Bought a Dell

Lefty

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I just bought a Dell computer and with the discounts and coupons I had, I paid just over $1280.00. Did I get a decent computer?



Dimension 8400 MCE
Pentium® 4 Processor 540 with HT Technology (3.20GHz, 800 FSB), Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition Qty: 1
Dimension 8400 Media Center Pentium® 4 Processor 540 with HT Technology (3.20GHz, 800 FSB)
S328MH
[221-6118]

Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz (2x512M)
1GB4
[311-3818]

Keyboard Dell Quietkey® Keyboard
QK
[310-1582]

Monitor FREE UPGRADE! New 17 in E173FP Flat Panel Display
E173FPP
[463-4017]

Video Card 128MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X300 SE
X300SE
[320-3934]

Hard Drive 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
160S
[341-1591]

Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices 3.5 in Floppy Drive
FD
[340-8628]

Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition
WMCE
[412-0409]
[412-0688]
[463-2282]
[420-4927]
[420-4940]

Mouse Dell Optical USB Mouse
OM
[310-4037]

Network Interface Integrated Gigabit Ethernet
IN
[430-0742]

Modem 56K PCI Data/Fax Modem
DFAX
[313-2279]

Document Management Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
AAREAD
[412-0705]

CD ROM/DVD ROM Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write capability
CDR6DVR
[313-3007]
[420-4919]

Sound Card Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio
IS
[313-2758]

Speakers No Speaker Option
N
[313-2198]

Productivity Software No Microsoft Office
MSONO
[412-1397]

Security Software No Security Subscription
NS2
[412-0732]

Digital Music Dell Jukebox PLUS - Rip and burn your CDs faster, print CD labels, and more
MMPLUS
[412-0692]

Digital Photography Paint Shop™ Pro® Trial plus Photo Album™ Starter Edition
DPS
[412-0521]

Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr Technical Support
S111OS
[950-1260]
[950-3337]
[950-9797]
[412-0360]
[960-2800]

Dial-up Internet Access 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
AOLDHS
[412-0585]
[412-0625]
[420-3224]
[412-0687]

Video Editing IEEE 1394 Adapter
1394
[320-0169]


Dell 720 Color Printer
Free Dell Color Printer 720 Qty: 1
Dell Color Printer 720 Free Dell Color Printer 720
FREE720
[255-0071]

Dell Ink Cartridges Dell 720 Standard Capacity Color Print Cartridge
TCLR720
[310-5506]

Hardware Support Services 1Yr Ltd. Warranty , 1 yrTechnical Support , 1 yr Advance Exchange
AE1YR
[902-7040]
[960-4638]
[960-2840]
 

BigRedVol

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Sounds OK enough, all except for the warranty. You should have upgraded that to the 3yr in home and 3 yr tech support or lifetime if they have it. I saw your transferring files thread. The best way to do a complete transfer is to go buy one of those hard drive USB transfer cables, they're around 50 or 60 bucks.
 

Kel Varnsen

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I just got a new Dell, too...using it for the first time tonight, in fact.

My last one was a Dell, too, and it lasted six years. I never had to call for support, so hopefully you won't either. :thumbup:
 

CaptTurbo

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No need for a floppy anymore. Escpecially with a cd and dvd burner. Also, next time spend the extra 80 bucks to get a sounds card. integrated sound always causes problems along the way and its not a good sound.


But overall a great deal.....
 

BigRedVol

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krepitch said:
I never had to call for support, so hopefully you won't either. :thumbup:
Funny you say that. I used to work for Dell in Nashville, so I have nothing but good things to say about their quality of the desktops, their laptops, well that's a different story. But, the Nashville support office supports primarily Dimension and server issues, or at least it did 3 years ago. I was there when the p4 was first released, Thanksgiving time 2001 if I remember correctly, god what a nightmare that was!!! But, anyway my point is we always and I mean ALWAYS were working overtime. Usually right up to 56 hours where they sent us home due to the fact that double time became triple time lol. And, I still have a good friend who works there to this day, and that has not changed any! My point is, Dell does NOT build "perfect" computers. If they did, there would not be a tech support. And, lots of issues arise to need support techs working all of this OT, always have, always will. Sounds like you had a great computer, maybe it was built on a Wednesday. You do not want to see what comes out of manufacturing on Monday mornings, Fridays, or Saturdays :(
 

Ryanwb

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BigRedTitan said:
You do not want to see what comes out of manufacturing on Monday mornings, Fridays, or Saturdays :(
Can you expand upon this statement?? What happens on Monday Friday and Saturday???
 

