Troy's human - re Dell

I have been to Dell's site.
Thought I knew just what I wanted. :((

The Dimension 9150 - the basic one.
I do not do games - download music or watch TV on here, but I did want (and
obviously needed) to upgrade the memory at least.
I wanted still have a CD-RW Drive and
I wanted to have a decent size monitor since this old one is 17"
Special offers were additional Memory to 2048MB with 19" Flat Panel Monitor
and the
Service was one year collect and return

Steve...

This spec meets your requirements:

Dimension 9150 (D03915)
Intel® Pentium® 4 630 (3.0GHz, 800FSB, 2MB Cache), Genuine Windows® XP
Home Edition, SP2

Base Intel® Pentium® 4 630 (3.0GHz, 800FSB, 2MB Cache)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2
Memory 2048MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz (2x1024) Memory
Keyboard Dell Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Ire (QWERTY)
Monitor Dell E196FP 19" Midnight Grey (TCO99) Flat Panel Monitor
Video Card 128MB ATI Radeon® X300 SE HyperMemory graphics card
Hard Drive 160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
Floppy Drives Internal 13-in-1 Media Card Reader & 1.44MB Floppy Drive
Mouse Dell USB 2 Button Wheel Mouse
Modem Dell v92 Data/Fax modem
CD/DVD Drives 16x DVD-ROM & 48x/32x/48x CD-RW
Sound Cards Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audi
Speakers Dell A215 speakers
Shipping Documents Documentation with UK Power Cord
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Works 7.0 - English
Standard Warranty 1-Year Collect and Return service
Cover It with Dell Support Services 1-Year Collect and Return service
Order Information Dimension Order - UK
Money Off Savings Save Ł200 inc VAT
Dell System Media Kit Resource CD - contains Diagnostics and Drivers
Dell Media Experience Dell Media Experience 3.1 Basic
Adobe Reader Adobe Reader 6.0 - English
Operating System Backup & Recovery Genuine Windows® XP Home SP2 with
backup media CD

TOTAL Incl. VAT:Ł574.26

Total excl. VAT VAT Rate Total incl. VAT

Sub-total Ł488.73 17.50 % Ł574.26
Delivery Charge Ł 51.06 17.50 % Ł60.00
Total Price Ł539.79 17.50 % Ł634.25

Still worth giving them a call maybe you can push fro Free Delivery

donut...

Thanks Steve - kind of you to reply & print the info.
donut

The Customise and Buy button gave me so many options - and some of their
"Dell recommends" left me wondering if I should take them or not.

Did you order yours by phone - or did you
do the customise and buy?

Troy's Human...

I customised and ordered online but if Steve thinks you could get a further
discount perhaps it would be an idea to order by phone. The package Steve
lists looks good value to me although I can't speak for monitors ATM :-)

One of the things I upgraded to was a Logitech cordless keyboard and mouse.
No regrets :-) wonderful bit of kit - you can do all sorts with it :-)

Steve...

Good choice on Logitech I have the MX1000 and a p/t cordless keyboard,
but I am the now retired European OEM Sales Director for them so I'm not
biased in any way.

donut...

No I bet you aren't!!
Got one going spare then? LOL

Steve...

I meet up with a few of the R&D engineers once a year and they tend to
give me prototypes/QA builds of new products so my kit tends to
unbranded and garishly coloured (my MX1000 is pink) to identify them as
p/ts.

Seriously Steve - many thanks for your help.
I am going to print off your post and go onto Dell site again and compare -
whenever I look they seem to have altered some spec. and price. This offer
is *supposed* to end on 29th.

Rabbit...

I don't suppose you want me to ask you why Logitech dropped what IMHO was
their best wireless keyboard and mouse about a year ago ?

Steve...

I would love you to, but I retired a few years back when Logitech closed
the Cork factory and moved most of the production out to China. I must
admit though the quality of the product is still as high as it was in my
days their, it was always our highest priority next to customer care, it
did make our products slightly more expensive but proved worth it in the
long run.

Rabbit...

