|
So her computer started having all kinds of issues, including BIOS misbehaving. The computer was getting quite old and I did not fancy regular maintenance work to keep it going. Her birthday is early in the new year and so I bought her a new Dell as combined Christmas and birthday gift.
I paid a little extra to get her a machine with a NVMe M.2 SSD.
One of the first items I checked was the speed of the M.2 SSD. I was very disappointed. Dell had supplied the machine with a SSD that ran barely faster than clunky old SATA SSDs. In fact the sequential read speed was slightly slower than her old SATA SSD.
I ordered a new Samsung 970 Pro M.2 SSD and used it to replace the item supplied by Dell. What a difference! Sequential read speed was about 5 times that of traditional Samsung SATA SSDs. Random read speeds were also much faster, but not quite 5 times. Now I sit with a M.2 SSD that Dell supplied, that is of no further use to me! I am a little disappointed in Dell.
|
|
|
|
|
No second slot, tucked away underneath, somewhere?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
|
|
|
|
|
You can get an adapter that takes an M.2 SSD and plugs into the X4 connector of the PCIe bus. But that is already occupied by another Samsung M.2 that is her data drive. So no, I have no use for the unit supplied by Dell.
Yes: She has a very, very fast machine now.
|
|
|
|
|
[Clark Kent]
This is a job...
[/Clark Kent]
[Superman]
... For EBAY!
[Superman]
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
|
|
|
|
|
Right! When you're right you're right! And you are right. 
|
|
|
|
|
I don't buy off-the-shelf PCs. I always build them with myself with parts I select.
My kid and I just built him a (gaming) PC, he selected the video card first and then we selected everything else to go around it.
Previously, he had an off-the-shelf PC (against my recommendation of course) which didn't suit his a needs, but his mother buys him whatever he asks for. The only parts re-used from that are the CPU and an HDD. The old M.2 SSD was replaced with a WD Black one twice the capacity.
Now he's watching CES footage and drooling over the upcoming graphics cards. 
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: Now he's watching CES footage and drooling
It is difficult to keep up with development in the computer field, isn't it? 
|
|
|
|
|
Seems like very soon after you get it built it it becomes obsolete. Especially video cards and they ain't cheap.
Did a little mechanic work today.
Put a rear end in a recliner!
JaxCoder.com
|
|
|
|
|
Fortunately we don't play games on our machines that require fast video cards. She plays Freecell from time to time, but that you can do even on very slow machines!
|
|
|
|
|
There is an old saying : every computer you can buy is either experimental or obsolete.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
|
|
|
|
|
One of advantages of building your own is the ability to upgrade.
I just upgraded mine to 32G memory 1T SSD in preparation to go from Win7 to Win10.
Plus you don't have to clean all the crapware from it.
Did a little mechanic work today.
Put a rear end in a recliner!
JaxCoder.com
|
|
|
|
|
I agree, I've never bought off the shelf and if I did it wouldn't be Dell.
Did a little mechanic work today.
Put a rear end in a recliner!
JaxCoder.com
|
|
|
|
|
I have bought numerous Dell units over the years and on the whole found them quite reliable. However, they do come with a bunch of crapware installed, so the first thing I do, is to run the Diskpart "clean" command on the system drive and then do a clean install of Windows.
|
|
|
|
|
My last job I had a POS Dell that crashed often and the tech guy reinstalled OS many times. I think they thought I was faking it, had other problems but that wasn't one of them.
Did a little mechanic work today.
Put a rear end in a recliner!
JaxCoder.com
|
|
|
|
|
Was it not just a bad system drive?
|
|
|
|
|
Don't know. I don't think they ever did anything besides reinstalling OS. Don't care.
Did a little mechanic work today.
Put a rear end in a recliner!
JaxCoder.com
|
|
|
|
|
PIEBALDconsult wrote: I don't buy off-the-shelf PCs. I always build them with myself with parts I select.
That can turn out being quite expensive though.
|
|
|
|
|
Not as expensive as buying the wrong system and then buying the right one.
|
|
|
|
|
In Germany, we say "billig ist manchmal teuer".
|
|
|
|
|
If it's more expensive and you're using identical parts, you're doing something wrong. Nobody (certainly not Dell) builds PCs without charging you for it.
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: Nobody (certainly not Dell) builds PCs without charging you for it.
True, but OEMs buy components in very large volume direct from the manufacturers. You buy small quantities at retail prices.
|
|
|
|
|
I won't disagree with that, but in my experience, I've yet to encounter a case where an OEM system turned out to be cheaper than buying all the parts separately.
But then again, it's rather rare an OEM - especially a brand name like Dell - has a PC to sell that only contains parts you can purchase elsewhere. They all tend to have some proprietary hardware with no equivalent that will skew the prices.
OTOH, if you're buying in large enough quantities, yeah, it'll be cheaper in the long run if you get something pre-built than if you have to take the time to put a bunch of PCs together yourself.
The other thing...personally I despise not being to open a case just because I'm assumed to be so incompetent replacing a hard drive will void the warranty.
|
|
|
|
|
dandy72 wrote: I've yet to encounter a case where an OEM system turned out to be cheaper than buying all the parts separately.
Every single PC I bought was cheaper than if I assembled it by myself, by at least a factor 2. Otherwise, I would have assembled it by myself : I enjoy doing it !
|
|
|
|
|
Same parts, from the same manufacturers? Where do you live, where consumers are gouged so badly?
The only (non-laptop) system I've ever bought pre-built was a cheap Acer Aspire something or other. But cheap is the key word here. For one, it came with a Seagate drive, which I would never buy on its own, despite Seagate typically being consistently somewhat cheaper than other brands.
|
|
|
|
|
dandy72 wrote: ame parts, from the same manufacturers? Where do you live, where consumers are gouged so badly?
Of course. France.
Pre-built systems also have ... Software. A real official windows+MSoffice licence ain't that cheap.
And you get a lot of crapware for free too
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
