[MRG] Dell Inspiron 530 - Celeron 420, 1GB, 160GB, $289 !!!

[njchan]

New Dell Deal - credit goes to thendless ...

Mods, please feel free to edit!


New Deal:

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=CAqD7bLWUPI&offerid=130350.596447103&type=10&subid=

Remove the 19" monitor and it becomes 289!

Specs are:
Components
Intel® Celeron ® Processor 420 (1.60GHz, 800 FSB), English
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition, English
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
No Monitor

I think this is better than the original 399 deal if you were planning on upgrading the processor anyways, plus this has 1 GB or ram opposed to 512 in the orriginal!

[njchan]

does anyone have any opinions on this processor?

[thendless]

New Deal:

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=cadhs1&l=en&OC=D530CV_F_1E

Remove the 19" monitor and it becomes 289!

Specs are:
Components
Intel® Celeron ® Processor 420 (1.60GHz, 800 FSB), English
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition, English
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
No Monitor

I think this is better than the previous deal (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=469481) if you were planning on upgrading the processor anyways, plus this has 1 GB or ram opposed to 512 in the old deal!

[Kodiak]

Link- page not found

[thendless]

fixed

[hagbard]

Crappy processor.

[thebigfatman]

Crappy processor.
The whole point of getting this deal is to upgrade the processor...
For the price they'd charge for any E6xxx upgrade you could get a Q6600 and trash the Celeron

[fooey]

Hmm... I took out the monitor option and it became $289.

[zappre]

I don't know if the price has changed since this was posted but after removing the monitor, the price comes up for me as $289, not $319.

I asked them if the motherboard can handle an upgrade to Dual or Quad core. He said it'll take dual, but not quad as the power supply isn't strong enough.

This price is pretty sweet, however, without MS Office 2007 and a better processor, the previous deal for $489 with those two may be more worth it. Still deciding.

[thendless]

HOly SMOKES! YOu're right! the base price went down tot 499!!! SO without monitor it is 289!! THIS IS HOT GUYS, im ordering now!

[Pyobum]

It becomes $289 when you remove the monitor, even better than $319. Perfect PC for grandma. :)

[fooey]

I ordered the $489 deal yesterday night. But this seems so much cheaper in comparison.

The only difference between the two deals are

$489
-E2160
-250 GB
-Office 2007

$289
-Celeron
-160 GB ($50 to upgrade to 250GB)
-no Office 2007 ($99 to have Office)

[thendless]

I ordered the $489 deal yesterday night. But this seems so much cheaper in comparison.

The only difference between the two deals are

$489
-E2160
-250 GB
-Office 2007

$289
-Celeron
-160 GB ($50 to upgrade to 250GB)
-no Office 2007 ($99 to have Office)

I think this deal is so much better if you don't have a use for office (2003 is fine for me, I tried 2007 and didn't like the interface too much) and plan on upgrading the processor. The upgrade on the HD is a waste IMO since you can get a brand new 500GB HD for a hundred bucks and I imagine a 250 for much cheaper.

[roboninja]

Anyone know if this has a free PCI-E slot for a video card upgrade? I am assuming so, as you can select better video cards from the site, but I am not paying their high prices. So does anyone know if Dell ships with the free slot even if you opt for the onboard video option?

[edbert]

So lemme get this straight for all of us interested: For $289, I would get a G33 motherboard and an expandable PCI E slot, with a horrible processor?

Are we certain the processor can be upgraded? This thread seems to suggest otherwise: http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=469439&page=6

According to dell, the following CPU's can be sold with the 530:
Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor E6420 (1.86GHz, 4MB L2 cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor E6320 (1.86GHz, 4MB L2 cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor 4400 (2.0GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)
Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor 4300 (1.80GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)
Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor E2160 (1.80GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1.60GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Intel Celeron Processor 420 (1.60GHz, 512 L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)

[spotts01]

Holy cow - Vista Home Premium.

[tomtomtom]

a legit vista home premium cost you 150 on the street, this deal is very HAWT!

[anom]

can RAM be added / changed no problems?

[tomtomtom]

forget about changing ram? what are you gonna do w/ that thing sitting around?

I wonder if they will ship w/o ram? I can pick up some bargain ram elsewhere

[ZenOps]

Yup, hot deal.

