quote:
Azizza's account was hax0red to write:
4550 Start with the 2.4GH base and premium sound. could actually drop the sound option to basic and save money as well since I just found an extra SB live
Hmmm.
I clicked on the 4550, then clicked on 'Customise starting at $649'.
I selected the 2.4, the works suite 2000, the premium sound, yet I find no 2 year warranty plus 1 year at-home service. Hmmm. Well, I'll just select "2 Year Limited Warranty plus 2 Year At-Home Service".
Hit continue... hmmm! Current price $1306. Let's see what we can do to knock that down a bit.
Lesse... P4 2.4G... mail in rebate... 256 DDR... 120 GB... no change in price so far. Floppy... no zip drive... quietkey keyboard... optical mouse... still no change in price.
Scroll down... more warranty stuff, still don't see 2-year limited, 1-year at-home. No optional support, no installation, no training packages... still at 1306. OS again, then works again, then virus... no video editing... no monitor. You didn't list it, so I removed it. Down to 1006. Video card is same... ooh, add 40 for the CD-RW... no 2nd bay, subtract 69. No blank media, SB Live! 5.1 card... the Harman Kardon speakers... Dell Jukebox... 56 modem, intel card... free junk-ass ISP... no wireless...the end. Huh. Azizza, I went through that page just now, same options you just described... somehow it shows me a total of 977.
After rebate, you're looking at 877 plus shipping (which I didn't check into the pricing of)
Whereas the newegg system I detailed before, showed 841, plus shipping. For a better system overall, with superior specs. And since you already have the sound card, we can throw out the 60 for the audigy I threw in there. The Athlon XP I included was a 2000... we'll add in 90 for the Athlon XP 2.4Ghz.
And we end up with an case, ASUS motherboard (Which I could have cut corners on to lower the price further), Athlon XP 2.4 Ghz, 512 of brand-name DDR RAM (Corsair to be exact), a GF4 Ti4200 (Could also be skimped if not a gaming machine; blows that MX to bits), 120 GB drive, CD-RW... for a whopping 870.
Now, tell me where Dell has the better deal, again?
Also knock the Sound down to basic and it comes in under 800 before rebate. so about 675 after it. And I would rather have the Intel than the AMD any day. [ 11-25-2002: Message edited by: Azizza ]
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 1 - OEM Full Version - $93.
Bringing the total for a machine with DOUBLE the ram, better motherboard, better video card, and similar specifications the rest of the way down, to 963.
But, since you're looking for price, that machine obviously wouldn't be interesting.
Let's find you a machine at newegg that gives you EQUAL specifications to what that Dell gives you, shall we?
Let's start.
WinXP - 93 (Above).
Intel Pentium 4 / 2.4BGHz Northwood 512K Socket 478 Processor 533MHz Processor Bus OEM - 191.
XFX Motherboard for Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron Processor, Model# P4XABV - 66.
Samsung Original DDR333 PC-2700 256MB CAS2.5 - OEM Version - 69
FOXCONN SUPER CASE MID TOWER CASE ATX3400-P4 ***AMD Listed 300W Power Supply*** ***INTEL Approved Chassis*** OEM - 30
MAXTOR 120.0GB 7200RPM 2MB Cache Model # 6Y120L0 - 155.
ASUS CRW4012A 40x12x48 IDE CDRW Drive Full - 51.
SONY 1.44MB 3.5 INCH INTERNAL FDD DRIVE - OEM - 8 bucks.
GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce 4 MX460, 3.6ns high speed 64MB DDR - $98.
Bringing an equivalent Newegg manufactured machine, with legal OS, minus the sound card you already have, to 761.
Now, I went ahead and did what you said, and selected the 'Basic sound' option. I found that dropped the initial price from '1,306' to '1,057'. "How can this be? How can they market sound as an additional 250 dollars?".
Until I realised... that premium sound adds a 300 dollar, 19" monitor to your mix, and 'basic sound' adds a 110 dollar, 17" monitor to your mix.
Do your calculations again, Azizza. You're not dropping a $300 dollar monitor from that 1057 list price, you're dropping a $110 monitor.
/bonks everyone else.
All I wanted was a system that would give me the same stats or similar for the same money. 
But NOOOOO Only one person would actually do research.
quote:
Azizza spewed forth this undeniable truth:
Now THIS is more of what I was looking for.
Thanks Khyron./bonks everyone else.
All I wanted was a system that would give me the same stats or similar for the same money.
But NOOOOO Only one person would actually do research.
Actually, everyone else was right 
They agreed, Dell would try to screw you over.
I'm just the only one bored enough to point out WHY they're screwing you over.
