Help: two "finally buying a new computer" questions (1 Viewer)

[Darren H]

It's been four and a half years since I last bought a computer. Two quick questions for the experts:

1) I'll probably get a Dell Dimension 8250. Because the university I work for has a contract with Dell, I can get a decent discount. When is the best time to buy? Will there be post-Christmas deals worth waiting for, or should I buy now?

2) How are the current generation of DVD-R drives? Dell is now offering a "4x DVD+RW/+R Drive w/CD-RW including Roxio's Easy CD Creator" as an option. Should I get this or get both a 16x DVD and a 48x CD-RW?

Thanks.

 

[Travis Olson]

1. I'd say pretty much anytime nowadays is a good time to buy since the prices are so cheap. Dell will probably also give you free shipping.

2. It depends on what you want to do with it. Do you want to create DVDs that you can play on your home DVD player? If so, a DVD+R/+RW is kind of a bad choice since it is incompatible with most of todays players, however it will be good for backup.

I guess it depends on what you are willing to spend. How much more would it be to get the DVD+R/+RW/CD-RW? If the cost isn't too great, I'd go that route since you would have everything in one drive.

 

[Brian Ruth]

Not to toot my own company's horn too much (I'm a Best Buy employee), but if you're planning to watch a lot of movies on your laptop, you might consider getting this. It's (as far as I know) the only Windows laptop with a TiBook-style widescreen display.
Though with your discount, you might actually be better sticking to a Dell system.

 

[brentl]

Look at getting the Sony drive that will handle all of the current DVD formats

Sorry forhet the #

Brent

 

[Masood Ali]

I believe the DVD recorder upgrade for the 8200 series is the Sony drive. You can call Dell customer service to double check, but that's what friends have told me.

 

[Darren H]

Thanks for the guidance, guys. Dell seems to offer different specials every day, so I think I'll probably just set a target price for the specific system I want, then keep "building" it until the price drops to my goal.

 

[Max Leung]

The new Sony drive is the DRU500A, I believe. Supports DVD-R/DVD+R/DVD-RW/DVD+RW. About $600 CDN, or $400 US, I think.

 

[Darren H]

I placed my order yesterday. Thanks to my discount and the deals I found here -- http://www.dailyedeals.com/free_online_coupons/dell.htm -- I was able to buy the system I wanted below my target price. Here are the specs (bear with me -- I'm feeling a rush of geek adrenaline):
Processor -- Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.80GHz with 533MHz system bus/512K L2 Cache
Floppy Drive -- 3.5 in Floppy Drive
Mouse -- Dell® 2-button scroll mouse
Sound Card -- Sound Blaster* Audigy 2™ sound card with DVD Audio
Memory -- 512MB RDRAM for the price of 256MB
Monitors -- 17in (16.0 viewable,.25dp)M782 Flat CRT Monitor (will join my existing 17in for dual-monitor set-up - ideal for Web development)
Keyboard -- Dell ® Quietkey ® Keyboard
Hard Drives -- 80GB Ultra ATA/100 7200 RPM Hard Drive
Network Interface -- Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet
CD or DVD Drive -- New 4x DVD+RW/+R Drive w/CD-RW including Roxio's Easy CD Creator®
Modem -- 56K Telephony Modem for Windows
Dual Monitor Support -- DVI-VGA Adapter to connect 2 CRT Monitors to dual capable Video Card
Video Cards -- New 128mb DDR ATI Radeon™ 9700 TX Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI

 

[Scott L]

For how much??? Oh and please tell me you are a PC gamer. Someone who just uses their PC for Word, email, etc.. has no business having a 9700. Nice specs dude.

 

[Darren H]

I was a gamer until my current computer -- 400MHz Pentium II -- limited me to yet another game of Civ II and Quake II.
I bought as much computer as I could afford because I work as a multimedia- and Web-developer and hope to begin doing more freelance work at home. My goal is to run Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Premiere simultaneously. The total cost, including shipping and tax, was right around $1900.

 

[Joel Mack]

Oh and please tell me you are a PC gamer. Someone who just uses their PC for Word, email, etc.. has no business having a 9700.

Of course, I would say that a PC Gamer has no business using a Radeon, either. Good luck with those drivers...

 

[Joe Hsu]

I know you don't want to hear it, but you missed a great deal last week, with the EPP and employee purchase plans...but yeah, look around the deal forums, Dell has different deals every week, and the DVD question was answered relatively straightfoward already...

Best of luck! I hope you enjoy the computer as much as my family will enjoy theirs!

 

[Darren H]

Good luck with those drivers...

Surely, you're going to follow that up. Anything in particular that I should be warned about? (And stop calling me Shirley.)

 

[Joel Mack]

ATI is legendary for horrific driver support on their cards. I was actually suckered TWICE by promises that "this time it'll be different". You might be good for now, but don't be surprised down the road if you find games that won't work properly with the Radeon...

Unless you're running an HTPC (the Radeon video quality is outstanding), I recommend Nvidia cards for gaming purposes...