Or list the shit you'd scratch.............

I like the idea of getting a disposable computer and storing all data on flash drives.. I'm going to have to get a bunch of those to store pictures.

All shit breaks, and PC's and Macs are made of the same shit.

Dell's biggest selling point is (or was) the warranty. Now you get to talk to some guy in Bangalore if you want to get something under warranty, so that's worth somewhat less in my mind. But they will send you new shit as soon as you get through the game of 100 questions.

If you use a PC now, and are a creature of habit, Apple is a bit of a switch. Windows 7 will be a learning curve too, but none of this shit is difficult. I personally hate trying to use a Mac, but then I don't write poetry, wear a beret, or sip latte out of a tiny little cup, so take that into consideration. They are very cute.

There's nothing a guy is doing at home that warrants over 800 in his system with the technology available today.

I'll seperate the monitor on an entire system and get what I want, so it can move to the next desktop down the line.

24" acer is what I'm gunning right now.

When you buy the monitor in the package, most times you're sacrificing either the speed of the system, or the quality of the monitor to get the price, sometimes both.

Divide and conquer

That last Dell laptop I had was a POS. Screen kept going dim and although it was under warranty, it was a pain the in ass to keep mailing off to get the work done.

I have a $700 HP laptop now with Windows 7 that is light years ahead of my last $1500 dell.

Do get a giant widescreen LCD monitor, whatever way you go.

And I agree... you ought to be able to keep the whole thing way under a grand.

You'll like the built in card-reader stuff.

Other than that, I see no problems with either system you spec'd out.

I trust Dell over most any other PC mfg, haven't played with HP in years, but I still wouldn't buy a compaq on a dare.

Here's a quick one I did on Dell's site...

I'll send you the extra $20 for the Pink paint...

SYSTEM COLOR Promise Pink edit
PROCESSOR AMD Athlon™ II X2 240 (2.8GHz, 2MB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium,64bit + Belkin Easy Transfer Cable edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1 Year Basic Service Plan edit
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs edit
MONITOR 23.0" Dell ST2310 Full HD Monitor with VGA cable edit
HARD DRIVE 1TB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ edit
VIDEO CARD Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200 Graphics edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive edit
SPEAKERS Bose Companion 2 Series II Multimedia Speaker System edit
KEYBOARD & MOUSE Dell Consumer Entry USB Keyboard and Mouse edit
MODEM No Modem Option edit
OPTIONAL PORTS 1394a High Speed AV Port edit
SOUND Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio edit
My Accessories
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9 edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months edit
ADOBE & ENTERTAINMENT Wild Tangent Games edit
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
MEDIA READER No Floppy Drive or Media Card Reader Included
Inspiron 546 MT Inspiron 546 Minitower,No Bezel
Mouse Mouse included with Keyboard purchase
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Adobe Software Adobe® Reader 9.0

Starting Price $1,147
Total Savings $281
Subtotal $866

Parker Dude just set me up with this for work/personal use, he's tech geek savvy and just trusted him...I plugged it in last week for the first time and have not looked back, windows 7, upgraded hard drive and a few other things, finally replace my 12 year old monitor with the flat screen, still fingering out some of the programs but for the most part it scores high on simplicity.

Bottom line: It works, it works well.


