{"id":228,"date":"2006-05-16T11:44:01","date_gmt":"2006-05-16T16:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devinreams.com\/2006\/05\/16\/dell-doesnt-suck\/"},"modified":"2006-05-16T11:44:01","modified_gmt":"2006-05-16T16:44:01","slug":"dell-doesnt-suck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/?p=228","title":{"rendered":"Dell Doesn’t Suck"},"content":{"rendered":"

…when they want to get your money. A few weeks ago I was mailed a coupon for $50 off any computer system over $800. Plus, I’d get free ground shipping. Dell saw me coming a mile away. I’m sure I was flagged “addcit” once I bought two LCDs and opened a Dell Preferred Credit account.<\/p>\n

Rightfully so.<\/p>\n

…I’ve always built my own computers. I think it was a mixture of having an abundance of free time and lack of abundance of cash. My “barebones” system was slowly upgraded over the years. I was running at a whopping 200mhz when I first started computing. Yikes. It was uber exciting when I upgrade my 4G drive to an 8G. It was so expensive too. I had no choice though: XP and Office took up like 3.5G alone. Oh the memories. I even remember installing my motherboard, looking at the processor, playing with Serial ATA cables. I hated putting in drives becuase of those cables. They were old and un-keyed so it took about 3 reboots to realize that something was upside down. Sigh.<\/p>\n

I’m currently working on my second generation DIY machine. I’ve been pleased with it. I built it about 4 years ago after doing all kinds of research. So far I’ve had no issues with it… which is why I’m scared. I’m worried that these older drives will crash soon. If they don’t the PSU is going to go (it’s getting a bit noisey). Something is bound to happen and I don’t want to wait for that day.<\/p>\n

I’m done building computers, though.<\/p>\n

I used to know a decent amount about PC hardware. Lately I feel like I don’t know jack. I feel like I’m surrounded by a world of Pauls<\/a> that could jump on NewEgg and build the best computer imaginable. I don’t think I know nearly enough of that stuff anymore. I didn’t even realize people were actually installing 1TB of RAID drives… in PCs!? I hadn’t even heard of a Pentium D, now I’m supposed to find out which motherboard to get for it? Ugh.<\/p>\n

I’ll let Dell do it for me.<\/p>\n

I played around online and made a bunch of configurations the other night. I ignored one minor detail: each time you hit submit order your coupon is rendered as ‘used’. I guess I forgot to tell Dell.com that I was just looking for the subtotal and tax. Jerks. My coupon was quickly labeled ‘invalid’ though I hadn’t even bought anything. I had to call Dell.<\/p>\n

The guy I talked to was friendly and clever enough to solve my problem. I walked him through my configuration and we arrived at my subtotal. He understood my situation and disappeared to talk to a supervisor. In the end I got a free video card upgrade and my free shipping. That’s in addition to the free 19″ LCD upgrade. Overall I’m pleased with the experience.<\/p>\n

…but that’s becuase they wanted my money. He made sure he “verified my needs” and made sure I was completely sure I didn’t need dual-DVD drives. No guys, I really know what I want, thanks for being so “helpful” though. I’m sure the post-sales experience won’t be the same. Oh well, I don’t plan on having to verify that anytime soon. I’m just excited to play with a new toy!<\/p>\n

Oh, and if anyone is looking to buy a 19″ LCD (Dell 1907) for a good price be sure to let me know. I figure two monitors is enough for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…when they want to get your money. A few weeks ago I was mailed a coupon for $50 off any computer system over $800. Plus, I’d get free ground shipping. Dell saw me coming a mile away. I’m sure I was flagged “addcit” once I bought two LCDs and opened a Dell Preferred Credit account. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[95],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-internet","tag-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}