Kingmade wrote:So amazon officially killed two for twosday? Way to take something cool... sell it to the highest bidder.. then watch them stomp it into the ground.

that's big business sonny;-)

When did 2-for-Tuesdays go away?

So they put an outstanding processor into an under powered system.
1. People looking to buy a PC on woot aernt going to benefit from 8 cores at 3.4 ghz.
2. With a 300 watt power supply you dont have enough head room to add another hard drive even if you wanted to.
3. Graphics card is going to bottle neck the processor extremely bad if you try to run anything halfway intensive.
4. Those talking about not being able to overclock need to also realize that the motherboard is not capable of overclocking even a K series.
5. All 4 slots of ram are taken meaning your going to lose 4GB if trying to upgrade to a larger amount.
Im done creating cons, this would be alot better deal if they had a $100 processor in it instead of the $300 processor with so much wasted potential.

dstevens6243 wrote:So they put an outstanding processor into an under powered system.
1. People looking to buy a PC on woot aernt going to benefit from 8 cores at 3.4 ghz.
2. With a 300 watt power supply you dont have enough head room to add another hard drive even if you wanted to.
3. Graphics card is going to bottle neck the processor extremely bad if you try to run anything halfway intensive.
4. Those talking about not being able to overclock need to also realize that the motherboard is not capable of overclocking even a K series.
5. All 4 slots of ram are taken meaning your going to lose 4GB if trying to upgrade to a larger amount.
Im done creating cons, this would be alot better deal if they had a $100 processor in it instead of the $300 processor with so much wasted potential.

I agree with everything you said, especially the point where replacing the 2600 with an i3-2100 and reducing the price to $500-550 would make this system much more balanced.

One thing to mention though, the 2600 is a quad-core, not an octo-core.

Is 5400 going to be anything noticeable for a basic user (web, word, cloud, light music, adobe etc.)

They are coming from a year old HP desktop with 1-2 steps lower specs all around BUT 7200 speed. (Non techie person would be using this)

i7 processor, 8gb ram, and 1.5tb hard drive if I could switch back from laptop to a desktop I would be all over this.

Go to Dell, put in order code DXDAMA1, use coupon code TDMRFH29N6D54W

Result: similar XPS 8300 system for $700. Same CPU and memory, 7200 rpm 1TB drive, no BD player (but can be added), 2 year warranty, 460w supply, etc.



XPS 8300 Qty 1
XPS 8300, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English Unit Price $1,262.99
Dell XPS 8300 price includes $413 instant discount.
Limited Time Offer!
- $413.00

$150 off XPS 8300 Desktop order code DXDAMA1
Expires Wednesday, July 20, 2011
- $150.00

6 mos. special financing on new computer purchases $699 or more with Dell Preferred Account!
Limited Time Offer!


Catalog Number: 29 DXDAMA1
Module Description Show Details
XPS 8300 XPS 8300
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
Processors Intel® Core™ i7-2600 processor(8MB Cache, 3.4GHz)
Memory 8GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs
Keyboard Dell Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
Monitor No Monitor
Video Card Nvidia® Geforce® GT530
Hard Drive 1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
Mouse Dell Laser Mouse
Network Card Standard USB 2.0 + 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Modem No Dial Up Modem Option
TBU Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
Optical Drive Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
Sound THX® TruStudio PC™
Speakers No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Wireless Dell 1501 Wireless-N PCIe Card
Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
Security Software McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
Hardware Support Services 2 Year Premium Hardware Service
Data Safe DataSafe 2.0 Online Backup 2GB for 1 year

I was tempted until I read the hard drive specs... Who builds a powerful computer like this and then saddles it with a 5400 rpm hard drive?

carbonium wrote:The Woot one is way faster

Id probably disagree due to the 1TB SATA 7200RPM in the Dell... the 5400 in the HP is really a bottleneck IMO.
At the very least its not as clear cut as you make out. The speed on a machine is based on the slowest component, not the fastest.

dave816am wrote:Kind of silly that there's that CPU in that PC. Overall, not a very good system.

The CPU is an i7-2600, which is one of the best CPUs on the market, however it's locked and has very limited overclocking abilities. You'll pretty much be stuck at stock settings.

