My New Computer
July 13, 2007 at 10:53 pm under personalIt’s been about a two weeks or so since I got my new computer. And contrary to the advice I got to build it myself, I just went bought it straight out from Dell. I’ve never had a problem with Dell and their machines had the better deal out of the other PC companies. I say I paid roughly about $2000 for this machine, which was about what I expected to pay.
To the Dell-bashers, Dell doesn’t suck just because you have a bad experience with them. But of course, I will say that Dell is not perfect and will make mistakes but I’ve yet to have a problem with their computers. I hear that their customer service is crap but I don’t intent to even bother calling them.
Specs
- Dell Dimension E520
- Intel 6420 Dual Core processor
- 24inch Widescreen flat panel LCD monitor (Dell 2407WFP Digital)
- 2GB of RAM (DDR2 SDRAM @ 667MHz)
- 256MB nVidia GeForce 7300 LE video card
- 250GB SATA II Hard Drive
- Creative X-Fi PCI Sound Card
- 16X DVD-ROM and 16X DVD+/-RW (DVD and DVD burner)
- Dell WL6000 6.1 Stereo Speakers with Subwoofer
- ATI Theater 650 Pro Combo Analog-Digital TV tuner card w/ remote
- a basic USB keyboard and mouse (I really didn’t need anything special)
- Windows Vista Ultimate (Home Premium would have been just as good)
- Netgear WG111v2 54Mbps wireless USB adapter
What I Love About This Computer (The Pros)
The first thing I love about this computer is the huge 24inch Widescreen monitor. I got more desktop space than I know what to do with. Well, I do know what to do with all the space – run a ton of programs at once and see them all. I love that I can have Firefox, the tv program, bittorrent client, Pidgin, and Windows Vista’s sidebar all up on the monitor. And all those programs up where I can see them at the same time. This monitor is also go when I go to do web and graphic design. It allows me to have multiple Adobe programs at once.
The second thing I love is how this computer can handle a lot of programs at once. This is mostly due to the dual core processor and the 2gigs of RAM. I mine opinion, this being my first dual core processor, is that dual core processors is where it’s at. Essentially, dual core processors are the same as having a two processor machine. And this is great for how people are using their computers nowadays to run multiple programs at once. Really great for multimedia machines like I’m using mine for. All this also allow me the ability to watch those high definition anime fansubs, whcih my previous computer was not able to do.
Last thing that I like is the remote that makes watching TV really easy. It’s just like watching a normal TV. It has a button on it that loads the Windows Media Center program and you can choose to watch TV, watch a DVD, look at pictures and listen to music all from the remote.
What I Don’t Like (The Cons)
I really don’t see too many bads things with this computer. One thing that I don’t care for is the stands for the front left and right speakers are little weak. The left one actually came broke but the speakers still work fine just the stand is crap. Another thing is that the wireless rear speakers loose their connection with the rest of the speakers but that usually happens when I don’t have the rear speakers at a certain volume. It’s weird. I don’t use the surround sound stuff much. It’s really just for gaming and watching DVDs, something I only do occasionally.
That’s probably about it for the cons about this machine. Mostly of the other things that I could say are not really cons. They are more like things that I’ve gotten used to like this monitor is really bright but my laptop’s monitor was really dark and made my eyes hurt after extensive usage.
Comments
Now, I don’t usually give my computer stuff names unlike Xebek. Well, a few pieces of computer stuff I have named: my external drive (EMD – not really a name but stands for External Memory Device), wifi network (Tachikoma), and my old laptop (Musashi). I think that I would like to name this computer but I’ve got no ideas on what to call it. Anyone got any suggestions?
Another thing I want to talk about is Windows Vista. So far from my experience I really like Vista. It’s a bit different than the previous Windows but I really don’t see the drastic difference that so many people are talking about. The most annoying thing is the User Account Control popup that comes up everytime you want to do something (install a program, run certain programs, etc.) but this can be easily turned off under the User Accounts settings (Control Panel > User Accounts). That is probably the one thing that most people hate about Windows Vista. Next is that I really don’t like the default way the start menu is setup but it can be changed back to the classic Windows start menu. Lastly, Windows Vista has basically renamed certain areas of the operating system, which can take some getting used to but it’s not too bad.
