Mac guy with no choice, help me buy a PC for work!

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I have the ability at my new job to buy pretty much any computer I want to configure. I just want to make sure that I get the most bang for my buck. My budget is probably around 2500 tops!! At any rate, I built an OptiPlex GX280 Small Mini-Tower for around $2100. It has the following:



OptiPlex GX280 SMT, with Int Broadcom® GbNIC Intel® Pentium® 4

Processor 530 (3.00GHz, 1M, 800MHz FSB)

30GTG - [ 221-5296 ]



Operating System(s) Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, SP1, with

Media and NTFS

XPP1EC - [ 420-2119 ]



Hyperthreading Hyper-Threading feature preset to "ON." Can be

disabled/enabled in BIOS

HYPER - [ 462-0969 ]



Memory 2.0GB DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM,533MHz, (4DIMM)

2G2N54 - [ 311-4370 ]



Monitors Dell 17 inch UltraSharp? 1704FPV Flat Panel, Adjustable

Stand, VGA/DVI

1704FPV - [ 320-4041 ]



Second Monitor Dell UltraSharp?1704FPV Flat Panel

(17.0VIS),HeightAdjustableStand,DVI

1704FPV - [ 320-4041 ]



Video Card 128MB, ATI Radeon X300, DVI and VGA adapter, Dual Monitor

128DVIE - [ 320-4037 ]



Boot Hard Drives 250GB SATA, 7200 RPM Hard Drive with Data Burst Cache?

250S - [ 341-0907 ]



Floppy 1.44MB 3.5 Inch Floppy Drive

3 - [ 340-8733 ]



Keyboards Performance USB Keyboard with 8 Hot Keys

USB8 - [ 310-2585 ]



Mouse Dell USB 2-Button Optical Mouse with Scroll

USBO - [ 310-4126 ]



Speakers Dell? A215 Speakers

A215 - [ 313-2316 ]



Removable Media Storage Devices 48X32 CDRW/DVD Combo,with DVD Playback

COMBO - [ 313-2489 ]



Energy Star Setting Energy Star Enable

ES - [ 310-4721 ]



Systems Management OpenManage Client Instrumentation

OMCI - [ 420-4296 ]



Resource CD Resources CD contains Diagnostics and Driver for

OptiPlex Systems

RCD - [ 313-7168 ]



So, what do you think?? Is this a good buy for what I am doing?Basically using a lot of Photoshop at high res and large format printing, the most intensive for sure, also using all of the publications suites like Quark,Publisher, etc. I want to get something that I know I won't have to upgrade too quickly, but stay cost effective. I am not a PC guy by any means, so I wanted to run it by some of you to see if you thought this would get my by....If you have a better configured idea or somewhere else to look to get one, I would appreciate it!!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    Get the Dell 20" LCD, and make sure you have DVI-out. Windows doesn't manage screen real estate very well, since you can't hide windows, there's no menubar, and many apps take command of your screen with a monolithic gray box that blocks out everything else. So you need a big screen. I have two. (And it's still not enough!) Quite honestly, running Outlook 2003 with anything less than 1680x1050 is a bad idea.



    Also get 2 gigs of RAM because Windows is miserable at handling memory. It's also incredibly slow at drawing to the screen, and there's nothing you can do about that except loading in more RAM. InDesign was unusable on my PC, which is a P4 3.2GHz, until I got 2gigs of RAM. Now it's barely usable.



    The actual processor speed isn't all that important. It's going to be a long time until Longhorn comes out, and at that point you'll need a dual, twin-core 4-6GHz setup to run it anyway, if they end up keeping to the original spec. (I'm dead serious about those numbers. . . They were straight from MS.)
  • Reply 2 of 7
    I don't undestand why you don't stay Mac, especially since they are the leaders for graphic designing, multi-media etc. Why go 5through so much trouble when you don't have to.???
  • Reply 3 of 7
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    I don't really understand what is costing all that money in that setup.



    Display is going to be the most important part. I don't know about exact color management, but I second Splinemodel's recommendation of Dell 2001FP as a generally good flat panel. Same panel is both in Viewsonic and Benq 20":s, they are good too. Also consider moving a little up in budget with Samsung 21" or the higher resolution widescreen Benq/Viewsonic/HP 23":s. Especially the Samsung is reported to have good color. Big production quality CRT's are good too and if you have the space you might want to consider having one of your monitors a CRT.



    Smaller, 160GB HD should be more cost effective, and you will have lots of expansion space anyway.