Celeron 420 is not all that bad really, it is afterall a cache crippled single core Conroe-L. Main thing that helps peformance is that the FSB is 800Mhz, unlike the Celeron 3xx which was a 533Mhz FSB based on a cache cripple Prescott. The 420 Scores a 3.8 on the Vista CPU peformance index and is super energy efficient.

[KingCreole]

Thanks to the poster who found this!

I'm in at $308 all in after a $25 voucher Dell sent me after I complained about the last order that had been a bit messy.

Shipping estimate is for the `13th for me.

I've done a bit of searching on this and it by all regards is supposed to be a very good processor....especially for the price.

[Derek]

Posted... amazing deal. Deal of the year potential with Vista Premium and everything else.

Would love to know what processors you could stick in there, any confirmation that you can put in a Core 2 Duo or even a quad core CPU without any problems?

[zappre]

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I spoke to the Dell CS person asking about upgrades of this system and they said it's upgradable to Dual Core but not Quad, because the power supply can't handle the latter.

[chuckfredgoose]

ORDERED!


Thanks OP!

1.) Now how do I cancel yesterdays order? :o

2.) Where are the WINDOWS XP drivers for the INSPIRON 530? :o

[BlahMatt]

What does anyone think of making a mythtv box out of this? I already have the graphics card and the tv tuner card.

If I upgrade the processor will it be able to handle recording 2 streams?

[Derek]

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I spoke to the Dell CS person asking about upgrades of this system and they said it's upgradable to Dual Core but not Quad, because the power supply can't handle the latter.

I'm sure in the future they'll release lower power consumption quad cores. If it's only limited by the power supply I think it's only a matter of time that you'll see quad cores running on this system.

[ZenOps]

The powersupply is standard, so its easily replaceable. Mobo is also a standard MicroATX.

The powersupply included in my Vostro (similar to the Inspiron) is a Delta DPS300AB, which should be adequate power for a Dual and a mid-end vidcard, but as the tech mentioned - probably not for a Quad.

Doh! and looks like the monitor can no longer be taken out, deal has moved from superhot, to just hot.

[BlahMatt]

The option to remove the monitor isn't there anymore.

[Relf]

option to remove monitor gone? hmmm

[edbert]

Ordered via EPP...got $5 off...woooo
They were a bit leary about the upgrade options, refused to acknowledge that it would be allowed or not...
Ship date Aug 13th.

[sjweyman]

Yep, that was hot ... but the monitor can no longer be removed like you say ...

[Kwirky]

The option to remove the monitor isn't there anymore.

option to remove monitor gone? hmmm

Same here.... starting to think someone goofed.

[fooey]

Well... the deal lasted about two hours max.

[thendless]

Ya... looks like the deal is dead now... I'm so glad I placed my order!

[edmondt]

Damn I was in the middle of ordering and found that have removed the no monitor option :S Now its $499

[zappre]

I'm actually far enough along into the purchase process that the price is still $289 but I'm being a wimp about whether to buy this one or wait for a better dual or quad core deal...tick, tick, tick.

[fooey]

I'd go for it if you still can.

I still have a whole month (August) to wait for a new deal to come up before school starts.

[njchan]

blah ... I'm on the phone with Dell right now ...

they've admitted there's "Been a Problem with the Website" ... providing inaccurate prices .... hahahha ...

the CSR did offer me the 531 (Sempron) with the same specs for $349 - vs $379 when I configure it myself ... but that still seems a far cry from $289.

[Shrooms]

I tried the chat w/ a CSR but she only offered me to remove the monitor and reduce the price by 80 .... 80 is far away from 210

[WontonTiger]

Damn, I was too late.

I am really in need of a processing desktop for downloads and encoding. Too bad Dell is so wishy washy about these things.

I am going to try calling to get them to take off the monitor.

[KingCreole]

I don't know if this will work, but worth a try.

Try maybe removing the exact same monitor from another configuration, and if it deducts 200 or whatever, you may have a case to argue that if is that much less on one configuration, it should be the same for this one.

[njchan]

[UPDATE]

Just got off the phone with the CSR - phone time log is 42mins 37secs ...

got the original price.

