Dell for work

mfarrell

Honorable
Nov 13, 2012
9
0
10,510
Hi All,
My boss has asked me to recommend new desktops for me and my workmate but they must be Dell as we have an agreement with them. We work in conservation and use video monitoring for animals and need to download and watch lots of video from trail cameras that store on microSD cards. We take and store lots of high res photos too and we also will be using the ARCGIS mapping software further down the line which can be a bit greedy on the computers resources. Other than that its just email and research. I was thinking the Vostro 470 would meet our needs.
http://www.dell.com/au/business/p/vostro-470/pd?oc=v220443au&model_id=vostro-470
Can someone give me some advice or other Dell options please?
 
Solution
Welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums,
I'd say you have a solid choice for your needs in the Vostro 470. With the included graphics card I'd recommend 16GB of ram (8GB min) and I think you'd be set.

mfarrell

Honorable
Nov 13, 2012
9
0
10,510
Cheers C12, that's reassuring. The system seems to come with 8GB (2x4GB) RAM and I'm not sure whether it can be upgraded to 16GB. Can I do this myself or should I just ask for more?
 

mfarrell

Honorable
Nov 13, 2012
9
0
10,510
Cool, can I use any manufacturers RAM, say Kingston, or does it have to be DELL, they seem a bit expensive? Also, anything else that you'd change or upgrade? eg In other posts where people are advised to build their own, the Dell power supplies get a bit of a bagging.
 
Cool but you're looking at the wrong kits. For the Vostro, you'll be looking at DDR3 ram at either 1333MHz or 1600MHz and 1.5 volts. This is the most expensive 32GB kit I found that will work in the Vostro
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/208267/MEMORY_MEMORY_DDR-3_RAM/G.Skill/F3-1600C7Q-32GTX.asp
This kit is even cheaper
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/208268/MEMORY_MEMORY_DDR-3_RAM/G.Skill/F3-1600C9Q-32GSR.asp
I simply used those as examples of what a full upgrade might cost (I used GSkill because they were the easiest to find).
A two stick 8GB upgrade (to bring you to 16GB) would be much cheaper

 

You could do that but, believe it or not, you may be able to find exact same 16GB kits for cheaper than a single 32GB kit if you shop around some (I simply used the first Australian computer shop link I found). The reason is that the kits are "matched" so they are guaranteed to play well with each other - not always but sometimes, the less modules that have to be matched, the cheaper the ram.
Shop around a little more than I did, if you find that there isn't a price difference, you can split up a 4x8GB set into 2x8GB's no problem. Also, I used NewEgg's memory finder here to find the compatible kits
http://www.newegg.com/MemoryFinder/#eTqCr0p0e10AAD
Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, Patriot and a few other ram manufacturers also have similar tools at their websites
 

mfarrell

Honorable
Nov 13, 2012
9
0
10,510
Great, probably wont need it like you said but it's good to know what needs to be done if need be. Last question, I think, can you recommend a Dell laptop for my boss? same work pretty much, but she needs to be portable, probably needs the higher RAM as she does tend to multi task a lot.