Can We Build It Cheaper: Dell - WalMart Edition

So I'm walking through the local Wal-Mart, and I see a whole stack of Dell PC's front and center in the aisle. I had heard that they were going to sell some preconfigured computers in the largest retailer, and I would guess that this was a good move for them and their sales figures. I looked at the stats, and at first glance, the $498 price tag didn't seem so far out of line. Hmmm, Wal-mart is known for low prices, let's see how good of a deal this thing really is.

The piece of hardware I'm talking about is a Dell desktop, the E521. While it is basic, it's no real slouch, and would probably be adequate for plenty of folks out there. It sports an Athlon X2 3600+ processor, and I'm pleased that they went dual core, and not for a budget single core Sempron. The hard drive is also a spacious 250 GB which is also pretty good for an entry level machine. Rounding out the package are 1 GB of RAM (of the 667 MHz flavor), a 16x DVD burner (maybe they finally used up the pile of CD-RW's...), and a USB keyboard/mouse. The OS is Vista Home Premium, and it has some basic software, but nothing that couldn't be downloaded for free including Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Works (just use OpenOffice which is free and far better), and Roxio Basic (the optical drive always includes writing software anyway). The graphics are integrated into the motherboard, and it uses the nVidia 6150 chip so serious gaming is out, but what do we expect for under $500?

For the sake of comparison, I'm going to forget about the included keyboard and mouse as most users will recycle one, or they can be purchased for under $10; also I'm not including the 56k modem in my system build as most users don't use it anyway. Also, remember that the Dell does include a one year warranty, and interestingly by buying through Wal-Mart, the PC can be returned within the first 15 days with no restocking fee (gotta love their return policy). I'd also like to point out that despite the large box that the Dell comes in, it does not include any monitor, or a set of speakers so I'll just leave them out of the comparison equation (as an aside, from the size of the box, I really thought they were in there at first).

All right, without further delay, here's what I built to try to beat this low end Dell. I started with an Athlon X2 3600+ like the Dell. I plugged that into a Biostar motherboard (there were ASUS mobo's at a similar price point) which includes a similar nVidia 6100 integrated graphics. I went with a Samsung SATA hard drive of the same 250 GB capacity. Add in a LiteOn 20x optical drive that is faster than the Dell's 16x if you can find media to support it. For the memory, I went for a full gig of OCZ memory, of the faster 800 MHz variety, that may add a little performance boost compared to the slower RAM Dell is using (for the difference in price, I always stick with a decent brand as RAM issues can be especially vexing). This is going to be housed in a budget case that includes a 430 Watt power supply; it's no beauty, and my faithful fans know that we should stick with name brand power supplies, but who knows what Dell is using, and their case is no looker anyway. All of this hardware will be run by Windows Home Premium. I went with an OEM copy which is actually a fair comparison as you can't reinstall what Dell sells you on another computer either. You can view the parts list here to get the current price breakdown should you want to build our "TechNudge Beats Up On Dell" system.

So how did we do? Remember that I'm trying to beat a Dell budget box mass produced and mass sold at Wal-Mart- the largest US retailer, and known for rollback pricing. How does $391 sound for my box? I was kind of surprised that I could beat the Dell by so much, and so easily. Maybe I'm just getting good at this! Does this mean there is a 25% profit margin on the Dell E521? For this price, they really should throw in a cheap monitor.

From my price analysis, the E521 looks to be quite overpriced. I wouldn't buy one, and neither should anyone else. Of course, I'm going to recommend to build your own computer. With the extra $100, we can upgrade the processor, and decide between doubling the RAM, or a cheap graphics card for a much better system. That's worth a night or two of assembling to many of us out there, and if you think about it, probably to you too.

--Jonas