Can We Build It Cheaper: Dell - WalMart Edition

So I'm walking through the local Wal-Mart, and I see a whole stack of Dell PC's front and center in the aisle. I had heard that they were going to sell some preconfigured computers in the largest retailer, and I would guess that this was a good move for them and their sales figures. I looked at the stats, and at first glance, the $498 price tag didn't seem so far out of line. Hmmm, Wal-mart is known for low prices, let's see how good of a deal this thing really is.

The piece of hardware I'm talking about is a Dell desktop, the E521. While it is basic, it's no real slouch, and would probably be adequate for plenty of folks out there. It sports an Athlon X2 3600+ processor, and I'm pleased that they went dual core, and not for a budget single core Sempron. The hard drive is also a spacious 250 GB which is also pretty good for an entry level machine. Rounding out the package are 1 GB of RAM (of the 667 MHz flavor), a 16x DVD burner (maybe they finally used up the pile of CD-RW's...), and a USB keyboard/mouse. The OS is Vista Home Premium, and it has some basic software, but nothing that couldn't be downloaded for free including Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Works (just use OpenOffice which is free and far better), and Roxio Basic (the optical drive always includes writing software anyway). The graphics are integrated into the motherboard, and it uses the nVidia 6150 chip so serious gaming is out, but what do we expect for under $500?

For the sake of comparison, I'm going to forget about the included keyboard and mouse as most users will recycle one, or they can be purchased for under $10; also I'm not including the 56k modem in my system build as most users don't use it anyway. Also, remember that the Dell does include a one year warranty, and interestingly by buying through Wal-Mart, the PC can be returned within the first 15 days with no restocking fee (gotta love their return policy). I'd also like to point out that despite the large box that the Dell comes in, it does not include any monitor, or a set of speakers so I'll just leave them out of the comparison equation (as an aside, from the size of the box, I really thought they were in there at first).

All right, without further delay, here's what I built to try to beat this low end Dell. I started with an Athlon X2 3600+ like the Dell. I plugged that into a Biostar motherboard (there were ASUS mobo's at a similar price point) which includes a similar nVidia 6100 integrated graphics. I went with a Samsung SATA hard drive of the same 250 GB capacity. Add in a LiteOn 20x optical drive that is faster than the Dell's 16x if you can find media to support it. For the memory, I went for a full gig of OCZ memory, of the faster 800 MHz variety, that may add a little performance boost compared to the slower RAM Dell is using (for the difference in price, I always stick with a decent brand as RAM issues can be especially vexing). This is going to be housed in a budget case that includes a 430 Watt power supply; it's no beauty, and my faithful fans know that we should stick with name brand power supplies, but who knows what Dell is using, and their case is no looker anyway. All of this hardware will be run by Windows Home Premium. I went with an OEM copy which is actually a fair comparison as you can't reinstall what Dell sells you on another computer either. You can view the parts list here to get the current price breakdown should you want to build our "TechNudge Beats Up On Dell" system.

So how did we do? Remember that I'm trying to beat a Dell budget box mass produced and mass sold at Wal-Mart- the largest US retailer, and known for rollback pricing. How does $391 sound for my box? I was kind of surprised that I could beat the Dell by so much, and so easily. Maybe I'm just getting good at this! Does this mean there is a 25% profit margin on the Dell E521? For this price, they really should throw in a cheap monitor.

From my price analysis, the E521 looks to be quite overpriced. I wouldn't buy one, and neither should anyone else. Of course, I'm going to recommend to build your own computer. With the extra $100, we can upgrade the processor, and decide between doubling the RAM, or a cheap graphics card for a much better system. That's worth a night or two of assembling to many of us out there, and if you think about it, probably to you too.

--Jonas

Build Vs. Buy: Home Theater PC Edition

With all of this recent buzz about AppleTV, other WiFi/television enabled devices, and the lack of a digital tuner hard drive enabled recording device currently, I wanted to explore the world of home theater PC's. As they can be quite expensive, I wanted to specifically look at how much commercial versions were selling for, and put together some blueprints for what a decent one would really cost to put together. True to our great TechNudge tradition, we'll do it as a "build vs. buy" comparison.

