Dude, I'm being tempted to buy a Dell...

[Jonathan Chance]

This one, in particular.

Two of those look like a sweet holiday present to myself and Lady Chance.

The HD seems small but for a moderate price I can upgrade to a kicking 250 GB drive.

What's everyone think?

256MB Memory or 512MB? And extra $90.

I'll need the CD/RW for and extra $20 or do I get the CDR/W with DVD for an extra $69?

MS-Office Basic for $129?

Comes with a 17" Flat Panel monitor!

[Anonymous Coward]

This included video card blows, as do the choices for the upgrades except for the ATI 9800 for an extra $130. If you want to play any of the new games (or even games a year old) being released then you need to get this video card.

The extra memory is worth it, but a little expensive.

A 40 gig HD is more than enough for most users, unless you are expecting to collect a boatload of music/movie files. I would suggest that you just get the 40 gig, and save your money and buy a new hard drive if you fill the 40. By that time, you will get more gigs for your dollar.

CD + DVD are nice. Pricy for an upgrade though. I just bought a complete new unit on sale for 70 dollars CDN.

Office? Openoffice is freeware and will do most home users unless you need Office for work compatibility. Then get work to pay for it.

Hope this helps.

[OldBroad]

I just got this one about 6 weeks ago. I upgraded to XP pro for the network compatibility and to MS Office Pro also for compatibility reasons. So far I'm very happy with it.

[astro]

[quote]Originally posted by Jonathan Chance
[b]This one, in particular.

Two of those look like a sweet holiday present to myself and Lady Chance.

The HD seems small but for a moderate price I can upgrade to a kicking 250 GB drive.

> Very Pricey- You can pick up a nice (more or less identical) 250 gig unit for around 170 -200 (with rebates) or so on sale at most big box retailers or online - and the price may drop further. I'd wait and yooucan add the 250 gig drive later for around 1/2 what they're asking and still keep the 40 gig unit.

What's everyone think?

256MB Memory or 512MB? And extra $90. -

>Pricey - can probably do much better elsewhere and memory is usually easily clipped in

I'll need the CD/RW for and extra $20 or do I get the CDR/W with DVD for an extra $69?

> reasonable installed upgrade price - go DVD-CDRW - instead of just CDRW

MS-Office Basic for $129?

> reasonable deal - take it it unless you you or your wife are students or academics. If so even better "student/teacher special MS Office deals can usually be had on camplus. Dell might even offer these separately.

Your chosen base video card will work fine for 99.5% of all applications including DVD movie playback, and unless you are doing some hard core gaming is unnecessary to upgrade. If you do chose to upgrade go to the 9800 and skip the intermediate cards.

[Mooney252]

Jonathan --

You can get a price edge by periodically calling Dell and asking the phone reps if they have any specials or refurbished units.
Returned & refurbished models are often 20% lower than factory "new" units, though they're really equivalent.

Best regards,

Mooney252