Odd. the Mac Pro has very slightly inferior fitout to my Precision 690s (in fact, notably inferior if you consider that I've had SAS drives/controller factory-fitted)
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Dell e521 a mini look at this new AMD machine
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Odd. the Mac Pro has very slightly inferior fitout to my Precision 690s (in fact, notably inferior if you consider that I've had SAS drives/controller factory-fitted)
You mean towers like this?
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=2CB5E8C0&nclm=MacPro
Basically if you read his review he wasn't comparing the two. He was describing for the most part what the Dell was like using a AMD processor. For those that don't know, using a AMD processor is new to Dell, sure they did it a long time ago, but then just went Intel for several years, now they are using both again, which is positive for consumers. Gives you more options. Kind of like Apple now using Intels, more options means better choices for the consumer.
And if you want to discuss the Mac Mini, pc's have the same counter part, the shuttle pc's and boards...small design, etc.
Dell gives you the option of purchasing a remote by itself for the media aspect, and you can get the remote with the TV card for $100. I just ordered a cheapo TV tuner & remote from Newegg for $19.99
Its not hdtv or anything but Im not into all that fancy stuff just wanted to watch TV on my PC while on the net kind of thing and maybe record a show or two once in a blue moon.So other remotes do work with the MCE 2005? I'm looking at the Hauppauge remote. I'll be doing some research. Thanks for the info.Dell gives you the option of purchasing a remote by itself for the media aspect, and you can get the remote with the TV card for $100. I just ordered a cheapo TV tuner & remote from Newegg for $19.99
Be careful in your research some will work with windows media interface others not. The Cheapo unit I ordered is simply a Tv tuner remote that works with its own tv software not the media center part of Windblows as far I can tell.
Awesome tower for the price.
Now pop in a 8800GTX.
BTX sucks though. Cant pop in the dual-slotted video cards due to the way it was designed, and its also a pain to replace the power supply. We have these problems at my work when we upgrade a users Gateway with a X1950 Pro/X1900GT.
Now pop in a 8800GTX.
BTX sucks though.
Cant pop in the dual-slotted video cards due to the way it was designed, and its also a pain to replace the power supply. We have these problems at my work when we upgrade a users Gateway with a X1950 Pro/X1900GT.
Its a low end machine so I wasnt planning on getting a beefy power supply to power a dual card set up but a single 7600 class GPU will do very fine. So far all is well, the $20 tv tuner is giving me TV & PVR functions. Found a 7600GS silent card with Call of duty 2 for $89.00Awesome tower for the price.
Now pop in a 8800GTX.
BTX sucks though.
Not bad for a total of $787.00. I would call this a value leader for sure.Wow amazing how many took offence to some guy trying to see whats out there for the same $$ in PC-Land.
...and to the guy who ummm didnt know that apple also ships towers (how sad is that!), some people actually like the idea of having options (ie adding or changing video cards, sound card..etc). See for most people, flexability and options are a good thing
...and to the guy who ummm didnt know that apple also ships towers (how sad is that!), some people actually like the idea of having options (ie adding or changing video cards, sound card..etc). See for most people, flexability and options are a good thing
Awesome tower for the price.
Now pop in a 8800GTX.
BTX sucks though.
Where do you work?!
LOL you may think the tower trumps all other computers because you have 4 cores in there, unfortunatly the supporting chipsets for the woodcrest have much lower memory performance than a core 2 duo based system so on some things, its possible for a much MUCH cheaper core 2 based system to match it. Check this out. Its the woodcrest vs core 2 duo... its comparing only 2 cores to 2 cores but on some things it gets hurt so bad that I dont even know if having 4 cores can help it.
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_con...CBB358654F82AE405A0F5B1F96C522494927481B26996
Also many new higher end PC's that are running Core 2 Duo's can support the 4 core Kentsfield so upgrading is simple down the road. A Kentsfield on a Intel 975X based board (like one I just built) will definilty be outperforming a dual woodcrest system for a fraction of the cost.