First of all, I wanted to keep in mind that the AppleTV sells for $299, but that while you can listen to your iTunes content and view photos, it's really not a total solution because you would still need another box to serve the other roles. More specifically, I'm thinking about playing DVD's, and recording television which most people probably would get more use out of than the box with the Apple branded logo. Unfortunately, when we're talking about recording devices, those in the know would really want one with a hard drive, but there currently aren't any that we can buy with a digital tuner. Be that as it may, supposedly soon, Wal-Mart will be selling one with a hard drive of 160 gigs capacity that can handle recording duties, for standard definition digital television and it is expected to retail for $300. If you want a set top box with HDTV recording capabilities in 2007, well you're gonna have to enter the computer arena. So, if you want the full gamut of capabilities to your television, adding an AppleTV, and a theoretical hard drive recorder, the budget is $600, and we end up with two boxes (which may not pass muster with the significant other, but that's another story...).

Next we turn our attention to the preassembled side of things. For better or worse, there are few preassembled computer solutions out there in the home theater pc realm. First up, we'll look at the Gateway eMachines GM5420. On one hand, it seems to have some serious specs quite nicely done: a core 2 Duo E6300 processor, 2 gigs of RAM, a 320 gig hard drive, and both analog and digital tuners (NTSC/ATSC, but not QAM) as well as a 16x DVDRW. However, it uses integrated graphics which would not work to drive the many pixels of a large screen HDTV, although a free PCI Express x16 slot is available for the much needed upgrade. I also think that it looks far more at home in a dorm room or bedroom than in any living room, limiting it from being a true entertainment PC. While I like the flash card reader for digital camera pix viewing, the system is in dire need of a wireless keyboard and mouse so you can control it from the sofa. This is still a lot of pc for the $949 price tag, but after adding in even some cheap graphics card, and the wireless input devices, we're clearly gonna be north of a grand before tax.

Next stop is over at HP. I decided to custom configure one of their m8000y series desktops as they are phasing out their other line of entertainment pc's. While their retail configuration tips the scales at just under $1600, I decided to cheapen things up, and custom configured something that would be more cost competitive. For $1408, the specs are pretty decent. We're talking about the same Core 2 Duo E6300 chip, 2 gigs of RAM, 16x DVDRW and a NTSC/ATSC tuner, with a remote. The extra dough compared to the eMachines rig goes into a 400 gig hard drive, and an nVidia 7500LE, 256 MB graphics card which should be ok for video, although not for serious gaming. They also throw in the wireless keyboard and mouse that were missing from the previous system for that price. Both systems use the Windows Vista Home Premium as their operating system.

Two other items to bear in mind about the HP system. First, I had to drop the extended service plan to get the price down so when it breaks, you're on your own. I doubt most folks that would buy a prebuilt PC would think that would be a really good idea, and in the scheme of things, it's probably not. The other point is that the HP system with its upright tower case has the looks of a bedroom desktop, and not what one would want for their living room.

As they say, if you want to do something right, do it yourself, so let's see what I came up with. Here's the disclaimer: I'm sure that there will be a wide variation of opinion on the best parts to get the job done. My guiding principle was trying to make a decent home theater PC that would still be more affordable than the preassembled solutions. I was also trying to keep the price close to the set top box price of $600 (for the two $300 dedicated boxes as I explained above). Without further ado, here's what I came up with...

I wanted to start with a case that would fit in better in a living room, so we started with the Silverstone Lascala 10. Add in an MSI motherboard, a Core 2 Duo E4300 processor and 2 gigs of RAM. (If we went the AMD route, we could accept less performance and go with an Athlon X2 3600+ and an AM2 motherboard, but it would be less performance, and run a little hotter and louder so I went the Core 2 Duo route). For storage, I'm going with a Samsung 400 GB SATA drive which runs nice and quiet. The video duties will be handled by a Hauppaugue video capture card, the 1178, that supports ATSC signals, and a graphics card, the X1650 with 256 megs of RAM that has VGA, DVI and S-video out ports, and is designed for cramped cases. Completing the system are a Coolermaster 500 Watt power supply, a Pioneer DVDRW, a Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse combo, and a copy of Windows Vista Premium. You can see the whole list of parts here at NewEgg to see the actual specs of everything involved.

