Entered CNET Catalog: 10/12/2005
SKU: DE51L1
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
Manufacturer description
The Dimension E510 is priced to give you great performance and terrific value. It's capable of performing your multimedia tasks quickly, but it won't break your bank account. This is the ideal balance of performance and price. The Dell Dimension E510 is powered by the Intel Pentium 4 5x1 and 6xx Series processors and controlled by the Genuine Windows XP operating system. This means that you get a great desktop PC that can quickly and easily handle your productivity and multimedia applications without slowing down. Whether you're into music, gaming or photography, the E510 will help you get the most out of your favorite hobby. The Dimension E510 comes standard with the Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005 operating system, making it easy for you to access all your files and applications, connect to the Web and handle your day-to-day computer tasks. Take total control of your photos, music and videos by upgrading to Windows XP Media Center Edition, and enjoy its enhanced multimedia capabilities. The E510 features the sleek white and silver BTX chassis, which offers great benefits like the front venting area that draws cool air through the computer to help prevent overheating. Having fewer fans in the Quiet Case technology. Chassis also helps ensure that the E510 is quiet, leaving you to enjoy your DVDs and music in peace. This product is supplied with 512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz as a free upgrade option.CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 11/02/2005
The Dell Dimension E510, like its progenitor the Dimension 5100, is a well-priced, decently powered option for family computing. Like the Dimension 5100, the E510 adds modern essentials such as a BTX motherboard and a 64-bit CPU that should keep you from having to replace your system for a few years. You can configure a Dell Dimension E510 for a cost as low as $729, but our test system included the Media Center version of Windows XP, dual TV tuners, two-piece speakers, and a 17-inch LCD, among other upgrades, that brought the price to a still reasonable $1,154. Even so, the Dimension E510's lack of a dual-core CPU makes the trim Dell XPS 200 a better option performancewise. And if you want the expandability of a midtower case, the AMD-based mainstream HP Pavilion d4100e is a better choice.
We liked this case when it first came out with the Dell Dimension 5100, and the same applies to the Dimension E510. The case is cast in an attractive silver-and-white design, and a removable side panel makes accessing the internal components easier than ever. The insides are well organized, so it's easy to switch components or reach the sole free PCI slot or the two free RAM slots.
The E510 is a quiet operator, even when performing noisy tasks such as ripping or burning CDs or DVDs on its double-layer, dual-format DVD drive. The reason is its BTX motherboard and what Dell calls its QuietCase technology, which provides better air circulation through a novel cutout section behind the front panel.
Our test system used Intel's 3GHz Intel Pentium 4 531 processor, giving the midpriced PC 64-bit processing capabilities. With its not quite cutting-edge CPU, the Dimension E510 turned in predictable, if uninspiring, performance scores. Its compact cousin, the Dimension XPS 200, also has a 3GHz CPU, but that one is a dual-core Pentium D 830, which gave the XPS 200 a 17 percent advantage in CNET Labs' BAPCo SysMark 2004 benchmarks. The single-core AMD-based HP Pavilion d4100e, powered by a 2.4GHz AMD Athlon 64 4000+ CPU, had the same 17 percent edge. (Subsequent to our testing, Dell stopped offering the Pentium 4 531 as an option. The closest current option is the Pentium 4 630, which offers double the L2 cache (2MB) and the same 3GHz clock speed and 64-bit capability.) The supplied 128MB ATI Radeon X300 SE video card is underpowered for serious 3D gaming, although you can upgrade to the Radeon X600 SE for only $23. To its credit, the Dimension E510 was able to run Half-Life 2, while our XPS 200 test system (with integrated Intel 950G graphics) could not. Still, 13.4 frames per second (fps) isn't what you'd call playable. Dell's higher-end XPS 400 uses an Nvidia GeForce 6800 3D card to churn out 64.5fps on the same test.