I had dealing with CS and I must admit they were excellent. Trouble was when
my keyboard malfunctioned the same model was discontinued and I didn't like
the new model which it replaced.I wish I could remember the model number now
but the mouse plugged into the USB port ( or it could have been the
keyboard) and you could use it as an ordinary mouse or just pull the cable
out and use it cordless. There was no cradle, that's what I liked.

Hope everything goes OK and you are happy with whatever you decide on.

donut...

Thanks - are you still not happy with the monitor then?

Troy's Human...

It was just *much* too bright - I'm sure they can't all be like that. I've
returned it to Dell and they've refunded the cost - they were very
understanding. I'm now using my old 17" CRT and don't know what to do. I'd
like to get the monitor Steve has but although I think it would be fine, I
just can't be sure.

Will consider the cordless keyboard!
As a matter of interest (and you need not give the info.) which model did
you go for?

Troy's Human...

It's also the 9150 but, as you say, Dell change things *so* often. Ordered
mine in early January so the spec is different than it is today. Also I
upgraded quite a few things. Basically it's :

Pentium 4 3.4GHz (upgrade)
1024Mb ram
19" Ultra Sharp monitor (upgrade from standard 19")
250Gb HDD (upgrade from 160Gb)
DVD+/-RW & DVD Drives

donut...

Whoops TH - one of the upgrades I was considering was the 19" Ultra Sharp
monitor.
Don't know which monitor Steve has.

Steve...

Mines the 1907FP here:

donut...

Yep - that's the one I thought I would go for - and it seems it was the one
TH found to be too bright.

Steve...

I think Troy's Human had the 1905FP, but I would double check that.

donut...

Doen't look like that's an option now.
I take it *you* have a Dell PC then.

Steve...

Have the 9150 with the D950 CPU, 3Gig RAM and 2 x 500GB HD, I do a fair
amount of Video editing

Troy's Human...

No. Mine, as Steve says, was the 1905FP.

For displaying images it was just fantastic but for text stuff on a light
background it was impossible. My eyes were getting in a terrible state -
eye drops etc. it was like a searchlight. I think there was a problem with
*some* of them - I found some other people in forums who had exactly the
same problem as me - and others who had no problem. I still say that I
don't think anyone could have used my 1905FP without getting eye problems.

If you go for the 1907FP I really don't think you'll have a problem - Steve
certainly doesn't have the problem I had.

Steve - if you're reading this - what video card do you have ?

Steve...

Currently running the GeForce 7800GT, but was using an ATI X1800,
machine shipped with a ATI X600, which to be honest performs just as
well as the 7800 and the 1800.

donut...

TH sorry your monitor was such a problem.
Looks as though I have until next Wed. to make up my mind about this - I
have looked at Mesh and Evesham but Dell 9150 spec seems to be better for
what I want, and if I go for it I think I shall get the same monitor as
Steve.

Troy's Human...

Don't rush - Dell *always* keep changing their offers. Just keep checking
and make sure you buy when it's cheap.

e.g. A certain Dell monitor was Ł330 a couple of weeks ago. Checked last
week and it was reduced to Ł280. Checked again a couple of days ago - back
up to Ł330 :-(

You mention MESH. I've had experience of MESH and would strongly advise you
not to buy MESH !! Some years ago they ignored my problem with a faulty
*new* MESH PC and I was forced to pay for it's repair. Seems that people
are still having similar problems with MESH. Try a web search.

OTOH Dell were *very* helpful with my monitor problem. I really couldn't
have wished for better after sales service.

donut...

Thanks TH I agree with you about Dell & pricing -I have been watching too.
I think they are my first choice though.

PS - I *hate* MESH !!!! :-(

Thanks for being so helpful.
donut

donut

Still well pleased with it :-)

MCC...

TH, you may have missed my post last night about Aldi doing computers and
monitors from next Thursday.

Troy's Human...

Thanks Mike but it looks as if it's a 17". I'm after a 19". Also I was
treating myself to a *very* high quality one when I got the Dell "Ultra
Sharp" - I won't tell you what it cost :-) I'd like a similar quality one
when I do get another so I've got to sort out the brightness problem first.

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