[Comp] HOT - Dell Vostro 470: i5 3450 + 1TB HDD + 8GB RAM + Gigabit + Wireless N = $609

[canadiankorean]

Please read entire thread. To get the $100 coupon, you need to trigger it with $699 or more.

OP, why do you defend this so much?
I know the coupon is for $699 +
But why pay an inflated price, only to bring the price down to normal levels?

What I'm saying is, it'd be a HOT deal if they had a core i7 upgrade that takes it over the $699 mark. or even adding a mouse to take it over the threshold.

Otherwise this deal isn't really HOT.

[nyik]

+ some folks got BSOD

[bowmah]

OP, why do you defend this so much?
I know the coupon is for $699 +
But why pay an inflated price, only to bring the price down to normal levels?

What I'm saying is, it'd be a HOT deal if they had a core i7 upgrade that takes it over the $699 mark. or even adding a mouse to take it over the threshold.

Otherwise this deal isn't really HOT.

As has been covered, if you do not inflate the price, you cannot trigger then $100 coupon. Let's hope you are not trying to use a mouse to bring a $489 system to $699. That mouse better be able wash dishes and make breakfast lol

If this was an i7 deal, it would be scorching. But I have not seen any good i7 Vostros in quite a long time. They did blow out the 2700 last year at around the $650 mark. Based on the last 18 months of Vostro 400 series prices, this is a HOT deal.

[EPcjay]

It's alright. You are not the demographics Dell is targeting with this offer. In my experience, a 1TB HDD will last longer than a 500GB HDD. I don't mean uptime, from experience, most users with a 500 GB HDD will look for a HDD upgrade sooner than one with a 1TB HDD. I would rather end up with 1TB x 2 for longevity of machine. Less hassles in the long run.

To me, 12 GB of RAM is better than 8GB but from my own experience with MANY Vostros, not all RAM is compatible even though you can install it on the MB.

Like I said, if you do not find this offer attractive, then you are NOT the person Dell is trying to target here.

Generally, I would not defend a custom system build vs a dell, just cause building a brand new, putting all the stuff together, installing OS, tweaking the system and lack of suppot would definately be a good argument, but in this case RAM and hard drive is no harder than picking up the right fuse and installing it in your car. To add memory and hard drive on dell just to trigger the 100$ is not hot at all.

If 1tb isn't enough, then add 2tb? You a lot open to more options in the market than what dell is providing. Can't even add a 2nd drive. Only option is to upgrade.

It doesn't void warranty either doing it yourself for those who are scared. Dell even provides the insturctions on how to do it. Page 9 for memory, page 15 for hard drive.
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...n/OM/om_en.pdf

[nyik]

I used the 3 yr basic warranty to trigger the $100. I'm going pick up my own RAM to push it to 8GB, and add a 1TB drive later.

[bowmah]

Generally, I would not defend a custom system build vs a dell, just cause building a brand new, putting all the stuff together, installing OS, tweaking the system and lack of suppot would definately be a good argument, but in this case RAM and hard drive is no harder than picking up the right fuse and installing it in your car. To add memory and hard drive on dell just to trigger the 100$ is not hot at all.

If 1tb isn't enough, then add 2tb? You a lot open to more options in the market than what dell is providing. Can't even add a 2nd drive. Only option is to upgrade.

I agree. But in this specific case, the only way to get 1Tb and 8GB RAM is to trigger the $699. Yes, you can have a 500GB more HDD if you buy your own 1TB and then clone it over. There is a hidden partition with all your OS reload etc, so it would be waste not to keep this.

I would suggest to anyone who is serious about buying a PC to forget the high prices for upgrade from Dell. Trigger the $699, use the coupon, and then compare similar PC's on the market for $609. Pretty sure you won't find one anywhere easily for this price with these specs.

[bowmah]

I used the 3 yr basic warranty to trigger the $100. I'm going pick up my own RAM to push it to 8GB, and add a 1TB drive later.

Nice.

[Dave25]

I read in one review that the fan is very noisy on this machine. Anybody that has it can comment on the noise level?

[nyik]

I read in one review that the fan is very noisy on this machine. Anybody that has it can comment on the noise level?

You could always swap out the case fan, processor fan, or psu later.

[bowmah]

@Dave25, thanks for the heads up. Let's hope the noisey fan is a non-issue. Vostro 400 series have been very quiet for many generations now. From my own experiences, I think the noisiest part of the Vostro line is the fan on the low end graphics cards. Let's hope Dell does not mess things up after many gens of the 400 series and made a noisier unit.

[BobyYoo]

how about upgrading the graphic card to gt620 instead of upgrading the ram or hd ??

[bowmah]

how about upgrading the graphic card to gt620 instead of upgrading the ram or hd ??

It's your choice. My reasoning for upgrading RAM and HDD over GPU was that the on-board HD 2500 does ok for most work applications. Won't be gaming with this machine so will try this first. To me, RAM is easy to upgrade and so is GPU. Most difficult is HDD as you have to clone things over to the new drive if you want to keep the hidden Dell partition where you can re-load the OS if things break.

[jeffx]

If you're planning on using Linux, get the NVIDIA, not the Intel HD.

[nyik]

I did that as well. Although solely upgrading the gpu doesn't trigger the $100. Upgrading the gpu costs only $25, which is semi-on-par with an entry level graphics card.

[bowmah]

I did that as well. Although solely upgrading the gpu doesn't trigger the $100. Upgrading the gpu costs only $25, which is semi-on-par with an entry level graphics card.

GPU upgrade is $50 no?