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Sorry if my computer questions become boring . I keep having problems with the present unit. I am looking at buying something reliable and reasonably fast. I quite like the Dell mentioned in the title. My question: are they good value for money? I would pick the T5500 with a Xeon E5540, Windows 7 64bit, 4GB of RAM, 2 HD, dual Quadro FX580 video cards. It comes with all the normal USB ports and one eSATA port. I still have to have a definite price as I do not need the monitor, but at the moment it stands at $4880.10 including the 3 year on site warranty. Their gaming Alienware or Studio XPS range come in around the $4000.00 mark once you add all the goodies. Am I going down the wrong path?

I am PC user myself but have you considered a top Macbook pro....

How would it compare to burn Blu-ray or handle large files? How long would it last? I just looked and a Mac Pro would be above $4000.00 as well.

I'm looking at a new computer at the moment as well.

I wouldn't recommend the T5500 simply as it appears to have an older CPU chip. I would look for something with either an i860 or i920.

Building a mchine up from scratch with the following specifications looks like comeing in around $2,700;

i920
12GB DDR3 RAM
120GB SSD Main Drive
2TB Storage Drive
Blu Ray burner
built in card reader
1 GB Graphics card

tommyg wrote:I'm looking at a new computer at the moment as well.

I wouldn't recommend the T5500 simply as it appears to have an older CPU chip. I would look for something with either an i860 or i920.

Building a mchine up from scratch with the following specifications looks like comeing in around $2,700;

i920
12GB DDR3 RAM
120GB SSD Main Drive
2TB Storage Drive
Blu Ray burner
built in card reader
1 GB Graphics card

Tommy,

What would be (really) gained with the SSD? I'd rather, were this me, go with two or three 1.5TB storage drives.

But to partially answer Gerard's question, yes, I too would probably be looking to build my own system, unless a laptop was the required outcome.

tommyg wrote:I'm looking at a new computer at the moment as well.

I wouldn't recommend the T5500 simply as it appears to have an older CPU chip. I would look for something with either an i860 or i920.

Building a mchine up from scratch with the following specifications looks like comeing in around $2,700;

i920
12GB DDR3 RAM
120GB SSD Main Drive
2TB Storage Drive
Blu Ray burner
built in card reader
1 GB Graphics card

I used to go that way but I think a lot of my problems arise from conflicts in the system or the system not being fully integrated or not configured properly. I think a Dell or Mac Pro system would be more stable.
When I compare the i7-920 to the E5540, the launch date for the 920 is Q4'08 and Q1'09 for the E5540, so it seems to be more recent. I am not sure how much impact it would have but the QPI speed is faster in the E5540 and it has 2 QPI links compared to one.
I know I can get one built at the local shop like before and it would be cheaper but I lost confidence in them.