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DELL Vostro 3700 - anyone got one?
Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 9:06 am
by simonmlewis
Hi all
I am in the UK looking at getting a Dell Vostro 3700.
It comes with Win 7 Pro 32BIT with XP mode.
Nvidia 1gb graphics.
4gb Ram (tho 32bit means it will only be 3gb apparently)
Office 2010 home and Bus.
I hear a few funny things about it and wondered if anyone here had the same problems, or if they have other issue or really positive things to say about it.
Cons:
sockets for power and usb are only on the sides, so do disappear at the back like Inspirons and others.
speakers are poor - but then I don't know how the reviewers ears would think mine are.
heavy.
and pointless 4gb when can only use 3gb.
Pros:
back lit keyboard (rare on machines these days)
shock resistant/impact hard drive
spill resistant keyboard
Can any who *has one*, please give me their thoughts on these issues, and anything else they think relevant.
Thank you in advance.
Simon
Re: DELL Vostro 3700 - anyone got one?
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:32 pm
by josh
You could end up having even less than 3GB available. I have 4GB and it showed as 2.5GB on 32bit OS, 4GB on 64bit OS. (I happen to have a video card with a large amount of memory too). My experiences with Dell are negative. I have purchased replacement hardware only to find out they intentionally disregard standards such as ATX
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX
I've had some negative experiences with their technical support, and I feel their replacement parts being over priced, combined with non following of standards means that the company is disingenuous to their customers.
Re: DELL Vostro 3700 - anyone got one?
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:37 pm
by Benjamin
Low cost computers may have specs that look decent, but they end up coming with huge bottlenecks such as low system bus throughput which ends up slowing everything down anyway.
I've pretty much gone green and switched to laptops, but if I was going to build a desktop I would find the most expensive motherboard that had the specs I was looking for and addon from there. The motherboard and CPU pretty much "ARE" your computer. Everything else you can add/remove/upgrade as you are able to.
Anyway, if I bought that computer I would immediately wipe the drives and install Linux, so there would no longer be an issue with available RAM not being addressable.
Re: DELL Vostro 3700 - anyone got one?
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:45 pm
by josh
Benjamin wrote:Low cost computers may have specs that look decent, but they end up coming with huge bottlenecks such as low system bus throughput which ends up slowing everything down anyway.
Like DPC latency
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-co ... tency.html The computer may do X number of CPU cycles per second, but if there is lag on a procedure call, due to conflicting drivers (supplied by cheap-o no-namehardware manufacturer user by dell), then you've got more problems (especially with "real time" usage of the computer), it will hang & have 1-2 second freeze-ups while switching tasks / loading programs if you are using crappy drivers.
Re: DELL Vostro 3700 - anyone got one?
Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 2:25 am
by simonmlewis
How do you ask about the Motherboard and the Bus?
What is the secret number that it should be or would be ok?
And what would be bad?
I know what you mean tho. The bus is the "route" between the devices on the board to transfer data. Great kit is fine, but if the routes are low or small, that bottleneck will occur. Just don't know how to ask how good it is.
Re: DELL Vostro 3700 - anyone got one?
Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:17 am
by simonmlewis
Re: DELL Vostro 3700 - anyone got one?
Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:53 am
by JPRoss
It really depends on what you need it for. I've got an older Vostro PP22L and I've been very happy with it. Very dependable. Quick enough for what I use it for when I'm out on the road. I wouldn't use it for development probably, and I certainly don't use it for graphics.
Re: DELL Vostro 3700 - anyone got one?
Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 12:02 pm
by simonmlewis
Hi - thanks anyway.
I have since bought the XPS 15, with the full i7 Core and 2gb of graphics.
Expecting it here soon.
Cheers.