So, how did I do pricewise? Pretty good on this one as I was able to match the performance of the more expensive HP system, for a price below what the Gateway system sells for! My total is $876, and there are two rebates that I'm not even counting in there. This is one more example of building a system as the better route. Not only is is less expensive, but I end up with a case that really belongs in my living room, and is far more upgradeable down the road. However, compared to the two dedicated boxes, there is a premium involved, as well as some "sweat factor" for the assembly as it does exceed the $600 barrier.

Before you rush out and buy these parts for your next system build, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that HTPC's is one of the few areas where an Apple becomes a viable option. Bill has been exploring this, and will fill us all in soon on how his Mac Mini with an HDTV tuner is performing. While the Mini is a nice compact solution, it also is quite expensive so those looking for a better deal can stick with my system build.

--Jonas

Build Vs. Recycle

Pride Goest Before the Fall...

We've looked at the popular question as to whether we should build or buy a desktop computer (and generated a fair amount of debate). While buying is the more popular choice as I'm sure that Dell and HP sell more boxes than NewEgg and Tigerdirect ship processors and motherboards, among enthusiasts, our bent is to build. This is the only way to screw together a creation that we'll be proud to call our computer, customizing it to our needs all the way.

However, when our desktop is having major issues, the question becomes as to whether to try and rebuild it better, or simply start again with all new parts. In my view this is an even more difficult issue, and can be dictated by emotions as we try to revive a faithful desktop back to full duty.

On one end of the equation are our needs. Being honest with oneself, and realistically assessing what we want to do with it is key here. While we all may druel for an Extreme Edition C2D Quad Core, most of us can't really use that much power (of course Bill might think it's just fast enough for his triple TV tuner home theater rig, but enough digression). In my case, I need a desktop for word processing, internet, frequent image manipulation, occasional audio editing, and even rarer video manipulation. I haven't played any games in the last few years.

Also, we need to take into account the parts in the current computer. That old AGP card won't work in the latest PCIe motherboard. There may not be enough IDE connectors for the older hard drives as we shift to SATA. RAM has more flavors than anyone can keep track of, but that new motherboard probably won't support those old sticks, no matter how high performance they were at the time. The older power supplies may simply not have enough juice, or the right connections, like SATA to power the drives without additional adapters.

The old rule of thumb was if more than two components needed upgrading, then we should forget it, and buy a new machine. However, the decision is rarely that cut and dry.

Unfortunately, my current desktop is dead, as in the motherboard won't boot past the bios screen no matter what I try. My "drawing board" has been busy as I come up with plans to get a desktop back up and running. Seriously, computing on a 12 inch notebook just isn't too satisfying, and these folks who only use a notebook don't know what they're missing.

Plan A was to wait for the end of April to take advantage of the price cuts from Intel. While an E6600 will go for $222 supposedly, and I could put it in a $300 Shuttle, I'm not enthusiastic about buying a 9 month old processor, with 45 nm chips on the horizon (and the great unknown of what AMD's barcelona Core2Duo fighter will be). Also, I'd have to wait for over 10 weeks, and even if the cuts happened on April 22nd, by the time I collect parts, and build, I'm not together again till early May. Let's just say I'm getting impatient. Also, I'd like to reuse some of my current parts.

At the other extreme, I was looking into a bargain deal. Actually, it's more of a bargain basement deal, as in we've hit rockbottom. For $80, I can get a Celeron 356 chip, and a new mATX motherboard. After getting past the realization that I'd be the owner of a Celery processor, and could never put that in my signature in any forum without being laughed at, I got more objective. The chip in the end isn't terrible as at least it's manufactured at 65 nm, but the motherboard is simply dismal. It's made by ECS and looking around it seems like it's often more trouble than it's worth. I've concluded that my time and aggravation are worth something, and turning down this "challenge" is a wise move. Also, in this special bundled deal, there's no heatsink or fan included. Aside from making me curious where these chips came from, or if they're even new, when we start adding these required parts in, the bargain loses its attractiveness anyway. This may fit under the idea that cheap is just not a bargain.

