Dell PE 400SC now $324 no MIR

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: ilikesushi
Is there no free upgrade to an 80 GB HD this week?

Good call. Well, I used a LINK from an older thread which DOES offer the P4 2.8 and the free upgrade to the 80GB hard drive. HOWEVER, when you click on customize, you get a "you need to adjust your order" message. So I guess that deal is dead.

There is another option for the 400SC for $299, but you have to take the Celeron cpu instead of the Pentium 4.

 

[gpgofast]

Oops!

 

[gpgofast]

Originally posted by: bamacre
Meh, I consider any warranty from Dell worth about a penny. Truth is, I hate Dell's tech support and customer service. I used to love it, but I had a horrible experience with them once I and I was so fed up, I ended up building my next computer, which worked out really well.

I was on the phone for a little over 3 hours trying to get a hard drive replaced. I had my customer number, order number, everything. I talked to 7 different people in three different departments. I was so mad, I went and had a beer at lunch (I was at work when I called). I had to close my office door so people couldn't hear me yelling and cussing.

Well, I just had my first Dell warranty experience last week. The USB ports on my 1.5 month old 400SC quit working last week. A call to Dell, about 35 minutes on the phone and they had a tech dispatched to my home with a new motherboard the next business day, no questions. I would have to give Dell "Small Business" a big thumbs up. I also was able to get a price match from them on my 400SC a couple of weeks before that. I originally paid $348 after rebate for my 2.8/40GB/128 RAM machine. They pricematched when the price dropped the next month and I recieved a $40+tax credit. I received the rebate check in less than 3 weeks also. YMMV. GP

 

[riznick]

wow

 

[SoylentGreen]

Originally posted by: gpgofast

Originally posted by: bamacre
Meh, I consider any warranty from Dell worth about a penny. Truth is, I hate Dell's tech support and customer service. I used to love it, but I had a horrible experience with them once I and I was so fed up, I ended up building my next computer, which worked out really well.

I was on the phone for a little over 3 hours trying to get a hard drive replaced. I had my customer number, order number, everything. I talked to 7 different people in three different departments. I was so mad, I went and had a beer at lunch (I was at work when I called). I had to close my office door so people couldn't hear me yelling and cussing.

Well, I just had my first Dell warranty experience last week. The USB ports on my 1.5 month old 400SC quit working last week. A call to Dell, about 35 minutes on the phone and they had a tech dispatched to my home with a new motherboard the next business day, no questions. I would have to give Dell "Small Business" a big thumbs up. I also was able to get a price match from them on my 400SC a couple of weeks before that. I originally paid $348 after rebate for my 2.8/40GB/128 RAM machine. They pricematched when the price dropped the next month and I recieved a $40+tax credit. I received the rebate check in less than 3 weeks also. YMMV. GP

Same experience I have ever heard is close to yours. The other poster will go through life not realizing that screaming and cussing was more than half the problem.

 

[FPSguy]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Kendizzie
I dont see how these are really worth it.

As you can build a better pentium 4 system for about $50 more with 512 PC 3200 ram non ECC with a bigger hard drive, and better case.

Good Case = $50
Good PSU = $30
2.8Ghz CPU = $175
Intel 875P Mobo = $90
256MB PC3200 = $45
CD-ROM = $20
Mouse/KB = $20
40GB HDD = $40

Equals roughly $470. I don't see how you could do it, in fact this case and psu are actually pretty good stuff.

$47 more, 512MB RAM, 120GB HD, probably worse case and equally poor power supply:

Passable case and 350W power supply - FAR (Fry's last weekend)
2.8GHz CPU and MB - $250 pick up at store (http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4106803)
512MB PC3200 - $55 pick up at store (http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3655355)
CD-ROM - $14 shipped (http://www.tigersurplus.com)
Mouse/KB (do these come with the 400SC?) - $2 pick up at store (http://www.officemax.com/max/s...jsp?prodBlockOID=52073 and http://www.officemax.com/max/s...prodBlockOID=536993159)
120GB HDD - $50 AR (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...t&id=1051384486557)

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: SoylentGreen

Originally posted by: gpgofast

Originally posted by: bamacre
Meh, I consider any warranty from Dell worth about a penny. Truth is, I hate Dell's tech support and customer service. I used to love it, but I had a horrible experience with them once I and I was so fed up, I ended up building my next computer, which worked out really well.

I was on the phone for a little over 3 hours trying to get a hard drive replaced. I had my customer number, order number, everything. I talked to 7 different people in three different departments. I was so mad, I went and had a beer at lunch (I was at work when I called). I had to close my office door so people couldn't hear me yelling and cussing.

