here's an 8300 that meets what your asking for

http://outlet.us.dell.com/Dispatcher?target=InventoryPage&action=filter&lob=DIM&unique=1080229993041&sessionID=AjAJGOKh!1470858858!79592876!1080229961213&tgtSeg=I

09W06W0J  $1,184.00 $984.00  Dimension 8300 P4-3000 Windows® XP Home  120 G (I) 7200RPM 1024 DVD  128MB GeForce FX5200  56  1024      MiniTower 
 
 
 

 

Seems to me that you need to do some thinking about what you intend to do with the machine. Answer these questions and you will be much closer to a decision:

1. Will you want to play movies? Will you be doing video work? Are you interested in DVDs for backup or archival storage? Will you be buying software distributed on DVD? That will determine if you need a DVD drive, and if it needs to be a burner.

2. If by "burn a lot of CDs" you mean you copy a lot of CDs, they you will want two drives. If being able to burn a CD in two minutes rather than four minutes is impotant to you, they you will want a CD burner instead of or perhaps in addition to the slower DVD burner (which also burns CDs).

3. IMHO except for high end audio use, the embedded audio works fine.

4. Video card choice really depends only on how much a gamer you are. The minimal card is perfectly fine for everything else. On the 4600 I'd avoid the embedded video unless you only use business software (Microsoft Office..).

5. 2.4GHz is basically a minimal system now. But you haven't mentioned anything that is a burden on the processor, so a minimal system might do just fine. Make sure any system you buy has a 800MHz FSB. 1GB RAM is very comfortable and 512MB would probably do just fine.

The 8300 has a much roomier chassis and a better motherboard. Often an 8300 can be purchased for little more and sometimes even less than a 4600, making it the obvious choice.

You should check prices not only in refurb but also on the regular Home and Small Business sites. Often there is no money saved with a refurb, and a new system allows you to select exactly what you want.

glennsr1,

I have been to the Dell site a few times, the more I look the more I get confused but I'll get it sorted out soon.

talmy,

You've raised some interesting points. I have some homework to do.

I do copy cd to cd and backup to cd-r but the speed that I copy at doesn't make to much of a difference as long as it is reasonable.

My old system has a TDK 32x10x40 cd-rom drive w/ Nero 5.5 and I have no complaints.

Movies would be something I'm interested in doing but not sure if I should use + or - dvdr/rw. I'm going to check pred's site for more info.

With the system I now have anything would be an improvement.

Thanks both for the advice. 

as previously mentioned its probably better just to buy new. sign up for the emails on dell small business, once a month they send out emails for 15% off. the prices are usually better and 8300's are typically a better value. also if you go the dvd writer route, buy from a seperate retailer and get a dual format so you wont be stuck with a format that wont work in your dvd player.