Kel Varnsen

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BigRedTitan said:
Funny you say that. I used to work for Dell in Nashville, so I have nothing but good things to say about their quality of the desktops, their laptops, well that's a different story. But, the Nashville support office supports primarily Dimension and server issues, or at least it did 3 years ago. I was there when the p4 was first released, Thanksgiving time 2001 if I remember correctly, god what a nightmare that was!!! But, anyway my point is we always and I mean ALWAYS were working overtime. Usually right up to 56 hours where they sent us home due to the fact that double time became triple time lol. And, I still have a good friend who works there to this day, and that has not changed any! My point is, Dell does NOT build "perfect" computers. If they did, there would not be a tech support. And, lots of issues arise to need support techs working all of this OT, always have, always will. Sounds like you had a great computer, maybe it was built on a Wednesday. You do not want to see what comes out of manufacturing on Monday mornings, Fridays, or Saturdays :(

Well, I had to chat with someone from Dell today, but I don't think it's their fault.

My computer came with the McAfee antivirus software, but I bought the Norton antivirus software at tax season earlier this year, so I still have time on my subscription. So, I installed the Norton software. What a mistake that was.

I was never able to get Outlook Express running, so I called Cox and found out that there is some kind of conflict with Windows XP SP2 and Norton AntiVirus. So I figured I'd just uninstall Norton and see if that would fix the problem. Then Norton didn't even show up in my list of add/remove programs! I had to basically go back to factory settings and just keep McAfee. Now I'm afraid to switch back to Norton...guess I'll just keep McAfee, as long as it's free at tax season. I couldn't find a patch to get Norton to work with Win XP SP2, either. Geez.

All's good now, though. :shrug:
 

Kel Varnsen

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Ryanwb said:
Can you expand upon this statement?? What happens on Monday Friday and Saturday???

Is this like the stories about cars? Like how no one wants to be at work on those days and get lazy?

I think there's a way to check what day your car was made on. Can you do that with computers? I'm curious to see if I actually did get a Wednesday. :thumbup:
 

BigRedVol

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I'll try to answer both of your questions together quickly, then I need to run to bed, so you won't see me again tonight. First, it is definitely true about the Monday, Friday, Saturday thing. Mondays, people are still into their weekend, and not ready to work and just mad for being there I guess, you know how it is, its a damm Monday lol. By the time Friday and Saturday rolls around, production usually have been getting their butts slammed with OT, just like tech support, they are usually working 10-11 hrs/day, split between 2 shifts, with up to 8 on Saturdays. Dell only runs 2 shifts. During the busiest times, like right now, they are likely working from 4am till 230 pm or worse 330pm. Would you like to have your computer built by that assembler at 415am on any day??? And 2nd shift is coming in as 1st shift is leaving. They start at 4pm, and usually go to 230 am, or as late as 330 am. Could you imagine your computer being the last one built at 315am??? The plant always needs 30 minutes off between shifts to reset the computers and such, productivity and how much of it, is a bigger deal to Dell than quality, sorry, but this is true. It is truly all about the numbers, and how fast they can get it out of the door! But, the same is true for all computer manufacturers. The worst times of the year are always the holidays and back to school times. But, end of quarter is the worst, especially end of year which is actually the last Friday in January. Their first qtr ends in Aprl, the next July, the next October, and the last and final of the year is January, and it always ends on the last Fridays of these months. Dell wants their profits to be as high as possible each qtr, so they try to pump up the volume as much as possible during these times. This is when you will find Dell running exceptional deals online and in TV ads, the holidays, back to school, and all end of qtrs. I would say you have the control on the day your computer is built, but not the time. I would advise to ordering it at the very beginning of a quarter, not at the end. The 1st month of the qtr, production usually goes back down to 40 hours, but not tech support. We were still dealing with the dang crap that went out of the door during end of qtr lol. T/S slowed down during 2nd month of qtr, but not by much, we only worked 9-10 those days lol. And it usually takes 3 days for your order to hit the floor, so if you want it built on say Wednesday or Thursday, order it on Monday morning.


