Pros and Cons of the Dell 8100
Written: Apr 27 '01
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Pros: Huge hard drive, outstanding documentation.
Cons: Incompatibility with some common software and hardware peripherals.
The Bottom Line: The Dell 8100 is a good computer and worth the money, but it is not prefect and neither is the technical support.
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| ultralounge71's Full Review: Dell Dimension 8100 Series |
I recently acquired a Dell 8100 system with a Pentium 4
1.4 Ghz processor. Although this system has proven to be
generally reliable, there are some curious problems that
I have never encountered before even with much less expensive computers. As a 'gamer', I was eager to see the performance of the Dell P4's performance with some of my favorite games. (For reference, the system has a 64mb Geforce Ultra video card on board.)
Games like 'Half Life' , which ran fine on my ancient AMD
400mhz system, were buggy and crash prone on the new Dell. Ironically, Tribes 2, a known system hog, run fine at maximum settings. Not a major beef here... just weird.
Now there are two quite serious problems with this system.
First of all, the monitor, a 19" Dell M991 is embarrasingly
low in quality. At any other refresh rate than 65mhz, the monitor's picture becomes very unstable and warbly. It seemed a bargain at $249, but this monitor is really a piece of junk. I would suggest getting the more expensive Trinitron monitor available with this system. Don't cut corners here like I did.
The second and last problem with this system is the parallel port. When I tried to install my 250mb Zip drive
into the parallel port the system absolutely would not recognize it. Dell's support people shrugged it off as a defective peripheral and offered little support in getting it to work. (The zip drive was not defective.) I finally gave up and had to purchase a USB zip drive.
Now let me tell you what is GOOD about this system:
The combination of the P4 with the RDram memory and 7200 rpm hard drive make this computer very fast. Except for the aforementioned software problems I had, this system does not crash. The onboard NIC is nice since broadband internet is the only way to go with this system. The system came with a year of free Dellnet, but dial up internet access is very tiresome and I do not use it.
The Turtle Beach sound card is excellent, on par with the best that Creative Labs has to offer. Dont think twice about using this lesser known sound card. It rocks. The system restore feature makes this system practically idiot proof. If you really screw something up, it is easy to go back to a previous system setting and fix it.
As an MP3 user, having a 75 Gig hard drive makes it very nice. On an aesthetic note, the computer is very modern and elegant looking, which might matter to some people. People often complain that these systems are too expensive, but
I bought mine form the Dell outlet and saved several hundred dollars. The only real disadvantage with the Refurbished systems is that you can't configure them. You have to find what you want from the stock on hand. It only took about 12 days from the time I ordered till it came to my home. Set up is very easy.
Despite my aforementioned criticisms, this is a very good computer, and the P4 is a good option for someone who wants a PC that will not be obsolete for a few years.
Thanks for reading!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1950
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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ultralounge71
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