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Impulse PC Buy

Started by derspiess, November 27, 2009, 09:32:13 PM

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derspiess

November 27, 2009, 09:32:13 PM
Never bought a Dell PC for myself before, but I had been looking at one of these as a possible replacement for my gigantic (by comparison), loud, energy-inefficient home theater PC. 


http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=DDDOUB1

They put the base model on sale for $199 today w/ free shipping.  With the 20% Bing cashback, it effectively becomes $160 before tax.  I kicked in the extra $30 for the dual-core processor but I left everything else as is.  I can upgrade the OS & memory on my own.  I may also put a blu-ray drive in it.

Hopefully it handles 720p content okay.  If not, it should do fine as a Home Server.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Josquius

#1
November 28, 2009, 07:14:58 PM
Dell is a bit...eww....But it is nice and small...I miss a variety in PC cases.
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derspiess

#2
November 29, 2009, 12:24:26 AM
Quote from: Tyr on November 28, 2009, 07:14:58 PM
Dell is a bit...eww....But it is nice and small...I miss a variety in PC cases.

Never used their consumer-grade stuff, but their business machines I've used have all been solid, including the laptop I'm using right now. 

This thing is about as low-end as you can get (it's basically a poor man's Mac Mini), but as long as it can do basic PC stuff and handle media okay, I'll be happy.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Caliga

#3
November 29, 2009, 05:27:22 AM
My company is all HP in terms of laptops and they seem to be pretty good.  I have a work HP mini sitting on my desk right now.
0 Ed Anger Disapproval Points

Ed Anger

#4
November 29, 2009, 10:15:20 AM
I noticed Dell absorbed Perot systems.
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

garbon

#5
November 29, 2009, 09:33:15 PM
I might buy one of these. I like the idea of a cheap mac mini...plus when I last looked at the mac mini (today), it looked as though I had to buy a separate cable for vga...
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Barrister

#6
November 29, 2009, 10:29:01 PM
I am occasionally intrigued by the idea of buying a Mac mini.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

garbon

#7
November 30, 2009, 03:29:07 PM
Quote from: Barrister on November 29, 2009, 10:29:01 PM
I am occasionally intrigued by the idea of buying a Mac mini.


Yeah, I mean totally unnecessary but that's the point of having cash, no?
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

citizen k

#8
December 01, 2009, 04:42:56 AM
Quote from: garbon on November 29, 2009, 09:33:15 PM
I might buy one of these. I like the idea of a cheap mac mini...plus when I last looked at the mac mini (today), it looked as though I had to buy a separate cable for vga...

This:


I've had a mac mini since 2005. It's been a delight. Use VGA monitor with it.

Josquius

#9
December 01, 2009, 08:37:00 AM
How do you plan on getting stuff onto the media pc though I wonder?
Surely you will normally be using another computer and thus when you download things it is with that other computer.
Do you have a central server at home? (blimey if so)
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derspiess

#10
December 01, 2009, 12:12:52 PM Last Edit: December 01, 2009, 12:38:08 PM by derspiess
Quote from: Tyr on December 01, 2009, 08:37:00 AM
How do you plan on getting stuff onto the media pc though I wonder?

Every which way :P  As with my current home theater PC, some stuff I will download directly to it, some stuff I will stream from the internet, and some stuff I will stream/copy from my 'main' computer.

QuoteSurely you will normally be using another computer and thus when you download things it is with that other computer.

Does it matter? :unsure:

Quote
Do you have a central server at home? (blimey if so)

Not yet, but that may soon change.  My main desktop PC in the office is pulling double-duty as my primary PC and a server.  It's getting old, though, and I'm going to need to offload some of those functions.

As it stands, my main PC is a Tivo Desktop server (moves content to & from both of my Tivos) and also serves media through Zune, WMP, and PlayOn interfaces.  I also use my Xbox 360 as a Media Center Extender, streaming from that PC.  I did at least uninstall Orb :D
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

garbon

#11
December 01, 2009, 01:05:46 PM
Why is Jos acting like home networking is something new? :unsure:
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

garbon

#12
December 01, 2009, 01:06:11 PM
Quote from: citizen k on December 01, 2009, 04:42:56 AM
I've had a mac mini since 2005. It's been a delight. Use VGA monitor with it.


Which is aggravating. More expensive and I have to buy extra parts? No, thanks.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

derspiess

#13
December 01, 2009, 06:13:37 PM
Quote from: garbon on December 01, 2009, 01:05:46 PM
Why is Jos acting like home networking is something new? :unsure:

Speaking of which, I never thought I'd hit this point, but I'm actually hitting some bottlenecks from time to time with my wired ethernet home network.  Once I get this thing up & running, I might upgrade my router & switches to gigabit, since my PCs and actual wiring support it.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Ed Anger

#14
December 03, 2009, 04:27:45 PM
I was at staples today, and saw a Athlon dual core laptop for 399 bucks. Decided to pick it up:

http://www.staples.com/Compaq-Presario-CQ61-313us-Laptop/product_828743_HC2?cmArea=SEARCH

Nice machine, but I had to make the backup recovery disks myself. Cheap fucks.
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive
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