The guy with the software problem. You need to get rid of Mcafee, that stinks, thats why its free lol. I use the same thing Dell uses on their intranet, Nortons Corporate Edition Gold Client, it is the bomb!!! And, I don't have any subscriptions, I get free updates lol. You cannot run 2 AV's together, well you can, but it is not advised to. Causes too many conflicts, did they tell you this??? My advice would be to uninstall McAfee, re-install Norton. Also, I don't suggest XP either. I've never heard of XP being a conflict with Norton, but anything is possible with XP. It's good for intermediate average computer users, but if you know more than most about these things, I would suggest running 2Kpro like I have. It is the very best O/S. 2nd best still is 98 2nd ed. But, consumers demanded an "easy" O/S to run and maneuver, Millenium was the result of that, it bombed, so they went back to the drawing table, and so now XP is what you got! It's a dang shame that with Dell you cannot choose which O/S to buy, you're stuck with XP. It's also a dang shame your stuck with an Intel processor, because AMD is much better. Make sure you're running lavasoft's ad-aware too and keep it updated, and keep your MS critical updates updated.

Hope this helps. PM me with any further problems, if I can't help, then I got my buddy's email addy at Dell....;)
 

CaptTurbo

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BigRedTitan said:
The guy with the software problem. You need to get rid of Mcafee, that stinks, thats why its free lol. Also, I don't suggest XP either.....;)


I love XP and McAfee. Never had a single problem with either.
 

Chaz

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I don't like McAfee either. I have had nothing but problems with it.
The bottom line is what ever works for you.

Windows XP is great if you have the power to run it. You don't want to upgrade an older computer to XP but XP is probably the best microsoft OS yet.


There is no conflict between Norton and XP. The only problem I know of is that Norton wont report the virus protection status to the windows firewall. the result is Windows firewall give you an alert that virus status unknown.

The problem is most likely the interaction of the two AV/security programs. Run either Norton or McAfee, but not both.



The PC looks nice Zona.
 
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Lefty

Lefty

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Received my Dell and I am very happy. It did come with McAfee but I get Sophos free from work. How long is the McAfee software free? I have not agrred to the McAfee terms yet so should I remove it? I was planning on using Sophos and Ad-Aware SE.

Finally, can someone give me links to the best places to download free music.

Thanks
 
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Lefty

Lefty

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swd1974 said:
www.winmx.com

Love it have used it for a long time and has never been in the news lol

I went to that site but am having trouble downloading music. Exactly how do you download a song from winmx?
 

BigRedVol

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Zona90 said:
I went to that site but am having trouble downloading music. Exactly how do you download a song from winmx?
Once you learn how to work the site, you'll be addicted because it's too easy. After you search for a file, you will want to pay attention to how many connections each file has. The more connections, the more success rate you will have at downloads since it's the one being the most shared. You will rarely have success if only 1 person or a couple people are sharing. Choose the one with the most connections for the file that you want. Also, the higher the bitrate, the higher sound quality you will hear, but longer downloads. To get the best files at the top, you can click on each column to rearrange the search. For instance, if you want the best connections grouped together at the top, click status/server. Another click puts the worst at the top, be careful with that. If you want the best sounding files at the top, click bitrate. Obviously, you want to choose a file with the highest bitrate possible with a high number of connections. Once you narrow down which file you want, right click download.........it's that easy :thumbup:

I suggest going thru the help menu to learn all of the possibilites you can do on the site. Good luck....
 
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