I am purchasing a new computer? Give me some advice.

[auad14]

Objectives:
Some DVD copying
Transferring VHS, Hi8 & some old 8mm to DVD
Editing and making some Decent Quality (music and special effects) DVDs out of Inputs from TV, VHS, DVD, & Photos
Budget : $1500, but I don't want to spend that much and not get what I need, I do not plan on spending my life making dvds , etc. so I don't want to get more stuff than I actually need either.

Dell has a good reputation about standing behind their products. Most computers in our company are Dell's? But I am curious which route or if their is another route to explore.

Thanks,


Choice of systems:

from Ibuypower.com
System Board - [HT READY] AOPEN AX4PE-R i845PE CHIP 533FSB DDR333 MB w/ USB 2.0 (dr2003)
System Case - Case-AS268, midtower + 350 watt pwer + window
System power - 420 watt pwer supply
thermal display - white temp lcd display with 3x fan controller
processor - intel pentium4 2.4 ghz (533 MHz fsb, northwood 512k)
cooling fan - certified cpu fan and heatsink
memory - 1024 mb pc2700 ddr-333 mhz
hard drive1 - 80mhz ultra ata-100/133 7200 rpm hard drive
hard drive2 - 80mhz ultra ata-100/133 7200 rpm hard drive
video - ati radeon 8500 128mb allinwonder w/ tv tuner
cd/dvd drive - 16x dvd rom
dvd drive - pioneer dvd-rw + cd-rw drive [1x/2x dvd-r, 1x dvd-rw, 4x/8x cd-r, 8x cd-rw]
sound - creative lab sound blaster audigy 5.1 w/ ieee 1394
speakers - creative labs inspire 4400 4.1 surround speakers + subwoofer
fax modem - pci 10/100 network card
floppy - mitsumi 1.44 mb floppy drive
mouse - ps2 internet mouse
keyboard - ps2 104 key windows 98 keyboard
crt monitor - perfect flat viewsonic 19 inch E90F .21 DPI Horizontal SVGA monitor
Operating system - ms windows xp home edition
included software - norton 2003 anti-virus
warranty - standard warranty plus free 1 year icare deluxe onsite service
usb port - standard 2 usb ports + 2 extra usb ports connector
flash media reader/writer - internal 6 in 1 flash media reader / writer

subtotal - $1,973.00 + shipping



from Dell
Dell Dimension 4550 Series: Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.53GHz w/533MHz front side bus/ 512K L2 Cache DA425H [221-1017]
Memory: 1GB DDR SDRAM at 333MHz 1GB3 [311-2077]
Keyboard: Dell® Quietkey® Keyboard QK [310-1582]
Monitors: Please Select if Choosing Dell Refurbished Monitor Below NONE [461-2419]
Video Cards: New 128mb DDR ATI Radeon™ 9700 TX Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI 128ATIX [320-0617]
Hard Drive: Save $50! (Savings included in price) 120GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive 120GP [461-8841]
Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices: 3.5 in Floppy Drive 3 [340-1927]
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition WHXP [313-7222] [412-0306] [420-1921]
Mouse: Logitech® Optical USB Mouse LOM [310-1413]
Network Interface: Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet IN [430-0412]
Modem: 56K PCI Telephony Modem 56KWS [313-1583]
CD or DVD Drive: 16x Max DVD-ROM Drive 16DVD [313-2559] [430-0426]
Sound Card: Integrated Audio IS [313-0847]
Speakers: New Harman Kardon® HK-206 Speakers HK206 [313-0954]
Software Bundles: WordPerfect® Productivity Pack with Quicken New User Edition COREL [412-0302]
Digital Music: Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH MMBASE [412-0298]
Digital Photography: Dell Picture Studio, Image Expert Standard DPS [412-0271] [412-0273]
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options: 1Yr Ltd Warr plus 1Yr At-Home Service + 90Days Dell SecurityCenter (McAfee) SQ1O9M [412-0359] [462-0127] [950-3337] [950-4430] [950-9797]
Internet Access Service: 6 Months of America Online Membership Included AOLDHS [412-0365] [412-0371]
Mail-In Rebate Offer: Save $150 with mail-in rebate. Price shown before rebate. 150 [462-0300]
Dell Refurbished Monitors: Refurbished 17 in (16.0 in viewable,.25DP) M782 Monitor RM782 [321-0016]
CD or DVD Burner for 2nd bay: Save $69! (Savings included in price) New 4x DVD+RW/+R Drive w/CD-RW 4DVR2P [430-0426] [430-0428] [461-8217]



Price :1500 with free shipping

[tjtoed]

I just bought a new PC for basically the same reasons you did and I went with a Dell.

I got a Dell 8250 with a 2.4 P4, 512 MB PC1066 RDRAM, 120 Gig HD, 64 MB Nvidia G-Force MX 440, SB Live Creative Labs sound card, Altec Lansing 4.1 speakers, standard dvd-rom, and it came with a free cd-rw, and WinXP home. No monitor since I already had a nice monitor. This cost me about 1400 bucks and then I bought the Sony DRX-500UL external DVD writer which ran me about $400.

This rig works great for transferring DV video to HD to burn out on DVD and the occasional DVD backup.

I went with the 8250 because it comes with the PC1066 RDRAM which is faster than the other SDRAM...

Good Luck.

[SatStorm]

You are probably american, or british, to talk about ready PC solutions.
Well, in our hobby, we have to built our own PCs, if we want the 100% of everything.
This is not a general computer you want, you need a multimedia PC.
This is something, no company can offer!

Dell has a good name and offers honest general solutions.
After a while, you upgrade. And later, you change PC with a built-by-you one....

I can only advice you, or better inform you, this:
Intel based solutions are more stable and currently, their top solutions are way better for our hobby.
AMD based solutions are easy upgradable. Also, for entry/mid class solutions, are far cheaper.
"Easy Upgradable" is the key word here. When you start with this hobby, you upgrade and upgrade and upgrade. It never ends! Like games, but now, you don't change VGA once in a year, you have to change almost anything once a year!
Another tip, is the HD. Anything ATA 100 and higher, is OK. The storage is the problem. It is never enough! Buy the more you can the first place!

A good solution , IMHO, gonna cost about 1000 Euro. Not more. But, you have to built it yourself! (or buy the parts and pay someone to set them up for you, if you don't know how).
Do a google search and read about the subject. There are many infos for what to choose (and from where) in the net about Dedicated-job PCs.

I don't know if I helped you with all this, I hope I did!