Dell Vostro - how's this config?

[Quattro Pete]

Vostro 200:
Intel® Core™2 Duo Proc E8200 (2.66GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333FSB) S820

Operating System:
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium VTAPREM

Monitor:
Dell 20 inch Widescreen E207WFP Analog Flat Panel Display E207WFP

Memory:
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz - 2DIMMs 1GB800

Optical Drives:
Single Drive: 16X (DVD+/-RW) Burner Drive 16XDVDR

Hard Drive:
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ 250G72K

Video Card:
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 GMA3100

Floppy Drive and Media Reader:
Dell 19-in-1 Media Card Reader MCR19

Optional Ports:
IEEE 1394 Adapter with Cable 1394A

Sound:
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition SBAUDGY

Warranty & Service:
1 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 1 Year NBD On-Site Service Q1YOS

Network Interface:
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet INT


This goes for about $780 with free shipping.

In addition, I will buy 2 more GB of RAM and a dedicated video card.


This PC would be mainly used for office apps (Word, Excel), Internet browsing and some audio/video compression.

Any suggestions as to what you would change?

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Cost is too high. Check techbargains.com for eCoupon codes for the Inspiron 530 series w/quad core CPU's.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Interesting. Thanks. I wish the 530 with the eCoupon was the slim-case one though.

 

[simple_gifts]

Quote:

Inspiron 530 series

You can tell people you own two 530s.

 

[sanitarium16]

Needs more memory!!! 2GBs AT LEAST with Vista

 

[tmorris1]

Originally Posted By: sanitarium16
Needs more memory!!! 2GBs AT LEAST with Vista

I you read the post, he says that he is going to buy that separately. You can get memory cheaper elsewhere.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Thanks all. I ended up ordering the Vostro 200, however not the slim tower but a mini tower. In the same config, it ended up being about $670 with free shipping. The mini-tower also has a bigger power supply (although still only 300W) and a few extra expansion slots.

I'm still unsure whether I did the right thing by getting it with Vista. I guess I'll use it for a while and decide if I want to downgrade to XP (if Dells even allows that) to gain better performance. I don't really care much for all that eye candy that Vista offers.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
w/quad core CPU's.

Some of the CPU test results on Tom's Hardware show interesting results. In some tests, such as audio and/or video compression, Core 2 Duo E8200 delivered better performance than Core 2 Quad Q6600. I'm wondering if the application writers haven't figured out how to utilize those 4-core CPUs to their full potential...

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

QP, you raise a good point. Generally, the faster dual core chips will outperform on operations requiring raw power. For video processing, the quad cores are the way to go.

With overclocking, the G0 stepping (not the B3 stepping) on the 2.4 quads can achieve the panacea of both worlds.

 

[Quattro Pete]

One other question: what video card would you guys recommend for up to about $100 (on line)? I believe Vostro 200 takes PCI Express x16 cards.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161203

Has a $20 rebate now.

A friend uses this as his gaming card and loves it. It is whisper quiet.