BTW, those parts have individual support (Newegg has a great RMA system, getting a bad part replaced is damn easy to do). If you need software support, the board is ten times better than Dell. Not to mention any software that comes with the newegg won't be Dell-imprinted such that you can't take a part (IE : Video card), swap it out, and put the bundled software in the other PC.
I dare you to TRY installing the Dell CD-burning software in any machine that isn't a Dell.
You look at that Dell and tell me, are you getting a GeForce 4 MX420? Or a MX440? Or are you getting an MX460? There's no card just plain 'MX'. The system I detailed has the best 'MX' card available... the 460. a 420 would knock the price down further.
Which brand memory are you getting? Is it cheapo no-name memory made by the lowest bidder out of what used to be a shoe factory in mexico? Is it the good stuff, Corsair or Kingston?
Who built that HDD? I picked Maxtor from newegg, because that's a brand name I know is good and I trust 'em.
CD/RW? Same thing. God only knows what you're buying when it comes from Dell. Too many parts have too little info about them. I don't even know the brand of that video card. I picked out the EVGA because that's another brand name I trust; hell, that's the brand name card I have arriving tomorrow, an eVga GeForce 4 Ti4600. From Newegg.
Dell can't come close to touching what Newegg can offer. And Newegg gives you freer control of what you leave OUT... they won't force you to buy some cheap-ass sound card because you don't want the more expensive one. You can do completely without and save that 8 bucks. [ 11-25-2002: Message edited by: Khyron ]
quote:
This insanity brought to you by Azizza:
Now THIS is more of what I was looking for.
Thanks Khyron./bonks everyone else.
All I wanted was a system that would give me the same stats or similar for the same money.
But NOOOOO Only one person would actually do research.
It would've been more honest to say "Put together a computer for me! For cheap!"
And I still fail to see how Dell in anyway "screws" me over with this. You are still looking at the same cost give or take. Less once you include the rebate.
It turns out about the same. Plus I find it hard to believe that NewEgg will have a part at my door the next day if I have something go wrong. I have never seen a place like that do more than the bare minimum to get by. Most of them make you go through the manufactuer. WHICH SUCKS. Not sure which I am gonna do right now. Have to talk it over with the family.
I will be honest I think most people here don't like Dell just becuase it is Dell. It has nothing to do with the quality. (Which is damn good in my experience)
And Once again thanks for at least working with me here Khyron.
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MorbId Model 2000 was programmed to say:
It would've been more honest to say "Put together a computer for me! For cheap!"
that wasn't the Goal originally LOL.
Computer geeks are a bitter band of whiners. Dell is a great company and provides tremendous value, but the computer geeks hate it because it appeals to the masses. Before you take any of the comments on this page seriously, think to yourself: who exactly is posting here? Probably a lot of turbo-nerds whose only way to feel good about themselves is to tout the superiority of some crappy, ultra-obscure product no on has ever heard of and no one owns. To them, anything that is popular with non-geeks must automatically be inferior. Don't believe it.
---------------------------------
Now keep in mind I don't think THAT badly of you guys but I think the general idea fits.
quote:
Azizza had this to say about Optimus Prime:
I found this posted somewhere else and I think it fits this threads attitude.
_________Computer geeks are a bitter band of whiners. Dell is a great company and provides tremendous value, but the computer geeks hate it because it appeals to the masses. Before you take any of the comments on this page seriously, think to yourself: who exactly is posting here? Probably a lot of turbo-nerds whose only way to feel good about themselves is to tout the superiority of some crappy, ultra-obscure product no on has ever heard of and no one owns. To them, anything that is popular with non-geeks must automatically be inferior. Don't believe it.
---------------------------------Now keep in mind I don't think THAT badly of you guys but I think the general idea fits.
I think my brain hurts now. Have we been insulted or not?
Me, the reason I'll never buy a pre-built system is more cause:
1. It's fun taking parts and building a PC.
2. I have full control over what bundled software, is, and more importantly ISN'T on the machine. Ask me how often my two hand-built machines crash. Go ahead.
Oh and My gateway has crashed ONCE. And that was due to my own mistake not the computers.
This is a windows PC we're talking about. unless you do nothing with it, it's gonna crash. It can't help but crash.
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/dev/null's account was hax0red to write:
Yeah right... I'll believe your gateway has crashed only once with the assumption you've powered it up only once.This is a windows PC we're talking about. unless you do nothing with it, it's gonna crash. It can't help but crash.
My windows PC hasn't crashed in years. And I leave it running (often with a network) for weeks or months at a time.
So neener.
Windows is just fine. Unless you like doing everything the hard way.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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Azizza had this to say about (_|_):
that wasn't the Goal originally LOL.
I believe you. Khy will use any excuse he can to window shop at NewEgg and build hypothetical systems.
Then again, so will I. Khy just beat me to the punch. DAMN YOU KHYRON!