Our test system also featured a 160GB Serial ATA hard drive, 512MB of 400MHz DDR2 SDRAM, and a dual TV tuner. The 160GB drive seems skimpy for a Media Center system, and at 250GB, even the largest hard drive offered is really too small for a PC that will be recording lots of television shows. At least Dell gives you the strong option to back up all of your data. Starting at an additional $160, you can add Dell DataSafe, a dual hard drive RAID 0 configuration (two 160GB for $160, two 250GB for an added $250) that comes with handy software to help you protect your data.
Though our test system featured Windows XP Media Center, you can configure the system without a TV tuner and choose Pro. We were pleased to see a 13-in-1 media card reader included as a $20 upgrade option, but on such a seemingly versatile mainstream PC, we wish Dell would offer it as standard equipment. It's easy to overlook in the Dimension E510's lengthy online configurator.
The system offers seven USB 2.0 ports--two on the front and five on the rear--and our custom Dell multimedia keyboard offered another two; however, you won't find a single FireWire port, which strikes us as bizarre. More bizarre: a FireWire card isn't even listed as an option. The slight software bundle includes Musicmatch Jukebox Basic and Corel Photo Album Starter Edition.
Dell's standard limited-support option is average, with one year of tech support and onsite service. An additional $150 gets you up to three years of support; if you want to save money and opt for only 90-days of support, you'll save $29. Dell's Web site offers a variety of user guides, FAQs, and forums. Phone support is available 24/7, but be prepared to wade through endless menus. As we've noted in other Dell reviews, most manuals come preinstalled on the hard drive, which makes them harder to reference in a pinch.
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BAPCo's SysMark 2004 rating | |
SysMark 2004 Internet-content-creation rating | |
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Half-Life 2 1,024x768 4XAA 8XAF | |
Half-Life 2 1,600x1,200 4XAA 8XAF |
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Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations
Dell Dimension E510
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3GHz Intel Pentium 4 531; Intel 945G chipset; 512MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; ATI Radeon X300 SE; Maxtor 6L160M0 160GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
Dell Dimension 5100C
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2; 3GHz Intel Pentium D 830; Intel 945G chipset; 512MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; integrated Intel 950G; Maxtor 6L160M0 160GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
Dell Dimension 9100
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2; 3.2GHz Intel Pentium D 840; Intel 945GP chipset; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6800 (PCIe); two WDC WD160JD-75HBB0 160GB Serial ATA 7,200rpm; integrated Intel 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller (RAID 0)
HP Pavilion d4100e
Windows XP Home SP2; 2.4GHz AMD Athlon 64 4000+; ATI Radeon RS480 (ATI Radeon X200 Xpress) chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6800 (PCIe); Seagate ST3400832AS 400GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
Sony VAIO VGC-RA842G
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2; 3GHz Intel Pentium D 830; Intel 945G chipset; 1GB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; Nvidia GeForce 6600 (PCIe); 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42
User Rating: 
2/10
One word: "Lemon"
Pros: Good file size, holds a lot of data.
Fairly fast, when it's working, and comes with decent stock features.
Cons: I've gone through 3 motherboards, a power unit and a CD ROM drive. High quality Korean craftsmanship at its finest.
Tech Support is mediocre.
It's a Dell
Althought when the computer is working it runs fairly well (Though pretty low end for gaming) Never any problems with my files or programs that have run on it within the system specs. However, the hardware is terrible. Instead of quality Dell shoots for price, and they are as cheap as the rest of them. The computer I had before this was a Packard Bell (Remember those) Well, it lasted me 12 years! This E510 I have now lost it's first motherboard not even 6 months after having it, and I have to spend countless hours on the phone with india every month because there is something wrong with this heap. It's caused me more stress than just about anything, and I highly recommend staying far away from dell.
User Rating: 
4/10
Glitchy and difficult to administer
Pros: Graphics were cool before I had to rebuild it.
Cons: Poor customer service.
