Dell...

[Raican Katarin]

I guess this is kinda a warning but most people on here i wreckon will be technicly minded enough to avoid the mistakes i made but anyway.

We all have heard of Dell...the company of cheap but quality computers. SO I THOUGHT. I was over the moon when i got my Dimension 3100 for under 300quid. My intentions were online gaming. However i soon found out that these cheap miracle machines can only use PCI graphics cards. The most powerful PCI being 256mb really limits what you can play. Also a ram upgrade was neccesary from 256 to 1.2gig. The real problem is that you cant expand anymore than this. No changing motherboards, no bigger graphics cards that it...zilch, zero.

So im just warning be careful if your looking into a new pc and have dell in mind. If its one of there super cheap offers check and double check the specks of the pc you like the look of and make sure it can use either PCI-E or AGP gaphics cards! I think these machines come under there 'mid range' not 'entry level'.

I only wish i had researched more at the time :(

[Buuhan1]

I have a dell. Its a deminsion 2300 and I got it in 2003 when my old computer which my Uncle built me was lost in a transformer blowage outside. I got it via rent to own and it was $700 all togeather. And its crap.

It came with 16gb's and 256 ram, it uses a driver for graphics, no cards other than for internet connection. Last year I had to spend my entire christmas it buying it ram which boosted it to 512. Last week a took the 30gb hard drive that was from my old computer out of a box in my room and put it into my Dell sacrificing ever being able to use my CD rom drive at the same time with it cause of cords.

Even tho I call my computer shit I gotta admit, it does anything I ever tried.

[Chrono Detector]

Buy a custom made PC. Even better, and cheaper. I just don't like buying computers from a well known manufacturer, like HP, Dell, IBM, etc. Not to mention its expensive, and it may be incompatible with other hardware.

[airswifter]

Make it yourself......with few hundreds bucks, you can create very good computer...it is pretty easy to assemble..

[moppiz]

i made mine for 600€, and it has 512ram, 320gb hard drive. it has worked fine for now atleast. i recommend custom for anyone who wants a new computer

[dragoneyes001]

look up a local bare bones seller get a deal on cpu mb & box + a number of other parts if you like.

they wont be the top of the line but you can get pretty good kits at reasonable prices that have the boards and cpu's you need to expand.

my next comp is going to arrive in single pieces because I'm too stubborn to settle for an average comp and since the board and chip only accept expensive friends yet I have seen many bare-bones kits that are quite versatile.

as was said above kits made by brand dealers will be questionable in how much you can expand and with what. the key to making a good comp: do research on every part of it get to know the limits the parts have before you decide on it that way if you see a kit on sale you'll be able to know if it'll be able to expand or be compatible with some other pieces.

[Neve]

@ raican - I had the same problem - a dimension 3000. The best card I could find for PCI was an ATI Radeon 9250 256mb, which is okay for playing most games, but can't handle the more recent ones, such as Oblivion (something I'm really annoyed about =P).

[db]

I got an Inspiron 5160 from Dell (Laptop). I got it for 50% off and currently still using it. The only flaw on this laptop is teh video card which is a 5200 FX (pukes). I got 1 GB of Ram, 30 GB HD, 3.2 Pentium 4.

[Cassie]

Here's the thing, if you plan on getting a computer for gaming, then it's pretty much stated in the Dell site that you'd need either a dimension 9150 I think or you'd need an XPS. Really, you cant expect to play games like Obilivion or Doom3 etc.. on a comp that costs less than $800-1000. Dell is good for one thing other than cost, and it's durability. My old Dell computer, which is about 4 years old, still runs perfectly without any problems. I've never had to fix anything, make any changes, or even reformat/reinstall windows. Meanwhile, my friend, who got a comp elsewhere, which is only 3 years old, had to replace his hard drive once already, and the hard drive broke again recently.

I recently got a new computer for gaming and stuff, and gave my old Dell to my dad. If used correctly, it should last him another 3-4 years no problem, and it only cost me $800 total for both computer and monitor.

If you're not good with computer hardware, then getting a Dell would be a good option, just make sure you dont make the mistake that the OP made. You usually get what you paid for, if you get something cheap, then there's a good chance that you cant do expensive things with it.

[Z_Blitz]

Well... I've seen my father's laptop for quite sometime (about 2 years now) which is an old model of Dell's latitude. Albeit heavy, it was quite durable and have seen a lot of abuse from my father in the past. It still works till now, he's got an nVidia card on it though. A 64 MB one, but he doesn't really care about that ;).

I just bought an Inspiron 6400 for myself and personally I think its marvelous. Then again, I'm not looking for an online gaming PC so then that would explain why you were disappointed :).

[Raican Katarin]

Thanks for osme of the replies, i wish i had waited a month longer becuase by them id learnt a few things about computers and relized id made a mistake. But i agree with you guys custom made is the was forward for me and even though i love the look of the dell gaming machines (twin graphics cards :O) i could naver afford one lol. I hope no one makes the same mistake i did lol.

[Ashtefere]

I work in a custom extreme pc store (www.cutpricecomputers.com.au), and I gotta agree about the dells. However, they ARE reliable.
Just dont ever buy a brand name pc for gaming. Ever. Not for any excuse. Not even Alienware.
My own pc is an amd 3200+ running at 2.8ghz, 1 gig ram, voltmodded 7900gt, 2x wd1200js in raid0, and a thermaltake bigwater (which is leaking right now) water cooling kit. And it cost me less than a dell 9150.
You just have to look around.
-Ash