1 INS 530,CDCR,420 (1.60GHZ) $289.00
1 DELL OPTICAL USB MOUSE $0.00
1 DELL USB KYBD,BLK,DIM $0.00
1 VISTA PREMIUM STICKER,DIM $0.00
1 1GB DDR2 SDRAM,667MHZ- 2X512MB,DIM,M $0.00
1 NO SPEAKER REQUESTED,DIMENSION $0.00
1 INTEGRATED AUDIO $0.00
1 NO MODEM REQUESTED $0.00
1 16X DVD+/-RW DRIVE,BLK,DIM,M $0.00
1 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,SPNG $0.00
1 VIDEO READY W/O MONITOR,DIM2,XPS2 $0.00
1 INTEGRATED INTEL GRAPHICS $0.00
1 160GB SATA II,7200 RPM,DIM,M $0.00
1 NO FLOPPY DRIVE REQUESTED $0.00
1 ADOBE ACROBAT READER 7.0,DIM $0.00
1 NORTON INTERNET SECURITY 2007, 30DAY,DIM $0.00
1 ISP SEARCH ASST PORTAL,DIM/INSP $0.00
1 VISTA,PC-RESTORE, DIM/INSP $0.00
1 ROXIO CREATOR LE,V,DIM/INSP $0.00
1 WIN VISTA HOME PREM,ENG,DIM $0.00
1 DELL SUPPORT 3.4,DIM/INSP $0.00
1 DELL SUPPORT CENTER 1.0,DIM/INSP $0.00
1 INTEGRATED NIC CARD $0.00
1 NO DIGITAL IMAGING SOFTWARE REQUESTED $0.00
1 NO DIGITAL MUSIC SOFTWARE REQUESTED $0.00
1 THANKS FOR PURCHASING YOUR DELL $0.00
1 PLEASE SELECT AN ISP $0.00
1 MS WORKS 8.5,DAO,ENG, DIM $0.00
1 WARRANTY SPRT,INSP DT,INIT YR $0.00
1 NBD OS,INSP 530 DT,GTN,INIT YR, RA $0.00
1 HW WRTY + SVC,INSP 530 DT,GTN,INIT $0.00
1 SHIPPING FEE $0.00
1 DATASAFE ONLINE DIM/INS/XPS $0.00
1 DATASAFE ONLINE DIM/INS/XPS,1YR-FREE $0.00
1 INSP DATASAFE 3GB,1YR(INCL IN PRICE),DHS $0.00
1 NO WARRANTY,YRS 2/3 (INSP DT,NBD) $0.00

[edbert]

Ha ha..nice work..
now see if that link to the order status in your email confirmation will work... :twisted:

[sjweyman]

FYI, I posted a response to the overclocking question that I received in the older thread that existed before this deal got hotter (and then colder). My comments relate to the E2160 processor not this celeron.

[fooey]

[QUOTE=njchan;5426157][UPDATE]

Just got off the phone with the CSR - phone time log is 42mins 37secs ...

got the original price.


Nice!

Can you tell us the CSR name or her extension number?

[chuckfredgoose]

Ha ha..nice work..
now see if that link to the order status in your email confirmation will work... :twisted:


They never work from phone orders or do they?

Are you saying that all orders were cancelled?

[edbert]

They never work from phone orders or do they?

Are you saying that all orders were cancelled?

Beats me...all I know is my order isn't coming up yet...of course there is this:
"We are unable to provide your order status at this time. Please verify the Order Number and Postal Code and try again. If your order was placed within the last 24 business hours, please try again tomorrow. If your order status is still unavailable after 48 business hours, please click here to contact us via email or call 1(800)847-4096"

I am not sure if the phone order system is linked or not. I certainly hope they didn't cancel our orders....I guess we'll see in 24 hours.

[zappre]

So in the end, I got to the submit order page at $289 plus tax. I wanted to make sure it was upgradable so I called a Dell senior tech. He said it would be very difficult to upgrade it to even a core 2 duo. That kinda ruins it for me, even with the amazing price. I'm starting to think the $489 deal works better with the Office XP, better processor and bigger HDD. Bummer. Loved the idea of getting the deal before they caught it.:cry:

[thebigfatman]

So in the end, I got to the submit order page at $289 plus tax. I wanted to make sure it was upgradable so I called a Dell senior tech. He said it would be very difficult to upgrade it to even a core 2 duo. That kinda ruins it for me, even with the amazing price. I'm starting to think the $489 deal works better with the Office XP, better processor and bigger HDD. Bummer. Loved the idea of getting the deal before they caught it.:cry:
They all have the same motherboard
Give it a better power supply and you can put a QuadCore on a G33 motherboard

Ninja Edit: Everytime a "tech" tells you something is "difficult" he doesnt know what the hell he's talking about. A CPU either works on a board, or it does not work. What would make it a "difficult" thing?!? Upgrade your bios and you'll be fine.

