Been looking at Dells as they seem to have some good deals....plus I know the support is good and we use them at work too

Been looking at this one in particular....not sure on the media center edition 05 o/s but could prove handy

What are your opinions? The pc will be more than capable for what it needs to be able to do..... Personally I work in I.T and i'd build my own custom machine but as it's the old dear she's "heard" about Dells and that what she wants....i personally dont have a problem with them and it's her dollar

Looking at the middle one (£499)

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...hs1&l=en&s=dhs

 

Was about to comment on it only having 512MB of memory in it, but then noticed the special offer (runs out 4/1/2006) of 1MB upgrade for free......also, if it was going to be a serious gaming-machine (which, I'm assuming, since it's going to be for your Mum, it's not going to be), I would have mentioned that integrated graphics isn't a good idea - should be OK, though, if it's not going to be used for serious gaming.

 

Thanks Dan. Yes, free 512MB ram so it's got a gig of ram. Intergrated graphics wont be a problem as it's really going to be an office pc / internet machine really so should be no problem. Just the media center o/s i'm not too sure on.

 

Lots of info here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/m.../overview.mspx

Looks like normal XP, but with lots of extra "multimedia" features...

 

Cheers Dan.

I purchased one of these Dell's last night. Should arrive next week. I've not yet seen the media center o/s so will be good to see what it's like, as I may get more out of it myself! lol

 

This is the only part that lets it down

Graphic Card


Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator 900

 

Dan,

true....but it's not a machine spec'd to do anything more than office work and browse the web so a decent graphics card is not an issue here I'm going to be looking for a new machine for myself at some point, want to go 64bit? and have a good spec as my current machine will then be used purely for my music bits and bobs and will be permanently hooked up to my decks for streaming and editing

 

I've got a planned spec for my next machine......price currently totals up to £1,700, so I'm a bit reluctant to buy the parts yet!