Okay so I went to Dell > Home/Home Office > Desktops & AIO Computers. Checked the price range box $500- $800 and got results. Three down is an Inspiron 620s for $549. Here is what it includes and how those components stack up to what you priced out. Sorry for the ugly cut and paste.
thanks for taking the time to do the comparison
6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz- 2 DIMMs - 2GB less than what you priced but this is always the easiest future upgrade and currently more that you will use.
I agree, RAM is always the easiest upgrade. but one thing that isn't clear is if the motherboard has four slots or just two. If it has four slots, then I just pop in whatever RAM I want down the road, and it's in addition to the 6gb already there. If there are only two slots, then when I upgrade, whatever I get will be instead of the 6gb, not in addition to. Not a deal breaker by any means, but something that I am considering.
Intel® HD Graphics - Personally I think the integrated graphics from AMD (ATI products) are terrible. Always conflicting with other hardware. Intel are pretty standard. Now for separate Graphics Cards the ATI fair better but their integrated video...no thanks
thank you for sharing your opinion there. like I said earlier, I'm not going to use it for any high end graphics, so as long as it works, I'm fine with it. but if I'll have issues (conflicts?) that will cause my big head aches, that's another story.
Integrated 8 in 1 Media Card Reader - One less thing to buy
A minor consideration. Especially because I already have an external USB 2.0 card reader. As discussed earlier, not as fast as an internal card reader, but fast enough to suffice.
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English - There's your legal copy of Windows 7
Inspiron 620 Minitower w/ Black Bezel FT16 - I love the Antec case but this one is small.
While the Inspiron 620 mini tower is nice because it's small, it offers a lot less flexibility down the road, right?
Intel® Core™ i3-2100 processor(3MB Cache, 3.10GHz) - There is no question I would go for the Core i3 before I would go with ANY AMD processor. This is a big upgrade. Even with the core count difference. Ever wonder why the only positive people seem to give the AMD cpu's is their price and not actual performance? I run a Core i7 920 OC'd and absolutely LOVE IT!
I'm sure the Core i7 920 OC'd is great.
On this page:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.htmlThe Intel Core i3-2100 @ 3.10GHz is rated at 3,829
the AMD Phenom II X4 955 is rated at 3,955
so on that benchmark page, the AMD comes out on top, although the two are fairly similar.
while most people who talk positively about the AMD mention price, it's usually in terms of price/performance ratio.
You get similar performance for less money. Sure, Intel comes out on top for the best of the best. but in general, AMD chips are just fine.
I have built many machines both for home and for work as well as for friends. I truly believe that the only way you really benefit from building your own is when you are looking to build either a performance machine or a machine with a dedicated purpose like a dedicated HTPC. For 99% of everyday computers users with a general household role for the machine are better served buying from a manufacturer that can kill on low prices.
thanks again for sharing your opinion. It's certainly making me take a closer look at the dell. part of it is that the dell site doesn't give a lot of specifics in regards to number of expansion slots, etc, etc.. which makes it hard to compare the fine details.