I'm a complete computer noob....

inspiron 8500, about 4 years old. Came with 256 MB RAM....

is it worth it to upgrade the ram?? i've been looking around and it seems it'll cost less than a $100

12/1/2007 12:15:04 AM

junk it and start over. you can get a brand new dell for ~300

12/1/2007 12:17:26 AM

that bad huh?

i'm trying to figure out why this thing was $2400

12/1/2007 12:34:05 AM

$2400 four years ago.

the $300 dell of today will kick its ass.

you paid a lot and got 4 years of use out of it - that's "why" it was $2400 (besides the fact that you got swindled because you didn't do any goddamn research worth a shit)

[Edited on December 1, 2007 at 12:48 AM. Reason : s]

12/1/2007 12:47:42 AM

^ true, you should be able to get something decent for under a thou.

12/1/2007 1:26:09 AM

ok, fair enough

considering i didn't pay for the computer and it still works like a champ

now is it not worth it to buy RAM? honestly? I didn't plan on buying a new comp anytime soon...

12/1/2007 8:05:25 AM

you could probably get away with not buying a new system, but technically it'd be more bang for your buck to spend a little more for a new box

12/1/2007 8:34:59 AM

if you can bump it up to a gig or 2 of ram, then you could stretch out that computer at least another year or 2...i had my inspiron 2650 for 5 years(nov 2002-present) and i actually still use it although one hinge is broken, and i just got a new laptop

100 now on laptop memory<300 now for a new machine

300 for machine now<300 for a machine 1 or 2 years from now if you upgrade ram

12/1/2007 8:59:31 AM

It was possible to pay $2400 in 2003 for a PC with only 256mb of ram?

Did you pay them extra to remove memory?

12/1/2007 10:38:18 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?submit=ENE&Configurator=MemoryConfigurator&CFG=CFG003Inspiron%208500&DEPA=0

12/1/2007 11:00:53 AM

get one or two of http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010260381+1052907864+1309121113&name=1GB and follow the instructions http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins8500/en/8500/sm/upgrades.htm#999869 .

12/1/2007 11:05:05 AM

^^^3........it was a gift

believe me, i tried time and time again to figure out why this thing cost so much

i had to buy a wireless card for it as well

i guess i should add, "my computer" says it has 256 MB......is that an accurate gauge?

12/1/2007 5:49:58 PM

yes

12/1/2007 6:30:44 PM

do what stowaway said

someone show me this $300 laptop, because the cheapest i've seen retail is $450, even deals on Dell laptops haven't gone below $400-450... only black friday deals were below that, which obviously are over

[Edited on December 1, 2007 at 6:38 PM. Reason : .]

12/1/2007 6:37:18 PM

Having more system specs than just the ram would be useful in determining the lifetime of your system with a little more memory. At 4 years old I'm guessing a P4, 1.5-2GHz? It would also be helpful to know what the system's intended use is. If you only had 256MB to begin it doesn't sound like you were doing anything that requires today's hardware. I'd only do a full system upgrade if I found out the processor was a celeron, but at $2400 it better not be.

BTW. I hope that the initial price tag of $2400 included a state of the art widescreen flat panel monitor and some sort of printer/fax/scanner/copier. I can't imagine.

Can't find memory for cheaper than $100? I thought memory was cheaper than that.

If you really want to buy from Dell I'd wait until after Christmas. I looked at some of the systems they had in recent weeks and they were all anywhere between $300-$400 more for similarly configured systems just a month and a half ago. I couldn't imagine that being the case on the "internet access box" specials they have though. I'd still wait.

Seems like Dell tried to pull a fast one. A $1000 machine could be dropped to $800 by taking off the default included monitor. Now that same system rings up at just over $1000 but the monitor is no longer included by default. Net effect... about a $300 price increase. It's prompted me to build my on PC this go round.

[Edited on December 1, 2007 at 11:29 PM. Reason : -]

12/1/2007 11:28:10 PM

it's a laptop. how exactly would you get rid of the monitor?

12/2/2007 6:04:47 PM

with a hatchet

12/2/2007 9:13:43 PM

^^Oh, wasn't paying attention that it was about a laptop.

12/3/2007 8:45:17 AM