User Rating: 2/10
Machine defective, DELL refused to honor warranty.
Pros: Machine is sufficiently capable as noted above. Functionally, it deserves a 3 or 4-star rating.
Cons: The product is not reliable. The RAID corrupted data. The machine refused to boot after 1 year, 4 months, with 8 months left on the warranty. Dell has refused to honor the warranty as of Sep 1, 2008.
The RAID 0 storage never worked properly, and repeatedly corrupted the data on the disks-- something a RAID is not supposed to do, sort of defeats the whole purpose. Finally, the machine stopped booting up after 1 year and 4 months. Dell replaced the motherboard, but that didn't fix the problem. So they sent a replacement unit that was both deficient (did not have all the features of my E510) and defective (appeared to boot, but did not drive either of the Dell monitors I attached to it). After I returned the defective replacement unit, 7 months before the warranty ran out, Dell acknowledges that the problem still exists but refuses to fix it.
Since Dell will not honor its warranties, do not pay any extra for it-- you are throwing money away. In fact, add an additional $500 to the price of any Dell you buy to compensate for the poor reliability, many defects, and lack of customer service.
User Rating: 
9/10
Love it, highly reccomended
Pros: Well built, lots of upgrade options
Cons: just 1 pci express
Added a huge sata hdd as slave, wifi pci card, creative soundcard and ati video card. It's awesome
User Rating: 2/10
freezes every 2 hours, no shielding on audio jack
Pros: A generic computer
Cons: slow and crashy
The computer itself is a lot slower than iMacs bought at the same time, with identical specs, both running windows. It is in fact pokey in its speed.
The other complaint is that the computer froze and continues to freeze daily right out of the box. If you leave it alone for more than 2 hours and return, you'll find that you have to unplug the computer and restart it. Dell Support said that this is normal, and that Windows is supposed to be restarted daily. Um, I don't know, but someone needs a number of kicks in the rear.
Anyway, compared to our office's usual computers made by Apple, this is truly a piece of garbage that costs us more every day. I really don't understand why people still buy PC's to save money in an office over macs. You've gobbled up that extra $200 in the first 2 weeks on wasted employee time with tech support, downloading drivers, slow startup times, computer consultants, changing mother boards to change the graphic card to upgrade the monitor, whatever. After a year this computer has easily cost about $1000 more than the imacs, which have been dependable and transparent from day 1.
User Rating: 
6/10
Very good for the price.
Pros: Great for simple upgrade.
Cons: Shuts down frequently. And not enogh ram memory.(512MB!)
User Rating: 2/10
One Year Late Everything Started Failing
Pros: Customer Service, PRICE
Cons: QUALITY, QUALITY and RELIABILTY
User Rating: 9/10
Excellent Computer
Pros: Quiet, Reliable
Cons: Can't think of any
It's done everything asked of it & more.
I wouldn't hesitate buying anotherone, not for a second
User Rating: 
8/10
Has served me well
Pros: Only one hardware problem after 1 1/2 years of ownership (Hard Drive problem 3 weeks into ownership, however the PC had a restore program).
Cons: ATI Radeon Graphics card makes loud buzzing noise. Hated the OS that came on it (Media Center) as it was always messing up. However, the PC now has Vista on it and is running well.
I now have the infamous Dell orange blinking light syndrome. After less than two years, this computer has become so problematic that it's pathetic. Sorry Dell, but I'm going back to HP next time. No wait...I'm not sorry.
Took over a month and $160 to fix, but it's done. Had to replace both the motherboard and power supply. Pretty bad if you ask me, especially on a PC under 2 years old. However, now the loud buzzing is gone. Must have been the Power Supply. I probably will never buy a Dell again.
User Rating: 
5/10
Good computer, bad case
Pros: good mid range computer a year ago
Cons: Bad case design
User Rating: 8/10
easy to use
Pros: comes up quick,quiet operation,easy to use
Cons: i have not found any yet
User Rating: 9/10
This is a great computer if you get what you need.
