[Justin]

Hey Everyone!

There are a lot of brand name computers out there. How do you know which is right for you? It seems that the most popular brands are Dell, HP/Compaq, AlienWare, and of course there are more. But are the most popular always the best?

I would like to start a discussion on what the community thinks about brand name computers.

Some of things you can discuss in your topic are:

Price
Quality of hardware
Quality of support from company
Reliability

Note - You are not limited to the above, it is just some examples t ohelp you get started

Rules

• No flaming/attacking other people for their reasoning
• Keep the language clean
• Be nice

At the first sight of these rules being broken, I will give out a warning to the thread, then the topic will be closed if the behavior continues.

This is an experiment for this forum, so if there is a good response to it, and everyone can stay calm, there will be more of these discussions.

So, with all of that out of the way, here is the question for the discussion:

If you were going to buy a computer, brand of a computer would you buy? Support your decision.

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Ill go ahead and get the discussion started then!

Brand: Dell
Reason: Dell has always been known for its customer service, and for me that is enough of a reason to buy it. Recently I bought 2 new PCs from dell, and both of the processor fans were really loud. SO I called tell and told them the processor fans were bad. While they treated me like a really stupid person, they sent someone out and replaced both of the fans in a week. Dell treats people like they do not know anything, which is good because any person can get help from dell, due to their step by step explanations used during troubleshooting.

Dell always ships items in a timely manner, and for me, nothing has ever gotten lost.

Dell computers also seem to last the longest. I have a HP computer now that after 3 years is starting to go. My brother has a Dell, and has had it for 4 or 5 years and it is still working perfectly.

[Justin]

Ill go ahead and get the discussion started then!

Brand: Dell
Reason: Dell has always been known for its customer service, and for me that is enough of a reason to buy it. Recently I bought 2 new PCs from dell, and both of the processor fans were really loud. SO I called tell and told them the processor fans were bad. While they treated me like a really stupid person, they sent someone out and replaced both of the fans in a week. Dell treats people like they do not know anything, which is good because any person can get help from dell, due to their step by step explanations used during troubleshooting.

Dell always ships items in a timely manner, and for me, nothing has ever gotten lost.

Dell computers also seem to last the longest. I have a HP computer now that after 3 years is starting to go. My brother has a Dell, and has had it for 4 or 5 years and it is still working perfectly.

[ScHwErV]

Brand : Dell

Price versus quality, you cant beat Dell. Their customer service has always been top notch for me also. My brother bought his Dell, it was supposed to come with a free CD Burner Upgrade. I called Dell, had someone on the phone who spoke english in less than 5 mins and had a brand new drive on my doorstep the very next day.

The guy I got on the phone started talking to me like I was an idiot, but I quickly told him that I had been doing computer work for longer than he knew what a computer was and he stopped with the stupid questions and we got down to business. I understand their approach because I have done phone tech support before. They will work with you if you tell them you know what you are doing though.

I have over 100 (Corporate) Dell computers here at work and almost every member of my family has a Dell computer.

ScHwErV

[warriorscot]

Dell good customer service and nice computers for your average persons use for someone who uses there computers alot and loves games they aint the best, at least the mormal ones arent.
In the UK there are tonnes of really top notch main stream builders.
MESH, Carrera, evesham and scan cater for everyone and for high end there is holly, sav row, voodoo, amari, real machines and watford. And there is more i cant think of and there is the normal HP/compaq and dell, tiny and time are also half decent probably better than dell.

[fleamailman]

Ok, I like Dell too, good computers for the price but I have to admit that it is the computer that turns up the most at this shop for repairs, probably because the dealers give more credit to the clients ability than they actually have. You see, with a shop you can bug the owner until you are happy with what he or she has done but with Dell how does one let know that the machine has come back working but changed in a way that doesn't please, save sending it back again or telephoning. So I conclude that if you know a fair amount about computers go for Dell though if you don't know much about them then it is best to go to a little local shop where the owner depends on you far more than some big surface places or Internet buying where the chances of being brushed off are far greater, those telephone calls cost, and sending away the computer is an effort. Anyway, I would like to thank here those computer companies that continue to service repairmen and local computer shops in the way I have just mentioned, the shop and I would hate to see the day where they get the after service thought out.

[ScHwErV]

So no one is going to vote in favor of e-Machines??



ScHwErV

[Justin]

Nope ScHwErV, It looks like Dell is the winner!

