desktop PC computer brands

Crosley.In.AZ · December 04, 2004, 07:33:47 PM

If you guys were to buy a PC off the shelf.... IE ; HP, Compac, Dell... what would you buy? Tons of deals out there at this point, I may wait till after the christmas day has passed for a better deal?

The fellow that has built computers for me before is ill , he needs surgery...... his wife is in the hospital for 3 weeks now. Not a good situation.

I need to spend the money before the end of the year for tax purposes.

Looking for 2.5 to 3 Gig processor, with usual stuff... E card/port , USB ports, dvd / cd , flat panel monitor , etc. etc

Sean · December 04, 2004, 07:53:55 PM

I am happy enough with all the HP stuff I own/have owned, that I wouldn't even consider buying anything else. Easy to work on, easy to add internal components, and excellent online support if you need it.

OldSub · December 04, 2004, 08:34:50 PM

I've been real unhappy with Dell's service recently. Desktops are okay, but my productivity depends on servers, and Dells have been laying down on the job (Weekly BSODs).

Personally I've become a fan of Toshiba notebooks. I'm writing this using my fourth. I bought the second one five years ago and its still plugging away just fine on my daughter's desk.

I had an IBM that died weeks after the 3 year warrenty expired. My son's Dell has had various problems since new.

tomslik · December 04, 2004, 10:27:14 PM

Quote from: "OldSub"I've been real unhappy with Dell's service recently. Desktops are okay, but my productivity depends on servers, and Dells have been laying down on the job (Weekly BSODs).

Personally I've become a fan of Toshiba notebooks. I'm writing this using my fourth. I bought the second one five years ago and its still plugging away just fine on my daughter's desk.

I had an IBM that died weeks after the 3 year warrenty expired. My son's Dell has had various problems since new.

hmmmm, i've got 2 dells and the shop(work) has 4.
NO problems at all.....

Russ · December 04, 2004, 10:32:57 PM

My Dell is almost 5 years old, lacks 21 days and it has not gave an ounce of trouble......... Son has a Compaq I don't think you would ever be able to pry out of his fingers........ He thinks it is the greatest. So, pick a favorite and go for it....... There is lemons in all of em......

PS: I would not have a IBM however, but that is just my personal feelings.....

We use a HP out in the shop and basically due to the dust and dirt it is down 80% of the time. Can't say it is the computers fault however.

jaybee · December 04, 2004, 11:05:58 PM

Our Dell has been no trouble at all and the Dells we use at work also hum along without hiccups. The machine we had at home was a Compaq. We weren't as happy with it but it also ran WinME which was never that good. My brother built a pair of bare-bones systems from the local/regional computer store and both had motherboard failures. Not a bit sure I'd go that route again.

47wood · December 05, 2004, 01:10:22 AM

Nothing but good things to say about Dell. Bought one 3 years ago and the cooling fan made a noise. Called them on Friday and the service tech installed a new one on Monday ...no trouble since.

Crosley.In.AZ · December 05, 2004, 09:03:36 AM

I would guess you have a service / repair plan with Dell?

The responses here kinda sound like talking about different car brands.... thanks

Quote from: "47wood"Nothing but good things to say about Dell. Bought one 3 years ago and the cooling fan made a noise. Called them on Friday and the service tech installed a new one on Monday ...no trouble since.

kb426 · December 05, 2004, 10:04:55 AM

I live in the sticks where onsite service means you just got screwed. Both Dell and Compaq have stood up to their warranty agreements well. I have friends that bought Gateway that were really screwed over on warranty. My family has been through 4 compaqs and 3 Dells, the warranty repairs have been fine. The only complaints we've had are about the tech lines. You get Bangladesh with most companies now. Hard to understand, very limited knowledge. But like most items, if you get a good one, you have no reason to find this out. If you let a new machine run for a week solid, you stand a good chance of finding any failures.

Russ · December 05, 2004, 10:11:32 AM

Our machines run 24/7, set in auto repair shop dust and no failures.

Only time 1 is shut off is if we loose our cable connection, which here recently has been pretty often.

I call the provider and tell em we is a losing a router, they tell me to turn off my cable modem, let it set for 45 seconds, rebot my computer, and then turn on te modem.......

When that doesn't fix the problem they come back with, oh, we just found a bad router........ I kind of grin to myself and say, ok, when ya'll going to get it upgraded so as to handle these outages.... Their response is HUH...............

Jimc · December 05, 2004, 10:51:27 AM

Quote from: "Crosley"If you guys were to buy a PC off the shelf.... IE ; HP, Compac, Dell... what would you buy? Tons of deals out there at this point, I may wait till after the christmas day has passed for a better deal?

The fellow that has built computers for me before is ill , he needs surgery...... his wife is in the hospital for 3 weeks now. Not a good situation.

I need to spend the money before the end of the year for tax purposes.