Pros: I got it for cheap as a refurb
Cons: Some issues with slow down
This is a great computer.
User Rating: 9/10
Dell Owed Me a System Exchange.
Pros: Boy did they come thru!
Cons: NONE, NONE, NONe!!!!!!
User Rating: 4/10
Regret the Purchase
Pros: Easy to buy and cheap
Cons: Case rattles and hums
User Rating: 9/10
When I bought it, the best computer for the price.
Pros: Dual core 2.8 ghz, comes with a name brand video card.
Cons: Only 512 MBs of ram, which you must upgrade.
User Rating: 9/10
Great computer, best value for dollar
Pros: Up to 4 gigs of RAM, decent hard drive space, great price
Cons: Better video card would be nice
Pentium 4 w/HT 640 3.20 GHz
2 GB RAM (Upgraded from 1 GB)
ATI Radeon X600 Hypermemory 256MB PCI-e x16
160 GB SATA Hard Drive
17" Dell E176FP Flat panel with sound bar
This was the best Dell we've bought. My Inspiron 1150 was shaky, but laptops are prone to problems. The only thing of concer is that the video card is low-end. But the computer is for my parents; They don't need a Radeon X1900XTX video card! We've had no problems whatsoever with our E510. An 'A+' for Dell Dimension E510!
User Rating: 
3/10
Dells are Great... Once you get them working
Pros: Fast Computer. Easy Setup
Cons: Buggy Components
My unit also Blue Screened due to adding the media bay. Installer added the media bay but didn't delete the bios reference to a previously installed floppy. It constantly blue screened due to a missing IRQ. If you get a media bay that isn't part of the base con figuartion make sure to delete that reference
User Rating: 4/10
Don't buy the E510
Pros: It's a box
Cons: The loud buzz
User Rating: 9/10
A great home video Editing system
Pros: Very Fast, the best PC that I've ever used on a day to day basis.
Cons: All of the crap they put on the computer when you buy it. Could use an extra PCI slot
In the starting, I actually got the blue screen of "death" a few times, and a few installation errors at startup. It all had to do with the shody free trials that dell puts on the computer when they send it out. Evuntally when i got rid of thoes things started to get much better with it. The blue screen hasent showed up in quite along time.
Right now, It has 2 80GB 10,000RPM SATA western digital hard drives in it(and 2 Graid fw800 250GB), 2GB of kingston memory, a firewire 800/400 card in the back for video upload, a video capture card (analog/composite) with a tv tuner, A creative Xfi Audigy, 2 dvd burners, and a dual 19" display. And of course a pentium 4 3.2 speed. The 2.1 surround sound speakers are nice too.
At times, I've been editing 2 hours of video footage and the computer has no problem handling the clips.
I saved up for this computer for 5 years, and I have to say im very happy I spent my money on it. It does just what i want it to.
Thats not to say It did not take some modifications to get it running this way. my memory, monitors, Firewire card, were all updated after I bought the computer.
Basicly, you get what you pay for with this pc.
I would say in total ive spent 2,000 on my whole system, and it would cost you around 3,500 at some other PC builder like alienware to get this type of system made. And you deffinatly couldent reach this level at this price by building it.
User Rating: 8/10
good value
Pros: i like this computer
Cons: cant find any
User Rating: 5/10
Service Disappointing
Pros: Prompt delivery
Cons: Friendly but inept after sale service
User Rating: 
10/10
It Is Really A Great Product And Dell Is A Great Choice For A Home PC!
Pros: It Is Great For Web Surfing And Also Multimedia.
Cons: I Can't Think Of Any.
User Rating: 
7/10
Great PC. with great features
Pros: Speed,Features,Extras
Cons: None........
User Rating: 8/10
Ordered 4/8
Pros: I'm a MAC guy, but needed a PC at home for the kids. I'm a bit intimidated by the PC world, but the Dell site and the tips here were very valuable and made it easy to order.
