Is This a Good Deal from Dell? Need Advice

Hi,

I was bargaining with a gentleman at Dell. I'm insecure, because we're getting two computers and it's a big cash outlay. I think I negotiated a relatively good deal. Take into account that we are not gamers and don't download music, so a 40 gig hard drive is *plenty*. It will include the free speakers for each system and will include two of those free printers that they're offering this week. One will not have a modem, though the one below does. Also, the price includes Office 2003 for Teachers & Students. So, the cost comes to $1,865.04 including tax, which also includes the $10 shipping for each computer. Any comments would *really* be appreciated...


The Hans


Base Unit / Unité de base:
Dimension 3000 Series, Intel Pentium 4 Processor at 2.8GHz with 1MB cache (221-6495)

Memory / Mémoire:
512MB DDR SDRAM at 400MHz (311-4259)

Keyboard / Clavier:
Dell Quiet Key Keyboard (310-1582)

Monitor / Moniteur:
17 in (17 in viewable) E173FPBFlat Panel Display (463-7884)

Video Card / Carte graphique:
Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (320-2870)

Hard Drive / Disque dur:
40GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200RPM) (340-9049)

Floppy Disk Drive / Lecteur de disquette:
No Floppy Drive Requested (340-8688)

Operating System / Système d'exploitation:
Image Restore (412-0688)

Operating System / Système d'exploitation:
Dimension Dell Support (412-0721)

Operating System / Système d'exploitation:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition,Service Pack 2,English (420-4834)

Operating System / Système d'exploitation:
Windows Media Player 10 (420-4927)

Operating System / Système d'exploitation:
Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access (463-2282)

Mouse / Souris:
Dell USB Optical Mouse (310-4037)

NIC / Carte réseau intégrée:
Intel Pro 100M Integrated PCI NIC Card (430-0412)

Modem / Modem:
56K PCI Data Fax Modem (313-2279)

Tape Backup Unit / système de secours sur bande:
Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 (412-0705)

CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive / Lecteur CD-ROM ou DVD-ROM:
48X Max CD-RW Drive (313-2237)

Sound Card / Carte de son:
Integrated Audio (313-2758)

Speakers / Haut-parleurs:
No Speaker Requested (313-4514)

Bundled Software / Logiciels empaquetés:
AOL 9.0 - Canada (412-0674)

Bundled Software / Logiciels empaquetés:
Word Perfect Productivity Pack (412-0701)

Factory Installed Software / Logiciels installés à l'usine:
Norton Internet Security 2005 90 Day Trial,OEM (412-0757)

Option 1 / Première option:
Music Match 9.0 Basic 7 day OnDemand (412-0741)

Option 2 / Deuxième option:
Paint Shop Photo Album 5.1 Standard (412-0744)

Service / Garantie:
Type 3 Contract - Next Business Day Parts and Labor On-Site Response,Initial Year (930-1320)

Service / Garantie:
No Warranty, Year 2 and 3 (950-9797)

Shipping & Handling / les frais d'expédition et de manutention:
Pay $10 Shipping and Handling (009-9942)

Some other readers may wish to add comments as I'm not up on Dell specs.

But, i think the 3000 runs on a different motherboard than the Dell 4700 for example - it may have an impact on future upgrades - perhaps readers can comment.

How much does each computer cost b/4 tax ?

Teacher Office Edition - this is availalbe for $199 from most PC shops ....what are Dell charging you ? - and keep in mind you can have up to 3 licences / PC's with one copy of Teacher edition purchased ( assume you're buying only one copy ? )

Printer - with a price match from Office Depot to Staples , you can get a HP PSC 1315 printer that Prints, Scans and Copies from Staples for $ 77 ( b/4 tx ) until may 27th - the 1315 got good reviews but ink costs are so/so - again, readers who know Dell printers may wish to comment if the Dell is a better value.

Speakers ...you can get from Staples on PM ( i.e Logitech ) may also have a bit more punch than Dell's.

There's generally not much barganing room on their low end systems at all. When I bought my Inspiron Notebook they were practically flogging me with freebies and very willing to be flexible, when I went looking for a Dimension 3000 they flat out told me no deals. I guess since you're buying two you've got a bit more power. The 3000s don't have an AGP slot, so your options for upgrading video are virtually nil, but like you said, you're not a gamer. You also apparently need some kind of bracket to install a floppy drive, so that might be hard to get from them after your order, or you can try rigging something yourself.

Jim

$1,865.04??? Are you kidding me? Go to Dell.ca and configure the same computer - should be much less (though I don't know how much the Office license is worth).

Do a search for a Dell Dimension 3000 or 2400 and you'll see that there are occasional deals for under $400 plus tax for a basic unit without monitor. If you can wait, there will be one someday.

I'd also recommend switching to a Celeron CPU since there's no need for a higher end cpu. It would save some $$$.

Btw, I'd get rid of AOL 9.0 and opt for 3 months of Rogers/Bell. But the funny thing is, they still send you those damn AOL cd's!

So it's $1,865.04 for two units right?

From his post, I'm sure it's $1865.04 for two systems. Which isn't really a deal at all. Two equivalent systems with double the disk space can be had for $5 less right now without the Office software.