The graphics card is complete crap if you have intentions of playing any graphic intensive games. It only has 512mb of RAM and the 1GB version is on Newegg for $52.99. The PSU at 300w is also extremely weak. If you have any intentions of buying a new GPU, you'll have to replace the PSU as well.

The HDD is a 5400rpm drive, which you absolutely don't want to run an OS, programs, and games. You'll see significant performance drop compared to a 7200rpm HDD or an SSD.

I have no idea what mobo is in there, but chances are it is a cheap one with limited upgrade options. The RAM is probably okay, 8GB is way more than enough for the vast majority of users. The Blu-ray player is a plus, but honestly, how many people actually throw money away on blu-ray discs?

This deal is fairly disappointing because it has a high-end CPU and very low-end GPU/PSU. I don't understand why systems like this are made. It's completely off-balanced and just a waste of money. Building this system yourself with the same exact specs would probably cost around $600. However, this system is extremely bottlenecked at the GPU, and the CPU is quite overkill for anyone not intending to game or do intense video/graphic editing.

Unless you don't mind replacing the GPU & PSU and possibly the motherboard, as well as a faster boot drive on top of paying $700 as a base price, I'd highly suggest passing on this one. I seriously can't believe this system is priced at $900 elsewhere, that's just highway robbery.

Replacing a mobo within an HP case is kinda pointless... at that point you might as well just build your own PC... besides aren't Manufacture cases designed so that only one specific mobo fits within that case?

matthew62407 wrote:Adding Steve Jobs's signature on this would add another digit to the price

That is, if Apple produced barely entry level desktops such as this one, which they don't.

You get what you pay for. Always have. Always will.

Short version: I don't think you should buy it.

Who is this computer for?

Person 1.: A person who is gonna play serious games or do serious stuff like video editing or whatever that requires a Fancy Computer, you can build yourself a better system for a similar or smaller amount of money.

This has a very weak graphics card. You could put a good one in it but the power supply's 300 watts maximum is not going to like it very much, if it runs at all.

Person 2.: A person who is gonna do light computing, web browsing, casual games, word processing, video watching, etc. doesn't need this fancy of a processor, or this much memory.

The hard drive is plenty big, but it is slow. I can't remember the last time I saw a 5400 rpm drive on a non-laptop. (The vast majority are 7200 rpm.) That's gonna mean slower system boot and slower launching of programs.

It has a great processor, but an expensive one. It costs around $300 if you or I were to buy it by itself. I believe at 9 out of 10 users wouldn't notice a significant difference between it and a $140 or $200 processor from AMD (965, 1100T, respectively).

Person 3!: You are a whiz kid savant type of person who can solve super complex math problems in your head really really fast, but you move in slow motion when you try to open your math book. You can sketch a drawing okay, but that one time when you took a sculpting class, people ended up in the hospital. You demand to get paid significantly more than your coworkers, who are only a tiny bit less good at your job. You want a computer that understands what you are going through.


It's not a big deal that this one doesn't burn Blu's either. Blank Blu-ray discs are pretty expensive. Believe it or not it is roughly 10x cheaper per gigabyte to buy really good hard drives than really cheap Blu-ray discs. More like 20x if you get cheap hard drives.

Pretty simple really.

Buy if

A. You aren't a gamer or require anything graphic intensive.
B. You don't mind upgrading the video card and psu.

Don't listen to all the 5400rpm haters, it's fast enough, so your boot takes awhile longer, will the world end? Plus, if you really wanted a faster boot, purchase a 7200/10k rpm hdd or just a SSD and use the 1.5tb included with it as a media drive. Or you could just buy another 1.5tb 5400rpm drive and raid 0 them for speed, if that motherboard even has controllers for raid.

I'd always suggest building from scratch, as you get exactly what you want and it's a good experience, but if you're not picky, need a decently fast normal use computer, this may be for you.

It's really odd to have the bluray but no media center remote on this unit. The great strength of HP that many find balances out their weak graphics and power supply (in addition to their nigh impossible to upgrade systems in general, which seemed intentionally made to encourage buying new units every 3 months) is that lovely black media center remote control. That thing is perfect in almost every detail.

