Should I buy this Dell Optiplex Computer?
I’d like some advice on a Dell Optiplex on sale now.
I buy computers for sale and I’m very tempted by this one. It’s an Optiplex with a bottom line price of $388 shipping. All the specs are below.
Some questions.
1. For another $18 I can get a “Up to 88 Percent Efficient PSU”. Is this worth another $18? The description says that it uses less power and also ‘dissipates less heat’. That doesn’t seem like a very good thing to me. I thought power supplies were supposed to dissipate heat.
2. For $3 extra I’m getting a chassis intrusion switch
3. For an extra $9 I'm getting Internal Optiplex Speakers.
I’ve never gotten any of these upgrades so I have no idea if they’re worth it. I think about laptops having internal speakers but not desktops.
I suppose the most important question is whether this is such a knock out deal that I can’t pass up on it – since at this point those are the only deals I’m taking. My customers are no nonsense computer users, mostly home or home office users. They’re not gamers and most are older if not elderly. I generally get Dell Vostros for them, since they seem to give the best bang for the buck. But I am sorely tempted by this offer with the three year warranty, 4GB of Ram (one dimm), and Windows 7 Professional. And of course it’s an Optiplex, which has a good reputation.
Any opinions?
Thanks,
Al
OptiPlex 380 MT OptiPlex 380 Minitower for Standard PSU
Operating System (s) FREE Upgrade Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, No Media, 32-bit,
Processors
Intel® Pentium® Dual Core Processor E5800 (3.2GHz,2M,800Hz FSB)
Memory 4GB DDR3 Non-ECC SDRAM,1333MHz, (1 DIMM)
Keyboard Dell USB Entry Keyboard
Monitors No Monitor
Video Cards Integrated Video, Intel® GMA 4500, VGA
Boot Hard Drives 320GB 7,200 RPM 3.5" SATA, 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive with NCQ and 16MB Cache
Mouse Dell MS111 USB Optical Mouse
Removable Media Storage Device 16X DVD+/-RW SATA, Roxio Creator™ CyberlinkPowerDVD™
Thermal Heat Sink for Intel Celeron Core 2 Duo Processors, Minitower
Speakers Internal Dell Business Audio Speaker
Power Supply Standard Power Supply
Regulatory Documentation Documentation, English, with 125V Power Cord
Productivity Software Microsoft Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word and Excel with ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
Energy Smart Options Dell Energy Smart Power Management Settings Enabled
Security Hardware Chassis intrusion switch option
Resource DVD No Resource DVD
Services & Warranty 3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service
Setup and Features Information Tech Sheet No Tech Sheet
Shipping Packaging Options Shipping Material for System, Minitower
TOTAL: $360.00
__________________________
Free 3-5 Day Shipping & Handling on select Dell Desktops!
Total Price
Sub-total
$360.00
Tax*
$28.81
Total Price
$388.81
I buy computers for sale and I’m very tempted by this one. It’s an Optiplex with a bottom line price of $388 shipping. All the specs are below.
Some questions.
1. For another $18 I can get a “Up to 88 Percent Efficient PSU”. Is this worth another $18? The description says that it uses less power and also ‘dissipates less heat’. That doesn’t seem like a very good thing to me. I thought power supplies were supposed to dissipate heat.
2. For $3 extra I’m getting a chassis intrusion switch
3. For an extra $9 I'm getting Internal Optiplex Speakers.
I’ve never gotten any of these upgrades so I have no idea if they’re worth it. I think about laptops having internal speakers but not desktops.
I suppose the most important question is whether this is such a knock out deal that I can’t pass up on it – since at this point those are the only deals I’m taking. My customers are no nonsense computer users, mostly home or home office users. They’re not gamers and most are older if not elderly. I generally get Dell Vostros for them, since they seem to give the best bang for the buck. But I am sorely tempted by this offer with the three year warranty, 4GB of Ram (one dimm), and Windows 7 Professional. And of course it’s an Optiplex, which has a good reputation.
Any opinions?
Thanks,
Al
OptiPlex 380 MT OptiPlex 380 Minitower for Standard PSU
Operating System (s) FREE Upgrade Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, No Media, 32-bit,
Processors
Intel® Pentium® Dual Core Processor E5800 (3.2GHz,2M,800Hz FSB)
Memory 4GB DDR3 Non-ECC SDRAM,1333MHz, (1 DIMM)
Keyboard Dell USB Entry Keyboard
Monitors No Monitor
Video Cards Integrated Video, Intel® GMA 4500, VGA
Boot Hard Drives 320GB 7,200 RPM 3.5" SATA, 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive with NCQ and 16MB Cache
Mouse Dell MS111 USB Optical Mouse
Removable Media Storage Device 16X DVD+/-RW SATA, Roxio Creator™ CyberlinkPowerDVD™
Thermal Heat Sink for Intel Celeron Core 2 Duo Processors, Minitower
Speakers Internal Dell Business Audio Speaker
Power Supply Standard Power Supply
Regulatory Documentation Documentation, English, with 125V Power Cord
Productivity Software Microsoft Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word and Excel with ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
Energy Smart Options Dell Energy Smart Power Management Settings Enabled
Security Hardware Chassis intrusion switch option
Resource DVD No Resource DVD
Services & Warranty 3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service
Setup and Features Information Tech Sheet No Tech Sheet
Shipping Packaging Options Shipping Material for System, Minitower
TOTAL: $360.00
__________________________
Free 3-5 Day Shipping & Handling on select Dell Desktops!
Total Price
Sub-total
$360.00
Tax*
$28.81
Total Price
$388.81
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David
Also, they do have systems that you can buy with ubuntu, so you can get the same hardware w/o paying the Microsoft tax. They are buried, but you can find them with some work.
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Hi PowerEdgeTech. The physics-speak is that 1 watt=used or delivered per hour = 3.4 BTU/hr
in marketing speak, you can save BTUs by just shipping a 200 watt supply instead of a 250 watt supply :)
or, of course, buy having one that is more efficient that produces the same output.
But the system will use what it needs, and efficiency is a product of load. It might be 60% efficient at 100 watts and 80% efficient at 200 watts. This may or may not be in the specs, but at FULL load, it is supposed to be 88% efficient. So you can't really make any assumptions about true power savings w/o more details on the power curve, or with a standard config.
Even then, we know that a CPU can double power requirements if it is busy, so this 88% efficiency is totally useless because they certainly won't document if the system is at the BIOS or running all cores running BOINC looking for E.T.
In other words, forget the FUD on the power. You have no idea what the real numbers are unless they document more data.
in marketing speak, you can save BTUs by just shipping a 200 watt supply instead of a 250 watt supply :)
or, of course, buy having one that is more efficient that produces the same output.
But the system will use what it needs, and efficiency is a product of load. It might be 60% efficient at 100 watts and 80% efficient at 200 watts. This may or may not be in the specs, but at FULL load, it is supposed to be 88% efficient. So you can't really make any assumptions about true power savings w/o more details on the power curve, or with a standard config.
Even then, we know that a CPU can double power requirements if it is busy, so this 88% efficiency is totally useless because they certainly won't document if the system is at the BIOS or running all cores running BOINC looking for E.T.
In other words, forget the FUD on the power. You have no idea what the real numbers are unless they document more data.
ASKER
Thank you for all the good information,
Al
Al