, it would have cost a lot to buy machines as frequently. Instead of a whole new set of specs, I settle for a well made case and the occasional 'good boy' treat here and there.
That said, the only reason I do it this route is that I always seem to have requirements that the pc manufacturers don't consider mainstream enough to build into their machines (one big HD is != three separate HD's for optimal configurations), though they are getting better. I'm still on to buy a mac next. After it's all said and done, if I want sheer no-hassle, that's got to be the way to go. I spend way too much time keeping windows from impaling itself.
Very true, these pre-installed PCs are the devil's children!
My solution -> 'Make Windows CD', reboot (using 'Boot CD' bios option), 'Install a Fresh Copy of Windows' with the 'format C drive prior to installation' option switched on.
Job done.
PS. How was Lithuania, Jake?
Going this weekend Tyron. I'll report in on Monday,
Just an FYI, if you have not already bought a virus scanner, for home users I have found that free scanners like Avast are pretty good. They update themselves quite frequently and have stopped a few trojans on my comp.
In PC Worlds defense (on price alone - could not defend anything else about them - feel sorry for Joe public who does not have the knowledge to defend themselves against some of their sales tactics) - I just bought a Sony Laptop from them - brand new range and they had it delivered next day (stock had not arrived in store yet) - it was cheaper than if I had gone direct to Sony.
Same issues with pre-installed evil software though - see here> {Link}
Not a massive fan of PC World either, but I have to admit they offered a pretty good deal on the iBook I bought a while back. Easily the cheapest at the time (though that by the web, oddly they could not match in store).
Avast found a virus that Norton didn't bother with. I recommned Avast too...
Hi Jake,
everer considered installing Linux on a new PC?
This would solve the malware and virus problem and bring your maintenance time down to almost zero.
I swear - my mother-in-law is pretty happy surfing the web on my two Linux boxes...
If I was to recommend then it would be SimplyMepis, Kubuntu or PCLinuxOS which is considered the most beatiful PC OS of all (definitely more eyecandy than XP, just not suited for non-english speaking users).
P.S. I would never thought I was going to use Linux some two years ago..
Try ordering a Dell with no operating system on it. Dell will not sell you a computer that does not have Windows on it.
This has many Linux Geeks unhappy....
I use "Linspire" (was named Lindows, before Microsoft won a court case and they were required to rename it) - it is a easy version of Linux to install and use. The Linspire community organizes groups of people to call Dell and spec out a computer, but refuse to purchase it Windows loaded on it. Dell refuses - so the order is cancelled....
Derek