Cons: none so far, will repost when the product delivers
User Rating: 9/10
Just built it, waiting Delivery
Pros: Best set up for the money
Cons: prolonged Delivery Date (3wks.) Heavy promotion, not Dell's fault
Pent. D820 (2.8/800)
1G Dual channel DDR2 SDRAM/533MHz
17" Flat panel (basic model)
ATI Radeon X600 SE HyperMem
13 port media card reader
Dual cd/dvd-rw drives
intergrated 7.1 sound
I've got a nice JBL speaker package now and MS Office, so no need to include those, keeping my price down. But I'm very happy with the deal I got. I currently have a Dimension 8100 w/ 40G HD and 128 RAM, so I'm excited about getting my new setup. The promo must be doing well, b/c it won't ship until the end of the month. A bit iritating, but not Dell's fault. Any comments on the componentry I chose are welcome. I don't play graphically intensive games, (mostly TigerWoodsPGA) so my RAM and video card choices should do, I hope. My one concern is about the speed of the D820 processor at only 2.8 GHz Anybody here have an comments on the DualCore 820? Thanks in advance and I'll follow up when I've received the system.
Again, look for the coupon codes first! The company I work for has a corp. employee discount with Dell, and I still did better with the online coupon codes. Just google "dell coupon codes" and cut/paste the code in at checkout. Good Luck!
User Rating: 10/10
Best. Product. Ever.
Pros: Easy everything.
Cons: Dell Haters Die
User Rating: 9/10
Overall good machine purchased to replace an old Pentium II 400 MHZ
Pros: Pentium 4 HT, 19" Flat Panel, 160GB HD, 1GB 533MHZ Memory, Decent Speed, Great Performance
Cons: None thus far... This is the third Dell purchased within the past 1-1/2 years, fourth overall.
Sales personnel were courteous and helpful. Paid less than a $1000 for the following:
DIM E510,P4,630 (3.0 GHZ),HT
1GB DDR2 SDRAM,533MHZ- 2X512MB,DIM,M
19IN (19.0 IN) Flat Panel Monitor
128MB ATI HYPER MEM X300SE
160GB SERIAL ATA,7200 RPM,
13 IN 1 MEDIA CARD READER
IEEE 1394 PORT
ENHANCED SOUND
SPEAKERS W/SUBWOOFER
Last night, I arrived home from work and found the computer shutdown. My wife told me that the machine froze and would not reboot. I tried to start the machine and received a system error.
I called Dell service last evening and talked with someone who I assume was from India based on his accent going by the name of Mac. Well, contrary to some of the horror stories, Mac was extremely helpful. The hard-drive crashed and needed to be replaced.
This afternoon, a service tech showed up with a new hard-drive. The machine is up and running.
Dell responded in less than 24 hours. I would say that is pretty difficult to find fault with.
Though I would have preferred not to have required service, I have to rate them a '10' with regard to their response, their courtesy, the respective knowledge of both the person I spoke with last night and the service tech. Most important, the machine is running.
User Rating: 9/10
A VICTORY FOR THOSE LOOKING FOR A QUALITY CPU AT A GREAT COST! You can upgrade whats left out later!
Pros: You have choices when ordering from 80 gig to 300g hard drive and 3.0 to 3.4 GHZ intel pentium 4. Operates Flawlessly. PCI Express, Front/Back USB connects, many upgradable options from TV Tuner.
Cons: Have to upgrade the computer yourself for gaming. Power supply was only 305W and the options of upgrading your Graphics card when purchasing were crap also the power cord for a PCI-E card was short.
