Hi I need to buy a new computer for my office as I'm just starting a new business. I was going to go to Dell because I know them. I need two monitors and was thinking of going for the OptiPlex 755. Does anyone know whether I need a graphics card for this - the option I selected doesn't seem to provide one. Any tips on Dell much appreciated also - like does taking out a 4 year service agreement mean you get less built in obsolesence? Many thanks in advance. Charlie C

All you need to do is look at the specs & order what you need. It shows two monitors IF the Radeon HD2400XT card is selected as an option: http://www.dell.com/content/product... Get either the Desktop or Mini-tower (mini-tower preferred)...stay away from the small form factor versions. And make sure you get 2GB RAM. As for the 4-yr service, it's probably a waste of money, but if you can write it off as a business expense, it *might* be worthwhile. How long do you realistically expect to keep this PC before upgrading again?

Thanks very much. I'm actually in the UK and don't want an adjustable monitor but not a wide screen - so I have to choose an option without a monitor - but these options don't offer you the opportunity to put in a graphics card.....do you know whether these are difficult to self install...to be honest I don't want to take the risk....do you know of other vendors that might be better?

I see your second thread about this same scenario has been deleted. I was going to post there - I'm posting here instead. Standard ATI support info: http://support.ati.com/ics/support/... I don't know if you'll get a delay fully loading that page - I do at the present time, one of about 30 seconds. Scroll down to and click on: 737-20870: How to Install Your ATI Product From the Dell UK site, in the support info for Optiplex 755: ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 Pro User's Guide http://support.euro.dell.com/suppor... According to a similar User's Guide on the Dell site for the The Radeon HD 2400 XT, it has ony one monitor port; The Radeon™ HD 2400 Pro has two. ..... You should be made aware of the fact that if you want the displays to be identical, there are some programs, such as DVD players and other video players, that will only display on the primary monitor, even if you set the Catalyst Control Center settings so that the secondary display is a clone of the primary display. If you want the displays to always be identical, instead of using a card with dual monitor support and connecting monitors to both ports, a very good solution is to use a video splitter box and a video extension cable to connect to a single video port on your display adapter, and use the existing cables from your monitors to connect to the box. These video spliiter boxes are the same thing as used in stores to display the same screen display on two or more monitors. They have a built in amplifier, so if one or both monitors are more than the usual 6 feet or so from your computer, you can use a heavy duty extension cable for one or both and still have a plenty strong enough signal for both monitors. e.g. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat... However... Your mboard ram will always perform better when your system is being more heavily stressed if you are using a video card rather than onboard video. Sharing the ram with the onboard video greatly reduces it's max bandwidth - max data transfer speed. Using a card in a slot allows the bios to auto disable the onboard video, and the bios ignores any settings in the bios Setup to do with the sharing of the ram with the onboard video, allowing the ram to achieve the max bandwidth it can acheive on your system, as much as twice that of when you use onboard video. ....... There isn't much difference in cost between choosing the XT or the PRO card. You could get the PRO and try two monitors with it in any case. If you find some things you want to be displayed on both monitors are not, you can always add the video splitter box and extension cable to the system later.

Am I missing something? The Optiplex 755 has several graphics card choices listed. The Radeon HD2400XT has dual DVI-out, not the Pro. The UK site has the price listed as £269 (Ex. VAT & Shipping) & it includes 3 Years On-site Service. That's for the standard configuration without monitor. Your system will cost more because you'll be adding the HD2400XT graphics card (plus riser card) from the customization menu. And as I suggested above, you should go with 2GB RAM. A larger HDD would be a good idea too. That jacks the price to over £400 http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/p...

From the Dell UK site, in the support info for Optiplex 755: ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 Pro User's Guide http://support.euro.dell.com/suppor... http://support.euro.dell.com/suppor... If that's wrong, maybe they got the User's Guide titles mixed up on the Dell site.