Getting mine by the 13th thanks to a friend who placed his order in time and called them back to add a second one! :D

[KingCreole]

They all have the same motherboard
Give it a better power supply and you can put a QuadCore on a G33 motherboard

Ninja Edit: Everytime a "tech" tells you something is "difficult" he doesnt know what the hell he's talking about. A CPU either works on a board, or it does not work. What would make it a "difficult" thing?!? Upgrade your bios and you'll be fine.

Some hints out there on Google that this may be related to Dell crippling some features on the Mother board via the bios settings.

It won't affect me as this is plenty fast for what I do on my personal computer....upgrading from a PIII 733mhz :).

But I'd still be following this closely to see what the final verdict is.

[edbert]

Some hints out there on Google that this may be related to Dell crippling some features on the Mother board via the bios settings.

It won't affect me as this is plenty fast for what I do on my personal computer....upgrading from a PIII 733mhz :).

But I'd still be following this closely to see what the final verdict is.

You take the cake King, I am upgrading from a Athlon XP 1800+...I thought I would be the slowest...

The user guide for the 530 clearly states how to upgrade the processor...now if they really didn't want us doing that, I figured they wouldn't leave that in there...
Currently shipping systems can support up to a Core2Duo, so I would doubt that they would flash the Celeron models with crippled bios versions. My bet is that chances are very good that we'll be able to jam a C2D in there at the very least.

[njchan]

[UPDATE]

Just got off the phone with the CSR - phone time log is 42mins 37secs ...

got the original price.


Nice!

Can you tell us the CSR name or her extension number?

absolutely! ...

pm me if you're interested.

[KingCreole]

You take the cake King, I am upgrading from a Athlon XP 1800+...I thought I would be the slowest....

Thought I might win that contest ;)

You take the cake King, I am upgrading from a Athlon XP 1800+...I thought I would be the slowest...

The user guide for the 530 clearly states how to upgrade the processor...now if they really didn't want us doing that, I figured they wouldn't leave that in there...
Currently shipping systems can support up to a Core2Duo, so I would doubt that they would flash the Celeron models with crippled bios versions. My bet is that chances are very good that we'll be able to jam a C2D in there at the very least.


Check out post 128. Don't know if that applies to the processor too:

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=571768&page=9

[njchan]

my brother just got off the phone with dell ... and got the deal for $309 ... seems like they're catching on ...

still ... $309 is a pretty good deal eh?

with taxes, was just over $350.


Dell Order Information / Détails de votre commande
--------------------------------------------------

Total Order Amount / Montant total de la commande : $352.26

All amounts shown are in Canadian Dollars / Tous les montants sont en dollars canadiens.

