ed_accountant Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Hi, I am shopping for a new computer for next tax season. Does anyone have any recommendations or suggested specs on the processor, Ram memmory, hard-drive, 64 bit or 32 bit Windows 7. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tax Prep by Deb Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 I just bought a Dell Inspirion I580-4797NBC from Costco. It came with 6GB of Ram, and a 1 TB Hard Drive. It has Windows 7 Home Premium Version running on 64 Bit. I absolutely love it. It also comes with a 24" monitor. My fully loaded ATX program with 275 clients opens almost instantly, Quickbooks opens in a flash. My only regret is that I did not buy it sooner! Deb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkM Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 I have always bought Dells ever since I graduated from college. And while they have all been good computers, I am going with a homebuild for my next one. My problem is that the features I need - a quad-core processor, 8 GB RAM, a solid state drive, a high wattage power supply and a motherboard with USB 3.0 - all come bundled with many extra components that I don't need from Dell, HP, etc. And the price tags on those models are usually in the $1,800+ range. I can do my home build for less than half that The one thing you need to watch for is that you want to make sure your PC has an adequate power supply. This has always been an area where Dell skimps. That Dell that Deb mentioned above, while a very good PC, only has a 250W power supply. When running a motherboard with a quad-core processor, 8 GB RAM, Blue-Ray, etc., that's not enough power. As for other specifics, here is what I would recommend: - a quad-core or six-core processor (although it's unlikely that business apps can take advantage of more than four cores) - at least 8 GB of memory; I think at this point 12 GB or 16 GB is overkill as your programs likely won't see much of an increase from 8 to 12 to 16 at this time - a motherboard with at least four memory slots and at least 16 GB RAM capacity so you can run the 8 GB RAM on two 4 GB sticks and have room to add more RAM later - a solid state hard drive (SSD) - use the money you save on the memory with an SSD; your programs will absolutely fly - plenty of USB ports and some USB 3.0 ports - this is also where having a good power supply is essential Things I consider less important: - liquid cooling - unless you're overclocking your CPU (which you would basically only do for gaming), standard fan cooling should be fine - a fancy case - who cares; my case sits under my desk so what do I care what it looks like?(however, I suggest you get a full-size case and not a micro/mini case to allow for future expansion) - a Blu-Ray drive - I just don't see the need unless you watch a lot of Blu-Ray movies; I would go with the least expense DVD drive you can find; you can always upgrade later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Half the fans failed on my brand new Dell Studio XPS, so the power supply overheated and shut down the hard drive. One failure in January, two in February, dead from 4 March through 28 March, and warning light back on by 14 April. Dell tech support stinks. They kept blaming it on the OS. Well, I bought the OS from Dell !! But, the grinding noise was not the OS. Even though I paid for next-day onsite repair, they refused to send someone until mid-March; but Dell had sent the wrong fans. The end of March, Dell sent a tech with fans, power supply, and motherboard. They refused to send me a new computer. Extremely difficult to get up a tier to a supervisor, and then they were still in India with no authority to order new parts or replace my dead computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tax Prep by Deb Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 I have always bought Dells ever since I graduated from college. And while they have all been good computers, I am going with a homebuild for my next one. My problem is that the features I need - a quad-core processor, 8 GB RAM, a solid state drive, a high wattage power supply and a motherboard with USB 3.0 - all come bundled with many extra components that I don't need from Dell, HP, etc. And the price tags on those models are usually in the $1,800+ range. I can do my home build for less than half that The one thing you need to watch for is that you want to make sure your PC has an adequate power supply. This has always been an area where Dell skimps. That Dell that Deb mentioned above, while a very good PC, only has a 250W power supply. When running a motherboard with a quad-core processor, 8 GB RAM, Blue-Ray, etc., that's not enough power. As for other specifics, here is what I would recommend: - a quad-core or six-core processor (although it's unlikely that business apps can take advantage of more than four cores) - at least 8 GB of memory; I think at this point 12 GB or 16 GB is overkill as your programs likely won't see much of an increase from 8 to 12 to 16 at this time - a motherboard with at least four memory slots and at least 16 GB RAM capacity so you can run the 8 GB RAM on two 4 GB sticks and have room to add more RAM later - a solid state hard drive (SSD) - use the money you save on the memory with an SSD; your programs will absolutely fly - plenty of USB ports and some USB 3.0 ports - this is also where having a good power supply is essential Things I consider less important: - liquid cooling - unless you're overclocking your CPU (which you would basically only do for gaming), standard fan cooling should be fine - a fancy case - who cares; my case sits under my desk so what do I care what it looks like?(however, I suggest you get a full-size case and not a micro/mini case to allow for future expansion) - a Blu-Ray drive - I just don't see the need unless you watch a lot of Blu-Ray movies; I would go with the least expense DVD drive you can find; you can always upgrade later Actually mine came with a 300 power supply, that's the main reason I went with this instead of a less expensive one. I only paid $799, it has blue ray however I probably will never use it except to install programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tax Prep by Deb Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Half the fans failed on my brand new Dell Studio XPS, so the power supply overheated and shut down the hard drive. One failure in January, two in February, dead from 4 March through 28 March, and warning light back on by 14 April. Dell tech support stinks. They kept blaming it on the OS. Well, I bought the OS from Dell !! But, the grinding noise was not the OS. Even though I paid for next-day onsite repair, they refused to send someone until mid-March; but Dell had sent the wrong fans. The end of March, Dell sent a tech with fans, power supply, and motherboard. They refused to send me a new computer. Extremely difficult to get up a tier to a supervisor, and then they were still in India with no authority to order new parts or replace my dead computer. I have never had the problems your having with Dell. I own 5 computers now, the oldes is 8 years old. Never have I even had a hiccup with any of them except when Mcafee allowed