Forum Moderators: phranque
I would love to hear some thoughts. One that I looked at today was the HP A1130, but I'm open to all suggestions.
Oh, thoughts on AMD vs. Pentium too.
Thanks.
When I replace my main desktop next year (also used for gaming) I'll buy Dell again.
Get what you will use. Lots of memory. Since we spend so much on ISP, servers, registration and time, the cost of the computer doesn't really matter. Dell used to give a three year warranty, now it's 90 days - 1 year. I'd pay extra for the 4 year in home warranty.
I also buy a laptop/pc with the thought that it will last me 3/5 years by which time the new technology should be too irrestible for upgrading to a new one.
If you're buying a laptop, if you use mail-order and hate the keyboard, you're screwed. After playing with touchpads in shops it is abundantly clear that a) most are crap, b) some are totally unusable. I've also encountered buttons that range from way too stiff to too way too light and even ones that don't work at all.
Dell could make the best computers in the world but unless I could see in advance what I was buying I'd look elsewhere.
Kaled.
If you are looking for a basic box, a cheap celeron dell is about as cheap as building your own, that's a really junky piece of hardware, until you get to the > $1000 boxes you literally can't even buy mobos or cases that restricted unless you look really hard. It's clear the dell fans here are just looking for a quick, adequate fix, and are not looking at the actual specs, or some of the comments here would not have been made.
As soon as you match spec for spec dell isn't even remotely close, clearly posters who go with dell are just looking for the basic functionality of a computer, not a high performance machine, or are willing to pay at least 100% more to achieve the same performance you can achieve dollar for dollar building your own. Before you respond: yes I can get that with dell please go out and price the build it yourself setup, say running amd 64 processors, high end mobo, etc.
"and your getting a respected company backup."
Ha ha ha. That's very funny. Unless you are a corporate client, you get junky outsourced tech support that is usually more time wasting than just fixing the issues yourself. This outsourced tech support was so bad that Dell had to stop offering it to corporate clients, now they leave it for the... the average dell consumer.
If I want it to work right for longer = AMD
..plus they can run hotter ( the older ones had 10 ° over Intel ) ...
.as for Dell versus the rest ..do you really beleive that the brand is worth the money?
If so
..that just goes to prove that since I quit the ad business you can still fool some of the people all of the time etc ...
I presume that you also beleive that nike shoes make you a better athlete ...
The only motive of a box "constructor" is to maximise profit ..the only motive of a user should be to get the best machine config they can ..the two are mutually exclusive ...
So far I concur with Kaled's side ...and I started in 1971 when the stuff was so big it was larger than my house ...
However what ever makes you happy in your world is Ok by you ..some folks swear by bosch or black and decker power tools ( insert the local references to suit your geographical area )..they dont build many houses ..just put up shelves ..
Don't get me started on fine art painting materials or sculptors tools...;)
Yes, this clear statement was, is, and will continue to be the truth of the matter. This has not changed for 20 years, at least.
Dells have always been the mcdonald's of PCs: junk ingredients put in a nice wrapper with lots of advertising to get you to buy it. If I didn't know better, I'd say that these pro dell postings were made by dell pr types, since they have nothing to do with fact or reality, but the same thing always gets said, and when I see it said, I go to dell.com, check the prices and specs of their systems, and, as always, these statements have exactly zero to do with reality. Don't you guys ever read specs? It appears not. I guess you really can fool some of the people all of the time...
Anyone who thinks a Dell laptop is good clearly has probably never touched or worked with an IBM, or any other high end laptop.
However, I have come to slightly disagree with what leosghost says here re what the AVERAGE user should get. I think the AVERAGE user, that's your mom, grandma, etc, is ok with a dell, because they will never change a thing, never add a third hard drive, never need more pci or pce slots, etc. So for these types of AVERAGE users, dell is OK. Not great, not as good as a decent system builder, but OK. As long as you get the low end stuff. As soon as you go high end, it's a total ripoff.
The story is different when it comes to servers etc, but we're not talking servers here.
My last computer lasted 6 years. so this time I tried to get something with a comparable lifespan.
Got a Athalon 64 3.5gig, unblievably fast, and even more potential if I run Windows 64.
Furure proofed it for a few years at least.
Dells have always been the mcdonald's of PCs
Not true. To me, Dell is where the quality is. I'm not saying that there aren't any other good brands. I'm sure there are even better brands. But for a desktop PC, I personally wouldn't buy anything else. Notebooks, I admit, need to be shopped around for.
do you really beleive that the brand is worth the money?
Actually, in most cases, I do. I buy name-brand shampoo, real Tylenol, and Energizer batteries. I like to trust and support companies that I'm familiar with, even if other people are just as happy with less expensive products.
I'd say that these pro dell postings were made by dell pr types
I'd say these anti-Dell postings were made by someone who's mad at Dell for one reason or another. And that's fine. People have different experiences, viewpoints, and preferences. And not everyone can be happy with every solution.
Just don't buy an HP/Compaq machine (or anything from a non-computer store) and you'll be fine.
As I said, the specs simply do not support this claim. Saying 'not true' is easy to do, but hard to demonstrate with data and fact. Dell is an average consumer machine, and the high end dells are very expensive for what you get. That statement is based on a review of their newest offerings as of today, basically looks about the same as it has for the last few years. But I checked anyway to be sure nothing had changed.
As I said, for anything above their cheapest, you are paying roughly a 100% premium. These are simple facts. I can appreciate other factors being involved with the decision to buy from a big assembler, such as not wanting to get into making one yourself, but that has nothing to do with the point of value for your dollar, which is what I'm talking about. And for the record, I don't like mcdonalds either. Or Nike. It's all the same idea, overpriced 'stuff' sold to consumers to generate maximum profits for the entity that markets them. Why this inspires any type of loyalty is beyond me.
However, I'll have to agree with leosghost here:
"However what ever makes you happy in your world is Ok by you ..some folks swear by bosch or black and decker power tools ( insert the local references to suit your geographical area )..they dont build many houses ..just put up shelves .."
Each to his own. I prefer the best, what can I say? And I'm willing to spend half or less the money to get it.
That's not a fair statement in my opinion. HP is a great company with huge array of great products - The Hewlett-Packard company was around long before Michael Dell was even born...
It's not healthy to place "blind trust" in big corporate brand names either. Beer comes to mind...which reminds me I got an IPA waiting in the fridge. GTG
However when I started buying Dell's I have only had one small problem and it was fixed so fast I could not believe it.
If I had had the same problems with Dell that I have had with Compaq I am sure my story would be different.
Incidentally I tend to buy the higher end Dell laptops, new Inspiron's etc.
Added in:
Now I have gone and said all that I will go and back everything up just in case!
Re dells: I didn't say they were bad, just ok, and overpriced for what you get. They are ok. And way better than compaqs, which were really bad, sorry you had to own 3 of those beasts before giving up.
But now I have to go get dinner at Burger King, I'll have a few budweisers before I leave, and maybe smoke a marlboro or two, then I'll curse this old box for not being a dell, man, what was I thinking? Time to whip out that black and decker drill I got on sale at home depot and take the thing apart...