3.4Ghz Intel Pentium 4 processors
160 Hard Drive
1 Gig Ram (2 512MB using SLI technology)
2 DVD Disc Drives including a DVD-R/RW
7 USB Ports
and more
I upgraded my generic 305 W supply to a 480W ANtec True 2.0. I then was able to run my PNY Verto Nvidia Geforce 6800 GS Card. Dell atempts to coax first time buyers into bying there xps system which is comes Gamer ready. The Dimension sells more towards those who have no game interest but do watch video and view photos and such. Without the added card and power supply the computer was a 7 at best. Cheap trick dell runs on people. Anybody with suffecient knowledge can purchase upgrades on thier own and continue to make this computer a knockout and affordable. Just don't buy your aupgrades from Dell or trust Dell to offer you the best honest advice on boosting your PC. DO the research urself. Dell Scams people. I feel like I got one over on them. So I plan to buy another hard drive maybe 500gigs and feel my two memory slots with 2 gigs of quality memory from the cheapest offer I can find and load those suckers up. A Victory for the little man.
User Rating: 3/10
Great value, but it just isn't performing for me
Pros: Good value;
Cons: terrible performance; terrible customer support
I have had to reset the computer back to it's factory settings twice in the three months I've owned it.
It won't allow me to install MS Word -- it installed all the other MS Office applications, but won't take Word?
It won't shut down on it's own. Just hangs until I unplug it. I know that isn't helping but its the only way to restart the PC.
Many of the programs my kids have (Chessmaster for example) just won't load. They were all running on XP previously.
So, my wife tried to call support. An absolute nightmare. On hold for three hours, speaking to Indian support representatives who she couldn't understand. Then she responded to a pitch from Dell to buy onsite support. So she bought that package -- guess what -- she can't get through to anyone to schedule an onsite visit.
I have been a Dell fan for many years. I've bought four desktops at home and many many more for business. But my last PC burned out after only two years of use, and with this last experience, I am selling my Dell stock. They are definitely slipping as a company if my experience is representative.
User Rating: 8/10
Dell hit one for extra bases!
Pros: Free upgrate 17" flat panel. The X-Fi sound card and the 256MB Radeon SE vidio card works well with the DVD software.
Cons: No system disk. I guess Dell feels the "DataSafe" setup I bought does not require a restore disk.
User Rating: 6/10
For the money its a decent computer
Pros: ability to customize to suit needs
Cons: Customer service is almost impossible to deal with
CPU:
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 w/HT Technology (3.0GHz,800FSB)
RAM:
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (4x512M)
HD:
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
Monitor:
19 inch E196FP Analog Flat Panel
Sound:
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy® ADVANCED HD Audio
Video:
I upgraded it myself to an nVidea geForce GT 7800.
CD and DVD +/-R/RW drive and DVD-Rom Drive.
The only really bad thing is Dell's Customer Service.
First, I'd probably rate the computer an 8-9 if not for the customer service at Dell. I have no bias towards people from other countries, but I feel Dell has made a real mistake subbing customer service to India. I speak only English, and given that that is the language of my country I don't feel its an unrealistic expectation to speak that language when doing business. The simple fact is that 2/3 of the reps that I've tried to speak with on their customer service lines are functionally unable to speak English. I get gibberish and end up playing a spelling game back and forth.
The computer itself is fine. It was shipped lightning fast, ahead of schedule and everything arrived perfect. Setup took 10 minutes and I was up and connected in place of my old machine.
Most of the people that I see ******** about Dell didn't do their homework. I knew going in the onboard video was going to be crap...so I bought another card. Did end up having to upgrade the power supply to run the new vid card but it was cheap and easily overcome. So far it runs flawlessly.
I'd recommend that anyone buying a computer figure out what they want beforehand and read the options on the Dell site carefully. Look also at the upgrade capability of what you're buying. I like that this computer can be upgraded to 4Gb of RAM (4 slots vs 2 of many motherboards). It does have a PCI-E x16 slot so the vid card was no problem MAKE SURE IF YOU BUY A NEW COMPUTER THAT IT HAS EITHER AN AGP Slot or a PCI-E ****X16**** slot. Video cards do not work in PCI-E x1 or PCI-E x2 slots and if all you have is an onboard vid card then that's what you're going to be stuck with (ie Dimension E310.)
