| Overall Rating: |
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3
out of 5
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Not the best, maybe a good deal,
07/27/2009
Computers are difficult to buy. Substitutions of lower quality parts can be made can be made in many areas of a system. Almost no one has the expertise to tell you where this really makes a difference.
Ok to begin with the computer has an AMD X3 central processing core with three central processing units. This is unusual. It turns out these chips are essentially defective X4 quad core units, where one of the processors didn't work and is disconnected. Some people claim (I'm sure AMD does) that the fourth core in a quad core is almost never used anyway and that a tri-core ought to outperform an Intel dual core or an AMD X2. Maybe this is true but who knows.
I went to the Dell site and tried to reproduce the system to see what Dell would charge me directly. It turns out the X3 distributed with this unit (the 8450) isn't used by Dell. They use a slightly faster 8650. I don't think this is a big deal especially. The difference in price between the units (from AMD) is only $20.
Everything else I could get (memory, monitor, speakers, etc.) from Dell. So buying this unit from Walmart, minus the cost of the better processor, saves you about $160. Dell does throw in a few extras (online storage) but the Walmart price is still a deal.
Unfortunately, in the past week I have been having problems with the system I have. Dell includes VGA and DVI cables to connect the monitor to the system. However the PC has only VGA and HDMI connectors. I bought an HDMI cable to connect the monitor (the monitor has an HDMI slot). However the display shrinks to about 80% of the size of the monitor when the HDMI cable is used. Further the HDMI hookup sometimes produces nothing but a black screen. The VGA connection works all right but the display quality is not as good as with the HDMI cable.
Also the sound system only works occasionally. Sometimes the speakers work and sometimes they don't. Sometimes the headphones can be used and sometimes they don't work. I am waiting now for a Dell technician to arrive (in the next 10 min) to replace the "mother board" for the the third time in five days.
| Value: |
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3
out of 5
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| Meets Expectations: |
|
3
out of 5
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19 of 22 people found this review helpful.