Does anyone have any experience with Dell Servers? I’m not a particular fan of their desktops for various reasons, mainly lousy hardware and support, but I’ve read several good things about their server platforms. Recommendations from people you know are always worth more though.
I ask because they seem to run deals on their servers quite often. I outfitted a PowerEdge SC420 with a Pentium 4 520 (2.8Ghz, 1MB Cache, 800Mhz FSB), 1GB of DDR memory, and a 80GB SATA drive for less than $500. I’m not in the market for a new machine anytime soon, but something like this would be a much better system to recommend than their silly little Dimension desktops with Celeron processors.
For what it’s worth I have had one of their “silly little Dimension desktops” with a P4 in it for several years now and it is the best machine I’ve ever owned. Except for some minor false-positive hard drive failure tests, it’s been a dream. Easy to upgrade, a good machine to work on, dependable. With Dell, as with any manufacturer, you get what you pay for. I wouldn’t touch their 2000 line with a 10 foot latex covered pole. I know people who have their 4000 machines who like them and people who don’t. Almost nobody I know who has an 8000 series machine (myself included) has any complaints. Even after I replace this machine in the next year or so I will probably still keep it as a media server. It is a rock solid machine.
But I know nothing about their servers. LOL. I just felt the need to defend Dimension honour.