My uprades made this substantially more than the base price but it wasn't too bad given what I got.
User Rating: 9/10
I like it!
Pros: It runs like a dream so far
Cons: none that I can find!!
User Rating: 10/10
best computer for the money
Pros: great price and performance
Cons: none, this computer works beautifully
User Rating: 10/10
Great Buy; Great Machine; Shhhhh.
Pros: Silent Work Horse / 64bit ready
Cons: No Dual Core but no biggee right now
I dunno where that other guy got one that's loud; it simply aint....
I've used e-mail to communicate with the customer service people and have had a generally good experience -- and a free gift sent to me for my troubles when I expressed some frustration. I think it's the better way to go then phoning India; that is of course if your machine is up and running to send e-mail. But all these customer service complaints on here are suspects. Bottomline, the thing works great, looks great, and sounds (there is no sound - it's silent as can be) great.
User Rating: 
1/10
Very Poor Customer Service
Pros: Performs OK
Cons: Loud fan, bad tech support and customer service
User Rating: 9/10
Great Entertainment Computer
Pros: Huge 19" screen, Fast
Cons: None so far.........
I have had this computer for about 6 months and i know in my last review i put that it is a great computer...but now there are some problems with it. It makes the most annoying buzzing sound you will ever hear! The taskbar at the bottom of the screen dissipears and the screen freezes, the browser for internet shuts off. I do not recomend this computer now.
do not purchase this computer it is just a wacky computer....its a "basic" computer for a expensive price...i dont recommend it...get a apple or something else. Dell is getting worse and worse....
User Rating: 3/10
Good machine, Lousy customer service
Pros: System performing well
Cons: Customer service lousy
User Rating: 1/10
good system
Pros: ?? cant find one
Cons: customer service very very very very very very BAD
User Rating: 9/10
Redefines the term "Silent but deadly"
Pros: Good for gaming, multi-tasking, very quiet, and have you seen the price?
Cons: No Dual-core option
Th processor is very fast, but it leaves me craving a dual-core processor option. The 1Gb of RAM is all I need, however, there is room to expand upto 4GB in the future. It's not not by any chance an XPS, but you cannot beat the price of this incredible Entertainment PC. I would rate it a 10, but the lack of a dual-core option lowers it down to a 9.
Happy Holidays!
User Rating: 9/10
It's outstanding, fantastic. very highly recommended
Pros: Everything: Looks, price, speed,
Cons: Keyboard is a tad strange
User Rating: 8/10
It's all about what YOU build
Pros: As good as XPS400; much cheaper
Cons: PentiumD not and option
The problem I find with the CNet review of the 510 is there doesn't seem to be any recognition that the number is in someways is just about the box and not about the very real reality, at least with Dell of making it a much better deal.
Here is what I got, for 1500:
Pentium 4 650 (3.4ghz)
250 gig hard drive
The X600 video card (256mb hypermem)
The Sound Blaster Audigy 2S
Basic 2.1 speaker systerm
dual 16x dvd drives: one's a dvd burner can do the two sided thing.
AND, the 2004FPW dell ultrasharp 20" widescreen monitor.
Oh yeah DUAL TV TUNER and Remote and all on the Windows Media Center.
Well, for me, that's an amazing system that will hold me for a number of years I am sure.
It's all about what your needs are. The e510 is a good computer and you can tweak it yourself with the options. To give the test system the "editor's rating" without the recognition that the consumer at Dell can do a lot better for a little more, is misleading, methinks.
