Dell computer help

[YiannisK]

Hi people,

A friend of mine wants me to help him pick a computer from dell because he has some sort of account with them.

He will be using it for a DAW and I did tell him that maybe going for dell computer might not be the way to go but he insists on dell i guess because of his account with them.

Any how I have been out of touch with the whole tech side of things for a couple of years now since my DAW with 3Xscope pro has been working flawlessly

Can anyone give me some help picking out a dell computer for my friend.
I have advised my friend to stick with XP so if there are new computers with XP then that would be good unless I'm wrong about this.

BTW I'm trying to convince him to go with SC for his soundcard but it is up to him and his pocket so hopefully if I could find him a used project card.

Thanks
Yiannis

[dawman]

Most motherboards are OEM Intels from the Dells I have seen opened.
But they really load on the OEM software gunk, so just have an experienced persom tweak the O.S. and I am sure he can do the IRQ thing himself, if he gets a Scope card.
Just listened to your CD a week or so ago, it's sounding just fine..

Cheers.

[valis]

On a budget and need to buy immediately? Get a Core2 system (or i7 if that's what you're willing to spend.) I know sometimes when people offer these things that's the right time to grab them. I would guess (hope) he's buying it with the small business side of Dell, so that you at least avoid some of the more obnoxious consumer oriented bloatware (and you'll get hardware options in the middle of the price curve & above that aren't purely for gaming or home theatre.)

If it was my money though I would wait until Oct 22nd or so and get the system with Win7 & Xp 'downgrade'. If they don't offer that find someone to help you with a Windows Xp32 "System Builder" custom install until some point down the line where Win7 is well supported by your software & hardware (ie, still get Win7 and use the cheap SB version of Xp in the nearterm.) We're also at a transition point off of socket 775 (Core2duo & Core2quad) to i7 & i5 with two different sockets & architectures, so waiting a few weeks or longer wouldn't kill you there either.

[netguyjoel]

+1 on the Small and Medium Business section on Dell's website. Mostly Intel MB & procs, and pretty robust life cycles as well...if it were my money, with the 4 GB ram, Core2 E8500 or quad core Q9400 CPU and XP Pro SP3 downgrade for sure...

[YiannisK]

Thanks guys for all your input

So it is possible to get an XP downgraded from Win7 in the future?
Doesn't the newer hardware pose any problems with XP ?

So which spicific model of Dell do you guys recommend from the business models?

My friends bugget for the computer is $1,000 - $1,800 CAN

Just listened to your CD a week or so ago, it's sounding just fine..

To XITE-1/4LIVE
Thanks alot I'd like to send you some of my new tracks to get some feed back.

[katano]

Hi,

I'm still using an ancient Dell Inspiron 5000 as my DAW. At it's best times it hosted 3 Scope Pros and run rock solid. It has never let me down and was about 1000 quit 5 years ago I see no problems at all using a Dell...

Cheers
Roman