Anyone have a Dell?

[boomer]

My computer's about to hit the skids...old age. It's replacement must have CD read & re-write, DVD read & re-write (doing a lot of conversion from VHS tape to disk). It will be used for archiving several thousand photos to disk.

No way will I try to build it myself.

Anyone know if Dell is capable of this? Suggestions?

 

[AMP]

My computer's about to hit the skids...old age. It's replacement must have CD read & re-write, DVD read & re-write (doing a lot of conversion from VHS tape to disk). It will be used for archiving several thousand photos to disk.

No way will I try to build it myself.

Anyone know if Dell is capable of this? Suggestions?

I have bought 3 Dells in the last 8 years (always upgraded, didn't pitch them because they pooped out). They have all been super, as long as I always had my virus software current. Never had a motherboard or chip go bad, was able to upgrade my oldest one with a new (extra) hard drive. My newest one (Jan 2004) came with CD/DVD players/burners. Not sure what you would need for the VHS stuff, am unfamilar with that. But with Dell you can build what you want from their website, so you can max out the RAM and memory, get just the burner stuff you need, and ditch all the other extras. Their prices are decent, and sometimes they have free shipping specials or free upgrades on CD wrtiers/readers/burners.

I just got a digital camera not too long ago and have been uploading lots of pice, have not had a problem with those, or with burning them to CDs. Music is easy too. I think the Dell I bought last came with media software already installed, whatever it is I use it for music and photos and data.

Do NOT try Alienware - relative had a real hard time with their drives crashing.

Have you thought about a Mac? (lightening is gonna strike me, I know, I've been trashing Apple for the last 10 years) They have some real good stuff for media now - friend of mine has a band and does alot of recording edits/overwrites etc and he just bought a Mac computer. He likes it alot for media.

GOod luck with your search!

 

[Vince]

Don't know what you're looking for, but I've had several Dells and have never had a problem. Current Dell is a Demension 8250 with 2.5 gig processor 512 mg ram and enough hard drive space to choke a horse. Upgraded video card and DVD and a CDRW. My old Dell is still up and running with my daughter in Florida.

 

[boomer]

thanks, I'll check out Dell tomorrow!

 

[Gemmi]

I have 3 Dell computers in my house.

 

[itsbob]

Consumer Reports out this week, top rated work horse Computers.. 3.2 Ghz, Pentium 4 #1 COmpaq, Presario SA4000T $1315 #2 Sony VAIO VGC RA-910G $1650 #3 Dell Dimension 4700 $1125 #4 Gateway $945 THose are the ratings for the 4 "Work Horse models they tested.

 

[itsbob]

My laptop(s) at work are Dell, my desktop at home I built myself.. What you are looking for would be REAL easy to build yourself.. you're not looking for anything difficult..

 

[itsbob]

ONE more post.. APPLE is REAL famous for being VERY good at doing what you want to do..

 

[Chain729]

ONE more post.. APPLE is REAL famous for being VERY good at doing what you want to do..

Yep. Apple, though not used as widely as IBM compatables, due to Crapsoft, is much better at graphic type stuff. Also, IIRC, in the IBM compatable world, AMD- in addition to being cheaper- is better than Intel at graphic type stuff.

If you plan to keep the same monitor, and have all the software you need, you're better of building the computer. It doesn't take long and its relatively simple considering what you're looking for. Take into consideration that a "re-install" disk is not the same as a standard OS disk. A "re-install" disk won't install the OS on another drive since some of the neccessary files are in a hidden partition on the hard drive.

How old is the computer you have now? Which brand? If it isn't too old, some parts may be re-usable to build another one. If you want to build it and want a hand, let me know. If not, I definately recommend Dell.

 

[CAE]

Dell

I have Dell computers at home and it's all we buy at work. No complaints from me.

Look here for good deals on Dell (and tons of other stuff):

http://www.edealinfo.com

if you buy *exactly* as they say, you can sometimes get a better deal than just going to dell.com and doing it their way.

 

[Oz]

Check out Dell outlet. Out of about 12 computers from Dell, between home and work, desktops and laptops over the last 2 years, probably 8 of them were Dell Outlet models. Best savings was a very small laptop (X200) with max memory, MSOffice, and a carrying case. About $1600 from the Outlet, versus $2400 "New."

Most of the Outlet machines are items which were returned during the initial 30 day period, so you're basically getting NEW anyway. Good savings...

 

[Bruzilla]

I've had two Dell laptops, both Inspirons. I've had the display go bad on one, and the other had the CDRW drive (after 2 yrs) and the harddrive (after 3 years) go bad.

The best place for computer prices is www.pricewatch.com