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Dell Review 1
Dell Review 2
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 | Arrival
 | I was in the middle of clearing my room, and assembling my new computer table and
cupboard with the help of my nephew, Haniff, when my PC arrived, at around 2:30pm on 8
January 1999. |
| It came in three large boxes. Three? I thought the usual two would have been enough, one
for the PC unit, and the other for the 19" monitor (massive box this). But I then
remembered I also ordered the optional Altec Lansing ADA-880 5-speaker set, which came in
a box as large as the PC tower unit's, and was just as heavy, if not heavier!
 | Later, when I opened the speaker box, I realised the subwoofer & amplifier unit
weighed a ton. |
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| Unpacking
| Everything seemed in order, so after Haniff and I managed to set up the table, we moved
the boxes into my room and began removing the PC unit. |
| A very good thing about Dell is that they pack a great deal of documentation with the
set. I also get all the necessary cd-roms and diskettes that contain the device drivers
for the accessories that I ordered with the PC (like sound card, video card, etc). |
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| Installation
| Hooking up the PC was really easy, as everything was colour coded and there was this
large poster-size step-by-step instruction to get you started. The monitor was a monster.
Haniff gasped when he saw the size of this thing. When we placed it on the computer table,
we saw that the silly table top actually bent a little under the weight of the monitor!
(Well, till today, the table still holds...) |
| The 5-speaker system is really something, and I am glad I made the decision to buy it.
Actually, when I ordered for it, it was only made available by Dell probably 1 or 2 weeks
before. It certainly was not advertised in the local papers (Computimes), and I got to
know of it through Dell's website. The current offering was the ACS-495. |
| The ADA-880's amplifier and subwoofer unit is 345mm wide x 290mm deep x 235mm high, has
no on or off switch, and weighs a ton! Behind the unit is the subwoofer's cavity or hole
(dunno what to call it), the size of a tennis ball. Four cables go to each of the
speakers, one goes to the sound card in the PC, and another one to the digital output
(S/PDIF) of the sound card (which is actually connected to the DVD-player for
direct-digital output to the amp, bypassing the sound card).
| Although I have hardly any details on this system, not in the manuals, nor even on the
web, it seems that the ADA-880 is a digital amplified system, meaning that if you playback
through a digital device like the DVD-player, it is fed directly into the amp, bypassing
what you would normally have in a typical home hi-fi system - the pre-amp, and sent to the
speakers. This would mean that the D-A convertors are in the speakers (or at least after
the amp stage). Cool or wot?!? |
| The ADA-880 also features Dolby Digital AC3 and Dolby Pro-Logic surround sound, with a
total audio output of 80 Watts. Oh yeah, it even comes with a remote-controller, so that I
can adjust the volume when I'm listening to Mariah Carey on bed... |
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| I also transferred my Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro joystick from my old PC (a P166 clone)
to the Dell. |
| The power cables were then attached to a 4-plug adapter which has a built-in lightning
arrestor. Bought this at Jaya Jusco (of all places) but it's really cool because it looks
like a normal foot-long adapter, but has connectors for the modem and phone, too. Only
RM80, I think. |
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