Does Dell do this?

[Todd33]

I took a look at my Wife's Grandmothers new (couple of months old) Dell. It was a 2.4Ghz Celeron with 128MB RAM running XP Home. 128MB??? WTF are they thinking? Get this, it has a CR-RW and a CD-ROM, but no DVD player. She claims she ordered a package from the Dell website and had no clue what she ordered (ya think?). Why would Dell sell her two CD drives and 128MB RAM for XP? It crawled to a stop trying to print, it had to swap the whole time, the OS ate the whole lot of RAM. Dude, I'm not getting a Dell!

 

[Matthias99]

Yes, they'll gladly sell you a machine with 128MB of RAM in it. And they charge an arm and a leg for RAM upgrades, too, unless they're on sale.

 

[dullard]

Yes the default is always 128 MB. I'm using a Gateway with 128 MB right now and Win XP. I've got Visual Basic, Word (with 300 page dissertation loaded), Excel, Power Point, and on my break Internet Explorer all loaded at the same time. Also add in Zone Alarm, and McAfee Virus Scan. Runs like a charm. You just need to turn off all the memory hogging yet nearly useless Windows features. Dude: you need to optimize her computer!

Dell often runs a free CDRW option. Thus you'd be stupid to not take it. What Grandmothers need a DVD on their computer?

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: Todd33
I took a look at my Wife's Grandmothers new (couple of months old) Dell. It was a 2.4Ghz Celeron with 128MB RAM running XP Home. 128MB??? WTF are they thinking? Get this, it has a CR-RW and a CD-ROM, but no DVD player. She claims she ordered a package from the Dell website and had no clue what she ordered (ya think?). Why would Dell sell her two CD drives and 128MB RAM for XP? It crawled to a stop trying to print, it had to swap the whole time, the OS ate the whole lot of RAM. Dude, I'm not getting a Dell!

Your not getting a Dell because grandma doesn't know what she is buying.....

I can hear Dells stock prices falling now.


Tom

 

[Special1Sauce]

My parent's dell came with 128MBs of Ram and a CD burner and a CDrom Drive. Its stupid how dell runs its stuff

 

[Sunner]

Yes, I agree, throwing 128 MB of RAM into a computer and hoping it will run XP and any halfdecent amounts of programs is stupid IMO, but buying something as relatively expensive as a computer without doing proper research is stupider.

Conclusion: your grandma should have asked you before buying, Dell, like any business would gladly do, sold a piece of merchandise.

 

[AIWGuru]

Pop open the hood and try to find an AGP slot, I dare ya.

 

[Antero128]

While I agree with most of you that 128MB of RAM isnt enough to run Windows XP, you guys also have to realize that Dell offers all the options to get however much memory you want. It's not Dells fault that people are cheap and don't want to spend the extra money on more memory. Hell, if I were buying a machine from Dell, I'd also get 128MB of RAM and just buy some more online cheaper! Also for the people who complain that Dell's don't have AGP slots, the low-end machines like the 2400 don't, because well, they are low-end. If you get the 4600 and up you have an 8x AGP slot.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Don't complain, it's a good deal.
You can't build the same system at Dell's price by buying parts from anywhere even newegg.
Unless you are not going to throw in a legal copy of windows.

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: AIWGuru
Pop open the hood and try to find an AGP slot, I dare ya.

I didn't have a hard time finding an agp slot in my last 2 Dell's, I also found a 9800pro. Some people are a bit more frugal and don't need a video card so they choose the"extreme graphics" or a GeForce FX 5200 they work well for word processing or what not.


Tom

 

[Abhi]

Format... and re install xp ..... you will see a world of a difference.

I bet that it still has the original dell windows installation... and they simply...suck. Lots of bloatware. Do a fresh install. And turn off the "visual" features of windows XP.

 

[Gurck]

My mother did something like this - without bothering to consult me (the woman thinks ram is storage) she bought a 2ghz celery Compaq. It came complete with 250+ spyware files/registry entries for me to remove, and between the 5400rpm dinosaur hard drive and 256 mb of ram it's roughly as fast as my wristwatch. If you can spare a few bucks throw a 128mb stick of ram in gramma's computer, at least. Windows XP simply doesn't run well at all with 128mb ram. 256 is pushing it, but 128 is far, far too low. It's unethical for Dell to have that as the base amount they offer in most systems.

