if not DELL, then what?
 

I have a friend here at work who has had one hell of a time trying to buy a computer from DELL. He has one DELL already, and is happy with it, but on this second purchase, they fucked it all up, sent the wrong computer, and three months later, he just got credited for the monitor. they have yet to credit him for the computer. he's pretty sure they're fucking with him because he keeps calling and bugging them for his refund.

he needs a computer, but I don't know what else to reccomend.

who else makes as good a box for as cheap with decent cust service.

ps. he hates gateway, too.

I would suggest building one, if he's at all technically savvy. It's really not all that hard. Failing that, my only suggestion would be to buy a "business-class" machine from say, HP. The Evos, while not top of the line, are certainly good machines for a good price. I suggest business class for a couple reasons:

1. They're usually built with more thoroughly tested parts. As a business machine, the people in charge of that sort of thing are very intolerant of strange problems that should have been found in testing the machine.

2. Support. I actually know the guys who provide support, used to work in that department. And aside from the Server team, these guys (and gals) were the best HP had to offer.

Even if he doesn't go HP, I would suggest something from the business line from another company, because I imagine it's much the same way throughout the industry.

he's not......at all.

how do you go about buying a "business class" computer.

Go to your favorite web site (Dell, IBM, etc.) and click on the link that says "solutions for small business" or something like that.

Having said that, I'm very happy with the build-your-own scenario.

oh. duh.

does anyone here do this on the side? ....build computers, that is.

LJ, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to find that if you did some reading, *you* could build a computer quite handily. I imagine that if you get component advice here to make sure its compatible, and post anytime you have a question, it should work out nicely.

Only for fun & amusement... if I charged money for it I'd be obligated to answer questions about it!

yeah, but then the little bastard would be up my ass every time it broke. :D

That's very true. Suggest the business PC thing. I can't imagine you want to subject your friends here to that either. :p

i was thinking if someone anonymous built it, he'd only callif it really fucked up

i work with the guy......

Nah, if you were the source, he's gonna call you, even if you didn't build it. Better to buy something with an all-encompassing warranty. IBM makes a good business PC too, but they run a bit more.

Yeah, I'd go with what perth said. But just remember, 1) they ALL suck when it comes to customer service/support. They can't not suck, they've made too many cuts. 2) Any of them can turn out a lemon once in a while. So while I can't blame your friend for being pissed off at Dell and not wanting to give them any more business, the fact is if he did get another computer from them it'd probably work out fine. And there's no guarantee (though the probabilities are against it) that a machine from IBM, Gateway, HP, etc. etc. wouldn't be a clunker either.

It's really a question of who sucks the *least*. And of the big ones today, I would say that's IBM, and I personally think HP is somewhere at either 2 or 3, remembering that I mean *business* support, not home user. As I said, I know these guys, I'm biased. But I also know they're well-trained and have access to very good resources.

HP

I've been real happy with the EMachines I've used. Also when they and Gateway merged, the EMachines management took over.

Cost effective.

I am very much in agreement with this. Of course, I am also biased, because I also know how well the people who support HP business machines are. Perth and I both worked with them. I would discourage him, however, from purchasing any of the consumer level products from any of the major computer labels. Dell, IBM, HP...they are all crap when it comes to consumer support. And a person with little technical knowledge is going to have much less luck with the average dimwit in Pavilion or Presario support than someone with a technical background of any kind. The other idea behind this belief is that *if* he buys a consumer machine he *will* have to call support, but if he purchases a business machine, he will have less of a chance of that. Pavilions and Presarios come preloaded with so much crap that it's a wonder the systems boot at all (when they do). He will pay more for a business system, but he is paying for better support and less of the stupid crap that pavilion owners must contend with.

Also, Dell is in the process of moving their business support back to America due to the volume (sound and mass) or complaints from their business customers.

First benchmark for a minimally acceptable computer: manufacturer provides comprehensive diagnostics for all hardware, for free, and on web site. This eliminates Gateway and inferior manufacturers.

Avoid pretty much all the major brands, Dell, HP, Gateway,, they all bite, EMachines is meant to be good.

Particularly avoid HP at the moment, massive QC problems, particularly with packaging and distribution. IBM aren`t too bad but not cheap. A good local store is a good bet.

Personally I only buy apple gear now.

I bought an Acer system last year from PCConnection, and got the extra 2 year onsite service. Anything goes wrong, they come out and fix it. They've been out twice - once for bad RAM (an addon, but the stick was toast when I got it) once for a CD-RW that didn't function.

Good prices, good equipement, I'd buy another if I was in the market.

IBM ThinkCentre Desktops
 

Heya,

I've had very few problems with the 50 or so of these that I have either bought or bought for clients from PC Connection. They've been known as the PC 300, Netvista, or ThinkCentre desktops. They changed the name a few times, but they're good. Barnes & Noble uses them for kiosk and Point of Sale I still think.

You will pay more, but these machines running NT 4, 2000, or XP Pro are stable. Except for the iteration of the PC300 series where they used VIA chipsets, these things are rocks, especially with Intel chipsets.

They're recommended because you pay less over time due to not having to service them as much.

However, I have donated 15 of them, still stable as anything.

Mitch

Is he in southern ontario?

Infonec Computers

I've had nothing but success with these guys, time after time after time.


Go to a small computer dealer that offers their own warranty. They're not dealing with hundreds of sales per minute, so they NEED every sale they can get. Hence, they'll go out of their way to get your business and make you a repeat customer.

