Help me explain to a friend why he's a fool

Post by **Jackal** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:03 pm

Ok, so I've got this friend who wants to buy one of those new Dell $5000 gaming desktops. He really doesn't have the money for it but will still go ahead with it anyway (financed over a year or something).
I've tried to explain to him that buying a ready-made PC for 5k is simply rediculous and that all he's really paying for is the brand name but he doesn't seem to want to listen.
He's got the same laptop as me (Pavillion ZD8000) but he's already upgraded to a gig of RAM. This machine is certainly no slouch when it comes to gaming yet he wants something more powerful still.

Any advice/knowledge about this Dell system I could use to turn him off of it? In the end it's his money, I'm just trying to help him avoid some financial pain.

Post by **StormShadow** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:07 pm

Go to newegg, build a PC with the exact same specs for $1,500 and show it to him..

Post by **MKJ** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:07 pm

is that the machine with the "exclusive" paintjob? well there you go then

Post by **Ryoki** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:09 pm

olo, that one?
He'll probably want it for the paintjob then.

Post by **Grudge** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:10 pm

$5000 for any computer is fucking stupid

Post by **Grudge** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:11 pm

In a year, when he is still paying for this one, he will be able to buy one with the same performance for $1500

Post by **StormShadow** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:15 pm

Or.. tell him dell is for nubs, and he will get laughed at when he tells other gamers he spent 5k on a fucking Dell..

Post by **StormShadow** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:16 pm

Or... point him to this thread

Post by **HM-PuFFNSTuFF** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:23 pm

and that friend's name is YourGranpa

Post by **Foo** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:29 pm

Jackal wrote:I've tried to explain to him that buying a ready-made PC for 5k is simply rediculous and that all he's really paying for is the brand name but he doesn't seem to want to listen.

I had a friend who dropped a few K on a top spec alienware laptop about 18 months ago. I was very much against it at first but because I eased off towards purchasing time, he went ahead.

If you keep up the reasonable explainations right up until he's actually about to drop the cash on the purchase, he'll probably back off.

In the end my friend's laptop wasn't a bad purchase, it's continuing to do him well and it's still above the spec of my latest desktop. 5K is about 3K british, I guess, which is high for a desktop.

Post by **Jackal** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:40 pm

Oh, another argument he has is that he doesn't know how to put a computer together and doesn't want to end up with something "that will break in 5 months". I told him there are alternatives to this, like finding a person who can slap a PC together, but I think he finds some comfort in the guarantee of the brandname.
Can you really throw together a PC with the same specs for under $2000 though? I'm not much of a tech guy so I have no idea. If I could show him this I bet it would change his mind.

Post by **Foo** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:47 pm

Point us towards the specs on the model he's after and I expect someone here will hook you up.

Two things which are positives in what he's considering are having a warranty to fall back on and having a full software suite to use. However 9/10 the software that bundles isn't what the particular person really wants, and nowadays you can get a hell of a lot of the same quality software in open source materials (Office Suite, CD burner, Image Managers, etc). Windows XP home is quite cheap too, so it barely factors into the cost of the machine.

Post by **Grudge** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:48 pm

I'd say that's almost impossible. You can probably put together something that would be within 5-10% in everyday performance for that amount of money though, but it wouldn't have those "impressive" specs.

Post by **Jackal** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:01 pm

Here's the official page:
http://www.dell.com/html/us/products/re ... egade.html

And here are the specs proper:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_XPS_600/45 ... 57921.html

Post by **-Replicant-** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:04 pm

you gave 2 different comps there jackal-

the xps600 on the official page is the renegade, with quad SLI (which in and of itself is $2,000) and can't yet be built by yourself (no one is selling retail quad SLI setups because they are difficult to configure).

the other one you linked can be built for $1000

Post by **losCHUNK** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:05 pm

aye, tryna build the 1st system for less than 5k could be a challenge

but saying that, for 2k you should be able to build a rig that will mince any game that is around

Post by **Freakaloin** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:05 pm

Jackal wrote:Ok, so I've got this friend who wants to buy one of those new Dell $5000 gaming desktops. He really doesn't have the money for it but will still go ahead with it anyway (financed over a year or something).
I've tried to explain to him that buying a ready-made PC for 5k is simply rediculous and that all he's really paying for is the brand name but he doesn't seem to want to listen.
He's got the same laptop as me (Pavillion ZD8000) but he's already upgraded to a gig of RAM. This machine is certainly no slouch when it comes to gaming yet he wants something more powerful still.

Any advice/knowledge about this Dell system I could use to turn him off of it? In the end it's his money, I'm just trying to help him avoid some financial pain.

fuck ur friend...and fuck u...

Post by **losCHUNK** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:06 pm

now was there really any need for that ?

Post by **Jackal** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:07 pm

Alright, feel free to say no but could one of you build a PC that would be comparable to the 5k PC in terms of performance and then post it here so I can direct my friend to take a look?

Post by **Freakaloin** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:08 pm

losCHUNK wrote:now was there really any need for that ?

i had to...

Post by **Jackal** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:09 pm

Get out of my thread Goof.

Post by **Freakaloin** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:10 pm

when i post in a thread...any thread...it becums mine...deal with it junior...

Post by **losCHUNK** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:12 pm

i got the graphics cards and CPU aready hitting £2500

so for 500 quid i need all the drives, mobo, a case, RAM + software etc

Post by **-Replicant-** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:19 pm

i just built one on newegg for $1600

A64 X2 3800+
2 gb cas 2 OCZ DDR400
2 x Nvidia Geforce 7900GT
Abit SLI x16 board
WD 250GB, 16megs of cache, 7200rpm drive
Sony 16x dual layer dvd burner

+ case, etc
= $1639

Post by **Jackal** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:24 pm

Nice, Thanks!

Help me explain to a friend why he's a fool

Help me explain to a friend why he's a fool

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