After researching processors for last week's article, it became clear that at the low end, the Athlon X2 is still the one to beat. However, in my case (pun intended!) the problem comes down to one of memory. Most of these AM2 boards need the faster DDR-6400 memory, and don't support the older DDR-3200 standard. Some support DDR- 5400, but there's little difference in the price compared to 6400. I have (3) 512 mb sticks of DDR-3200 RAM around, and I'd really like to use it. For me, if I have to get new RAM, I'd forget the AM2, and go back to the C2D, but that doesn't work either as I explained above.

All of this research and thinking is enough to make me start surfing the Dell site. Well, almost, so don't get too scared. It turns out, I'm looking to go with an unlikely choice. While the Pentium D's are no screamers, and ran too warm, they may offer a solution to my current problem. For $56, I can get a Gigabyte motherboard which is well rated. Another $97 gets me the Pentium D 915 in the retail package with the heatsink and fan. The RAM and AGP video card gets recycled from my current box. The Pentium D 915 had double the cache of the 8xx series, which translates into only a mild boost in performance, but more cache is usually better. More significantly, it uses the 65 nm process that should run a little cooler than the 8xx gear that are 90 nm chips. Going through benchmarks, overall, it looks like it's roughly equivalent to my now defunct Athlon 64 3800+ processor. Quite frankly, the processor was fast enough, except when multitasking, so the Pentium D should be an improvement in that area.

Ok, so there you have it. For around $150 I can get a new dual core processor and motherboard. Feel free to offer advice in the comments section... And, yes I do know how much better a C2D chip would be for another $200, (or even a little less), and do still wish to pursue this route.

--Jonas

Build vs. Buy: Can We Build It Better?

Back by popular demand, I wanted to look at another "build vs. buy" comparison. I've previously shown that at the very low end, it's hard to beat the price of the Dell. We've also looked at the very upper end, and the Dell can be built for around a grand less with a home build. However, most of us don't have the cheapest, or the most expensive desktop around.

$500 is a good price point to build around, particularly for a student. It's still a reasonable amount of cash that can be parted with after a summer of savings. So, I'm going to compare what Mikie Dell can deliver for that price point, and what I can build it for. Unlike previous builds I've done, there is a twist this time. Rather than blindly just matching parts exactly, I'm going to build a desktop that I would actually want to own. Follow along, and you'll see where we're going with this.

On the Dell side of things, I'm talking about the Dell Dimension E521. For exactly $499 we get the following specs:

• AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor
• Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
  
• 512 MB RAM
• 80 GB SATA Hard Drive
• DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
• 15" LCD
• Integrated Graphics & Audio
• Dell USB Keyboard & Mouse
• No Floppy Drive
• No Speakers
• 56K Modem
• 1 Year Warranty

In my opinion, these are decent specs for someone looking to do word processing, internet surfing, and basic audio tasks. In other words, this isn't exactly a computer that most of us would be drooling over. Let's go component by component, and build a box that we would actually want, with an eye towards the budget of about $500. As always, the parts are all from NewEgg so we can all see the prices that are nationally available to all of us.

First stop is the processor. While an Athlon 64 is ok, I'm not sure why Dell didn't go with a budget dual core processor. With quad cores on the horizon, a dual core is the way to go. For a mere $92, we can get a Pentium D 805. This is a wonderful processor, not to mention its overclocking abilities.

Next up is the operating system. It's a little strange to me that Dell went with Windows Media Center Edition, for computer with no TV tuner, or remote. I'd save the money and use Windows XP Home for $87.99. (If you really want MCE, on a computer that relly doesn't need it, it's $110, but I'm not using it in the calculations).

Now we turn our attention to the motherboard. I'm choosing the ASUS P5VDC-MX. It's based on the Via chipset. It is a micro ATX board with both AGP, and PCI Express slots and on board graphics, audio and ethernet. It retails for $54.99. I probably would add a budget video card down the road, but this isn't essential to get this all up and running, and the Dell doesn't come with one either.

