Can someone with computer knowledge tell me if this is a good computer?

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The US gov't has THOUSANDS of computers like that-Dell is the main supplier to the US gov't.They work.-and do last a long time.The Gov't surpluses a lot of those to get upgraded ones as the place where I work has done-now they use Dell Optiplex 790.
 
It's OK...

Compare it to a top of the line Del XPS 8500 which has:

Processor: 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3770 processor (up to 3.90 GHz)
OS: Windows 8, 64-bit
Memory: 12GB2 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
Hard Drive: 2TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive 6.0 Gb/s
Video card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640 1GB GDDR5

Always try to buy as much computer as you can afford...(processor, memory, hard drive, video). It has to last you for years to come.

I like performance PC's because I like things FAST and don't want it to become obsolete in a few years.
 
Not a bad machine for the price

Looks OK for most uses, it would not be all that fast for video editing and rendering but for watching movies I don't see a problem. You will need to install any of the software that you currently have on your laptop on this machine and transfer your files. File transfer is easily accomplished with a high capacity thumb drive (and it gives you backup space too).
Harry
 
Well

Let's see. The current laptop I have is around 5 to 6 years old. Win XP home. It's a Dell Inspirion Genuine Intel (R) CPU T 2300 @ 1.66 GHz and .99 gig of ram.

I'm sure this computer I linked MUST be an improvement. At this time I do not want Windows 8. I really like Windows 7

I don't do online gaming. Mostly surfing, downloading, watching online videos and I use Nero a lot to create DVD's. I don't think I need to biggest baddest computer. This one I'm using is actually surprisingly fast for its age and does everything I want it to do, but I hear XP will cease updates in about a year.
 
It should serve you well...

I would stick with Win 7 also. I hear Win 8 SUCKS with the "Surface" (Metro) user interface.

Best of luck, hope it serves you well for many years.
 
XP end support date

Windows XP support ends April 8 2014. Windows 7 is an easier upgrade path ( interface) from XP than Windows 8 will be. The interface (start button) is still there on 7 and the interface is closer to what you are use to in XP. I have XP, Win 7, and Win 8 on my personal machines. We still use XP at the office but we should be upgrading soon. One problem with XP is it does not support the latest version of Internet Explorer and our MLS system is not happy with the older versions of IE. Solution is that we use Google Chrome as our browser. You should be happy with the performance of your new PC.
Harry
 
The specs on that computer are very similar to what I am running now. I have no problems running anything I want. I use it to run two websites, render and edit graphics, view movies online and general internet browsing & e-mail.

The 750GB HDD is a nice size and the 4GB RAM is what will give this computer a boost. The price is just about right.

Just make sure you remove all the crapware Dell puts on their computers before shipping.
 
CCCLeaner

A good way to remove unwanted software and to control what starts when the computer boots is CCleaner. There is a free version and a pay version. I use the free version. It has great tools that will allow you to easily uninstall unwanted programs and to decide what starts when your computer boots. Lots of things start at boot time and you many not need all of them. Link to the download included
Harry

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner
 
The one concern I have with that Dell OptiPlex is that it appears that it has only VGA video connection, and not any modern digital connection. I'm not sure how much that matters, but I've heard a number of people say that it's better have DVI-D as a minimum for a modern flatscreen monitor. Even if the current monitor is CRT, it's a good idea being ready for anything.

A video board could be added, of course, but that adds to the cost later on. Plus a mix of research, and looking at that photo in the Amazon listing, suggests that this computer would use "low profile" boards. I'm not sure how common these are, but when I was looking around for one for my current computer, I got the feeling they aren't as common as regular boards.
 
To get a DV-I port for a digital connection to a flat screen monitor Dell has these 1/2 height cards that provides a DV-I port. I use one on my computer. They sell for about $3-7.00 on ebay. I use a Silicon Image card in my system. The screen image is far superior to plain old VGA or SVGA if you have a flat screen monitor that supports digital input.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Del...709?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item23265fdf85
 
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Seven dollars is not bad for that video board. I hate buying stuff to make a new system work...but sometimes its reality. The price on the system that started this thread is awfully good.

The big problem for me was that my computer uses AGP. Most AGP boards only had VGA, and the ones that had DVI had some issue--like high price (at least in my admittedly fast research).
 
Looks like a good machine to me.  I have a Dell XPS a little older than the one you are thinking about but I like it a lot.

I ordered mine with a Nivdia graphics card which has its own processor and memory, so this takes the display work off of the PC and puts it on the card.  I use it with  a 27.5 inch flat screen display.  Talk about lighting screen refreshes and sharp resolution.  I bet you could get one of these cards for about $100 at Best Buy or a store like that.

 

Wondering about that 4 GB of memory. I ordered my PC with 4 GB thinking I might upgrade one day.  When I moved from Windows Vista to Windows 7 I found that Windows 7 32 bit will not recognize memory over 2GB leaving my additional  2 GB unused.  Windows 7 64 bit will recognize and use all 4 GB  of memory.  

 

Might be wise for you to find out what version(32 bit or 64 bit) of Windows 7 this machine is running, and if it is 64 Bit, then see if  all of your applications will run in a 64 bit system or if there is a 64 bit version available. Some of the applications I used every day would not work on 64 Bit and did not have 64 bit versions(this has to do with how applications read and write to system memory).  

 

Will say that Windows 7 is much improved and more stable than Windows XP and Windows Vista.  Rare to have the system crash or get confused and become unresponsive. 

 

Windows 8?  - Microsoft doesn't have things worked out yet. 

 

 

 
 
Looks Good!

I recently bought a refurbished HP DC5100 Slim-Form-Factor PC. I'm away at the moment (relying on "stolen Wi-Fi"), but I'm looking forward to using it as a home server. Provided you aren't doing any video editing or gaming, that machine is probably overkill, but future proofed better than me. My refurbished box comes with Windows XP Pro, SP3. I won't upgrade until I absolutely have to!

 

But Dell is a good brand, you just have to check YouTube user Uxwbill's channel to learn that! He loves his Dell machines. 

I'll bet you'll get another 5 years from that machine (apart from the Hard-Disk. DO NOT TRUST used Hard-Disks. I suggest keeping a backup or buying a new or 2nd hard-disk for the machine!)
 
Hmmm

Thanks for the input. Currently, I have my laptop being used as a DESKTOP in the living room on a computer desk hooked to an LCD 22 (using VGA) inch monitor and external keyboard and mouse and hooked up to LAN instead of wireless. I use CCleaner all the time - the free version. I never took into consideration the VGA cable and quality on the monitor and new technology with connections. It looks great what I have but I'm sure it could look better. I'll do more looking around but I don't think (at this point the VGA input will be the deal breaker), but I too hate adding things to an existing computer to make it future proof for a while.
 
Mine has several USB ports in the back and two in the front  as well but I didn't account for the fact that some of these get used by devices I considered required, such as USB mouse, USB keyboard, USB printer,  so at least 3 of mine in the back are taken up by these reserved  devices--those you probably really have to have.  Eventually I got a Wifi printer so that freed up one back port.  Still you will have a lot of flexibility with this machine.

 

 
 

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