I've referred about 5 people to these particular guys, and all have been fully satisfied.

SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA

After all of the stink he made, he still watches DELL's specials evry wednesday to see what the new promotion is. I say he should buy from them anyway, but use his bad experience as leverage to get a "make up kiss" deal.....
we'll see.....i think he enjoys shopping, and is afraid to pull the trigger for fear of a better deal coming out after he does......analysis paralysis

I priced a system from Infonec that was one thousand dollars cheaper than the same Dell setup.

Small places can always make you a better deal.

OK. OK. Next time he comes back with a Dell get the price and specs - monitor size/type and CPU speed and how much disk, and I will see what newegg and I can do building something from scratch.

Just for fun, for starters...

DEAL

Tiger Direct has extremely adequate PCs starting at $300.

I bought my factory recertified IBM Thinkpad from them over a year ago, it came with a warranty of at least a year in length and I've zero problems with it.

And unless he's looking to do 3d modelling they are more than sufficient for his needs.

All I recommend is really big harddrive, because he sounds like one of those who installs everything he sees and will download anything can find.

I'm sure it's not a tw-certified power supply at that price.

True, but then again, what is?

The Antec True-480 @ $78

or at least

The Antec True-330 @ $42.

Maybe I should have been a bit more explicit in my sarcasm.

Perhaps you could make some sort of sign?

It's ok, I'm accustomed to being misunderstood.

dell dimension 8300

pentium 4 3ghz 800mhzfsb/1mb cache

xp home edition

512mb dual channel ddr sdram 400mhz (2x256)

80 gb ata/100 hd 7200 rpm

word perfect software pkg ( base...but he needs Word)

no floppy

dual drives: 48x cd/rw + 8x dvd+rw

17" e172fpb flat panel monitor

128 mb ddr geforge fx 5200 graphics card with tv out and dvi

integrated sound card 5.1 channel audio

surround sound speakers with subwoofer

dell quiet key keyboard

2 button scroll mouse

jukebox

56k modem

10.100 ethernet card

$1139 plus shipping and tax

Athlon XP 3000+ retail $142
Asus A7N8X mainboard w audio & lan $84
CoolerMaster "Praetorian" case $115
Antec True-330 TW-certified power supply $42
512 MB pc3200 memory 1 DIMM $85
Western Digital 80 GB IDE drive $65
Lite-on DVD 8x RW drive $83
Chaintech FX5200 128mb video card $63
US Robotics internal non-sucky modem $45
Samsung LCD 17" monitor $375
MS Win XP Home $91
Logitech Z540 5.1 speaker w/subwoofer $53
Cables, Keyboard + Mouse $50

Total $1293 plus shipping

Oh well.

The difference is that the components wouldn't suck.

yeah, plus labor.

to be fair, the quote i listed was with a "free" flat panel upgrade and second bay cd rw drive. i never believe the word "free" tho.

thanks for taking the time to go over it anyway.

he was going to go buy a compaq today. dumbass.

he finally got his credit back from dell, so i think i'll just bully him into getting that dell i described.

after all of this. thanks for your help, all.

LCD flat panel monitors = the devil.

If you have the desk space, always always always always go for a CRT.

You'll save hundreds (unless it's a free upgrade ;) and the performance is super much better.

i'd buy that, carb, if jinx didnt have one. i have a big 21" trinitron upstairs, and jinx got the 17" flat panel, and her picture is MUCH clearer than mine.

You're kidding right? Maybe it's because I'm a gamer, but I've always found CRTs to be better than LCDs image-wise.

no. maybe it's her settings, but ewverything is much brighter, and the colors are truer......maybe my trinitron just sucks?

i remember looking at a picture that she linked in the "this old house" thread, ...i think it was the front of the house at night. ....anyway, it was nice and clear at home, but elspode or someone asked for a shot that you oculd actually see......then when i looked at it on my work monitor, i saw what he meant...it was DARK.

i'm probably just retarded.......so........

It's usually motion LCDs have trouble with, the refresh rate isn't as clean, or something.

Games tend to look horrible.

Also, a 21 inch monitor is designed so you're sitting further back than a 17 inch...if you were as close I imagine it'd look crappier.

You're kidding right?

trinitron are IMHO the best monitors availiable, bar none. Sony doesn't make the CRTs anymore (I think they still do the artisan ones though, if you do serious colour work, you need one of those).

As for gaming and LCDs, the new samsung ones have around 15ms, tend to be very useable for games now. In general Samsung make the best LCD monitors anyway, when I finally stop somewhere I'll be looking at one or two of the 1280x1024 17" Samsung beauties.

Anybody seen these yet?

The Grand Canyon...

There is another company that offers similar modular systems up to 16 monitors. Not sure who uses them, financial sectors often have up to 8 and just stack the damn things, way cheaper.

Mitsubishi makes flat-panel and almost-flat projection big sets that will stack like that. I saw them on display at the CeBit show in New York last week.... very impressive, even close-up, which is where a lot of big screen sets start to look crappy.

Yup
 

Yeah Perth, lcd's suck when it comes to gaming basically because of the refresh rate. Everything looks fuzzy cause the screen can't keep up w/ the data its being fed. Thats assuming you have a decent video card that will supply the framrates to notice this.
I run a ATI 9800 pro 128mb and tried my buds 17" Dell lcd and i nearly cried for my 20" crt back!