My Dell Outlet experience.

[yanz]

Hi. I recently bought a computer through dell outlet and would like to share my experience with them. Few weeks ago I decided to upgrade my computer to a pc with core i7 cpu. I looked around for some deals but they are still pretty expensive. I read that Dell outlet had a pretty good deal on 435MT but it had already expired. I personally like dell computers but never bought anything from dell outlet. I did some reading about it and found most people had good experience with them. Also my friend bought a laptop from them and he received it almost brand new.

I went to their site and searched for 435MT inventory and came up with prices 600+, which is still pretty expensive for a refurbished pc. I realized that the inventory is updating all the time so I refreshed the page a few times and prices were always fluctuating. I searched a bit and found two programs which automate the process of adding cheaper pcs to your cart but one is very hard to setup and the other was refreshing the page two fast. What I did was downloaded page ReloadEvery addon for firefox and set to refresh every 30 seconds. For two days I saw prices going down to $500. I was not in the rush and was waiting for a better deal. Then I saw the price went down to $485 I immediately added that pc to cart. You have to add to cart quick because cheap systems go pretty quickly. In the next refresh It would not be there anymore. I then went to see why it was so cheap and it turns out that it was not classified as refurbished but as scratch and dent. I went and did some research on it and again a lot of people said good things about scratch and dent computers. You have to be quick because the system will be released from your cart after 15min of inactivity. I decided that because it’s a desktop and as long as nothing wrong on the inside I don’t mind few scratches and dents. Plus I have no problems opening up the system and fixing it and also dell give’s you a standard one year warranty. I went ahead and purchased the system. Dell outlet also has a lot of coupons but at that time they didn’t have anything for that system. Dell shipped the computer the next day and in two days I had the system delivered. When I opened the box and took out the pc I couldn’t believe it that it looked brand new. All it really had is a small dirt spot and 3 nail size scratches on top where the faceplate is. I opened the panel and it looked brand new inside. It turned on with out a problem and I have been using it for few days and it seems to work well. I think I got a pretty good deal on this computer.

Here are the stats.
Dell XPS 435MT Processor,
I7-920,2.66 Bloomfield,
XPS DT Dual In-line Memory Module,4GB,4X1GB,1066
Hard Drive,500GB,S2,#1 WDXL320,Extreme Performance System
ATI Video Card DVD-RW
Vista Premium Home 64bit with free upgrade to windows 7
Total was $529.92 including tax and shipping

Please let me know what you think of this deal?

Please take my review with the grain of salt. Every purchase from dell outlet is different and I did find some people who had bad experiences with them. They received more then you expect bit up systems. There is a bit of a risk involved but you do get 21 days returning policy with 15% restocking fee and as I said before one year warranty. Do some research and look for coupons before you buy from dell. I think with some patience you can get a pretty good deal there.
Thanks for reading and commenting!

Have a great day,

Yan

[basroil]

Considering the i7 920 itself costs 280 bucks, yes, it's a steal. I personally wouldn't buy a referb product, but if you can get the warranty on it then by all means go for it (for anyone that does want to), dell usually does excellent repair service on their referbs and prices are simply amazing.

All I suggest you do is take one of those memory dimm's (right now you have 4x1gb) and take it out of your computer until you are ready to buy two more 1gb dimms. Your performance will actually increase.

[yanz]

Thanks for the reply. This is actually my first time buying refurbished.
Can you please elaborate more on the memory. As far as i understand this is DDR3 4gb dual in-line memory and they have to be in pairs to work in dual channel. I am thinking to actually buy tripple channel 3x2gb chip pack. There is 6 available memory slots. If i install 3x2gb chips and 3x1gb chips how they will together. Will it still work in tripple channel and dual channel? Does it make sense to do that? I would just keep the 3x2gb and take out the 1gb chips altogether.

Yan

[basroil]

No, just get two more 1gb dimms. The thing works either in tri-channel OR dual channel, and dual channel is there when you use slots 1-4 (like on a mac pro). I don't suggest 2gb dimms in 1-3 and 1gb dimms in 4-6 at all, but only because it won't really boost performance much over 6gb of ram. 6gb seems to be the prime spot right now unless you know you have applications that need the extra memory (having photoshop cs4+LR2+firefox+IE8+messaging programs+outlook+half dozen pdf files open at the same time still gives me over two gb of free memory). Having 9gb of memory just doesn't make sense for most people (and if you only do gaming, neither does 6gb, most games don't need more than 3gb program memory). And 2x1gb sticks of 1066gh DDR3 ram is dirt cheap. 3x2+3x1 works too though, bit more expensive, but 150 bucks won't exactly break the bank either.