The RAM retails for the identical price of $54.99. That gets us a single stick of Kingston ValueRAM, DDR 400, 3200. I'd go with the single stick because we'll probably want to upgrade at some point to a full gig. For a few bucks more, there are a few other choices as well.

The Dell is quite cramped on hard drive space at a mere 80 gigs. I would double that and go with a 160 GB Western Digital SATA drive. This will only run us $54.99, and give us double the storage. This is a no brainer of an upgrade in my mind, and my only temptation would be to go for a 250 gigger drive which is only $25 more.

The next component is the optical drive. Again, the Dell cheaps out on an essential component. When we can get a MadDog 16x DVDRW burner that even supports DVD-RAM, I'm puzzled why Dell would be using a DVD/CDRW combo drive unless they've got them laying around and want to use them up. If we'd like a different brand, there are plenty of other choices at NewEgg in the downright cheap $30 range. The Mad Dog goes for $28.99.

Let's look at the monitor next. Dell is giving us a mere 15". Trust me on this, our eyes deserve better. Unless you live in a cramped Manhattan studio apartment, go for the 17" (or even bigger; I use a 19"). Besides, a decent monitor can outlive the desktop. There are some choices for around $150, but this one for $146.99 is pretty rock bottom priced. Besides, it's only $20 above a 15" LCD!

I'm going to skip over the next few items. Dell doesn't supply speakers, so we won't go there either, although we'll clearly need something to hear the audio. A mouse and keyboard can be recycled from an older system, borrowed from a friendly geek, or picked up on the cheap when on sale for less than $10. Most users won't need a 56k modem on their desktop because they'll use their ethernet port to connect to the campus or office LAN, or the broadband router in their house.

This leaves us with the issue of the case. Again, we should get a semidecent case that will allow us to upgrade the motherboard down the road. I spotted this one that includes a 350W power supply that will help us keep the cost down. It is well rated, and even has a front panel temp display. It sells for a mere $49.99.

Now let's go to the calculator. Remember that because we can choose the components we made a few upgrades. We chose a dual core processor, doubled the size of the hard drive, went with a larger LCD monitor, and upgraded from a combo drive to a DVD rewriter. I will admit that even I was surprised that my total, even with all of these upgrades, and not buying anything on limited time special or rebate, was still only $570.93. To me, just the dual core processor upgrade is worth the extra $70. This is the real value of building our own computer. I'm calling this one a win for the builders, hands down!

--Jonas

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build vs buy, dell, do it yourself pc, pc building

Can We Build It Cheaper: HP Edition

This is the third installment in our insanely popular series. Previously, we looked at systems from Dell, and then figured out if we could screw a rig together for less. The results were divided as on the low end Dell was considerably cheaper, and at the high end they were considerably more expensive.

This time around, I decided to give ol' Mike Dell in Texas (we're not quite on a first name basis...yet) a rest, and dissect a system from another manufacturer. Mmmmm...how does HP sound? Last I heard, they were the number two computer maker, so let's see how they do on the challenge. Rather than get the price on the HP web site, I decided to grab a bundle from a major computer retailer better known as Best Buy. I'm sure you've heard of them, and this way, on a bundle, we're trying to beat a real deal, and not a manufacturer's suggested retail price that most of us are smart enough not to pay anyway. The rules are simple. We price out the components from NewEgg, and we see if the HP is cheaper or more expensive. Ready? Here goes!

The HP Pavilion 820 Media Center Desktop starts with one of the lower end dual core Intel processors, the Pentium D 820. It features a 2.8 GHz clock speed, and each core has its own 1 meg of L2 cache. This processor retails for $167 currently.

The next item of business is a motherboard. We need one that supports the Pentium D processor (Socket 775). Also, the motherboard has to support the faster RAM (see below), and have both SATA and PCI Express connections. This rules out an older board. While there are several choices, this microATX board from Intel sports the right connections, and goes for an even $100.