Looking for 2.5 to 3 Gig processor, with usual stuff... E card/port , USB ports, dvd / cd , flat panel monitor , etc. etc

My personal favorite is HP.
NO problems.
The company I retired from tried Gateway, Dell, Compaq, and building their own stuff.
The only issues ever experienced was customer service.
Both Dell and Gateway have at different times had good and poor service.
I know of no instance where theie was a quality issue with any of the brands used.
There can be problems with any unit any one builds.
When you order a custom machine, it is built, whether by your favorite technician or some company.

For my use, shelf models work well.
And, I am not an order guy.
I like to get it in my hot little hands when i lay my money down.
Just another old guys opinion.

purplepickup · December 05, 2004, 01:20:00 PM

Quote from: "Crosley"The responses here kinda sound like talking about different car brands.... thanks

Yup I agree. I think most name brand computers are pretty reliable. My first computer 10 or 12 years ago was a Gateway and I'll never have another because, at least back then, many of the parts they used were special and not always compatable with off the shelf aftermarket stuff if you ever want to upgrade. That might have changed now.

I've got a 5 year old Dell that has never had a lick of problems and a 2 year old Dell that has never hiccuped either. I've added memory, different CD drives, and hard drives with stuff bought at any Best Buy or Circuit City. I got my mom a Dell 6 years ago and it's still ticking too. We have Dells at work too...about 500 of them, and I don't hear about any hardware related problems. Operator error is a common problem.

I guess I'm a Dell guy. I'm on their emailing list and the deals they send me are hard to beat. The incentives change all the time. There is usually a rebate along with some piece of hardware thrown in for free....a printer, camera, CDR or DVDR drive. I don't get the extended service programs because I figure if something is defective it will show up within the regular warranty period. I'm cheap so I get the best basic computer I can and don't upgrade with too much...except for a larger monitor, then I get memory, second hard drives or whatever else I want to add at the electronic superstores. It's real easy to install most of that stuff and it's a lot cheaper if you get it on sale.

Ford, Mopar, Chevy......Honda, Harley, Kawasaki......Compaq, Dell, HP....It's more of a personal preference than one being better than another I think.

OldSub · December 06, 2004, 03:09:22 PM

Quote from: "tomslik"hmmmm, i've got 2 dells and the shop(work) has 4.
NO problems at all.....

I've got two at home and we must have 50 here at the office and one server that has been troublesome lately.

My beef isn't with the computers, the hardware has mostly been fine. But we are less than 20 miles from the center of a major metro and it takes days for them to get here even though we paid for 4 hour onsite service.

And that server just died again a few minutes ago. I won't buy another Dell server ever.

I know a guy who had trouble getting the local Chevy dealer to fix a problem back about 1940. He's never owned a Chevy since. I may not stick to my frustration for 60+ years, but I'm going to give it a shot!

47wood · December 06, 2004, 04:33:29 PM

Quote from: "Crosley"I would guess you have a service / repair plan with Dell?

The responses here kinda sound like talking about different car brands.... thanks

Quote from: "47wood"Nothing but good things to say about Dell. Bought one 3 years ago and the cooling fan made a noise. Called them on Friday and the service tech installed a new one on Monday ...no trouble since.

Tony,

No I didn't have a service plan. The repair was covered under warranty. I actually bought the Dell computer and it sat here for a couple of months before I hooked it up ...then the fan was bad. Just called Dell and it was taken care of at no expense to me. Oh, and when my original order came in I discovered I had order a 17" monitor by mistake (my old 19" was still okay) ...no problem they paid for return shipping and credited back to my credit card. I think their best specials are on the Dell web site.

Cal

Dave · December 06, 2004, 06:20:54 PM

Quote from: "Crosley"If you guys were to buy a PC off the shelf.... IE ; HP, Compac, Dell... what would you buy? Tons of deals out there at this point, I may wait till after the christmas day has passed for a better deal?

The fellow that has built computers for me before is ill , he needs surgery...... his wife is in the hospital for 3 weeks now. Not a good situation.

I need to spend the money before the end of the year for tax purposes.

Looking for 2.5 to 3 Gig processor, with usual stuff... E card/port , USB ports, dvd / cd , flat panel monitor , etc. etc

I dont do the brand thing. Ive worked on a bunch of em and when I build em I want to be able to use another sound card and video card and some of the big guys dont even let you shut off the on board video and sound . Thats how they get you to upgrade. I bought a brand new compaq one time to the tune of 700 bucks and they had a 10 cent modem in it and after using my dime and talking to the tech support people 3 times i just told em forget it. When i took it back to the store i had 6 people all standing around me as I returned it. I told em if they couldnt spend the extra few bucks for a modem that was compatable with the machine then they didnt need me as a owner of one. Refunded in full got on line and went to a puker show and built another. Im not saying they are all junk its just what your use is. Mine is different than most people and i like em fast and good video. My current 2 machines have amd processors and ive actually got another amd machine in the closet that i should put together and sell. One word of caution. If the deal of the day a machine with a celeron processor go the little extra and get the pentium chip....
My 2 cents
Dave