Sorry for another non-anime post and sorry also that this post is rather long. I’m really struggling to start up writing with this blog again. Not like I’ve really had a regular posting schedule to begin with.
July 13th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Seemed to me your computer has virtually dwarfed my specifications (read: AD40D1R2) in most areas.
Is it just me, or the lower the NVidia GeForce Series model number, the more inferior it is compared to the models in the higher digits (e.g. 6800 > 6500 series)?
July 14th, 2007 at 2:17 am
I’d say the monitor and the speakers are very nice, but your video card is pretty bad unless you don’t play games.
My recommendation for you is when you choose video cards, avoid the lower series numbers. The ones under the x500 line are basically cards from the last generation with maybe a bit more Ram and new drivers. Its safe to go with the x600 series with nVidia (6600GT or 7600GT are relatively cheap and good for the dollar).
I feel as if you may have paid too much for this PC. (Sorry in case I may offend you) but when buying online like this, you could’ve saved at least $400 if you got Vista Home Premium (OEM Ver) and a different Monitor brand. But hey, thats just my opinion.
July 14th, 2007 at 2:37 am
@Warukyure: I do admit that getting Windows Vista Ultimate was not really the best idea. I realized that part after the fact that Vista Home Premium would have been fine. It would have saved a couple hundred dollars. Oh well.
And about the monitor, I’m quite happy with this monitor. It’s big, widescreen, and it can do 1920×1200 resolution. I got it that size mostly for graphic design.
Also I plan to little gaming on this machine. The computer’s main job for me is multimedia not gaming.
July 14th, 2007 at 4:55 am
That Dell monitor is one of the best of the limited choices between 24 inch monitors. :) Not saving money there is the right thing to do.
In terms of your graphics card: If you were using XP, I would say just use any old graphics card if you are not playing games. However, Vista uses the hardware acceleration of your graphics card to draw on the screen (in effect, every window is a texture on a polygon). If you ever feel photoshop is slow scrolling a big image, and you don’t see a lot of hard disk activities, then change your graphics to something better. Doesn’t have to be expensive…I think nvidia 7×00 would do.
Have fun with your machine!
July 14th, 2007 at 5:07 am
256MB nVidia GeForce 7300LE TurboCache video card …
That sucks =__=
July 14th, 2007 at 6:30 am
You got a nice setup there, except for the video card. If it really said turbo cache, then it probably eats up some of your memory. But you have 2GB so you probably won’t have a problem most of the time.
And about naming your computer, just think of your favorite character–could be anime-related, or from a book, or a movie. I named my PC Cyclops–because I was really into X-Men before. =)
July 14th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Dell still makes great monitors and usually offers them for less money than other monitors of similar quality. Always a good choice on that.
A lot of Windows problems seem to be way overblown to me. I can’t remember when or if XP has crashed on me. I’ve had other programs hang up from time to time, but not the OS.
July 14th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
She / he / its now a family member so the name takes as much thought as a baby name would. Give it awhile and a name that just captures the process or experience (oops! that’s for Macs!) will happen.
July 15th, 2007 at 5:20 am
I suggest Konata.
July 19th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
You didn’t get a computer – you got a monster! LOL
Anyway, congrats on the new machine…I hope it doesn’t eat you at night! ^_^
September 20th, 2007 at 4:42 am
If u use Vista Premium, u can disable the annoying UAC by going to control panel > administrative tools. You should be able to find something there to disable that. This cannot be done in Vista Home.
My experience with Dell is somewhat mixed. Their customer service hotline sucks big time, especially for coporate users, but their 3-rd party technicians does the job pretty fast and well.
Still I wont discount the fact that their pricing is cheap among those big companies out there.