Forgive me!

[Kins123]

As I have....uh....um...ordered a Dell!!

Reason being, I'm working at a small IT company doing web development but because it's only small there isn't always web work to be done so am also helping out with PC support/repairs. I'm fine with computers up to XP but with Vista I haven't much experience and there have been a couple of occasions where a customer has phoned up asking for help with Vista and I didn't know the new naming/location scheme.

I did think about buying Vista to use with Bootcamp but would mean turning my Mac off everytime I want to use it. But the deal I got comes with a 22" monitor and Vista Ultimate.

Here is the spec: (including all the crapware )

List D09V02b Vostro 200
Vostro 200 E6750 Core 2 Duo Processor (2.66GHz, 1333Mhz FSB, 4MB cache)
Save £30 ex VAT
English - Vostro 200 System Docs (UK power cord) & English Adobe
Vostro 200 Resource DVD (Diagnostics & Drivers)
Memory 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 667MHz [2x1024MB] Memory
No Floppy / MCR
Hard Drive 320GB Serial ATA non Raid (7200 Rpm)
Roxio Creator / MYDVD 9.0 (Vista & XP)
16X DVD+/-RW
FP/BL - UK/Irish Wide Flat Panel E228WFP 22" (TCO99) Value (DVI-D) Black
Video Card 512MB nVidia GeForce 8300GS
Audio Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital capability
Speakers Not Included
No Modem Mod
Mouse Dell Optical (not wireless) USB (2 buttons scroll) Black
UK/Irish Keyboard Dell Entry Quietkey USB (QWERTY) Black
English Windows Vista Ultimate
English Microsoft Works 8.0 (Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Outlook Express, Powerpoint Viewer) (With Recovery CD)
Dell Support 3.4 (Vista & XP)
English Adobe Reader 7.0.8 (No Recovery CD)
UK Internet Service Provider - Tiscali (w/CD) & Orange (w/Doc)
English McAfee 8.0 Security Centre 30 Day Trial Version (No Recovery CD)
No Warranty Upgrade
Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support - Next Business Day
To access Online Training or free trial, please go to www.learndell.com/euro to register
Vostro Desktop Order - UK

Price came to £639 ($1,289).

What do you think?

 

[Kins123]

Yeah, it was direct from Dell. It's through the small business section. Vostro is the name of the model. They tried to sell me the OptiPlex but to get the same spec would of been much more.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

Oooh sounds sweeeet!

 

[Inwood]

hmmm....if it's for work, I suppose we can overlook this infraction. Just don't get used to it mister!

 

[provenlogic]

Looks good to me, dell's are the best .

 

[trawler69]

I shall be interested to hear your impressions on Vista coming from a mac man. At least they should be objective.

 

[Kins123]

Hehe, I'll certainly be letting you all know how I get on. I'll probably be using PC Decrapifier to get rid of all the crapware.

http://www.yorkspace.com/pc-de-crapifier/

hmmm....if it's for work, I suppose we can overlook this infraction. Just don't get used to it mister!

It won't happen again I promise. It's for work and research purposes only I swear!

 

[Kins123]

Hey all,

Been just over a week now and thought I would post back to let you all know how I am getting along...

First of all, Dell. I’m actually very pleased with the service I received. The sales representative was very helpful and gave me a quote for the exact spec I wanted. The delivery time was very good, I ordered it on the Monday and they said I should get it by the 18th but actually got it on the Friday (Same week). As far as I’m aware the computers are custom built so that’s very good.

To the computer - I got it all setup without problems but... there were some compatibility problems or something with the graphics drivers and Media Centre and I got around 6 BSOD’s in less than a day! Although, I admit Vista was very nice and told me it was the Graphics card that was causing the problem and said there was no fix (Although a quick search on the Nvidia website turned up a few possible fixes and one of them seemed to fix the problem).

Vista is, err, pretty that’s for sure. And it is enjoyable to use (did I say that? )

I think one of the reasons I love OSX so much is the attention to detail and the little things that make things easier. Even after using Mac’s for over a year I’m still finding new things. I think Vista is a step in the right direction in this category. It’s got a lot of things that make it nice to use. Thinking about XP. It’s just so...dull. I certainly don't enjoy using it.

I’ve bought a few extra peripheral’s such as some Logitech THX speakers and a TV Card. I’ve got the PC hooked up to my 32” Samsung LCD to use with Media Centre and it’s pretty cool being able to record TV.

All in all I think Vista is a step in the right direction, it’s not perfect. All the compatibility problems prove this but a lot of the problems should be ironed out over time.

 

[trydegrau]

You could always install linux on it