bugs in and I had to have them de-bugged. As to support in India, I have been told that you have the right to ask for a US based support person. I have a client who had a problem with HP and after several attempts with India said she wanted someone of the states to speak to and she was told that was her right. It took a couple of days but someone from the states called, and sent her a new computer within days. Sometimes I think we allow ourselves to be intimidated but on the other hand Dell has an obligation too! That's exactly why I went into Costco. I know I will first have to deal with Dell, but I also have the Costco name backing me, as well as they add an additional year to the warranty. Also if for any reason I'm unhappy I can take it back to Costco, full refund, no hassle. Deb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacun Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 Half the fans failed on my brand new Dell Studio XPS, so the power supply overheated and shut down the hard drive. One failure in January, two in February, dead from 4 March through 28 March, and warning light back on by 14 April. Dell tech support stinks. They kept blaming it on the OS. Well, I bought the OS from Dell !! But, the grinding noise was not the OS. Even though I paid for next-day onsite repair, they refused to send someone until mid-March; but Dell had sent the wrong fans. The end of March, Dell sent a tech with fans, power supply, and motherboard. They refused to send me a new computer. Extremely difficult to get up a tier to a supervisor, and then they were still in India with no authority to order new parts or replace my dead computer. I used to know if the guy was in India when I used the phone. Now I only go to www.support.dell.com and enter my service tag number and all the time I chat with a person in the States. If you want a new motherboard, it is because your computer "only blinks when you power it up and you have tried two different chargers or power cords". You also unhooked the hard drive and memory to no avail. If you need a hard drive, it is because your "hard drive is not detected by the BIOS". If they insist, you run the diagnostics while holding the hard drive on your palm and you give them the error code. Most diagnostics will not detect your hard drive while on your palm (especially if you are using the HD to scratch your belly). If you dropped your computer or dump some water on it, you tell them that your computer suddenly died and you have no idea what happened (That's what users tell me anyways). If you need a keyboard you tell them that "X key came off". When they asked you why the key came off, you don't need to lie and just tell them "poor design that cannot support normal tear and wear" (do not mention that your cat was making a nest on the keyboard or shapenning its paws). I used to be very honest with DELL technicians. When I called for a motherboard, they would spend more than one hour with me testing and explaining... at the very end, they would agree with me that a motherboard was needed. After a bunch of calls and chats like that, I just trust myself and ask for the parts. Now, I don't waste my time and I use shortcuts to get my parts. 99% of the time I have been right with the parts I have requested. I do chat with DELL every week and they seem to provide decent service. The company I work for owns about 7K DELLs and I support about .3 percent of them. Going back to the original question... Please DO NOT order Celeron processors and double the memory that the computer comes with from the shelf. Get Windows 7 Professional 64bit and you should be "in love" very soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 Pacun, thank you very much for your thoughts. I think I'll be more effective with support now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 Half the fans failed on my brand new Dell Studio XPS, so the power supply overheated and shut down the hard drive. One failure in January, two in February, dead from 4 March through 28 March, and warning light back on by 14 April. Dell tech support stinks. They kept blaming it on the OS. Well, I bought the OS from Dell !! But, the grinding noise was not the OS. Even though I paid for next-day onsite repair, they refused to send someone until mid-March; but Dell had sent the wrong fans. The end of March, Dell sent a tech with fans, power supply, and motherboard. They refused to send me a new computer. Extremely difficult to get up a tier to a supervisor, and then they were still in India with no authority to order new parts or replace my dead computer. Ugh, that's awful to hear. I just suggested the Dell Studio XPS to someone who thought my computer was great (built from carefully selected parts) and wanted to buy something with similar specs. I'm hoping their experience with that system isn't nearly as problematic... Especially since I could have put together a computer with the same specs and higher quality parts for about $250 less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NECPA in NEBRASKA Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 Pacun, I would love to know how you manage to get good service. I used to think that they were great, but the way they are messing around with me right now on my son's very expensive XPS 9100 makes me think that this will be my last Dell. I also have a new XPS 8100 for the office that needs my data transferred to it. I spent 7 hours on the phone Friday and Saturday with 4 different Dell support guys. While all were nice, every one of them said that they would call me back and NONE of them did. Then I would call back and get a new one that wanted to run more diagnostics. The first one told me immediately that I needed a new video card and the next three kept running tests and now want to wipe it back to the factory specs. There are a ton of programs on there and I use that computer all the time now to apply for since my husband is trying for disability and I have to do a online. I am sure that the video card is going out, but they refuse to give it to us. I paid extra for their premium support ( which used to be very good) and now sucks. I think that they farmed it out to Iyogi, because they keep trying to sell me software. If you have any advice, I'd appreciate it. I hope that I'm not really sorry that I stayed with Dell. Thanks! Bonnie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 Mine's the 9100. They wanted to sell me diagnostic software on one call and an external hard drive for back-up on another. I supposedly have a business support contract for next-day on-site service. But, you have to convince them to send someone! When I finally got some action, it was not from my doing. My local techie's day job is an IT director at a multiple listing service; he buys $100,000's of Dell computers each year for this state's MLS and has his own rep. He copied my emails to his rep who ordered the parts for me. That's not a string he pulled lightly as he has to keep on Dell's good side, but he thought I'd been mistreated and used his leverage with his rep to help me. My amber warning light has changed back to white. Don't know why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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