Well, I just had my first Dell warranty experience last week. The USB ports on my 1.5 month old 400SC quit working last week. A call to Dell, about 35 minutes on the phone and they had a tech dispatched to my home with a new motherboard the next business day, no questions. I would have to give Dell "Small Business" a big thumbs up. I also was able to get a price match from them on my 400SC a couple of weeks before that. I originally paid $348 after rebate for my 2.8/40GB/128 RAM machine. They pricematched when the price dropped the next month and I recieved a $40+tax credit. I received the rebate check in less than 3 weeks also. YMMV. GP

Same experience I have ever heard is close to yours. The other poster will go through life not realizing that screaming and cussing was more than half the problem.

I didn't start "screaming and cussing" until after about an hour. I had every right to do so in my situation. It was absolutely patheitic.

I never said no one gets good CS from Dell. In fact I had always had good CS from Dell up until that moment. I purchased a hard drive from their website, separately, not with a system. It went bad after 2 months, which is the mfg's fault, not Dell's. But I wanted Dell to replace it. I had the order number, my customer number, etc. The hard drive could not be recognized, and a hd scanner program had all kinds of errors while scanning. I got switched from department to department, person to person.

First they couldn't figure out if I was a home or SB customer. Then they asked me if I puchased my Dell system from a home shopping channel. Then they asked if I had purchased the hard drive from someone besides Dell.

You tell your story seven times, to seven people, in three different departments, for over three hours over a simple hard drive gone bad, and refrain from screaming and cussing. I won't. I like screaming and cussing, I just don't like having to do it.

When I get good service, I call and say so, or write up a good review. I understand things happen every once in while, people make mistakes, just as I do, and I am a very understanding person.

But when I get unjustifiable CS like I got that day with Dell, hide the children and cover their ears, because the F word is going to be flying like a tornado through Kansas.

And, I might add, that the screaming and cussing is what, eventually, got my hard drive replaced.

 

[Kendizzie]

This is how i look at it.
Ok so you buy the dell computer. Thats $324 + shipping = ~$348 shipped.
Your gonna replace the ram more than likely. So lets say Crucial 512 MB DDR 3200 is $80.
Your also gonna replace the An ATI Rage XL 8MB PCI card that it comes with. SO suppose you
replace it with Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB w/TV-OUT /DVI /CRT (Retail) $109.95 at ATA.com. The
dell comes with an IBM hdd i still dont trust those, but they are probably good by now.

That brings you up to ~$537.95.
So for the $537.95 you get a subpar motherboard , case, and powersupply.

Or you could build


ASUS i865PE Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU, Model "P4P800-E Deluxe" $75 from
newegg.com

Intel Pentium 4/ 3.0E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading Technology $175

Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive $61 (Im sure there are even better hard drive
deals than that)

APEX Beige Mid-Tower Super Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "7C574-115" $43.98 (Equally
bad case and psu). However these have great Power supplies and are great cases as you can
read from the reviews of it on newgg.com

Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB w/TV-OUT /DVI /CRT (Retail) $(109.95)

Crucial 512 MB PC3200 DDR RAM $80

So for a higher quality system with faster processor, and bigger hard drive you can get for
$544.93. I may be talkin out my ass, but shrug i dunno heh. Just making an observation, the dell deal
isn't too bad cause you get the 1yr warranty service thingy. But i'd rather put a system together myself. But if yoru just gonna keep the dell as is, and not change anything its a pretty good deal.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Originally posted by: Kendizzie
This is how i look at it.
Ok so you buy the dell computer. Thats $324 + shipping = ~$348 shipped.
Your gonna replace the ram more than likely. So lets say Crucial 512 MB DDR 3200 is $80.
Your also gonna replace the An ATI Rage XL 8MB PCI card that it comes with. SO suppose you
replace it with Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB w/TV-OUT /DVI /CRT (Retail) $109.95 at ATA.com. The
dell comes with an IBM hdd i still dont trust those, but they are probably good by now.

That brings you up to ~$537.95.
So for the $537.95 you get a subpar motherboard , case, and powersupply.

Or you could build


ASUS i865PE Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU, Model "P4P800-E Deluxe" $75 from
newegg.com

Intel Pentium 4/ 3.0E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading Technology $175

Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive $61 (Im sure there are even better hard drive
deals than that)

APEX Beige Mid-Tower Super Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "7C574-115" $43.98 (Equally
bad case and psu). However these have great Power supplies and are great cases as you can
read from the reviews of it on newgg.com

Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB w/TV-OUT /DVI /CRT (Retail) $(109.95)

Crucial 512 MB PC3200 DDR RAM $80

So for a higher quality system with faster processor, and bigger hard drive you can get for
$544.93. I may be talkin out my ass, but shrug i dunno heh. Just making an observation, the dell deal
isn't too bad cause you get the 1yr warranty service thingy. But i'd rather put a system together myself. But if yoru just gonna keep the dell as is, and not change anything its a pretty good deal.

Not a bad system you listed.