Odd. the Mac Pro has very slightly inferior fitout to my Precision 690s (in fact, notably inferior if you consider that I've had SAS drives/controller factory-fitted)
I had Dell out replacing 4 hard rives because they sold me refurbs as new. Dell is pushing some pretty sorry technology out the door. They have to. Their stock analysts are not writing very favorable things about them. Their stock is under pressure. So, they are doing everything and anything to make sales, sometimes losing money. Dell is poorly run and it is getting worse.
Hmmm I think you probably just had some extreme bad luck. At my last work we had 40+ Dell workstations ranging from PIII 600's to P4 2.0's and none failed for the 2 years I worked there and some were already pretty old. At my current job we have 8 Dells which are P4 2.0's to 3.2Ghz and only thing so far is the DVD burner quit on one but thats understandable since they burnt tons of discs.
We've had a few HP workstations though (D530 series) with motherboard issues and failed USB ports and a couple iMac G5's with failed hard drives and 2 G5 towers with issues...one failed HD and the other PSU.
So far I have to say I'm very impressed with Dell's reliability at least for desktops. Not sure about notebooks though.
They were refurbished by the manufacturer and they actually place a sticker on the drive that says 'refurbished'. These were brand new machines. We discovered this by accident. We were going to swap drives in a new machine because the user had a great deal of data on his old one (screen failed). So, we opened the new laptop and found the refurbished tag on the hard drive. This was one of 12 we bought. Some had already been issued. But, we found a total of 4 that were sold as new but were not.
Since 2002, I have purchased so many Dell's, that luck would be factored out. If Dell did not do somethings right, then we would have dropped them long ago. Prior to buying Dells, we purchased HP. We were with them for about three years. The desktops were Vectras and the laptops Omnibook 6000's.
At first we liked the machines. But, the performance of the Vectra was pretty bad. The reliability was good. The Omnibook had a nice design, good graphics (for then) and performed well-enough. Then they began to just fall apart. I still have about a dozen carcasses to toss. We were cannibalizing them the keep the others going. Of all that expensive HP gear, two Vectras still live and are used as dedicated scanning stations.
When the P4 came out, we started buying Dells. The first group (maybe 8 of them) were 1.4 GB. Every one of them had at least one motherboard replaced within a very short time period. The 1.7 GB were much better and had above average reliability. Since then, we have moved through the entire Precision 300 series line. We also purchased Dell Servers, beginning in 1999. After three backplane failures, we quit.
I spent 15 years in aerospace manufacturing. I can look at most things and tell how they are made, and how well they are made. You can see the tolerance build-up in the Dell products. This is the quickest visual way to guess at a manufacturer's control systems and quality assurance. Dell sells cheap, mass-produced computers. We all know the saying, "You get what you pay for". We also tend to conveniently forget it at times.
Dell is not an engineering company. They are an assembly company. That is where they differ from Apple. I can remember a time when a large percentage of PC's were made locally. The CPU was Intel, AMD or Cyrix. Hard drives were the standard fare, as was memory, motherboards and the rest. So, anyone could be a PC manufacturer. I remember when Dell first began to advertise. They were just another name in a countless list basically offering the same thing. They just marketed it a little better than the rest. But, over the years they began to sacrifice customer service for larger margins and increased market share.
The Dell mentality is still basically rooted in that same mail order business model. Their reliability is based on the components they buy (not unlike most others PC manufacturers). Their customer service has greatly declined. For awhile, they have been able to keep their corporate customers happy (often at the expense of the home buyers). But, even that has been sagging. Right now, Dell is making a big push to 'win the hearts and minds' of major buyers.
Three weeks ago I received a visit from my account rep's manager and his manager. They wanted to discuss issues I have been raising over some rather dreadful performance. They listened to what I had to say (with documentation). Their shoulders drooped more with each new issue. At the end, they offered me financial incentives. If they had been understanding the issues, price was NOT something I mentioned. They missed the boat after flying all the way up here from Texas. These were both smart individuals. My perception is they do understand the issues. They just do not have any solution to offer, other than price.
im from the PC world, so this is big. AMD in a dell, always wondered when they would do this. i love the minis, but with such bad graphics i could never get one. for the money, that dell is an awesome deal. hardware speaking, its a steal. dont get me started on the software tho