The HP system has a generous 2 gigs of the fast 4200 DDR2 RAM. To match it, I decided to go with the Corsair Value Select, 1 GB per stick, DDR2 4200 memory. It retails for $73.50 per stick, and we'll need two. Of course, we could go with a no name brand, or buy 4 sticks of 512 MB RAM. In the end, who knows what HP is doing to save a few bucks, but if we're doing it ourselves, I plan on doing it right, and leaving a path to upgrade without tossing perfectly fine memory later on.

The HP specifies a 250 GB hard drive, with a 7200 RPM speed, using the SATA interface. This is easy to match with a Maxtor of the same specs, and a performance enhancing 16 megs of on board cache. For the record, the $75 price on NewEgg is downright cheap as I paid more for one last month, with only 8 MB of cache.

The HP uses a rather low end graphics card, the NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE with a paltry 64 megs of RAM. At least it's better than integrated graphics, although aside from not distracting the system RAM, I'm really not sure it's much of an improvement. The 64 megs of RAM must be an "HP exclusive part," as at NewEgg we can buy the card with 256 MB of RAM for $65, but not a 64 meg version.

The HP uses a single optical drive. It is a 16x DVD burner, supports LightScribe labeling technology, and even can write DVD-RAM at 5x. This LiteOn can match all of that, and is a cool $39!

The HP uses Windows XP Media Center 2005 as its operating system. We can match it for $110 over at NewEgg.

The HP is using motherboard ethernet, and audio connections, which our motherboard is supporting. The HP does come with a keyboard and mouse; if you don't have one lying around add $10 for a basic one. The HP system doesn't mention anything about speakers so we won't include them in our calculations. The HP doesn't have a TV tuner, which significantly limits it as a media center PC, so we won't include one in our build either.

A case is always difficult to match with HP. After all, they use a propietary case, and don't tell us how much wattage the power supply has. To be fair, I chose a $50 case with a 400 Watt power supply included. This is lower middle of the road as far as cases go, but it still looks better than the boring gray HP box.

The HP includes a 15" LCD monitor. That's a little small by current standards as many folks go for the 17" or larger today with the LCD. Over at NewEgg, a 15" LCD will set you back $150 (I'm not figuring in the $30 rebate for the price). I'm not recommending this display; personally I'd go larger, and more name brand.

Finally, the bundle from Best Buy includes a printer- the HP 5440 to be exact (not too surprising in the end). This general purpose inkjet sells for $60 over at NewEgg.

Now, the moment we've all been waiting for. The HP bundle retails for $970 after rebates over where the "geek squad" lives. Our matching system build will set us back a quite even $963! This is quite an even horse race...assuming we receive the Best Buy rebates.

However, I would still build personally. Why? I'd be willing to trade my system warranty for individual component choices (with warranties), and on the belief that I can do it better. The control freak in me tells me that it's better to know exactly the brand and type of RAM I'm getting, the more RAM video card, and the larger cached hard drive. Not to mention a motherboard that can be upgraded, or the cleaner wiring. Then again HP is in business, and from a parts perspective, at least this is a fair deal.

--Jonas

Can We Build It Cheaper Than Dell: High End Edition

What Happens When We Price Out A System We Would Actually Want...

Last month, I heard about a really great deal on a Dell desktop. Was the price too low? Well, after some research, and calculator time, we concluded that the Dell beat the home built rig by a margin of 50%! If you didn't read it, you can see all the gory details here.

Was I ready to call up Mike Dell and tell him to screw one together for me? Not quite. You see, this was on a very barebones computer, suitable really for only basic needs. This is not at all the kind of rig that I would want by my desk at all. The question came up in all of our TechNudge minds pretty quickly if the ultra cheap Dell was an aberration, or if all their computers were that much cheaper. After all, Dell is the number one computer maker for some reason. But would a high end system be 50% cheaper than from NewEgg? Or was Dell playing a game of bait and switch here betting on the idea that no one was really looking to buy such a low end system, and they would make it up on the upgrades?