Order Detail / Détails de la commande

Qty Part # Description
Quantité / No. de la pièce / Description
--- -------- ---------------------------------------------
1 222-9218 INS 530,CDCR,420 (1.60GHZ)
1 310-7966 DELL OPTICAL USB MOUSE
1 310-8025 DELL USB KYBD,BLK,DIM
1 310-8626 VISTA PREMIUM STICKER,DIM
1 311-7237 1GB DDR2 SDRAM,667MHZ- 2X512MB,DIM,M
1 313-2198 NO SPEAKER REQUESTED,DIMENSION
1 313-2758 INTEGRATED AUDIO
1 313-3137 NO MODEM REQUESTED
1 313-5270 16X DVD+/-RW DRIVE,BLK,DIM,M
1 313-5582 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,SPNG
1 320-3000 VIDEO READY W/O MONITOR,DIM2,XPS2
1 320-5878 INTEGRATED INTEL GRAPHICS
1 341-4808 160GB SATA II,7200 RPM,DIM,M
1 341-5008 NO FLOPPY DRIVE REQUESTED
1 412-0914 ADOBE ACROBAT READER 7.0,DIM
1 412-0940 NORTON INTERNET SECURITY 2007, 30DAY,DIM
1 420-5769 ISP SEARCH ASST PORTAL,DIM/INSP
1 420-6436 VISTA,PC-RESTORE, DIM/INSP
1 420-6464 ROXIO CREATOR LE,V,DIM/INSP
1 420-6540 WIN VISTA HOME PREM,ENG,DIM BACK UP DISK
1 420-6995 DELL SUPPORT 3.4,DIM/INSP
1 420-7244 DELL SUPPORT CENTER 1.0,DIM/INSP
1 430-0412 INTEGRATED NIC CARD
1 461-3064 NO DIGITAL IMAGING SOFTWARE REQUESTED
1 461-8388 NO DIGITAL MUSIC SOFTWARE REQUESTED
1 463-2282 THANKS FOR PURCHASING YOUR DELL
1 465-8687 PLEASE SELECT AN ISP
1 412-0912 MS WORKS 8.5,DAO,ENG, DIM
1 920-2900 WARRANTY SPRT,INSP DT,INIT YR
1 930-8170 NBD OS,INSP 530 DT,GTN,INIT YR, RA
1 930-8177 HW WRTY + SVC,INSP 530 DT,GTN,INIT
1 009-6800 SHIPPING FEE
1 420-7091 DATASAFE ONLINE DIM/INS/XPS
1 420-7092 DATASAFE ONLINE DIM/INS/XPS,1YR-FREE
1 987-4817 INSP DATASAFE 3GB,1YR(INCL IN PRICE),DHS
1 987-6238 NO WARRANTY,YRS 2/3 (INSP DT,NBD)

[sjweyman]

Some hints out there on Google that this may be related to Dell crippling some features on the Mother board via the bios settings.

It won't affect me as this is plenty fast for what I do on my personal computer....upgrading from a PIII 733mhz :).

But I'd still be following this closely to see what the final verdict is.

About a month ago I upgraded my PIII 600 to a new Dell 530. Although ... I do have a 4 year old laptop (P4 2.4GHz) that I had been using so that probably disqualifies me eh? :D

[edbert]

Check out post 128. Don't know if that applies to the processor too:

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=571768&page=9

Heh, looking at post 131 it may appear that the poster of 128 is mistaken. Lets assume for a moment the mobo is indeed this Foxconn G33M. So then google says:
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?ID=en-us0000319

And it shows only 800MHz FSB is support for memory.

It also says:
Intel® Core™2 Quad, Core™2 Extreme, Core™2 Duo, Pentium® Dual-Core E2xxx, Celeron® 4xx, Pentium® D, Pentium® 4 processors , Socket T (LGA775)
Supports Intel® next generation 45nm Multi-Core CPU

Now, who wants to try flashing the Foxconn BIOS onto the Dell 530? Heh... :twisted:

[thebigfatman]

Now, who wants to try flashing the Foxconn BIOS onto the Dell 530? Heh... :twisted:
Seeing how the G33M has an IDE connector and PS2/serial ports I think I'll let someone else give it a go first :D
Its probably an even more stripped down version of that board just for Dell >:(

[babs00]

You know what. It's probably a paranoid but how is it possible that Dell catched up so quick on this error and locked the monitor ? They get hundreds of orders every day and not they are checking each order, it's automated probably. Feels like someone is watching RFD posts round the clock and fixing the errors. It happened similar last time when there was an error of having Dual Drives on Celereon a few days ago. Or may be it's me..

[chuckfredgoose]

Seeing how the G33M has an IDE connector and PS2/serial ports I think I'll let someone else give it a go first :D
Its probably an even more stripped down version of that board just for Dell >:(


Will these Motherboard drivers (G33M) work with the DELL board?

What I want is to get the DRIVERS for XP.

[KingCreole]

Heh, looking at post 131 it may appear that the poster of 128 is mistaken. Lets assume for a moment the mobo is indeed this Foxconn G33M. So then google says:
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?ID=en-us0000319

And it shows only 800MHz FSB is support for memory.

It also says:
Intel® Core™2 Quad, Core™2 Extreme, Core™2 Duo, Pentium® Dual-Core E2xxx, Celeron® 4xx, Pentium® D, Pentium® 4 processors , Socket T (LGA775)
Supports Intel® next generation 45nm Multi-Core CPU

Now, who wants to try flashing the Foxconn BIOS onto the Dell 530? Heh... :twisted:


Neat, thanks....you're sharp dude!