Without that remote this is too much for the money IMHO. With the remote it's just ok as a tv-computer.

Why do people keep asking if HP machines are upgradeable to a gaming unit? Has the answer ever been yes, or debated in less than 3 full pages?

Edit - uh oh, check out something with the remote and bluray at "buy" for about the same $700this week:
http://www.buy.com/prod/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe-240f-desktop-intel-core-i5-650-3-20ghz-8gb-ddr3/q/loc/101/215089055.html

another HP computer. what a waste of time. Woot used to have cool stuff for sale

This is a good desktop at a good price. If your looking for a gaming system, you should not be on Woot anyway. So quit complaining about it. This will work for most peoples needs.

It's TUESDAY - TWOfer Tuesday. I'm so confused!!!!

sdc100 wrote:The specs are pretty good as is the price. The only warning I have is that buyers should be aware that the Blu-Ray drive is READ ONLY. You cannot record Blu-Ray discs on this, either for videos or for backing up. That's pretty surprising consider the class of this desktop and how little Blu-Ray writers cost these days. Internal drives can be found on NewEgg for about $99. Wholesale prices are probably $79-$89. Having one can be a major selling point. As things stand, the player isn't very useful considering that standalone players with many more features are available for <$100.

If all you want is a Blu-ray player/burner, don't buy this machine (obviously). But if that's all you're after, you don't need a Quad-Core i7... that's way more processing power than what you need = more money than you need to spend.

Does the world really spend that much time playing games on their pc's?

Upgrading video cards and power supplies really aren't that important to most adults.

dave816am wrote:Kind of silly that there's that CPU in that PC. Overall, not a very good system.

The CPU is an i7-2600, which is one of the best CPUs on the market, however it's locked and has very limited overclocking abilities. You'll pretty much be stuck at stock settings.

The graphics card is complete crap if you have intentions of playing any graphic intensive games. It only has 512mb of RAM and the 1GB version is on Newegg for $52.99. The PSU at 300w is also extremely weak. If you have any intentions of buying a new GPU, you'll have to replace the PSU as well.

The HDD is a 5400rpm drive, which you absolutely don't want to run an OS, programs, and games. You'll see significant performance drop compared to a 7200rpm HDD or an SSD.

I have no idea what mobo is in there, but chances are it is a cheap one with limited upgrade options. The RAM is probably okay, 8GB is way more than enough for the vast majority of users. The Blu-ray player is a plus, but honestly, how many people actually throw money away on blu-ray discs?

This deal is fairly disappointing because it has a high-end CPU and very low-end GPU/PSU. I don't understand why systems like this are made. It's completely off-balanced and just a waste of money. Building this system yourself with the same exact specs would probably cost around $600. However, this system is extremely bottlenecked at the GPU, and the CPU is quite overkill for anyone not intending to game or do intense video/graphic editing.

Unless you don't mind replacing the GPU & PSU and possibly the motherboard, as well as a faster boot drive on top of paying $700 as a base price, I'd highly suggest passing on this one. I seriously can't believe this system is priced at $900 elsewhere, that's just highway robbery.

I kind of agree this is a "less than optimal" configuration.....

This was obviously done for the "PRICE POINT"....

I bought the "right" system about 2 weeks ago when HP had those 2 coupons and you could configue for $300 off....

My cost $920.....(tax and shipping included)

Add the "right" minimum power supply 400 Watt $50....

A better video card....$50 more....minimum....

A better hard drive....$50 more....minimum....

And my additional option....A Blu Ray writer.....(probably another $100 extra)

So this is not that great of a deal.....But it does hit a price point.....(when you put the right components in and add my additional accesory, tax, a little for shipping....$920 actually beats this price...)

The processor does not match a "balance" that the rest of the machine should have.....

It is like putting a 600 HP engine in a Yugo!