Speaking of Dell, anyone see their new commercial where they knock DIYers? A nerdy type goes through an office using duct tape to fix computers and monitors while all the 'smart' people with their 128mb ram / celeron Dells at home are supposed to laugh at his company's misfortune :| My shock didn't give over to laughter till a good five seconds after the commercial ended

 

[SneakyStuff]

I actually bought mine with 128MB of RAM at first, but got all the other stuff, sound card, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, Geforce 4mx and I just added a 512MB stick a month later for like 60 bucks, Which was much better than the $120 they asked for a 512MB upgrade :Q

 

[zodder]

For god sakes, another person complaining about Dell? So far, the only people who complain seem to be either:

A) Clueless about computer needs in a business environment with tight IT budgets
B) Have no clue what they are doing when they configure a system online at Dell
C) A retard who thinks that Dell is going to build them a killer gaming rig for $400!

Anybody who falls into one (or more) of those category, please STOP posting!!!

 

[Antero128]

Originally posted by: Gurck
It's unethical for Dell to have that as the base amount they offer in most systems.

So, it's unethical for Dell to let me choose the amount of memory in my system or the ability to buy cheaper RAM from somewhere else???

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Antero128

Originally posted by: Gurck
It's unethical for Dell to have that as the base amount they offer in most systems.

So, it's unethical for Dell to let me choose the amount of memory in my system or the ability to buy cheaper RAM from somewhere else???

They sell systems without ram? didn't think so~

Most of their home-use customers have no idea what they're doing, otherwise they wouldn't be buying one in the first place. That's why it's unethical.

 

[zodder]

Antero128 - Exactly! Ask those that got in on the killer 400SC server deal if they were upset they had to get 128MB of ram for that price! I think not.

 

[ForceCalibur]

Its unethical... lol?

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: zodder
Antero128 - Exactly! Ask those that got in on the killer 400SC server deal if they were upset they had to get 128MB of ram for that price! I think not.

I specifically said 'for home use'.

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Its unethical... lol?

Yes

 

[zodder]

Most of their home-use customers have no idea what they're doing, otherwise they wouldn't be buying one in the first place. That's why it's unethical.

Then WTF are they doing buying one without having a clue?! That's Dell's fault?! Hell no. They call up and just want a computer for $500. They don't want to hear about adding stuff, they just want a computer for $500. That's not Dell's fault. It's the cheap-ass consumers who wants everything for cheap and won't take the time to research what they really do need.

 

[Gurck]

Wouldn't say it's their 'fault', but yes it's a bit shady. They sell these systems knowing they're utter crap, basically unusable, and could be vastly improved for ~$20? (what's a 128mb DIMM go for?) Fault lies with the consumers as well, of course.

 

[smahoney]

Does anyone actually think anyone else is more honest - Please. And what do people actually expect to get to a complete systems for under $500. Get real. And when it comes to supporting a business environment - I'll stick with Dell Optiplex's over DIY any day of the week. I'll build my own machine - but who wants to support dozens of them?

 

[Fuchs]

sorry, but it's as easy as being an adult and reading the fine print. If you don't like it, either A) dont buy it or B) Upgrade it

It's based on logic, not convenience. (Average for 128mb right now is $30-35).

No one said you can't buy ram from someone else CHEAPER and put it in YOURSELF anyways....sheesh....


and Dell's are much better (desktops) than any other brand I have seen for performance, price, and service.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: smahoney
Does anyone actually think anyone else is more honest - Please. And what do people actually expect to get to a complete systems for under $500. Get real. And when it comes to supporting a business environment - I'll stick with Dell Optiplex's over DIY any day of the week. I'll build my own machine - but who wants to support dozens of them?

Sure, nobody's honest. Newegg rips me off all the time...

As I mentioned, Dell makes sense for a business environment. In past Dell vs. DIY threads others have argued against it, but that doesn't mean I am, please don't make assumptions.

 

[Antero128]

Originally posted by: Gurck

Originally posted by: smahoney
Does anyone actually think anyone else is more honest - Please. And what do people actually expect to get to a complete systems for under $500. Get real. And when it comes to supporting a business environment - I'll stick with Dell Optiplex's over DIY any day of the week. I'll build my own machine - but who wants to support dozens of them?

Sure, nobody's honest. Newegg rips me off all the time...

As I mentioned, Dell makes sense for a business environment. In past Dell vs. DIY threads others have argued against it, but that doesn't mean I am, please don't make assumptions.

So then according to you, Dell doesn't make sense for home use?