    I'd either get a *big* screen, make sure that the video card can do dual DVI, or both. Will that X300 output dual DVI or is it just DVI/VGA?

    2GB memory is probably fine, but since I don't know about DTP work I'd make sure there is room to add memory, just in case.

    Finally, I think it is more cost effective to use Athlon64 processors. Does the computer have to be Dell?
  • Reply 4 of 7
    Quote:

    Originally posted by inukshuk

    I don't undestand why you don't stay Mac, especially since they are the leaders for graphic designing, multi-media etc. Why go 5through so much trouble when you don't have to.???



    Because the board tells you: "you have to get a PC." The company paid for mine. I assume his company is paying for his.



    Anyway, platform partisanship is so yesterday. I don't think it will be around when the current generation of 20-somethings assumes power.



    As for Athlon64, nothing can run 64bit, and they're overpriced. The big issue is if you have to trade monitor for processor, which is a stupid manuver. Monitors help you get work done faster all day. Processor speed, especially when it's only a difference of 20% or so, rarely even comes into effect.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Splinemodel



    The actual processor speed isn't all that important. It's going to be a long time until Longhorn comes out, and at that point you'll need a dual, twin-core 4-6GHz setup to run it anyway, if they end up keeping to the original spec. (I'm dead serious about those numbers. . . They were straight from MS.)




    Which is why I will keep the drumbeet alive: Give me osx for x86 or give me an abicus!



    But really, XP is bloatware, get 2kpro, and at least a gig of ram (your config says 2, that is great), and a decent graphics card, a 20+ inch CRT, flat pannels are close but not there yet,(note on crts: make sure that your monitor of choice supports your chosen res at at least 80 hertz, lest ye have migranes your first week) IMHO

    and if you can swing it, get a 10,000 rpm hdd...you will not be disapointed at the speed of that setup compared to a power mac sans the OS.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    ijerryijerry Posts: 615member
    thank you for the comments thus far! They are really helping. So, I am to take a CRT over a dual display Flat Panel, or one of the larger flat panels instead of two 17's?! Thanks for that. I will check into the Hard drive speed and see if I can possibly get a faster rpm one. I will probably stick with 2 gigs of ram. I wasn't sure if I should really get a faster processor, but since you all are saying it won't make as much of a difference as other components I will take your word for it.



    As for the why not get a Mac...Well, my company is indeed buying it for me, it is a military contract job, and they are only Windows XP, so that leaves me out of the 2k option as well, because they want to be uniform. They will not allow a Mac on the network for no real logical reason, besides that fact the price difference is huge unless I go iMac G5, in which case I give up a lot in graphics card choice, RAM, and upgradeability. I also need something that I am sure will work with everyone else, and I do know most workarounds, but then that takes me away from my job, and that defeats the purpose of the Mac in the first place.



    If there is a vendor other than Dell that you all would recommend, other than Alienware, who has a bad name in my department, That would be competitive to Dells prices, feel free to let me know!



    Thanks again!
  • Reply 7 of 7
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ijerry

    thank you for the comments thus far! They are really helping. So, I am to take a CRT over a dual display Flat Panel, or one of the larger flat panels instead of two 17's?! Thanks for that. I will check into the Hard drive speed and see if I can possibly get a faster rpm one. I will probably stick with 2 gigs of ram. I wasn't sure if I should really get a faster processor, but since you all are saying it won't make as much of a difference as other components I will take your word for it.



    As for the why not get a Mac...Well, my company is indeed buying it for me, it is a military contract job, and they are only Windows XP, so that leaves me out of the 2k option as well, because they want to be uniform. They will not allow a Mac on the network for no real logical reason, besides that fact the price difference is huge unless I go iMac G5, in which case I give up a lot in graphics card choice, RAM, and upgradeability. I also need something that I am sure will work with everyone else, and I do know most workarounds, but then that takes me away from my job, and that defeats the purpose of the Mac in the first place.



    If there is a vendor other than Dell that you all would recommend, other than Alienware, who has a bad name in my department, That would be competitive to Dells prices, feel free to let me know!



    Thanks again!




    In this day and age, the only two OEMs that the multimedia pros really use are Dell and Aleinware (and of course Apple) and since your company doesnt like aleinware (price there sucks) I say, for as much as we bash it, the high end of the single chip dell workstation line, or a dualy if you can swing it, is really the sweet spot.





    also: check out their workstation

    line, the optiplex could work, but this would be a better fit, just stay away from xeons...they are on the way out.



    also: Go for the no mouse no KB option, go to the store and get what you like for the KB and maybe a wacom pad mouse combo
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