The folks giving this thing a 1 on here because of customer service should be expunged by the Cnet people. I bet it's all the same guy. Anyway, a month into use of this, it's changed my life. The media center softwar is great. My desktop is extended to my Sony. I can use the media center on TV and use be online at the same time. I "record" my Seinfeld, Family Guy and Simpsons automatically via the Media Center. And the monitor -- oh the monitor! The Dell 20" widescreen is fantastic. Do not hesitate on this one and don't get suckered in by the extra XPS cost -- unless you're getting the high end gaming ones. I don't game, so that's not an issue. But the 3.4ghz is gonna do for me what I need for years to come.
The folks giving this thing a 1 on here because of customer service should be expunged by the Cnet people. I bet it's all the same guy. Anyway, a month into use of this, it's changed my life. The media center softwar is great. My desktop is extended to my Sony. I can use the media center on TV and use be online at the same time. I "record" my Seinfeld, Family Guy and Simpsons automatically via the Media Center. And the monitor -- oh the monitor! The Dell 20" widescreen is fantastic. Do not hesitate on this one and don't get suckered in by the extra XPS cost -- unless you're getting the high end gaming ones. I don't game, so that's not an issue. But the 3.4ghz is gonna do for me what I need for years to come.
User Rating: 9/10
In terms of dollar value, I could not get a better computer for the money today.
Pros: Fast, easily expandable, and no sound comes from it at all
Cons: Not many upgrade options
I have the pentium 4 650 in my system, which is 3.4 ghz and 2mb L2 cache. My system has 2 gigabytes of RAM, however it is only rated at 400 mhz, Dell didnt give me the option of upgrading to 533 or even 667 mhz. Its no big deal, although its part of, even if just slightly, the reason I didnt give it a 10 rating. The hard drive is 250 gigabytes. This works for me, I dont need to spend an extra 270 bucks to upgrade to 500 gigabytes. When I need more space, I will just buy another 500 gigabyte hard drive, install it myself, and have 750 gigabytes of total space. The benefit here is 500 gigabyte hard drive will be a lot cheaper when I need more room in the futre. Hard drives will also be larger, so who knows how big I could actually go. So these are main components, Pentium 4 650, clocked at 3.4 ghz, 2 gigabytes of 400 mhz RAM, and 250 gigabyte SATA hard drive.
Now for I what I consider the extra's in the system. The rating for this system took a beating due to the video card options. ATI Radeon X600 SE Hypermemory is the best you can go with, which is similar to Nvidia's TurboCache technology. Basically, I have 128mb of onboard memory on my video card, and 128 mb taken from my RAM (which is why I upgraded to 2 gb). Where this system gets some bonus points is in the sound card. Although Dell no longer offers the X-Fi with their new configurations of the E510, when I bought my system, this option was available. For $120 bucks I was able to upgrade from no sound card to the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music. So for $84 (30% off of $120), I got a $130 sound card in my system, which is pretty impressive. Also, I have plenty of USB ports, and 1 firewire port. I know the review says there arent any firewire ports, but my computer has firewire, so maybe Dell updated that. Also, I have a CD/DVD player and double layer CD/DVD burner.
In review, I think I covered all the basics. Everything, including shipping, came to $1211, that includes the monitor that Dell sells for $300 alone. As for shipping, I got my computer the day it was actually supposed to ship, so I was happy with that. My suggestion to you is to go to google, type in Coupon Codes: Company name, and see what comes up. I wouldnt have been able to afford this system without doing so. Even if you are buying something completely different, check it out. Anyway, how does my system run? It runs well, I am very happy with it. I tell you, with the Creative X-Fi sound card, and my Grado headphones, music sounds great. I did have to un-install some programs though, including Yahoo! MusicMatch which is a drain on the system. If you are wanting dual-core, however, wait for the Intel 9xx series, or go with AMD, they make very good processors as well. Either way, I think my system is a little better than a 6.7, and with a little work, you can have a good system that rates better than what the editors think as well. Good luck, I hope I have helped you with your computer shopping decision, and if you need any help, just ask me and I will try my best to help out.
