Ron Schenone

Cheap Dell Systems + Vista = Poor Experience

Posted by on Mar 26, 2007 | 10 Comments

I found this commentary interesting and I thought I would share it with all of you. This was posted in the Lockergnome forum by Gordan Keenan. I left his comments as is:

“I have (over the last three weeks) had the opportunity to work at different places that have recently purchased new Dell Computer Equipment. A few small business’s and some home users, so it’s been a combinations of Vista Business and Home Edition.

My experiences have left me extremely cold on what Dell considers to be an acceptable platform for the Vista operating system.

All of the equipment is way under powered for decent use, though I have to say it would be fine for Windows XP.

512MB RAM – it’s crippling the system! On-board video – Aero – zero chance of that happening for these users and
certainly no WOW factor!

The thing is, the people buying the equipment don’t know any better but they all said the same thing… Why is the new computer running so slow? Surely it should be really fast with the new vista on it?

As I run Vista Business on a dual-core Athlon 5600+ with 2GB of ram, and I find it sluggish at times, all I could do is tell them that in future, they should ask advice before just buying something cheap.

As for Dell, a company that is trying to tell people that it KNOWS about computers, they should hang their heads in shame.. but the good thing is that independent computer builders now have a chance of making good spec pc’s that will work better for the end user!”

It is unfortunate that people will buy inexpensive computers with Vista on them, only to find that their computing experience will be less than stellar. Hopefully Dell will see the errors of its ways and offer its customers sound advice about either buying a better PC that will support Vista properly or flat out get out of the ‘el cheapo’ market. Even in 3rd world countries Dell offers their inexpensive computer with XP not Vista. Wonder why?

Comments welcome.
[tags]dell, vista, microsoft,[/tags]

  • Ed

    I haven’t ran Vista Basic yet on a system with such low specs, but the low-end systems are a decent way for people with a limited budget to get a new system. For someone only interested in websurfing, MS Office, and casual gaming (e.g. Bejeweled), won’t a user upgrading from say a 1.2 GHz system have a positive experience? In my experience, non-techies don’t seem to mind much working on what many (including me) would consider a dinosaur.

  • http://fractalbeanstalk.blogspot.com/ Tim Hodkinson

    When I saw the increased hardware requirements for Vista (minimums) I began to consider if there was something like a Military-Industrial complex operating in the computing world. This posssible unholy alliance between hardware manufacturers and Microsoft is based on the understanding that Microsoft will only put out new versions of Windows that require new hardware to run properly. As a result, hardware manufacturers will support the new versions of Windows because the new Windows means increased sales of new hardware. They’re scratching each other’s backs.

    The end result is (or was supposed to be): Vista will drive up new computer sales. It’s win-win for MS and computer companies, but a loss for customers who get a second rate computing experience on what is actually first rate hardware.

    I think Vista is going to drive up the price of computing systems by something like 25% and that’s going to make new systems look much less attractive to some buyers, especially considering how an adequate home desktop could have been bought for $500 before Vista arrived.

    An off-lease system running an OEM copy of Xp is the way to go. As any Scotsman…

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Tim,
    Thanks for the comments.
    Ron

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Ed,
    I understand your concerns. And yes, Vista Basic will be just fine for doing what you mentioned. I’m of the opinion that users would still be better off using XP in this case instead of Vista. But, again, that’s just me 2 cents.

    Thanks for your comments, Ron

  • Anonymous

    So how does the 3d work for movies? I heard that it was that every other line was a different image of the shot, and the glasses have a lens that splits the picture. . if this is so, philip defranco had an idea that was to use that to play videogames. you have one screen that is not split but one persons screen is on lines 1,3,5,7 etc and the otheres 2,4,6,8 and so on. that way you could both play “split screen” on a full screen. Would any of this work?

    • http://www.engadget.com Richard Lawler

      That already exists. Vizio was showing that setup at CES and Sony has announced it’s going to be pushing it as well.

  • http://spiritquest.myopenid.com/ stereoket

    Most movie theatres use the RealD system projection system. Digital in nature, the movie is projected at approx 120-130 fps through a special adapter that is retrofitted to a normal Digital Cinema projection system. It has circular polarised filter so that the left and the right image a re projected at high frame rates so that we don’t notice the difference in separation. The glassed that we wear, filter the left and right view to each eye. The brain fuses the stereoscopic image together.

    • Anonymous

      well some places now make 2d glasses, for people that dont like the 3d or the 3d just gives them headaches. They way i think they work is by putting two of the same lenes in the glasses, so you only see one of the images and not both. So if that is the case could the idea of playing a “spit screen” game on full screen work?

  • http://spiritquest.myopenid.com/ stereoket

    Most movie theatres use the RealD system projection system. Digital in nature, the movie is projected at approx 120-130 fps through a special adapter that is retrofitted to a normal Digital Cinema projection system. It has circular polarised filter so that the left and the right image a re projected at high frame rates so that we don’t notice the difference in separation. The glassed that we wear, filter the left and right view to each eye. The brain fuses the stereoscopic image together.

  • kelvinscott

    In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Dell CFO Brian Gladden announced that the company would be