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Azizza wrote, obviously thinking too hard:
Computer geeks are a bitter band of whiners. Dell is a great company and provides tremendous value, but the computer geeks hate it because it appeals to the masses. Before you take any of the comments on this page seriously, think to yourself: who exactly is posting here? Probably a lot of turbo-nerds whose only way to feel good about themselves is to tout the superiority of some crappy, ultra-obscure product no on has ever heard of and no one owns. To them, anything that is popular with non-geeks must automatically be inferior. Don't believe it.
I do not beleive Dell is a crappy company. They build systems that can work well. My laptop is a Dell.
I do beleive that if one has the technical knowledge needed to put together a computer, then going through a mass-manufacturer like Dell is not a particularly intelligent thing to do. I bought my laptop from Dell since I do not know how to put together a Laptop. I don't know if there's anything special about it, I don't know if there's any particular way it must be done or what particular parts are needed or how heat management works in a laptop.
That said, I will not buy a pre-built machine again, unless the deal is so good that I know the company almost has to be losing money off of it (IE : A P4 2.0 system with 512 of RAM and a GF4 Ti4600 for less than 600).
I beleive that you can build, yourself, a better, faster, more reliable computer if you do it yourself. I beleive that by building it yourself, you gain much more control over the parts you're getting, the quality you're getting (In selecting a known, name-brand company you can trust over something that they would pick out for you), and you don't have to go out of your way, such as calling them up directly, to be able to find out what sort of items you're getting and what quality they are.
I beleive this because in my own personal experience, I have built easily over fifty systems, for both family and friends, and each one has worked nicely from the beginning. I beleive this because the only times I have ever had to do serious work on a system that was less than two years old, was when the problem was caused by user error. And I beleive this because, in working for Gateway PC's as tech support, I know that whenever Gateway RMA's a part, nine times out of ten the old one is tested, works, and then shipped out in a new PC.
And I beleive that it's quite possible Dell has done similar. [ 11-26-2002: Message edited by: Khyron ]
quote:
Bloodsage wrote this then went back to looking for porn:
My windows PC hasn't crashed in years. And I leave it running (often with a network) for weeks or months at a time.So neener.
Windows is just fine. Unless you like doing everything the hard way.
Right.... IE has never barfed, never had a game send you to desktop, never had a video clip you were watching suddenly pop?
I'd sooner believe you're the pope.
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A sleep deprived /dev/null stammered:
Right.... IE has never barfed, never had a game send you to desktop, never had a video clip you were watching suddenly pop?I'd sooner believe you're the pope.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's not Windows crashing but programs running under Windows crashing.
Oh and one thing. About Cases. I hate to say it but the cases on Dell computers kick so much ass!!
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Azizza had this to say about Robocop:
Oh and one thing. About Cases. I hate to say it but the cases on Dell computers kick so much ass!!
I bet you can get one from them if you ask real nice. Or say you want to buy a replacement case for a current Dell or something.
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JooJooFlop had this to say about John Romero:
I bet you can get one from them if you ask real nice. Or say you want to buy a replacement case for a current Dell or something.
You know. I may have to try that. Don't know if they will bite but I will call tonight.
That is the one thing I don't want to give up on my gateway. The entire case is screwless. Everything is on a Cam/latch system. Even the PCI cards and Power supply.
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Suddar had this to say about (_|_):
Azizza, you say you did your research, but it took somebody else to tell you that you could get a better value from NewEgg even though you had earlier stated repeatedly that you couldn't?
What I meant by that is when I called gateway I had got the make of every component in the system. MB, Vid card, etc. My current computer was bought through GW at the time because they did give me a better deal than any other place could. At the time they had a pricematch going on wiht Dell. I got the guy to drop another 250 off that and give me free shipping. I paid well under what I could have gotten the system for anywhere at the time..
quote:
Azizza had this to say about Robocop:
Computer geeks are a bitter band of whiners. Dell is a great company and provides tremendous value, but the computer geeks hate it because it appeals to the masses. Before you take any of the comments on this page seriously, think to yourself: who exactly is posting here? Probably a lot of turbo-nerds whose only way to feel good about themselves is to tout the superiority of some crappy, ultra-obscure product no on has ever heard of and no one owns. To them, anything that is popular with non-geeks must automatically be inferior. Don't believe it.
And you're a guy who sleeps with two women, probably to hide deeper hidden problems that you'd rather not face up to.
So, I guess we're pretty even.
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And I was all like 'Oh yeah?' and »Waisztarroz« was all like:
And you're a guy who sleeps with two women, probably to hide deeper hidden problems that you'd rather not face up to.So, I guess we're pretty even.
"Oh yeah? Well, we may be obsessive closed-minded geeks but at least we're not sleeping with two chicks at once."
