I just bought my own computer... a Dell 8400... I got mostly everything I wanted and I got to say I am happy!

Here is what I got:
Dimension 8400

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
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Dimension 8400
Pentium® 4 Processor 530 with HT Technology (3GHz, 800 FSB)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
Memory - 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (2x512M)
Keyboard - Dell ® Quietkey ® Keyboard
Monitor - 18 in 1801FP Dell Ultrasharp™ Digital Flat Panel Display
Video Card - 128MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X300 SE
Hard Drive - 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Floppy Drive - 3.5 in Floppy Drive
Mouse - Dell® 2-button scroll mouse
Network Interface - Integrated Gigabit Ethernet
Modem - 56K PCI Data/Fax Modem
CD ROM/DVD ROM - Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+RW/+R w/ dbl layer write capable
Sound Card - Sound Blaster® Live! 24-bit ADVANCED HD™ Audio
Speakers - Dell 5650 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System with Subwoofer
Productivity Software - Productivity Pack including WordPerfect®
Security Software - Norton Internet Security™
Digital Music - Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH
Digital Photography - Paint Shop™ Pro® Trial plus Photo Album™
Dell Media Experience Dell Media Experience™
Remote Control for Dell Media Experience™
Dell 720 Color Printer with 1 Yr Advanced Exchange Service


All-in-all this looks like it'* going to be a good computer for college in a month...

Good job!

But swap that Norton package for Trend Micro for all your web security issues

I figure that I'm going to wait for the anit-virus... I get 90 days free... and then I'll buy a program that I want. Also, I'm not going to be using this printer... I have a HP all-in-on that I just bought that I will be taking to college. After the computer gets here... I think that I am going to have a pretty kickass dorm room...

Good choice on the brand of computer. There is a reason you see basically nothing but Dells in offices.

you dont need that much computer power for college so how much that set ya back?

Wow, it blows me away how fast computer components advance. It still seems recent when I built my own computer (which I still use), with a 566mhz overclocked Celeron-II, 392kb SDRAM at 133mhz, 32mb video card, and 20gb hard drive. Now my PC is practically a big metal brick compared to the current stats! :P Congrats, man... sounds like a great machine.

My bro just got almost that exact computer today from Dell. But he has an x800 video card, a 17" Ultrasharp, and we got speakers locally instead of their "wonderful" selections.

I can't wait to check out the Dual layer burning, and how much we can push that video card on the PCI ex bus.

The game planetside was only held up by their servers/connections.

A year and a half ago I bought a demention 2350. I got all the upgrades when I bought it. Now its garbage compared to those stats

1.8 P4
512 MB DDR
60 GB HDD @ 7200 RPM
And thats really all to speak of. Everything else is integrated. When you open up my computer, there is a motherboard, PSU, RAM, and a processor there. Sound, graphics, ethernet, etc are all onboard.



At that time you had to spend AT LEAST $2300 USD just to get an actual graphics card.

/rant

Congrats on your new computer. :P

Not that I needed it... it'* more or less I wanted it. Here is what my college reccomends though...

All in all... after shipping, tax, my 10% off, and the $150 mail in rebate... $1,880.

Want good anti-virus for that computer? get AVG Anti-Virus: http://www.grisoft.com

FREE!!
Really great system. And they keep up on their updates really well too.

-Shaun