By John Dodge
Dell Studio XPS 8100
It’s been almost eight years since I acquired my last desktop computer. It’s time to go shopping for a new one and wade through dozens of models with long unmemorable names and figure out a configuration amid infinite variations.
I’ve narrowed my search down to Dell’s Studio XPS 8100 or HP’s Pavilion Elite models. I just have to configure them and shop the end result. Sheesh, a 27-inch iMac would be much simpler, but, alas, waaaay too expensive.
Lord, PC desktops are sold everywhere but Dunkin’ Donuts. Crutchfield, Amazon, Newegg, Amazon, vendor sites and retailers like Ultimate Electronics.
Let’s take the 8100, for instance. My rationale is buy something high performance and loaded given my current desktop lasted for almost eight years! I suspect this new desktop will have to last just as long. No regrets.
So far, I have come up with this rough and incomplete configuration: a CPU (Intel Core i7 or AMD Phenom II), graphics card (ATI Radeon 4890 or higher), 1080p monitor, 8 GB of RAM, Blu-ray player, easily-accessed USB and memory card slots on the front of the unit, built-in Wifi and a 1 terabyte (TB) hard disk.
Dell.com will let me endlessly customize whereas Amazon’s and Walmart’s 8100s come pre-configured. While Amazon and online discounters can save me a few bucks, I like the time savings and hassle sparing getting everything installed at the factory (lazy, I know, but I want to spend time with other things).
That said, I am bargain hunter at heart and am evaluating several buying sources…except Best Buy, the store I love to hate.
Last week’s big news in the retail world was that Walmart will offer free shipping on 60,000 online items with no minimum spending requirement. Take that, Amazon and Target. So I wondered if I could get a deal on a new desktop at Walmart. As it turns out, Amazon whose customer service is second to none matched Walmart’s pricing on every PC I checked out. If it comes down to Walmart or Amazon, I’ll choose the latter.
For instance, a highly-rated Dell 8100 model with an Intel i7-870 Core CPU was $1098 at Walmart. At Amazon, the same model was $1099.99. The HP Pavilion Elite HPE-400F was $782 at Walmart and Amazon which offers free shipping, too. It was the same at both places for the slightly more powerful Elite HPE 410F – $899.54.
Much to my surprise, the 410F was $40 cheaper at HP’s Online Store. The 400f was $749.99 at HP.com and $782.54 at Walmart. Hmmm, I am not hearing those falling prices at Walmart. I used the past tense, knowing how fast desktop prices can change.
I asked former Ziff Davis publishing colleague, Michael Miller, who until 2005 was editor-in-chief at PC Magazine, the bible for PC buyers, if he favored either machine. :
