[t-man]

Since I am looking for a new desktop, I was wondering if anyone knows or has any experience with good and bad brands and computers (all brands)? Then more specifically I have been looking at HP desktops and was not sure if HP desktops work well and do not break down often? If anyone has had any experience with new computers please post.
Thanks,
T-Man

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HP make pretty good systems. I've actually never had a problem with any computer manufacturer. I would avoid Dell though, as they are usually not very upgradable. And avoid Sony Vaio, those are a rip off.

[Gamerlicious]

HP make pretty good systems. I've actually never had a problem with any computer manufacturer. I would avoid Dell though, as they are usually not very upgradable. And avoid Sony Vaio, those are a rip off.

[jrm20]

Since I am looking for a new desktop, I was wondering if anyone knows or has any experience with good and bad brands and computers (all brands)? Then more specifically I have been looking at HP desktops and was not sure if HP desktops work well and do not break down often? If anyone has had any experience with new computers please post.
Thanks,
T-Man

If you are looking at a manufactured pc HP is Actually an okay pc. Id rather have an hp instead of a Dell but thats just my opinion. I just dont like Dell. Many people love dell but they just dont know how much they paid for the quality of parts they put in their machines.. Dell is alright too but I just dont like them like I said before LOL. I mean im a custom pc guy all the way now I will probably never get a manufactured pc again from the big guys.

You might want to look into a custom pc company that will build and put together the pc for you and you can customize the pc.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

Their prices are actually really good and you get all quality parts.

[Listerofsmeg]

BEST To Worst

1. HP
2. ACER
3. APPLE
4. YOUR LOCAL COMPUTER STORE

& down at 50,000,000. Dell

[Bartender]

Dell's are for people who don't know any better. I found out recently that Dell cripples all the thermal monitoring capabilities. Don't ask me how they do that - the CPU's thermal probes are built into the chip.
Anyway, Speedfan, Everest, all the utilities that a guy might use to keep track of system temps won't work with a Dell. Another reason to avoid them.
HP's been getting a lot of good press lately, and taking market share away from Dell. I've always been impressed with their support infrastructure. You can go to their website and find extensive support for your machine, even if its "old".
It's important to figure out what you want in a PC, not just who you want it from. For instance, I think HP's new Slimline PC's are cuter than a button, but if you're a gamer you'd avoid those. No room for upgrades.

[Sha2]

I would go to a local comp dealer who will build one to your own specs and you could possibly utilise parts of your old comp CD/DVD drives for instance, thereby keeping your overall price down. The savings could then be used to get yourself more disk/memory or better processor.

[Novaprospekt]

I too, have to concur and say that Dell is not the way to go.

They may have nice looking chassises (on their higher end models for that matter) but don't let that blind you from the poor looking interior components.

Dell likes to sneakily put in low-cost low-quality "stock" parts in their computers to keep their costs down while raising yours. For example, say you wanted 2GB of RAM, they'll likely use 4 512MB sticks of some generic memory and slap a dell sticker on it, rather than buying two 1GB high quality corsair sticks for slightly more money.


Also, like a previous poster mentioned, Dell somehow disables thermal sensors built into CPU chips/mobos and GPUs. Why would they go to such lengths? Well I can only speculate it's to hide from you the fact their crappy parts are causing your things to overheat.

Don't get me started on their support. No matter what time of day, it seems that whenever I call for tech support, I'm talking to some retard from India who can barely speak English (I have nothing against foreign tech support, but at least be comprehendible). I urge all my friends (and parents) who swear by Dell to switch to custom built PC's or at the very least, HP or Alienware. Alienware is very expensive but they put quality parts in to their towers and I don't mind the extra cost for that.

I personally custom build my PC's. If you'd like to take that route, I recommend going to www.newegg.com and purchasing individual parts from them. You'll end up saving BIG $$ and be satisfied with the end result, not only have you built a very complex piece of machinery, but you'll know exactly what's inside if something were to ever go wrong.

Some advice if you decide to custom build:

Make sure to check that your motherboard is compatible with the parts you're buying. For example, if you're getting an AMD processor, make sure the mobo is AMD friendly and the CPU sockets match (Socket 939 Processor with Socket 939 Mobo). A little bit of common sense and the ability to read a manual make building PC's easy and worthwhile.

Hope this block of text helped.

[Neil Jones]

Also, like a previous poster mentioned, Dell somehow disables thermal sensors built into CPU chips/mobos and GPUs. Why would they go to such lengths? Well I can only speculate it's to hide from you the fact their crappy parts are causing your things to overheat.

Dell have their motherboards made specifically for them to various standards and requirements - that it takes a certain processor, certain amount of memory, an X number of PCI/PCI-e slots, etc, with all the connector bits in the same places. Therefore this requirement probably states no temparature sensors, or none that any other program can read anyway. In fact the boards are probably uniform across most of the models, the only difference is the processor type, socket and speeds. The cases are the same as well, done to such a way that anybody can plug a big connector in in the right place and it will work.

Alienware is very highly-regarded, but doesn't come cheap at any rate. In fact in this society we have today, people are very keen to buy the cheapest thing they can and then wonder why it doesn't do everything/something or wonder why it breaks after five minutes.

[warriorscot]

Lol, all this dell bashing, Dell isnt that bad like Neil said you cant buy cheap and moan about getting a cheap computer doesnt work like that you get what you pay for, fow low-mid end systems dell is the cheapest place to go msotly for the reasons above they do work well though and the support is excellent so if you dont need a computer for gaming or anything high end and dont have a huge budget and computer knowledge then dell is a good way to go.

HP, Acer ok Acer is great for laptops to be honest though i would never reccomend a pre built PC over 500 quid. The best place to get a computer is you just build it yourself but if not get someone else to build it to your standards. In the US there isnt much choice you have cyberpower and your local shop. In the UK and Europe lots of choice Evesham, Mesh, carrera, armari, Scan the list goes on lots of choice.

[kidnova]

Actually, there are some options other than CyberPower if you are in the US. Velocity Micro, PC Club, ABS computers, and MainGear come to mind. Polywell also makes good custom systems for decent prices.

Also, Warriorscot is right. For basic home office use, any of the major manufacturers produces good products. Dell, HP, and Gateway are all good at what they do which is provide solid, affordable, funtional systems for 90% of the computer users out there. If you need extreme performance, then these are not for you and you are better off building it yourself or buying it from a gaming system integrator.

Here is a good place to look at manufacturer reviews. They review every part of the buying process.
http://consumer.hard...nMsaGNvbnN1bWVy

Edited by kidnova, 11 September 2006 - 07:58 AM.

[warriorscot]

See the problem is in gaining an idea of what the companies are like i dont know anyone with any of those system makers and nobody has been on here with one which is either a good or a bad thing cyberpower is the only common one, two of those i no about but heard negative things about(velocity micro and PC club) but that was limited in sample so i dont know if its true or not.