Dell PC - comments on spec please.

[netn00b]

a friend looking to get a new/another pc for the family.

looking at a dell and had a quote for one....

Inspiron 530 E2180 Pentium Dual Core Processor 2.00GHz 800Mhz FSB, 1MB cache
English - 530 System Docs (UK power cord) & English Adobe
Inspiron 530 Resource DVD (Diagnostics & Drivers)
Memory Dual Channel 2GB (2x1024MB) 800Mhz DDR2
No Floppy / MCR
Hard Drive 160GB Serial ATA non Raid (7200 Rpm)
DVD+/-RW (ReadWrite) 16X
ROXIO Software for Vista - Creator / MYDVD 10.1
Display : Not Included
Video Card 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
Audio Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital capability
Speakers Not Included
Modem Not Included
Mouse Not Included
Keyboard Not Included
English Windows Vista Home Premium
English Microsoft Works 9.0 (Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Outlook Express, Powerpoint Viewer) (With Recovery CD)
Dell Support Center 2.0
English Adobe Reader 8.1 (No Recovery CD)


to my knowledge it will be used for gaming by the teenage son, including online stuff I believe.  also for e-mail and surfing generally.

what's the opinion on this as a machine for them to buy.......i must say its cheap....under £300 before VAT and Carriage.

Hard drive seems ok for what they are likely to do although not massive by today's standard ?  same witg the graphics card ?  No idea though if that processor is a reasonable one or if its somewhat out of date now ?

thanks.

[Rik]

It sounds like it's up to the job, but if I were buying, I'd have a second HD in there and probably a higher spec CPU.

OTOH, take a look at this thread. That price is pretty amazing.

[Sebby]

To me, it looks like a fine spec. 3GB RAM is better for Vista, but 2GB is fine (it's 1GB that should be avoided). If they still do XP as an option, that might be something else to consider.

[Glenn]

I would say the spec is fine depending on what games your son wants to play, if they are current games then it may well struggle to run them as the graphics card may well be underpowered

[Dangerjunkie]

I would say that is fine for day to day stuff but Vista is a hog and with that CPU, graphics card and memory I think it may struggle if he likes heavy 3D games. The Inspiron range are home machines rather than gamers' boxes. The XPS range are aimed at gamers.

Have you checked out the Vostro range in the small business section? You can still get XP on those.

Cheers,
Paul.

[netn00b]

thanks all.

i dont know why they are looking at dell or this particular machine. i will see the father tomorrow for a chat.

is the 2600 XT a decent card ? or an older model now overtaken by a new range of cards at a similar price ?  i was thinking 256mb was not quite enough these days.

i know the son plays the Warcraft game online with some of his school friends.

thanks Paul - i had not realised the differences between the inspiron and xps ranges.  and i do not know if they want Vista - might the children be using Vista at school these days i assume ?

[Sebby]

I would describe it as an adequate card for everyday use, but it won't be a very high performer for new games.

[Dangerjunkie]

Hi,

i know the son plays the Warcraft game online with some of his school friends.

thanks Paul - i had not realised the differences between the inspiron and xps ranges.  and i do not know if they want Vista - might the children be using Vista at school these days i assume ?

I've not played World of Warcraft (WoW) so I don't know how heavy it is on the machine. I'm sure that someone here will be able to offer an informed comment though. It's also worth remembering you should leave some performance in reserve as the machine will have to meet the users' performance requirements for a couple of years and those almost never go down.

My main experience is with SecondLife. That is very heavy on the graphics card and I think the performance with the Inspiron probably wouldn't be any better than adequate with the current version. Each new version seems to place higher demands on the machine and I think in a couple of years it will struggle.

I think schools are generally well behind the curve due to funding and getting stuff done with whoever authorises purchasing. I know someone in a school and can ask if you liek but I would be surprised if there was mass-Vista adoption in schools yet.

Cheers,
Paul.

[netn00b]

indeed i was of the opinion Vista was not a particularly good choice for gaming atm from what i read in magazines.

[Lance]

Certainly on a lower spec machine, such as this one, I would probably prefer XP over Vista. On a mid-high spec pc, I don't think there is much difference between the two, only a few fps.