another computer purchase ?

[justnosy]

I need a new desktop and there's a $350 coupon off for any Dell Inspiron $999+

I can configure an Inspiron 530 as follows for $768:
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E4400 (2MB L2 Cache, 2GH, 800FSB) - or should I go up one to the E4500 (2MB L2 Cache, 2.2GH, 800FSB)?
19" Widescreen FP monitor
XP Home Edition
2GB memory
128MB NVDIA GeForce 8300GS
320GB HD (or should I downgrade to 250GB or 160GB?)
48X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive (I'm assuming no burn s/w)
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (Small business is $130 more!)

I think that's a good price but it's not exactly what I wanted but very close...so is it a good deal?

I'll be using it to do work from home (remote desktop) and it'll be used a lot for surfing...

TIA!!! TUGgers always give good advice!

 

[DaveNV]

If your major use is going to be web surfing, that system will probably be great. The vast majority of CPU time will be spent waiting for you to enter a key or mouse click anyway, so operation speed isn't an issue. Going from 2.0ghz to 2.2ghz performance is negligible for your application. Same for the 128mb video card. It's fine for you. If you were a gamer, or were running complex software, it might make a difference. but as an average desktop user it won't even be visible to you.

Keep in mind XP Home doesn't connect to domain servers. It'll go into a workgroup, but not a domain server. If you need that, go to XP Pro. Stay away from Vista for awhile yet.

Be aware: Office 2007 completely changes the interface for Office. It's MUCH different than it was before. Be prepared for a huge new learning experience, and more than a little frustration. I own Office 2007 and I absolutely HATE it. The program upgrades (for my uses) are wasted, and the new interface changes make it terribly difficult to do my work.

Keep the larger HD. You never know if/when you'll want that extra space - downgrading isn't going to save you very much cash, and upgrading later on would be a hassle.

I'd confirm the combo drive is also a DVD burner, not just a player. Upgrade to the fastest CD/DVD burner drive they offer. Make it a dual-layer burner, if possible. That's one area where you WANT the extra speed. Your data backups will fit up to 8gb on one dual layer DVD disk - which saves a ton of time over burning to 700mb CDs. With Nero burning software (or another package of your choice) you can do a lot of good work in a short time.

So for $768, including the monitor, it sounds like a pretty nice machine. I'd say go for it. Have fun!

Dave

 

[justnosy]

Thanks for the input Dave! My price just went up another $100 because I need the XP Pro (for work I'll be doing.) A co-worker told me that XP Home does remote desktop but I need more than that...I need to connect to a server to run my VM...

Good to know about Office 2007...why does Microsoft keep torturing us??? I like the way all my office stuff is working now...I guess "old dogs" will have to learn new tricks now that we're stuck with Microsoft...

As to the DVD...it's not a combo and it does do burns...no choice in speed - there was only one selection...

Thanks again...I really appreciate all the info you gave!

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

Thanks for the input Dave! My price just went up another $100 because I need the XP Pro (for work I'll be doing.) A co-worker told me that XP Home does remote desktop but I need more than that...I need to connect to a server to run my VM...

To clarify here, Dave means you won't be able to have a XP Home machine as part of a domain in your home. If you are VPN'ing into your work location, and then remote desktop to some server to get to a VM, that is perfectly fine. As long as you can VPN in, you are OK.
The only gotcha here is if your work is using Active Directory authentication for the host with VPN connectivity. Then, you won't be able to use XP Home, as you'd need to add this PC to your work domain to even VPN in.

Did you check out any deals advertised through gotapex.com for the Dell's? They usually have some really good otherwise unadvertised deals. They change pretty regularly.

 

[justnosy]

OK - I think I got it straight now...then XP Home is sufficient...

I've been looking at another "deals" site (I have it bookmarked at work so I don't know what it is exactly...sorry...) but I took a look at gotapex.com and it's similar to the site I use...

Thanks!

 

[DaveNV]

I think I'd pay the extra $100 and get XP Pro, just in case. If your work changes how their servers are configured, or if they happen to upgrade their software, or if you change jobs, you could get locked out because of the limitations of XP Home. You're money ahead to hedge your bets.

And even at $868, it's still a killer deal, considering that 19" fp monitor is included. I have one of those on my desk at work, used as a second screen adjacent to my laptop, and it's great. Outlook never looked so good.

Dave