[njchan]

looks like my brother's having buyer's remorse ...

anyone in ottawa interested ...

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5426651&postcount=54

$309+tax ... should arrive Aug 13.

[KingCreole]

About a month ago I upgraded my PIII 600 to a new Dell 530. Although ... I do have a 4 year old laptop (P4 2.4GHz) that I had been using so that probably disqualifies me eh? :D

No, no, no....you win. :D

[thendless]

Is this ram a good deal?

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18495&promoid=1065

Will it work with the 530? It says 2.0 volt, im assuming that might be the deciding factor?

[gadgetguy777]

I like to know too, I got one of this baby coming...:lol:

Is this ram a good deal?

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18495&promoid=1065

Will it work with the 530? It says 2.0 volt, im assuming that might be the deciding factor?

[pham12h]

Here's a link to the another forum regarding the 530, looks like the core 2's are confirmed to work but not the quad. Also supports ddr2-800.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=571768&page=9

[edbert]

I just installed XP on this thing. Not bad...but SATA controllers are a bit of a pain to install XP on to...

Interesting post here, that if you have a vista Business licence, you can downgrade to XP Pro as an alternative...
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=45&TopicId=12525

[gadgetguy777]

I am trying to set up my dell to enable dual boot with xp pro. Dell already installed vista premium on it already. I heard it is quite difficult to set this up, did anyone have any successful experience in install xp pro on their vista premium dell machine?

Thanks in advance~ :lol:

[edbert]

I am trying to set up my dell to enable dual boot with xp pro. Dell already installed vista premium on it already. I heard it is quite difficult to set this up, did anyone have any successful experience in install xp pro on their vista premium dell machine?

Thanks in advance~ :lol:

I've got XP working, I haven't completed the dual boot stuff yet, I need to recover the Vista boot loader. I will try later tonight. XP is flying pretty fast on this box.

NCIX has some ram on sale, which may work for this box. I'm not sure what RAM is in there, but according to the BIOS its running at 667MHz...apparently the board can hit 800MHz, but I dunno if dell provided us with that memory.

[gadgetguy777]

I've got XP working, I haven't completed the dual boot stuff yet, I need to recover the Vista boot loader. I will try later tonight. XP is flying pretty fast on this box.

hey edbert...how did you get started with the dual boot XP Pro with Vista installed, is there a guide or steps to follow to ensure no problem, hopefully you get everything set up properly.

NCIX has some ram on sale, which may work for this box. I'm not sure what RAM is in there, but according to the BIOS its running at 667MHz...apparently the board can hit 800MHz, but I dunno if dell provided us with that memory.

i am thinking to get this from NCIX, does anyone have this memory and will it likely to work??

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=25250&promoid=1065

[edbert]

hey edbert...how did you get started with the dual boot XP Pro with Vista installed, is there a guide or steps to follow to ensure no problem, hopefully you get everything set up properly.

Sorry for the delay - just google XP after vista, and you will see a lot of posts. PM me if you need a faster response, I don't check RFD too much, for fear of spending too much money :P
I had some trouble forcing the vista booloader back on the system. That VistaBootpro utility didn't help that much. I think my problem was I forgot to set the Vista partition as the active partition so the bios always boots off that first, then the rest of the stuff is found.

Another issue is that dell uses 3 of the 4 primary partitions. I killed the utility paritition to make another primary in addition to the extended partition. If you don't mind XP booting off drive D: then this shouldn't matter.

Also, use a windows XP SP2 install, easier...and your SATA stuff should be ok then.

i am thinking to get this from NCIX, does anyone have this memory and will it likely to work??

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=25250&promoid=1065

I personally think it will. But I'm not sure if I wanna spend money on 667Mhz ram...although whats in the machine is already 667Mhz ram...so I guess it will match at least..

[thendless]

Just a bump to anyone who may be interested:

I got in on this deal (well the vostro version, see this thread http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=475646) and i decided not to keep it (I opted to build an overclocking rig), it should arrive sometime tommoroow or wednesday, anyways if anyone wants to buy it for the exact price I paid (i think it was 316 somethign after everything) and is in the Calgary area, PM me. Otherwise I am just going to return it (thank go for Vostros 30 day no hassle return)