Just looking at Dell's web site and they seem to have 2 computers with the similar specs but one is in the Inspiron 580 section and the other is an XPS 8100.

Any idea what difference the name makes?

Both have Core I5 750 cpu, dual channel DDR3 SDRAM, 1 TB SATA hard drive, ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR3 video card, and a 16X DVD burner.

One has 4Gb of RAM vs 6 GB but the one with 4 has a 23" HD monitor while the one with 6Gb RAM has no monitor but is $200 less, which to me is a better deal since you could get the monitor for about that price and you would have 2GB extra RAM.

Any ideas?

Links?

Sorry about that

http://www2.dell.com/content/products/r ... 100_en_2~~

and now Futureshop has a Gateway system with monitor for similar price

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/ ... 22b81den02

We use nothing but Dells at work and I have had no issues with them for 10 years but work demands aren't the same as home use. My biggest concern is Power supply and future upgrade ability.

I wanted to go back to Combat Computers but it appears that they don't want my business as I've been in 3 times but no one ever gets back to me with a quote, although each time they dutifully take down my specs and contact info

yup I'll find a kid somewhere to build one for you or do it yourself. It's Really really simple to do it yourself. off the top of my head i would say it would cost you around $600 for an i5 750 box (part-wise)

I have thought of that but when I start looking for parts (NewEgg, TigerDirect) I get a little overwhelmed by the choice.

Plus, in the end, it seems that when I go with middle of the road parts pricing, it's more expensive than a pre-built and is without the support.

maybe I'm over analyzing this too much

yup there's not a whole lot of difference in price but I like to choose my parts and know what I have. If I want and choose all the crappiest parts I could find and put it together then I would have a Dell, Acer, etc. As far as warranty goes I would say you would have better when building your own. If my hard drive blows up today I would be running In a couple of days, same as a monitor, etc. Most companies now will cross-ship stuff so your only down for a few days if some thing breaks, my computer as example on warranty


hard drives 5 years cross-shipped
dvd burners 1 year? never looked buy them for $20 so who cares LOL
Monitor 3 years cross-shipped
cpu 3 years
Motherboard 3 Years cross-shipped
Ram Lifetime
psu 3 years cross-shipped

by the time its out of warranty you need a new one anyway. If I do break something that's not cross-shipped it usually takes 2 days to get there 1 day turnaround and 1-2 days back to me so if i send something away Monday I'll have it back Friday.