I decided to find out. I went to the Dell web site, and went to their standard high end desktop, the XPS 600. This is their most expensive desktop line, suitable for serious applications, with an over three grand price tag to match. I left it "as is" and didn't customize anything.

The Dell XPS 600 system can be viewed here.

The rules are the same as last time. I will now go through the parts bin at NewEgg matching up the parts, and pricing out the Dell system. Let's see who is cheaper this time on a system that we would actually want...

The heart of a system is the processor. Sticking to their Intel only philosophy, Dell goes with a Pentium D Processor 920 with Dual Core Technology (2.8GHz, 800FSB). This is one of the 900 series of dual core processors, and it retails for $213.99 over at NewEgg. Hmmm...I thought a computer over three grand would use a more expensive processor. Never mind that I can buy a refurbished 920 for $20 less.

Of course we don't know exactly what motherboard the Dell folks are using. I looked for one that would support the processor, the RAM, have built in RAID, SATA, and work with the dual graphics cards. This one satisfies these requirements, and will lighten our wallet an affordable $139.99.

As a no cost upgrade, Dell includes for the operating system, the Windows Media Center Edition 2005 release. While most stores won't sell it to consumers as it's intended for manufacturer's only, NewEgg will sell us a copy. It will set us back $114.95 to have the full set of media capabilities to match the Dell.

Dell has to include some serious parts to justify the high price tag. they come through in the graphics department. Not one, but a dual graphics card setup using a pair of 512MB nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX cards. Over at NewEgg, they sell for $489.99 each.

Next, we turn our attention to the RAM. Here, the Dell delivers 2 GB of RAM. This comes in two 1 GB sticks of Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz. Now this is serious memory. Over at NewEgg, to match it I went with the Corsair two 1 GB sticks of the even faster DDR2 675 memory. This will set us back $190 for this serious part.

The XPS 600 includes two hard drives in a RAID array setup. The part specified is a 320GB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 160GB SATA 3Gb/s HDDs). While that sounds real expensive, I was surprised to see that we could buy hard drives in those specs (including 8 megs of onboard cache per drive) in the Hitachi brand for $64.99 a piece. If you have a preference for Western Digital, they're only a buck more per drive so get ahead and splurge.

The Dell includes two optical drives: a DVD-ROM, and a DVD writer that is dual layer capable. This is somewhat silly, as the writers are just as fast at reading as the DVD-ROM's. Perhaps if you read a lot of discs this makes sense, as you can save the wear and tear on the DVD writer, although by the time you wear it out, it's time to upgrade anyway. Without further discussion, we'll need a DVD-ROM from LiteOn for $18.99, and an equivalent DVD writer from Benq for $34.99.

Dell throws in a 13-in-1 media reader for flash card duties. While a USB reader would be cheaper, an internal one runs $26.99, and includes audio connections that the Dell won't have so consider it a bonus.

Like the budget system, Dell throws in a 19" analog LCD. While NewEgg was having some one day sales, and rebates from better known manufacturers, to be completely fair, I chose this 19" LCD monitor that will run $229.99. After all, who makes them for Dell anyway?

The Dell uses a top end sound card, the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic, which is the latest offering. This part will empty our pockets of $121.99.

For such a great sound card, you'll never really enjoy it with the speakers that Dell includes which are only one better than their cheapest. They're a 2.1 30 watt setup in the included package. These Logitech speakers are probably a little better, and will run us an affordable $33.99, but have similar wattage and are 2.1. C'mon Dell, for three grand can't you throw in speakers worth more than $30?

The Dell includes a Saitek keyboard that retails for $46.99, and a Logitech G5 gaming mouse worth $44.99.

Of course, the Dell ships with one of their signature cases. When we configured our barebones, we went with something more inexpensive (aka: cheaper). This time we'll go with this case that goes for $64.99 after a rebate. It includes a 450 W power supply.

Ok, now that we've dissected the Dell system, and priced out the components, it's time to whip out the calculator. The Dell system comes in at a hefty $3354 total for the parts as described. And the drum roll please....our equivalent home built box comes in at a more affordable $2392.80. I'm even surprised that this is about a grand less than Dell.