> Item Description:
> ----------------------------------------------------
> OptiPlex 960 MiniTower - OptiPlex 960 Minitower Base Standard PSU, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, with Media, 32-bit, English
> Unit Price: $1,488.00
> Quantity: 1
> Total Price: $1,488.00
>
> -- OPTIPLEX 960 MT --
> -- OptiPlex 960 Minitower Base Standard PSU
> -- [224-2253]
> -----------------------
> -- Processors --
> -- Intel® Core蒂 2 Duo E8600 with VT (3.33GHz, 6M, 1333MHz FSB)
> -- [311-9531]
> -----------------------
> -- Memory --
> -- 4GB DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM,800MHz, (2 DIMM)
> -- [311-7444]
> -----------------------
> -- Keyboard --
> -- Dell Quietkey, No Hot Keys, English, Black
> -- [330-1989]
> -----------------------
> -- Monitors --
> -- Dell Professional P2210 22in HAS Wide Monitor, VGA/ DVI/ DP
> -- [320-8099]
> -----------------------
> -- Video Cards --
> -- DVI (Digital) Adapter Card Full Height
> -- [320-5111]
> -----------------------
> -- Boot Hard Drives --
> -- 250GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s and 8MB DataBurst Cache蒂
> -- [341-5474]
> -----------------------
> -- Floppy Drive Options --
> -- Dell 19 in 1 Media Card Reader
> -- [341-8107]
> -----------------------
> -- Operating System --
> -- Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, with Media, 32-bit, English
> -- [330-6228]
> -- [421-1467]
> -----------------------
> -- Mouse --
> -- Dell® USB 6-Button Laser Mouse
> -- [330-1170]
> -----------------------
> -- Systems Management Mode --
> -- vPro Secure Advanced Hardware Enabled Systems Management
> -- [330-2626]
> -----------------------
> -- CD ROM/DVD ROM --
> -- 16X DVD+/-RW SATA, Roxio Creator蒂 CyberlinkPowerDVD蒂
> -- [313-7063]
> -- [421-0536]
> -- [421-1189]
> -----------------------
> -- QuietKit --
> -- No Quiet Kit
> -- [467-7659]
> -----------------------
> -- Speakers --
> -- Dell AX510PA Sound Bar for all Entry Flat Panel Displays (Black)
> -- [313-6742]
> -----------------------
> -- Power Supplies --
> -- OptiPlex 960 Minitower Standard Power Supply
> -- [330-2010]
> -- [330-7422]
> -- [420-9701]
> -----------------------
> -- Documentation --
> -- Documentation, English, with 125V Power Cord
> -- [330-1710]
> -- [330-1711]
> -----------------------
> -- Hard Drive Mode --
> -- No RAID
> -- [341-8036]
> -----------------------
> -- Energy Efficiency Options --
> -- No Dell Energy Smart Power Management Settings
> -- [467-3564]
> -----------------------
> -- Resource DVD --
> -- Resource DVD - contains Diagnostics and Drivers for Vista systems
> -- [330-3686]
> -----------------------
> -- Hardware Support Services --
> -- 3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service
> -- [991-1872]
> -- [991-4330]
> -- [992-5907]
> -- [992-5908]
> -----------------------
> -- Installation Services --
> -- No Onsite System Setup
> -- [900-9987]
> -----------------------
> -- Security Hardware --
> -- Chassis Intrusion Switch Option
> -- [330-2234]
> -----------------------
> -- Ship Packaging Options --
> -- Shipping Material for System, Minitower
> -- [330-2029]
> -----------------------
> -- Thermal Solutions --
> -- Mainstream Pentium® Dual Core
> -- [311-9543]
> -----------------------
> -- Windows 7 Upgrade Program Info --
> -- Windows 7 Upgrade Web Site
> -- [468-3168]
> -----------------------
> -- Processor Branding --
> -- vPro Sticker
> -- [310-9490]
> -----------------------
> -- Labels --
> -- Windows 7 Sticker
> -- [330-6734]
> -----------------------
>
>
> -- Save $165 on Select Optiplex 960 through Dell Small Business
> - $165.00
>
> -- Save $165 on Select Optiplex 960 through Dell Small Business
> - $165.00
> Subtotal: $1,323.00
> Shipping and Handling: $35.00
> Shipping Discount: -$35.00
> Sales Tax: $125.71
> Total Amount: $1,448.71

OK - went back and looked at the specs on the three systems. The Dells are what they are - menu driven on the specs and the defaults are pretty damn good if you don't choose whipped cream or a cherry on top.

That being said, cwh is correct on the card reader in the HP system. I did not see one on the Dell list, but in fairness, my eyes started crossing as I was reading it.

With the card reader, you can take the chip out of your camera, insert into reader and voila - you are editing.

Answer to earlier question is more of a No on getting Dell to screw together a stripped unit. They have too much invested in their name-brand shit not to install it.

Been swapping PM's all day.

That being said,I just got a phonecall that's swayin' me Mac............