EDIT: If you do decide on 3x2+3x1, make sure to read http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/435MT/en/SM/memory.htm#wp1188716 . Note that the 1-3 slots are not the first three, rather the alternating three where the memory already is.

[yanz]

Thanks again for your advice!!!
I probably won't need more the 6gb of ram. I don't think i am going to be working on huge files in PS anytime soon. I read an article comparing 4gb - 12gb of ram setups and there was not much difference in performance for everyday use.
No, just get two more 1gb dimms. The thing works either in tri-channel OR dual channel, and dual channel is there when you use slots 1-4 (like on a mac pro). I don't suggest 2gb dimms in 1-3 and 1gb dimms in 4-6 at all, but only because it won't really boost performance much over 6gb of ram. 6gb seems to be the prime spot right now unless you know you have applications that need the extra memory (having photoshop cs4+LR2+firefox+IE8+messaging programs+outlook+half dozen pdf files open at the same time still gives me over two gb of free memory). Having 9gb of memory just doesn't make sense for most people (and if you only do gaming, neither does 6gb, most games don't need more than 3gb program memory). And 2x1gb sticks of 1066gh DDR3 ram is dirt cheap. 3x2+3x1 works too though, bit more expensive, but 150 bucks won't exactly break the bank either.


EDIT: If you do decide on 3x2+3x1, make sure to read http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/435MT/en/SM/memory.htm#wp1188716 . Note that the 1-3 slots are not the first three, rather the alternating three where the memory already is.
I actually was looking at that page the other day trying to see my ram upgrade options. I am probably going to wait for some good deal on memory. No rush. At this point i think 4gb is more then enough.

I am wondering if PS CS4 32 bit is able to take advantage for more then 4gb of ram

Yan

[Moppie]

Thanks again for your advice!!!
I probably won't need more the 6gb of ram. I don't think i am going to be working on huge files in PS anytime soon. I read an article comparing 4gb - 12gb of ram setups and there was not much difference in performance for everyday use.

I actually was looking at that page the other day trying to see my ram upgrade options. I am probably going to wait for some good deal on memory. No rush. At this point i think 4gb is more then enough.

I am wondering if PS CS4 32 bit is able to take advantage for more then 4gb of ram

Yan


Nope, 32bit photoshop can only handle file sizes upto 3GB.

[basroil]

Nope, 32bit photoshop can only handle file sizes upto 3GB.

Very true, but the question is more or less moot since photoshop installs 64bit automatically on any 64bit windows system ;)

But yea, if you use 32bit plugins, you get 3gb in photoshop 32bit, no ability to use 32bit plugins in 64bit photoshop.

And don't use 4gb unless you find that programs won't run properly without it, 3gb will give you >50% improvement in memory speed.

[Moppie]

And don't use 4gb unless you find that programs won't run properly without it, 3gb will give you >50% improvement in memory speed.


Is this because of the tri vs dual channel memory?

There seems to be some debate around whether or not it can make a difference, depending on whether what your doing needs the speed, or access to the extra RAM.

[basroil]

Is this because of the tri vs dual channel memory?

There seems to be some debate around whether or not it can make a difference, depending on whether what your doing needs the speed, or access to the extra RAM.

Yes. Then again, there's also the debate about if 4gb of ram is better than 3, or 8 better than 4, and so on. Photoshop will show a small improvement (maybe up to 10-20% depending on your filters), but other programs (like premiere) and overall system response will be improved significantly. It's actually not a bad idea to get systems with 3gb of memory if they are cheaper AND use 1gb dimms.

[Moppie]

What if your multi tasking and the applications combined need to use more than 3GB?


It might be one of those things where to really figure it out each user needs to do thier own benchmarks based on thier own useage.

Or, just get 3x2GB dims :)

[basroil]

What if your multi tasking and the applications combined need to use more than 3GB?


It might be one of those things where to really figure it out each user needs to do thier own benchmarks based on thier own useage.

Or, just get 3x2GB dims :)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-module-upgrade,2264-6.html

This is an interesting article. Though I do wish they had done exactly as you said and just spam the computer with a few extra (potentially useful) programs running.


EDIT: I know they tested a single task system, I meant I wish they would do some multi-task things too, and tri vs dual channel properly rather than trying to extrapolate possible performance gains from synthetics and apps on two different chipsets.

[Moppie]

They do say at the top of the page:

A quick collection of summary charts will show how fruitless adding memory to a single-tasking system would be