(to be fair....you do get a wireless keyboard and mouse that is worth $30 or $40 extra....upon further spec review)

I actually just ordered one on Wal-mart, but it's not here yet so I can refuse it when it arrives and get a full refund... What do you guys think? http://www.walmart.com/ip/iBuypower-EXTREME-WA952i/16775625

TossTheDice wrote:I actually just ordered one on Wal-mart, but it's not here yet so I can refuse it when it arrives and get a full refund... What do you guys think? http://www.walmart.com/ip/iBuypower-EXTREME-WA952i/16775625

I think rather than raise the price for the rest of people who might want to shop there, you should live with the decision you made at the time. If you are unhappy with the amount of research you did - that's on you; not the store, not the other consumers who will be stuck absorbing your unethical refund.

It's sad now that with full information available, you still ask others to do your work ("What do you guys think?") instead of using the available data and forming your own opinion.

Why?!?!?! Why must every computer, no matter how nice, be unfairly torn to shreds by people who would never been seen with a computer that costs less than $1000 or some franken-computer that was built out of too much spare time and pent up energy?

From my viewpoint, far more people just want a computer that does simple things well and could care less about overclocking, upgrading, gaming, what-have-you.

It almost seems like we are all back in middle school, jabbering relentlessly about whatever topics we may happen to know something about.

This computer is great. Out of the box, it is way more than what 98% of people need. Jabber Jabber Jabber.... That's my little rant for the day.

Vicarz wrote:I think rather than raise the price for the rest of people who might want to shop there, you should live with the decision you made at the time. If you are unhappy with the amount of research you did - that's on you; not the store, not the other consumers who will be stuck absorbing your unethical refund.

It's sad now that with full information available, you still ask others to do your work ("What do you guys think?") instead of using the available data and forming your own opinion.

Actually, I DID do a fair amount of research before finally purchasing this, I've been looking around for a new computer for about 3-4 months... But if someone who knows more about this than I do can help me make a better decision, or notice something that's going to be a real pain about it in a year, then I'd rather ask for help now and get some more answers >.>

Sorry everyone, I gotta:

Does it work with a Mac?

Kingmade wrote:So amazon officially killed two for twosday? Way to take something cool... sell it to the highest bidder.. then watch them stomp it into the ground.

Really? This is what's passing for 'stomping woot! into the ground'?

If this is 'stomping into the ground', what's 'a large, though nonexistential affront'? A font change?

noworriespete wrote:Why?!?!?! Why must every computer, no matter how nice, be unfairly torn to shreds by people who would never been seen with a computer that costs less than $1000 or some franken-computer that was built out of too much spare time and pent up energy?

From my viewpoint, far more people just want a computer that does simple things well and could care less about overclocking, upgrading, gaming, what-have-you.

It almost seems like we are all back in middle school, jabbering relentlessly about whatever topics we may happen to know something about.

This computer is great. Out of the box, it is way more than what 98% of people need. Jabber Jabber Jabber.... That's my little rant for the day.

I agree with that sentiment. I bought this desktop recently: http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=17898 and it is amazing. It doesn't even have this killer CPU, and it still screams.

I wonder how many good computers I skipped over before this one because super-computer wooters would tear it apart? I realize a better machine could be built by hand, but a) you have to buy ALL the software ($$$$) and b) it takes a lot of time to research and find every single part. Time is money fellas, so why not spend it upfront and just get your computer already?

enantiodromia wrote:That is, if Apple produced barely entry level desktops such as this one, which they don't.

You get what you pay for. Always have. Always will.

i7 box is not entry-level, dude.

Some of you are missing the point. The reason why this computer is not good is because they put an expensive processor into a crappy computer. You would get better performance out of a I5 Intel processor with a 7200rpm hard drive. The problem isn't that this computer isn't fast enough, the problem is that this computer costs too much for what it does (because of the expensive processor). There is no need to speed $700 on a computer with average specs. If you don't game and don't use graphic intensive software, you could easily spend $400-$500 and get just as good of a computer.

enantiodromia wrote:That is, if Apple produced barely entry level desktops such as this one, which they don't.

You get what you pay for. Always have. Always will.

How much does OS X Lion cost? You get what you pay for.

Everyone's complaining that these don't make sense, but my company is in for two. We'll pop our workstation cards (Quadro FX 570s) in them, and I'll make an order for some faster hard drives. Problem solved, and it's still an awesome deal.

