Buying a dell computer and then upgrading it later?

[kmayo123454321]

Should i? Here are the specs on the dell:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E7200 (3MB L2 Cache,2.53GHz,1066 FSB) edit

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition edit

MEMORY 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs edit

HARD DRIVE 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™

OPTICAL DRIVE 16x DVD+/-RW Drive edit

VIDEO CARD Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 edit

SOUND Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio edit

16-1 media drive

WIRELESS Dell 1505 Wireless-N PCIe Card edit


Would i be okay starting off with this and then upgrading the processor, GPU, RAM and such later? Is that possible, and would it be as simple as buying a new processor, removeing the old one and installing the new one?

[bug]

How much would it cost? When I've done price comparisons, the pre-built system is usually at least a few hundred dollars MORE than the self-built version. Also, a lot of those computers have odd cases and/or proprietary components. You'd likely do yourself a huge favor by skipping the intermediary computer and go with your target machine.

For the computer that I am building soon, the price was about $850 if I "go all out" on the components. A similar build (with no-name components, no less!) through Dell and Lenovo (IBM) would cost me ~$1800 and ~$1900, respectively.

Of course, if you buy the cheapest model/version that they have, you'll "save" money up front, but you'll end up with a computer with only one internal 3.5 bay and one external 5.25 bay. Furthermore, the case may or may not fit your future processor and/or video card(s).... If it lasts that long. The (new) Lenovo machines at work have had a lot of hardware failures lately!

[RickyTick]

My experience with Dell has been excellent. I currently have an Inspiron E1505 laptop that my wife uses, and an XPS410 that my son uses. I use MySuperPC that I put together myself, but I retired an old Dimension 4300.

You didn't give a price on the Dell that you're interested in, nor did you say where you're getting it from (Dell, Ebay, QVC, Dell Outlet, etc). Give just a few more details if you can.

To answer your question though, yes you can upgrade the Dell's ram, video card, and cpu down the road, but...

[kmayo123454321]

My experience with Dell has been excellent. I currently have an Inspiron E1505 laptop that my wife uses, and an XPS410 that my son uses. I use MySuperPC that I put together myself, but I retired an old Dimension 4300.

You didn't give a price on the Dell that you're interested in, nor did you say where you're getting it from (Dell, Ebay, QVC, Dell Outlet, etc). Give just a few more details if you can.

To answer your question though, yes you can upgrade the Dell's ram, video card, and cpu down the road, but...


The price was around 600, from dell directly.

[bug]

For what it's worth, I just priced (through NewEgg) what they would give you, and it came to a total of $466+shipping. I picked the equivalent part quality.

The parts that I chose were more or less the cheapest that I could find, which I imagine is the same thing a reseller would do in order to maximize profits. I'm not sure about the quality of Dell parts -- anyone care to share? I do know that Dell laptops don't seem like they're too bad.

Does the model that you're looking at include a monitor? What about a warranty and other included software (MS Office/Works, antivirus program...)?

[RickyTick]

Well I assume you're looking at an Inspiron desktop, you're still not very forthcoming with specifics. Exactly which model are you interested in and what are you're intentions with the computer, ie general email and surfing, or do you want to play games? Are you trying to stay within a certain budget? Tell me more...