[jasper the rasper]

So no one is going to vote in favor of e-Machines??



ScHwErV 

I will. I have had mine now for almost 2 years, no problems yet that were not not easily remedied (not yet anyway, just trying to cover myself now) by me. But I would like to hear some comments about them.

[thegeek]

So no one is going to vote in favor of e-Machines??



ScHwErV 

I will. I have had mine now for almost 2 years, no problems yet that were not not easily remedied (not yet anyway, just trying to cover myself now) by me. But I would like to hear some comments about them.

Here, I might as well too. I have had this eMachines box for a year now. I put Linux on it right away however, which voids the warranty. (No Windows) However, I have had zilch problems with it.

Edited by thegeek, 17 August 2005 - 05:16 PM.

[famosbrown]

Brand: Sony

I currently have a Sony Vaio that I bought last year. It is a beast, but I could upgrade the AIW card for something better if I decide to get a better PSU. When deciding to buy a new computer after I returned from my deployment, I wanted a stock computer that could do just about everything from gaming, video capturing/editng, DVD burn, and substitue as a media center as well for movies and televeision.

AIW 9200
P4 2.8GHz w/HT
160GB HDD
1024 mb DDR3200
2 different sizes of firewire
Sony Gigapocket with PVR w/remote
Optical Out
DVI, S-VIDEO, etc., etc.

I got it on sale at Best Buy bundled with a Sony 17" LCD monitor for $1100. That included instant and mail-in rebates.

I usually never have troubles with my computer unless I am trying to experiment or messing with something before reading up on it or teaching myself, etc., so computers run forever for me. My mom is still using my first computer at home that I got when I was 8 years old, which was a Packard Bell using DOSSHELL, which you had to use DOS to get to. It was upgraded to Windows 3.1 when I was tenor so, so she stil uses it to play Solitaire and do some simple word processing.

EDIT: Forgot to add...first internet service provider was Prodigy...anyone remember them ?

I've also owned two HP's, both celerons, one 633 mhz, the other and they are still running. I bought one in 2000 and one in 2001. Only problem I've had with those were hard drives and of course everyone knows that it isn't if your hard drive will crash, it's when. ONe of the machines are with my brother used for his small business, and the other one is used by my fiancee.

Brand name is brand name to me, and as long as you take care of a machine, any computer will do fine.

Now, with that said, if you are into getting optimal performance, overclocking, tweaking, etc., then I go with a custom system. Stock systems aren't USUALLY for tweaking, overclocking, etc. unless you start replacing components, and then it isn't even that Brand computer anymore.

Famos

Edited by famosbrown, 17 August 2005 - 05:41 PM.

[Justin]

Nice deal on that sony!

I have heard great things about the sony vaio laptops

[EMCguy]

with regard to e-machines

One of the worst computers I ever owned was an E-machine. They built it with 128MB of memory and sold it with XP on it. Meets the minimum requirements for XP alright. I naively installed windows 2000 office on it, and had one of the worst computers around. Just opening one document in Word forced the computer in to using the harddrive for the extra memory it needed.

while I fault E-machines for it, I also learned that whenever Microsoft makes hardware recommendations for an operating system, you must multiply everthing by 2,

Their recommendations only work when you never plan on using any applications, just sit and look at XP screensavers.


Best regards,

EMCguy

[EMCguy]

Hey Famos

I know this is totally off topic (if one can be offtopic in the off-topic forum )

Where were you deployed?

Best regards,

EMCguy

[phybyr0ptyk]

Alien Ware

I have had my machine for a little under a year no no problems. I know my way around, and if one knows there way around they know exactly what they want and Alienware offers a great multitude of selection for most components. I am getting ready to order another machine next month from them.

I say to each his own but for the new computer buyer I guess Id have to go with HP or Dell I have had each also with no problems other than Operating System bugs.

[famosbrown]

Hey Famos

I know this is totally off topic (if one can be offtopic in the off-topic forum )

Where were you deployed?

Best regards,

EMCguy

LOL, not a problem...I was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for 16 months...I wasn't there the entire time of course, but I really can't say much other than that. I'm not sure if you know much about military awards, but let's just say that I earned both expeditionary and service medals. I was there the majority of the time in support of Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

Yeah...when friends and family buy cheap computers like eMachines, HP's, Compaq's, and etc., I always make sure they upgrade at least their memory up to half a gig or more. That alone eliminates many problems associated with memory hungry software.