But Dell uses Intel motherboards and this system uses an 875 chipset. Those aren't crap for non over-clocking boards. Anybody who actually works in the industry knows that Dell case/powersupplies are up there in quality and being quiet. So you're looking at $100 case if you want the same quality. Most of the Dells at my work come with either Seagate or Maxtor HD.

Dell probably includes in that price the 1st year of onsite servcie/tech support etc. I've built enough systems in life time, and realize its not worth it anymore if I'm not into gaming or scoring the highest bench marks. So a nice system like this plus some ram wouldn't be too bad.

Nothing against people building their own systems. But Dells corp is aimed at the enterpise level not people who want the latest and greatest.

 

[Kendizzie]

The i875 chipset is an intel chipset.
One of the best one's.

 

[gpgofast]

Originally posted by: Kendizzie
....That brings you up to ~$537.95.
So for the $537.95 you get a subpar motherboard , case, and powersupply...

My "subpar" case is virtually silent, and my "subpar" powersupply is running a Gig of Ram, 2 7200 RPM hardrives, an Audigy 2 soundcard, 9700 Pro video card, a DVD-Rom a Dual Layer DVD burner and a Hauppauge USB TV2 tuner. It's 250 watt rating is VERY conservative.

I don't consider this Dell 400SC "subpar" in ANY way. It is a "Dell" but for the same quality I couldn't build it for less. GP

 

[chinkgai]

dont you have to pay tax in some states PLUS the shipping? that adds to the cost considerably including the cost of a new videocard and more ram...also 40 gigs isnt much nowadays, so you'd want to upgrade that too im sure...

also this thing comes with sh!t for bios options/adjustability im sure

but i agree this is a great deal for a non power user who isnt looking for a very scalable machine

and yes, dells are AMAZINGLY quiet, i'd have thot they were passively cooled

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: bamacre
Meh, I consider any warranty from Dell worth about a penny. Truth is, I hate Dell's tech support and customer service.

Dell Small Business Server Technical Support and Warranty > Dell Home Technical Support and Warranty.

Also, as mentioned, the 400SC is not a typical Dell Home machine (which are fairly inferior in a number of ways). Server class, server grade components - even though the 400SC is an entry level server. Great build quality.

 

[zixxer]

got in on one... gonna sell my amd 64 3200 and asus k8v deluxe se..

 

[Kirsten]

Is the BIOS any good on a Dell server? Wake On Lan etc features???

K

 

[bamacre]

This system comes with an 8x agp slot, and free shipping, too. Someone posted a link with a ton of info on this thing, just go back, I think it's the first or second reply in this thread.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Originally posted by: chinkgai
dont you have to pay tax in some states PLUS the shipping? that adds to the cost considerably including the cost of a new videocard and more ram...also 40 gigs isnt much nowadays, so you'd want to upgrade that too im sure...

also this thing comes with sh!t for bios options/adjustability im sure

but i agree this is a great deal for a non power user who isnt looking for a very scalable machine

and yes, dells are AMAZINGLY quiet, i'd have thot they were passively cooled

shipping is included, you save $90 bucks right there. Thats why $324 plus tax is pretty decent deal for bare system.

 

[TechDreamer]

The 400sc faq is stating that Dell is disabling AGP in the bios. They say you have to play around with the various bios updates to get it working but then you lose the integrated NIC? Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[gpgofast]

Originally posted by: TechDreamer
The 400sc faq is stating that Dell is disabling AGP in the bios. They say you have to play around with the various bios updates to get it working but then you lose the integrated NIC? Does anyone have experience with this?

No conflicts for my ATI 9700 and onboard NIC. Everything works. Dell just doesn't "support" the AGP in their tech support. It works fine. GP

 

[mather]

No matter how often I let these Dell 400sc deals skip by, they always have another to tempt me.

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: TechDreamer
The 400sc faq is stating that Dell is disabling AGP in the bios. They say you have to play around with the various bios updates to get it working but then you lose the integrated NIC? Does anyone have experience with this?

The FAQ is kind of vague, but I believe what they meant is that the AGP performance is being limited somehow. It works, but perhaps not quite at the level that it should?

You'd have to get someone who already has a 400SC to run some benchies to find out.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Balt
I am currently slated to reach Lifer status by the year 2009.

I hit "No Lifer" status a few years ago.

 

[tstrike]

awesome! thanks!

 

[bughill99]

I actually RMA'd the ECC ram when I bought mine and got a bit of a refund, it took the bite out of putting 1gb of non-ecc Corsair ram in there, which works great. I don't know if they'll do that any more or not, though. I didn't have to mess with anything to get AGP or on-board nic to work. Had Server 2k3 on for awhile, now put XP Pro and it works nicely, too.

 

[turboe]

Does anyone know how long the free processor upgrade will be availible?
On the custimization page it says "Select offers expire 09/08/04" but i dunno if thats when the processor upgrade expires also.