Refurb. Dell 530 Desktop - Celeron 450 2.2Ghz, 2GB RAM, 250GB, DVD-RW - $99 + S/H

[Jawadali]

CONSUMER ALERT: I received a 531s with an AMD Sempron. I have emailed them to rectify this, but I am VERY upset. I almost pulled the trigger on a processor upgrade, and I had done so, would be obviously even more upset. This is NOT okay. If they do not rectify this immediately I will be filing a report at the BBB and with PayPal.

I live in DC and they shipped from VA, in case anyone is wondering how I received my PC literally the next day.

It looks like they are open for business today, so it may be quicker to give them a call (703-263-0211 for Chantilly). Here is there full contact info.

The above incident was for a similar, now-sold-out deal regarding a Dell 530s with a Pentium Dual Core for $119. However, it looks like it is now resolved, according to the thread at SlickDeals.

More information on the SlickDeals thread here.

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Hi Everyone,

I was looking at used desktop deals, and stumbled across this Dell Inspiron 530 PC for $99 + shipping.

The shipping for me is coming up as $17.

I believe it is item # 5001 in their Black Friday ad, so I don't know how long this price is valid. The company seems to have decent (albeit dated) Reseller Ratings, but I personally don't have any experience with them. It looks like they are based out of Virginia.


Here are some quick specs:

- Celeron 450 (2.2Ghz Conroe-L)
- 2GB RAM
- 250GB Hard Drive
- DVD-RW
- Intel G31/G33 chipset (not listed, but pretty sure this is correct)
- Windows Vista Home basic (I think they have versions with XP Pro for $20 more)

Note that this is the tower only. There are no accessories included (keyboard, mouse, Restore CDs).

We currently have a pseudo-HTPC that is used to watch online videos via TV-out (an Athlon Thunderbird 1.4Ghz with 512MB of RAM and a Geforce 4 Ti). With Flash CPU requirements on the rise, I thought that this desktop would make a good replacement (although I'll have to add a video card).

I was initially going to get

Any thoughts?

I may even add a dual core CPU later on. I saw the Amazon deal for the e5200 and planned to play "musical components" with some other systems and parts I have, but this PC looked like a better solution since I don't have quite enough spare parts.

With a few upgrades (power/CPU/RAM/video card), it looks like it'd make a great budget gaming system.

There are some images of a similar PC here.

 

[cookj]

OOS for both for me

 

[Jawadali]

OOS for both for me

Did you try clicking the very first link?

http://www.cedarpc.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=5001

It's still showing QTY: 60 for me.

The Geeks.com link was OOS to begin with, since it was for more info only.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

For $99 there isn't anything better. It'll perform like an Athlon 4000+ single core, which is adequate for nearly everything.

 

[Emulex]

you can flash the current slic2.1 bios for your windows 2008/R2,Win7 enjoyment too.

 

[cookj]

Got it now Thanks

 

[jme5343]

I just ordered one, thank you OP...sweet deal for me.

 

[California Roll]

Hmm, how would this do as a WHS? I'd need to add storage and O/S of course. $99 beats building an Atom based WHS.

 

[DerKaiser]

Hmm, how would this do as a WHS? I'd need to add storage and O/S of course. $99 beats building an Atom based WHS.

My WHS has 2 GB of RAM and a dual core 1.6 Ghz Celeron and does fine. This would do well as a WHS with some storage.

The form factor is small, but you can mount another hard drive below the one that's there and another one in the empty optical drive bay. There should be two free SATA ports on the motherboard.

 

[jvnn]

Thanks OP!

I just lost my last burner and need a new one, but I also have been looking for an xp license cheap for a while...
Way to kill two birds.
+87

 

[AmishPcFreak]

maybe i missed it but are we sure this has a PCI slot on the motherboard to add-in a video card?

thanks

 

[foolish501]

thanks op, in for one

 

[DerKaiser]

maybe i missed it but are we sure this has a PCI slot on the motherboard to add-in a video card?

thanks

I have an Inspiron 530 that I bought new a couple of years ago. It has a PCIE slot (presumably x16) and two PCI slots. I have an 8800GT in mine. I had to upgrade the power supply when I added the card.

Actually, I just checked, it also has a PCIE x1 slot.

 

[DerKaiser]

A couple of other points. I upgraded my 530 to 64 bit Windows 7 recently. It's been running great. However, memory remapping is not an option in the BIOS, so there's no point in having a lot of RAM in there. I have 3 GB in mine.

 

[Jawadali]

Glad to see that this post was helpful for a few folks.

Thanks for all of the tips and suggestions so far, and feel free to keep them coming.

I'm not positive, but I think that the case and motherboard are standard mATX.

This is a welcome change from the Dimension series, where most of the models had custom cases/motherboards, making major upgrades difficult.

 

[TwiceOver]

Just sold this exact same system to a friend for $130. Was a very capable system. Wouldn't render graphics on it or watch a million eighty pee video but good enough for the basics.

 

[Jawadali]

CONSUMER ALERT: It looks like they may be shipping Dell 531's with AMD Semprons instead. See update in OP.

 

[hermes00]

Jawadali.
I am interested in this deal. I called them and the guy was kind of shady on the phone. He was very short on answers about the system and he told me to check online. Did you call them back about your system? Are they going to send you the right model as advertised? What did they say? Also, what color case was your setup?

 

[Jawadali]

Jawadali.
I am interested in this deal. I called them and the guy was kind of shady on the phone. He was very short on answers about the system and he told me to check online. Did you call them back about your system? Are they going to send you the right model as advertised? What did they say? Also, what color case was your setup?

I haven't ordered yet, but there was a member on Slickdeals who has contacted them and gotten a partial refund due to the different specs. I have posted a link to the thread in the OP, but it here it is again.

I have been updating the thread wiki.

Did they say they would accept orders over the phone?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Has anyone tried to order this deal through the paypal checkout link? I've got a buddy doing that for me, and it keeps saying that the transaction failed, or doing other wierd things.

Edit: I think it's slightly shady that they don't have their own regular checkout method.

Edit: Nevermind, now that link in the OP is showing OOS.

 

[Jawadali]

Has anyone tried to order this deal through the paypal checkout link? I've got a buddy doing that for me, and it keeps saying that the transaction failed, or doing other wierd things.

Edit: I think it's slightly shady that they don't have their own regular checkout method.

Edit: Nevermind, now that link in the OP is showing OOS.

Yeah. I never got around to ordering; maybe its for the better.

 

[cookj]

Hope I get mine. They sent a invoice, but it hasen't shipped yet. My motherboard went out friday and i'm useing an old backup system.

 

[jvnn]

I ordered the win xp version 2 days ago.
They still show 7 in stock and my paypal account shows the payment on the 28th.

ETA:
arrived 12/3 exactly as advertised except is also has a vista home basic product key stuck on top...