Advice regarding Optiplex 3050 Tower

If you're not planning on turning all enthusiast with it, it'll be fine. Dells are pretty reliable and the support is very good.

In the chosen configuration this Optiplex will run me just under $800. The only thing that has me a bit worried is the integrated graphics card, but I know I can always add a discrete card. So is this setup a fair deal or not?

Woody72 said:

If you're not planning on turning all enthusiast with it, it'll be fine. Dells are pretty reliable and the support is very good.

My enthusiasm, as far as computers go, is limited to using Photoshop and to managing my images.

Is it SSD or conventional HDD?

Also, note that the 3050 only has 2 memory slots and is limited to 32GB of RAM while the 5050/7050 have 4 slots and can go up to 64GB. So if you plan on increasing the amount of RAM later you'd want to keep this in mind.

If you want to keep things cheap, also look at buying from Dell Outlet. The machines are either refurbished or new with minor cosmetic damage. They come with the same warranty and there's frequent sales (though I don't know how often the 3050s go on sale).

Woody72 said:

Is it SSD or conventional HDD?

It has a 1 TB spinny drive. I could get a 2TB spinny drive, but I don't need it. My memory-intensive storage is via external drives (each one backed up).

A 1TB SS drive would be nice, but is cost-prohibitive, as s is an Alienware machine, someone else mentions. My friend has a very nice $3,000 Alienware laptop.

I will check the Dell outlet. Thank you for your input and advice, everyone!