Jim

Hi,

The computers are $719 and $759 before taxes. One has a modem and one doesn't. The Office is $158 before taxes. At PC places it runs about $180-200. The price of this software is significant. Keep in mind that it also has the 17-inch flat-panel upgrades and the $10 shipping even though both systems run under the $799 for this week's deals.

TheHans

Originally Posted by JimG

You also apparently need some kind of bracket to install a floppy drive, so that might be hard to get from them after your order, or you can try rigging something yourself.

Jim

Hi,

Can you explain what you mean by this? Or what's missing on the system we're buying? Because we're planning to put in a floppy and thought it had a slot for it.

TheHans

Originally Posted by TheHans

Hi,

Can you explain what you mean by this? Or what's missing on the system we're buying? Because we're planning to put in a floppy and thought it had a slot for it.

TheHans

It does have a slot for it, but from what I've heard, Dell uses special mounting brackets/rails which need to be attached to the diskette drive before it will fit into the bay. If you don't order a floppy with the system, they don't give you the the brackets, or the face plate. I'll let you know when my order arrives today whether or not there are brackets.

Jim

Originally Posted by JimG

It does have a slot for it, but from what I've heard, Dell uses special mounting brackets/rails which need to be attached to the diskette drive before it will fit into the bay. If you don't order a floppy with the system, they don't give you the the brackets, or the face plate. I'll let you know when my order arrives today whether or not there are brackets.

Jim

Hi,

Yes, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know. We'll be ordering the systems tomorrow. We have two other floppies (floppys?) with two normal brackets, but if these don't fit...

We tried to negotiate for a floppy in exchange for one of the free printers, but he wouldn't budge on that. If what you're suggesting is true, we might have to take their floppy after all...

TheHans

Originally Posted by TheHans

Hi,

Yes, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know. We'll be ordering the systems tomorrow. We have two other floppies (floppys?) with two normal brackets, but if these don't fit...

We tried to negotiate for a floppy in exchange for one of the free printers, but he wouldn't budge on that. If what you're suggesting is true, we might have to take their floppy after all...

TheHans

Take a look at Dell's own community forums if you haven't already, a lot of potential problems are identified there. After looking into it some more, I'm pretty sure you don't get the brackets if you don't order a floppy, this also means you won't be able to install a second harddrive, I'm assuming the 5" drives also require special brackets.

Jim

Originally Posted by TheHans

Hi,

The computers are $719 and $759 before taxes. One has a modem and one doesn't. The Office is $158 before taxes. At PC places it runs about $180-200. The price of this software is significant. Keep in mind that it also has the 17-inch flat-panel upgrades and the $10 shipping even though both systems run under the $799 for this week's deals.

TheHans

In case you want to see how the Dell's stack up against a custom build, the system below is on the net for $548 - mind you, it still needs xp s/w, crt, Office etc. - but, it is on a 775 socket, not sure what socket the 3000 runs on ( 478 ? )

Comparing this to the Dell, the Dell still looks like a good deal.

$ 549

Intel P4-2.8G (775)
ASRock (ASUS OEM) Mainboard
512MB PC3200 DDR RAM
80GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
ATI Radeon9250 128MB W/TV-out
6 Channel Stereo Sound
LG 16x DVD+RW, Dual Layer
10/100 LAN On Board
400W ATX Mid Tower Case
Windows Keyboard
Wheel Mouse
Standard Speakers

P4-3.0G J (1MB) $569
P4-3.2G J (1MB) $629
Macron 400W Power Add: $35

Originally Posted by JimG

Take a look at Dell's own community forums if you haven't already, a lot of potential problems are identified there. After looking into it some more, I'm pretty sure you don't get the brackets if you don't order a floppy, this also means you won't be able to install a second harddrive, I'm assuming the 5" drives also require special brackets.

Jim

Hi,

Thanks for mentioning the forums. I didn't know about them. It appears to be true that the brackets are not included for the floppy. It's something that many people are complaining about on the forums. We have brackets from our two other older computers and we were just going to remove the floppy from one of those computers along with the bracket. But to read the forums, it seems to be some kind of special bracket.

This complicates things marginally, as we were expecting to install both our own floppy and our own DVD or CD-Rom drive. Now I'll have to find something else to bargain with. It's actually a bit frustrating that it isn't possible to exchange those useless "free" colour printers (aka the bookends) for *anything*. This would solve our problem of course...

Does anyone happen to know if one can at least add generic RAM to a Dimension 3000 without some weird proprietary thing going on? We've currently got 512 MBs of RAM included for each computer. But everyone knows Dell RAM is overpriced. I was thinking of reducing the RAM to 256 MBs for each computer then buying two sticks of 256 MBs, one for each computer, from NCIX. This, of course, would be less expensive (if the Dell guy would agree without taking off our $10 shipping.) Then we could get dual drives and a floppy from Dell to make up the difference. But I worry that there might be a reason generic RAM cannot be properly installed. For example, I looked all over the Dell site and couldn't find any mention of how many pins the RAM has, only that it's DDR SDRAM at 400MHz.

Has anyone actually installed generic RAM on a Dimension 3000?

TheHans

RAM shouldn't be a problem. I got my dimension today and, as I expected, nothing to mount the floppy onto. I might try rigging something when I've got some time.

Jim

I'm put generic ram into the 2 dell computers, hasn't been a problem, just run memtest after installing