Here's the spec for it:
Intel Core2 Duo processor E6550 (2.33GHz 1333FSB) w/Dual Core Technology and 4MB cache
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
Dell USB 4 Button Premium Optical Mouse with Scroll
Dell USB Keyboard
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
320GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Dell 19-in-1 Media Card Reader
Integrated NIC card
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
I ordered on Friday morning. It shipped on Saturday (the next day) and I got it on Tuesday! it's amazing how quickly Dell can configure a computer.
Even though I could've gotten a QuadCore for the same price, it doesn't come in the slim-case version - which would look nicer if I decide to use it as a MediaPC connected to the TV.
The first thing I noticed when I turn on the computer is how LOUD the fan noise is. It's like sitting on the plane near the jet engine.
When I first got a Dell about 5 years ago, I was really impressed by their computers. It was so quiet, well built and nicely engineered. I remembered it was the first time where I saw a clam-shell case (no screws needed) and slide-on HD and optical drives. Many of the features that common cases now have. It was then that I decided that I couldn't beat Dell with price or the quietness - it was the end of computer-building era of my life.
When I heard this new 530s, I thought that era might come back.. yes, it was that loud.
I had thoughts of selling it off immediately. I guess I'm impatient - because if I rebooted the computer just once, I would notice that the fan noise would be gone :) A sure way to fix the fan noise is to reset the BIOS to default settings and start over.
The good thing I like:
The media reader!
In Windows Explorer, you can actually see the icons of the type of media card each drive letter correspond to. This has always been my pet-peeve with multi-media reader, it would pop up as E,F,G,H drives and you don't know which one is which.
Cooler still, the icon would turn to color when you insert a card.
Looking inside the case, everything is pack tight.
Still, there are 2 PCI slots, a x1 PCIe slot and a x16 PCIe slot. They're all half-height (low profile) slots though. Which will make my search for a good video card slightly harder, but I expected as much. My current choice is the MSI 8500GT low-profile fanless video card. It's at the top of my list because it has both HDMI and DVI output. HDMI is useful so that I only need one cable to carry both 1080p and audio.
I do like the fact that this case has space for 2 Hard drives. Most slim cases only have space for 1. It also have 4 memory slots. Currently it's only populated by 2x512MB 667Mhz DIMMs, but I plan to buy at least 2x1GB 800Mhz DIMMs.
My dissapointments:
- No SPDIF!! The onboard audio (HD Realtek) supports 7.1 surround sound, but it doesn't have a simple digital audio output
. - No Gigabit - another cost cutting measure from Dell. My 1.5 year old Dell Dimension E510 comes with Gigabit Ethernet. This brand new one only comes with 10/100.
Next would be my experiment with ubuntu 7.10 before deciding which OS to keep.
No comments:
Post a Comment