Why is this so much cheaper? The theory we're proposing is that the $400 desktop to them is the loss leader. This is like the 99 cent item in the grocery store. They're not making any money, but they are generating the traffic. Once you're there, we surmise that everything must be a good deal, and you buy the top end stuff. Is it working? You bet, as Dell is the #1 PC maker for quite a while now. Will they get my money? No way, I'll hang on to my screwdriver and zip ties. A few nights of work is definitely worth a grand to me, how about you?

--Jonas

Bargain Dell

Is This Price Too Low?

Just this week we learned that Dell was losing market share by a tiny amount. How small are we talking about? We're in the neighborhood of 0.4%, but I suppose the number one PC maker wants to reverse this trend. Well, when a supermarket wants to get you in the door, they sell one or two items at a ridiculously low price, in the hopes that you'll do your weekly shopping once in the door. This is known as the "loss leader." I believe that Dell is doing the same thing currently.

Link to the Dell bargain system.

I thought it would be interesting to add up the cost of the components if I were going to screw the box together myself. I used NewEgg's prices for comparison as they usually reasonable, and sell a wide variety of parts.

Let's start with the processor. Dell is using a Pentium 4 chip running at a 2.8 GHz clock speed, and with a 533 MHz bus. This is hardly cutting edge, and for around $30 more if I was building a system, I would go for the intro dual core chip. However, this is the chip that Dell is using, and it should be more than adequate for most users with general needs. At NewEgg, the chip is going for $111, before shipping.

Next stop is memory. Personally, with Windows XP, I wouldn't build a system with less than 512 MB of RAM, and would much prefer a full gig. However, Dell is including a bare bones of 256 MB of DDR 400 SDRAM with their system. NewEgg has this part in its arsenal for a bargain $17.

The processor and RAM get inserted into the motherboard. Dell is notorious for using their own proprietary motherboards, that can't be flashed or upgraded. You can get this one at NewEgg for a bargain of $39.50. It is compatible with the RAM and processor, and uses a microATX format.

Of course, we'll need a case to house all of this in. About the cheapest you can go on a case and get a power supply is $24.99. Personally, a higher quality case is a good investment as it can survive several system rebuilds. However, we'll go for this cheap case, and its included power supply.

Next up is the hard drive. Dell includes an 80 GB 7200 RPM, ultra ATA 100 drive in the system. If you don't edit video, this is probably adequate for many users, but again,, nothing cutting edge here. NewEgg has a Western Digital hard drive with these specs for an even $50.

In the Dell system, the included optical drive is a combo drive that can read DVD's, and write CD's. For the price difference, I would include a DVD burner, but we'll go with what Dell includes. If you don't burn DVD's, this should be ample. NewEgg has a LiteOn combo drive for $24.99 that is comparable.

One of the highlights on the Dell system is a 19" LCD. I upgraded to this a few months ago, and it truly is the way to go if you have enough room on your desk. Even if you don't, make the room, cut a hole in the wall, whatever it takes. Anyway, how much is this worth? On the NewEgg site, the best price for a new 19" LCD display is still $232 for a Hyundai brand.

The Dell includes Microsoft's Windows XP Home Edition. Until Vista is released sometime next year, this is the consumer edition of Microsoft's latest operating system. NewEgg will sell it to you for $89.95.

Many users will simply reuse an old keyboard and mouse on a newer system. However, to be fair, the Dell does include a mouse and keyboard. You can get a standard keyboard at NewEgg for $5.25. The mouse will set you back $4.36.

So what is the verdict? Well compared to Dell's price tag of $399, my parts, even using many of the cheapest components, came in at $599.04. I'm 50% higher! A significant part of my system budget does go to the 19" LCD monitor. Also, the Windows operating system Dell can get significantly cheaper than an individual is able to purchase it at. Still, I can barely purchase the monitor, Windows and the processor for what Dell is selling the entire system at.

For this week at least, Dell's agressive low end pricing is the consumer's gain, assuming you can live with a low end system like this. In the end, at least you'll be able to reuse the monitor with your next system!

--Jonas