Dell XPS 8900 Desktop: Worth The Extra $ For Upgrades ?

[Robert11]

Hello,

Getting pretty close to deciding on a new Dell XPS 8900 desktop.

Seems like all the major brands have the same horror stories re service, returns, etc., and have more or less come to the conclusion it is pretty much the "luck of the draw" irrespective of which brand you get.
Agree ?

The Dell XPS 8900 seems to come in a few different flavors.

As I've mentioned, my family does no gaming.
Do a lot of photo and video work and viewing, YouTube viewing, internet surfing, etc.
Pretty much the Sr. Citizen kinda home stuff.

a. Would appreciate your opinion if it is worth an additional $ 100 to go from a:

6 th Gen Intel Core i5 - 6400 with 6M Cache

to a:
6 th Gen Intel Core i7 - 6700 with 8 M Cache

b. And, for the video Card: another $ 100 to go from a:

GT730 NVidia GeForce 2 GB DDR3

to a
GTX 745 NVidia GeForce 4 GB DDR3

Would I likely notice any differences for either upgrade ? If so, how ?

Thanks for opinions,
Bob

 

[fireberd]

My suggestion to my clients is "buy as much as you can afford" and "buy overkill".

 

[Ztruker]

Intel i7, 16GB ram and add a SSD or plan on buying and installing one yourself after you get the computer. I'd recommend at least a 250GB SSD. You can get a Samsung EVO 250GB for $86 from Amazon Prime, 2 day delivery, no shipping. There are other, cheaper ones but I like Samsung.

Use Macrium Reflect Free or Clonezilla to clone the original drive to the SSD then use the original drive for data storage.

 

[margrave]

Seems like all the major brands have the same horror stories re service, returns, etc., and have more or less come to the conclusion it is pretty much the "luck of the draw" irrespective of which brand you get.
Agree ?

It's not so much the brand that matters, but the tier. Low-end home laptops are poor quality and don't last. If you want one to last, buy one of the business-tier laptops. But expect to pay perhaps twice as much. (Could you use a desktop instead? More power, more reliability, less money.)

As I've mentioned, my family does no gaming.
Do a lot of photo and video work and viewing, YouTube viewing, internet surfing, etc.
Pretty much the Sr. Citizen kinda home stuff.

Based on that usage, you don't need an upgraded laptop CPU. Save the $100.

And if you don't play 3D games (or do engineering graphics), you won't need the upgraded graphics card. Save another $100.

 

[ThrashZone]

Existing thread
http://www.sevenforums.com/pc-custom-builds-overclocking/384913-customizing-new-desktop-pc.html
There are a couple more around too :/

 

[fireberd]

Margrave, the XPS8900 is Dell's best consumer desktop. Its not a laptop or Dell's low end machine (the Inspiron line).