Allright guys, I'm deciding to buy a new pc, and would like to get either a 4700 or 8400 series by Dell. What would you guys choose? Can the 4700 keep up with the 8400 if they have the same upgrades? Now mind you, this is what I'll mainly be using it for...

1) Play CS, half life 2, and others...

2) Watch dvd's on it (prolly go with 19inch lcd, or 20-21 if I have the cash for it)

3) Hook up this little surround sound I got a while back for it...

What I will do most likely, is down the road, upgrade the graphics card, and Dvd-rw as well. This is what I intend to put on it...
* 160 gig, or 250
* 1 gig ram
* dual drives cd-rw/dvd
* usb optical mouse (or just get teh shitty one and buy a better one elsehwere?)
* buy a better sound card, or get one from the list at dells website?

Thats about all I can think for now, if you guys have any suggestions on going this route, feel free to chime in. If you dont like dell, thats fine, but no bashings please.

 

I can tell you this. The 8400 chassis can be upgraded further for the future. Your upgrades mentioned will max out the 4700. The only other difference is the style and type of chassis. The 8400 is a hinged lid and (IMO) looks better. I would go with the 8400 hands down. Upgraded to your specs, they should be near the same price, since the 8400 gets a bigger discount than the 4700 does.

FYI--Until yesterday I was a operations manager for Dell, in the dimension factory. I still work there, different capacity. If you order a dimension, let me know and I will drop your order the minute you send me the order number. This will ship your system, the same day.

 

go 8400 and only get the ram upgrade if it is a good deal, or a %30 off or something

i would also go with the media center with a single tuner card (why not at this point) and get the raid 0 drives if you are just gaming with itf or the most part... but i would get the graphics card through them and the dvd burner, they have had some really good deals lately on these things...

get an aftermarket wireless keyboard mouse combo, they are cheaper than you can get from dell usually, and the speakers i didn't get either, just plugged mine into the receiver i have... but i went with the upgraded sound card with firewire built in for the ipod

 

Jwhite, I will definately let you know when I order it, thanks! 03types, what do u mean by the media center w/ single tuner card?

My sister said she'll pay the upgrade for the ram up to 1 gig, so I'm not worried about that, just everything else I am. And as far as the gigs go, whats the difference between the Sata, ATA, or that Raid?

 

i mean get the media center operating system, it is basically xp with a tivo function built in for free, it is pretty sweet,

i meant to get the choice of that with one tuner card, for watching tv, recording tv, and then get an aftermarket hdtv card to plug in for recording the over the air hdtv... media center supports up to two tuner cards

you will either we be looking at SATA (super ata) or some raid configuration, the sata is plenty fast, but the raid 0 uses data striping, and isn't for backup like normal raid (1 or 3 or 5) but writes to the disks a little bit faster and if you are recording hdtv it can help...

it might be overkill for you, but i just got one and it is a blast... but its just a media center and gaming computer for me, i don't really do any real work on it

 

I agree with 03, except one thing. The wireless keyboard and mouse combo from Dell is only a $50 upgrade. I do not think you can get a comparable quality aftermarket set for that price.

 

i got my dell with the standard keyboard and mouse for backup and then ordered the microsoft wireless desktop set off of amazon for $43 shipped, i had two sets for less than the price of upgrading on the site...

but if i could do that again i would get this

GYRATION Black Wireless Ultra GT Full-Size Keyboard Suite

this thing works badass, the mouse has a gyroscope and works like a 3d mouse, a good friend has one and i was amazed...

soon i will upgrade to one... it would be perfect for using with a media computer, and they are making a media center edition remote that has a gyroscope mouse built in

 

link to the media center remote with built in 3d mouse... http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000810041479/

and did i say thuper ata, i meant serial

 

Well I guess I am wrong on the keyboard.

Go with 03's suggestion. That keyboard and 3d mouse is awesome.

 

From what you say, the media center is certainly amazing, but no offense or anything it would be pretty useless for me. I wont be using it for any kind of tivo, or any tv watching. Like I said, it'd be for gaming, movies, videos that I'll be dl off some "places".

I dont think I'll be too worried about how fast it backs up onto the disk. I just want to have fun, play games, watch movies, and enjoy a fast computer, especially after bein w/ this slow ass Dell L-800 series p3 768 mhz w/ 128 megs of ram.

 

How does that Gyration mouse work? Is it like a regular mouse, or what?

For the sound card, is the one that dell sells for like 80 be fine for my surround sound, or the cheaper one will work as well?

And for the graphics card, it would be best to just wait a lil while and then upgrade that as well, right? All I know is that I'll be using this pc to the full extent, esp. w/ the games and movies.

 

for gaming, get a logitech mx500/510

 

the gyration would not be appropriate for gaming, it would only be if you want to sit on the couch a few feet away from the lcd and use it for music or dvd's or something,

it looks kind of like a remote control and you hold a trigger button underneath, then wave the mouse around in the air and it moves on the screen, you can then click the top two buttons like it is a normal mouse for clicking, it is not 100% accurate but pretty close for most stuff, definetely not for gaming!

as for a sound card, someone else may chime in, i pretty much thought that 5.1 would be plenty for almost anyone but i am not sure how serious you are about sound and what setup would be playing it

i personally would upgrade video card now and sound card later if at all