After my complaining and moaning for months my Dell XPS 720 refuses to boot up this morning. Again. That’s the final straw and I ordered a new PC this morning.
I was planning on building my own PC but the fact is I don’t have time to do that. Building a PC from parts is not really fun for me anymore and I just want the flipping thing to work.
I have been purchasing Dell equipment for years and recommend them to people all the time. But lately the Dell experience has soured. Even my buying a budget Ubuntu based Mini from Dell turned into a horror show.
In my basement I have a HP/Compaq Presario 8000. It’s 8 years old and has never given me any problems. That’s the sort of experience I’m hoping for with this new model so HP gets the nod from me today.
So with a budget in hand I purchased the following PC online from HP.
HP Pavilion Elite e9280t PC
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-920 processor [2.66GHz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache]
• 12GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM [6 DIMMs]
• 1.5TB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
• 1.8GB NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 [2 DVI, HDMI and VGA adapters]
• LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• Integrated 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) Ethernet, No wireless LAN
• 15-in-1 memory card reader, 1 USB, 1394, audio
• No TV Tuner
• Integrated 7.1 channel sound with front audio ports
• No speakers
• HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• Norton Internet Security(TM) 2010 - 15 month
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
Estimated build date: December 16, 2009
I came in $43 over budget. Lily will forgive me.
I’ll remove most of the HP consumer software and put on my own. This will be a drop in replacement for the 81lb behemoth next to my desk. It’s not a top of the line PC gaming rig but it is a good upgrade from my existing PC. Hopefully I will get it before Christmas.
I can’t wait for my XPS 720 to come out of it’s drunken stupor and give it the news of it’s replacement.