May buy a new 'puter soon...

[Chuckracer]

Any advice/warnings? I'm thinking about $700. I want the whole enchilada, including 17" flat moniter.

Dell or Gateway, I'd imagine. Thoughts?

[hippietim]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

When folks ask me, I recommend Dell. That's what my current machine at home is. Both of my development machines at work are Dells. In fact, every development machine I've had in the last 8 or 9 years has been a Dell.

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

Just wait a couple of years before you buy anything...word on the street is AtomicTommy is secretly working on a telecommuter thingy....looks like a shower, but when you get in you type the website you want, and your instantly teleported to the actual building/factory whatever the case may be. If you use it for instant messaging, then you are teleported directly in front of the person you want to talk to....

Okay Im bored.....and I have no life....I havent left the house and the phone hasnt rang since yesterday (it was work then)....so my mind tends to wander....

Goddammit I hijacked again...

Mrs LPC

[Guest]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

Chuck,

I just tried to buy a Dell, I wasted 6 hours on hold for various things, just to get it configured and shipped properly, mainly configuration. OMG, what a nightmare!!!

I was going to take the plunge and check out a Dell, but not after that. No way... I went with a G5 instead, should be here Monday, not $700 tho. And you won't get one from Dell for that either, not with the LCD anyway.

I certainly wouldn't go with Gateway either, there's no local support any more, and the companies in financial trouble, so they say anyway, dunno first hand.

I would look at Sony, I've had a couple of Vaois and no probs. I don't know, "I" wouldn't get a Dell now, not after what I just witnessed.

Best!

Pat

Tim, most likely the reason you've used Dell is because they're in bed with Bill and company, no? A corporate deal I'd imagine and prolly an MS discount as well, on yer personal box(es) I'd imagine.

[hippietim]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

Hey Mr. LPC, I think Mrs. LPC needs some attention. But down Big Red!!! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Guest]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

Here's a tester for you, call them up and try to get through to support, sales will always answer very quickly, obviously. Now, tell me if you want to go through that if needed.

Pat

[RacerX]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

Chuck, are you handy? Consider buiding your own PC. (and buy a monitor [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] )

[shelby22]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

Dell is very easy to deal with. I buy 2 or 3 a month for work, and always order online. I've never actually called to order, sounds like a pain. I did however call tech support for a bad sound card, and I think they outsource their service to India. Great computers, and they really make it easy to order online.

[Guest]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

Shelby,

I turned that route and thye business side of things are fine, from what I got anyway. But the home side is a nightmare, a bunch of tools answering even bigger tools' questions. ( Not mine, but I can only imagine )

I don't know, I'd go with Ron and build your own. You can build a killer PC for under $1000, you're not going to get the enchilada, even with Dell for $700.

Let me know if you need some help, be glad to...

A couple of places to check:

www.pricewatch.com
www.nextag.com

Pat

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

I have had both Gateways and Dells, both are good machines, it depends on the CPU you pick.

The last few machines I have gotten have been cheap machines. They run 24/7/365 on my wireless network no problems. one is an eMachine and believe it or not a brand called Great Quality from Fry's outpost.com.

You can build one youeself but you really don't end up saving a whole lot of cash. I'd just buy the highest power CPU you can afford add more memory to it.

[hippietim]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

Strangletooth, regarding Dell in bed with Bill and company. Whatever dude. You have no idea what you are talking about.

My Dell was purchased off the Dell website just like anybody else. I bought mine because it is just a very good box.

As for support. Go call any major corporation in any business and let me know how the experience is. In recent memory, I've dealt with Dell, Gateway, and Apple tech support. Apple sucked but Gateway wasn't even that good. Dell was actually pretty good but my problem was trivial - I just needed them to provide some driver files that weren't on their website yet (it was a new model at the time). Your odds of getting good support from these big fellas is about the same as getting knowledgeable customer service at Circuit City.

Personally I have never had a single Dell fail. Well, that's not entirely true. I did drop a Dell laptop one time and the hard drive was toast after that. Without going into particulars let's just say that the drop was really hard. I can't comment on Dell support because I didn't have to deal with them because we have a department at work that takes care of this sort of thing - I send in a service request, they come get the machine, and then I get a fixed machine back.

[Guest]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

Yeh, if you're just surfin and emaila nd stuff like that, snag an eMachine, that's all you need. But anything like recording,ect, get the biggest P4 you can and load up the ram like Shawn said...

I'm going to be replacing a Celeron 1.5 soon, I'll make you a deal on that, board, 1GB ram, 20 Gb drive. Nothing major, but...

Pat

[hippietim]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

As for the do it yourself route. Be prepared for hassles. I've done it many times. This route can be great or really suck ass. One of my kids still has one of my parts mutt PCs.

The thing you get from a preconfigured is that the components have been tested together.

Don't underestimate the value of this!

Lots of vendors really push the tolerances of the various specs. The wrong combination can be a royal pain particularly when the failures are intermittent. I've seen this way too often.

If you decide to build your own, I highly suggest you check out some of the forums where folks can steer you away from bad combinations of stuff.

[hippietim]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

[ QUOTE ]
Yeh, if you're just surfin and emaila nd stuff like that, snag an eMachine, that's all you need. But anything like recording,ect, get the biggest P4 you can and load up the ram like Shawn said...

I'm going to be replacing a Celeron 1.5 soon, I'll make you a deal on that, board, 1GB ram, 20 Gb drive. Nothing major, but...

Pat

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, I'm surfing on an eMachines laptop right now. I picked this up just before we moved - I didn't have time to wait for a Dell and Best Buy was having a sale on these new AMD 64 laptops. It's a very good machine. The only problem I've had is the freakin' anti-virus software that was preinstalled.

[Guest]

Re: May buy a new \'puter soon...

[ QUOTE ]
Strangletooth, regarding Dell in bed with Bill and company. Whatever dude. You have no idea what you are talking about.

[/ QUOTE ]

Come on Tim, you're telling me these companies don't push each other on you? [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] ummm, K

With the exception of probably 5 machines ( of 50+ ) I've built each and every one of them, never had any real problems. I've had more probs with 2 Gateway's, their monitors suck ass (LCD's), and 2 Alienware boxes.

As for Dell, I can only comment on support, I've never used/owned one personally. Check out all the complaints about their customer service, there's thousands and thousands of them. But, I don't hear many negative issues as it pertains to their actual machines.

Pat