Pre-built system, which brand would you choose and why?

Throwing around the idea of getting a new flatscreen or possibly a new system. Have always built my own in the past but don't really have the time for that now. Been looking at Dell's and Gateway's but they all look the same and the prices are a bit high.

If you were going to buy a new system and have it delivered where would you go for it? HP?....

 

1) HP
2) Dell
3) To hell with Gateway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roger

 

Heheh. We use Gateway at work so I get a pretty good break on them. What is it about HP that makes them number one for you?

 

Excellent 24/7, easy to reach, online chat help via HP....IF You even need it!!!! And an excellent off the shelf included warranty!! I fried the touchpad on my HP laptop, and they paid to ship it from Chicago to California... did the necessary work overnight, and shipped it back to me all within 4 days from start to finish!!!! All covered under the included one year warranty!!

Roger

 

Thats what I call service!

Looking at their desktops, to many to choose from ugh... lol

 

I'd rather go with a custom built machine,one that has quality components,for example if I had less time than money ,I'd get a comp from 3xs systems in the UK

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/Category.asp?SystemMasterCategoryID=17

Even the base model has great components,but you will lose out on software bundles that come with mass produced PC's

In all honesty though if I wanted a basic workhorse of a computer,without gaming potential I'd go with a Mac,the hardware and software, stability and compatibility has been tested beyond anything a custom or mass produced pc has IMO

My two pence

 

Always had custom built in the past. This year was my first off-the-peg and I went for HP, simply because I have a HP printer that has been awesome and very reliable, and the HP operating system (I only bought a new OS) had the spec I wanted at the bucks I wanted to pay. I have been so happy with it, I upgraded my monitor to a 17" flat screen by HP too, and have been equally happy with that.

I recently bought a laptop, which was Gateway, again simply because it was the best spec for me at a great price. I'm very pleased with it so far...only had it a couple of weeks.

Both desktop OS and laptop were bought from Best Buy, where I have had great service with 12-18 months interest free credit. The flat screen monitor was bought from TigerDirect.com which again was awesome service and product.

 

I can't see myself buying one prebuilt, but if I was, I'd probably go with a custom computer from http://http://www.monarchcomputer.com
They'd build it the way I want it, with the components I want, and not pre-load it with a ton of crap I don't want, and I know they're reliable. I already own the software I want, have a monitor, sound system, mouse and keyboard I like, etc. And I'd KNOW that it didn't come with proprietary hardware that would limit later upgrading.

Actually, unless I really needed one right now, I'd wait until at least June. AMD is supposed to have a new CPU socket out there then, which would help with upgrades in the future.

 

I do have an extensive history with this subject - I am sorry to say.

I have used many Dell's, IBM's, HP's, Compaqs, and Toshiba's in the past but, would NOT under any circumstances recommend one at this point in time. In fact, I would stay away from the so-called "major manufacturer's" entirely. Look at the www.tigerdirect.com website, Hypersonic, Widow pc, or others.

Dell for instance has almost all of it's crap made as proprietary; in short if you ever upgrade there is a good chance you will have to buy it from Dell because their motherboards and other things only fit their own pc's (they make third party hardware as difficult to install as possible and this is not a coincidence either). You'll be stuck paying a high price for their proprietary parts which, in my experience are not what they used to be - say 10 years ago when Dell was making a name for its self in the PC market place. Much like automobile manufacturer's do today - their parts are made with a predetermined experation date. Their circuitboards will die on you about six months or less from the date your warranty expires... or as close as their disigners and Engineers can get to that date. I kid you not. This is part of their R&D at Dell.

If you've built PC's in the past an extensive Tech Support/Customer Service plan is probably not a big issue for you so - again I'd say go to a company that is reputable but still hungry to make a name this is usually a smaller company.

Good luck to you,

DigitalSwag

 

With my recent experience with the self destructing Dell laptop, I'd probably recommend going with a local manufacturer. In the UK there is Novatech, in the past their customer service was awful, but these days they've made some leaps and bounds - or so I've heard. I wouldn't buy a Dell or HP or a Fujisu or anything else like that - ever.

The other advantage with a local manufacturer is that you don't have the problem of having hundreds of tiers of red tape to wade through when you need support, as the support center is (probably) in the same building as the people who build the things. Unless they have a call center, which is less likely for smaller businesses.

And the final advantage is that you can go to their outlet and have words with them in person if things go horribly wrong. AND you don't need to ship the box half way around to get it repaired/replaced, if requried.

In any case I strongly recommend you investigate smaller and possibly more local manufacturers. Not like your local PC cavewho make custom PCs on the side but a proper manufacturer.

 

If it classifies as "prebuilt" I'd choose either Cyberpower or iBuyPower. Good systems for good prices, I think, even though I have yet to order a system from them and test their customer service (I'm ordering one this summer though). I'm not sure if they ship internationally.

If that doesn't count, well...eh...we got Dells when they had good hardware for low prices, but now it's kind of the other way around in some cases.

 

Where I work, we got 3 Dells back in 2002. They run 24/7. About a month ago, I just replaced the 3rd harddrive. They started having problems, then when I would run chkdsk, 2 of them wouldn't boot or anything. Thank God for my Mepis bootable cd. At least I could save all the important stuff.

Other than that, they have been working flawlessly. And I have them networked with DSL.

The really nice thing about Dell's: If you have to do a reinstall of XP, no problems. No reactivation. And if you change a motherboard, you have to do a repair. I recently did that. We got three new computers for our registers last year. I wanted to do an inexpensive speed up on our older ones so I can use some new inventory software that requires more. So, I changed computers, but swapped the harddrives. Three are registers and two are at our service counter (not registers). And you know what happens when you do that. BSOD. Simple fix by booting with XP cd and doing a repair installation. And no reactivation.

The computer that I am using at home is one I built myself, though.<img>

 

Yep, like some of the guys said - if you don't have time to build your own nowadays, just get one the reputable computer centres to build one for you, with your own specifications to what you want and what brands. If the centre is any good, they should offer you a 12 month guarantee on their work anyway. I do for the gear I build. (Long as it's not tampered with, of course).