This CPU is the Sandy Bridge 2600, and not able to be overclocked (the K series can be). I own the i5-2500k clocked at 4.2 and it hasn't skipped a beat. The power required to run is roughly 276W, and the power supply is only 300W MAX. Definitely recommend a new power supply. The 6450 isn't impressive by any means, but at least it's not integrated graphics. What's the motherboard? P67 or Z68? I'm assuming not an H67 due to the GPU.

Grackle wrote:Everyone's complaining that these don't make sense, but my company is in for two. We'll pop our workstation cards (Quadro FX 570s) in them, and I'll make an order for some faster hard drives. Problem solved, and it's still an awesome deal.

Watch out, putting an FX5700 will push the power supply to roughly 293W. Upgrading the hard drive to even a 7200RPM will put it at exactly 300W.

A good but inexpensive power supply like an Antec Earthwatts would do the trick just fine and the cost of that and an HDD if you already have video cards on hand is much lower than building everything new. This is going to be a good deal for some people and a bad deal for others, depending on your needs and your means and nothing else.

The opportunity cost of building it yourself is beyond a lot of folks. Plain and simple. You could build a very respectable 2500K system for this kind of outlay, but that's not under discussion, really, it's just whether this is worth it to the person who clicks buy or not.

Not a gamer, only a casual computer user and not very tech savy but do need a new computer. Mostly surf and do light Word. What will the drop from my present hard drive rpm 7200 to this computers 5600 rpm do to me?

IT'S NO SUPPOSED TO BE TWO FOR TUESDAY'S TODAY???? I LOOOOOOOVE PONIES WOOT??? @AMAZON WHAT A WAY TO KILL A NICE AND COOL TRADITION....

dwynne wrote:Go to Dell, put in order code DXDAMA1, use coupon code TDMRFH29N6D54W

Result: similar XPS 8300 system for $700. Same CPU and memory, 7200 rpm 1TB drive, no BD player (but can be added), 2 year warranty, 460w supply, etc.



XPS 8300 Qty 1
XPS 8300, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English Unit Price $1,262.99
Dell XPS 8300 price includes $413 instant discount.
Limited Time Offer!
- $413.00

$150 off XPS 8300 Desktop order code DXDAMA1
Expires Wednesday, July 20, 2011
- $150.00

6 mos. special financing on new computer purchases $699 or more with Dell Preferred Account!
Limited Time Offer!


Catalog Number: 29 DXDAMA1
Module Description Show Details
XPS 8300 XPS 8300
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
Processors Intel® Core™ i7-2600 processor(8MB Cache, 3.4GHz)
Memory 8GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs
Keyboard Dell Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
Monitor No Monitor
Video Card Nvidia® Geforce® GT530
Hard Drive 1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
Mouse Dell Laser Mouse
Network Card Standard USB 2.0 + 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Modem No Dial Up Modem Option
TBU Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
Optical Drive Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
Sound THX® TruStudio PC™
Speakers No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Wireless Dell 1501 Wireless-N PCIe Card
Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
Security Software McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
Hardware Support Services 2 Year Premium Hardware Service
Data Safe DataSafe 2.0 Online Backup 2GB for 1 year

Thanks!

jysun wrote:Watch out, putting an FX5700 will push the power supply to roughly 293W. Upgrading the hard drive to even a 7200RPM will put it at exactly 300W.

That's a Quadro FX 570, not a GeForce FX 5700. It's a very small card with a TDP of only 50W or so.

Kingmade wrote:So amazon officially killed two for twosday? Way to take something cool... sell it to the highest bidder.. then watch them stomp it into the ground.

I saw a post last week from the Woot staff, stating that their official position is they don't want to limit themselves to a cheap twofer item on Tuesdays, but they will still do Two-for-Tuesday when they have an appropriate item.

Or something like that.

I'm not a gamer. I just want to convert old camcorder videos, store lots of pics and music. This looks like a good deal, any thoughts? Building my own is not an option for me. My current computer is about 7 years old and won't handle the pics and music. Even to upgrade my old one and pay someone to do it would be half the cost of this new one . . .Advice is much appreciated !!