Author Topic: Which Brand of PC? (Read 8503 times)

CG6468 · « **on:** February 28, 2011, 10:21:09 AM »

I'm getting close to buying a new PC. Do any of you have specific recommendations for or against any brands? This is a Dell, which has performed OK for me, but it's over 6 years old, cannot support WIN7, its RAM is at the limit for upgrades, and the 80G disc just isn't big enough for me any more.

IassaFTots · « **Reply #1 on:** February 28, 2011, 10:34:32 AM »

I am not "techy" but I highly recommend Asus.

Eupher · « **Reply #2 on:** February 28, 2011, 10:36:54 AM »

Hell, Thor can build you one. He did for me, and I and Mrs E are very happy with it.

It's not going to be as cheap as you'll find with some of the name brands, but the components will be better and it'll be put together correctly.

And you won't have all that software crap that Dell and Gateway and Compaq choke their machines with. God, that's annoying to have to start deleting all that shit.

Chris_ · « **Reply #3 on:** February 28, 2011, 11:09:53 AM »

Depends... are you buying a laptop or desktop?

As far as laptops, I've had good luck with Toshiba and some Lenovos (Lenovos have issues with cheap LCD screens but the rest of the system is pretty solid). My general advice for laptop shoppers is to avoid HP no matter how tempting that low price tag migt be.

Thor · « **Reply #4 on:** February 28, 2011, 11:13:28 AM »

Quote from: chris_ on February 28, 2011, 11:09:53 AM

Depends... are you buying a laptop or desktop?

As far as laptops, I've had good luck with Toshiba and some Lenovos (Lenovos have issues with cheap LCD screens but the rest of the system is pretty solid). My general advice for laptop shoppers is to avoid HP no matter how tempting that low price tag migt be.

Definitely Toshiba. I have one that's nigh on 13 years old and still running.

Thor · « **Reply #5 on:** February 28, 2011, 11:16:15 AM »

Quote from: Eupher on February 28, 2011, 10:36:54 AM

Hell, Thor can build you one. He did for me, and I and Mrs E are very happy with it.

It's not going to be as cheap as you'll find with some of the name brands, but the components will be better and it'll be put together correctly.

And you won't have all that software crap that Dell and Gateway and Compaq choke their machines with. God, that's annoying to have to start deleting all that shit.

I COULD have built y'all one cheaper, but then it wouldn't last as long. I was looking towards the future when I built Mrs. E's.

Eupher · « **Reply #6 on:** February 28, 2011, 11:25:35 AM »

Quote from: Thor on February 28, 2011, 11:16:15 AM

I COULD have built y'all one cheaper, but then it wouldn't last as long. I was looking towards the future when I built Mrs. E's.

Yep, this was every bit a custom machine - far better than you'd get by talking to some sales guy at Dell who shoves data down your throat so fast you gag.

debk · « **Reply #7 on:** February 28, 2011, 12:52:05 PM »

I bought a Compaq at Best Buy back in the late fall. It's a basic one, and came with Windows7 and I bought Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010. I only got the tower, and it came with a keyboard and mouse, and was $309. I kept my old monitor which is a flat screen, and I am using my old cordless mouse that I just bought last spring.

I've been happy with it, though Word 2010 is a test! Also, have had problems sending Word documents to people who aren't able to read the documents. I guess because they are using a much older version of Windows?

I did have to buy a thingamajig to plug into an port, to read my camera disks, because there aren't any slots on the tower...which I didn't notice until after I got it home, set up, and was already using it. It works for 4 different sizes and was less than $15, and was a whole lot less than what a tower with the slots would have cost.

CG6468 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 28, 2011, 12:57:44 PM »

I'm looking for a desktop machine. I got this one directly from Dell, but I won't do that again. Sam's and other places carry just what I need, but how about brand reliability? The big retailers aren't good at all for repairs.

I've also heard of programs that will directly transfer programs and data from the old machine to the new one. Anyone have any experience with those? Although the programs are what I'm interested in; my data is backed up on a separate hard drive and on my laptop.

Chris_ · « **Reply #9 on:** February 28, 2011, 01:00:23 PM »

I got my last desktop from Tiger Direct. I paid next to nothing for it, but it was an upgrade for a ten-year-old system that was on its last legs.

CG6468 · « **Reply #10 on:** February 28, 2011, 01:13:50 PM »

Quote from: chris_ on February 28, 2011, 01:00:23 PM

I got my last desktop from Tiger Direct. I paid next to nothing for it, but it was an upgrade for a ten-year-old system that was on its last legs.

I'm afraid of Tiger Direct. I got a scanner from them that never worked properly, and they would not take it back. Their stuff is all rebuilt (refurbished) I believe.

debk · « **Reply #11 on:** February 28, 2011, 01:16:39 PM »

This is my second Compaq. Last one was bought in early 2005. It was fine until I moved in Sept and switched from DLS to cable. Not enough RAM and I couldn't keep connected into our network.

CG6468 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 28, 2011, 01:34:20 PM »

I have no problems connecting the Comdast, but after a while it refuses to load any other programs, such as Excel or Word, and then the 'Net freezes up.

So I reboot, and all is well until the next time. This can happen up to 4 times a day.

CactusCarlos · « **Reply #13 on:** February 28, 2011, 01:41:51 PM »

Quote from: IassaFTots on February 28, 2011, 10:34:32 AM

I am not "techy" but I highly recommend Asus.

I am.

We sent our daughter off to college with an ASUS notebook - she's thrilled with it and we will probably buy one for the wife soon.

IassaFTots · « **Reply #14 on:** February 28, 2011, 01:52:43 PM »

Quote from: CactusCarlos on February 28, 2011, 01:41:51 PM

I am.

We sent our daughter off to college with an ASUS notebook - she's thrilled with it and we will probably buy one for the wife soon.

I have one, the BF has one, and then he got one of those little Eeeeeee! ones, for traveling. He runs Linux, so he is much more particular than me. I just want one that works.

debk · « **Reply #15 on:** February 28, 2011, 02:13:24 PM »

Quote from: CG6468 on February 28, 2011, 01:34:20 PM

I have no problems connecting the Comdast, but after a while it refuses to load any other programs, such as Excel or Word, and then the 'Net freezes up.

So I reboot, and all is well until the next time. This can happen up to 4 times a day.

That's sort of like what was happening to me, but then it kept becoming more frequent. It got to the point where it would freeze about every 30-60 minutes.

zeitgeist · « **Reply #16 on:** February 28, 2011, 02:55:26 PM »

Quote from: CG6468 on February 28, 2011, 01:13:50 PM

I'm afraid of Tiger Direct. I got a scanner from them that never worked properly, and they would not take it back. Their stuff is all rebuilt (refurbished) I believe.

I have bought all kinds of stuff from Tiger, both new and refurbished with no problems. The last thing I had to return was defective RAM (no problem believe it or not they replaced it).

They do sell refurbished but it is listed as such. They also sell stuff off lease (which I would probably never purchase).

Over the years I have had plenty of problems with scanners. Darn if I am not having issues with an HP all in one PFSC that I bought new from BJ's not that long ago.

Doc · « **Reply #17 on:** February 28, 2011, 03:22:00 PM »

Quote from: zeitgeist on February 28, 2011, 02:55:26 PM

I have bought all kinds of stuff from Tiger, both new and refurbished with no problems. The last thing I had to return was defective RAM (no problem believe it or not they replaced it).

They do sell refurbished but it is listed as such. They also sell stuff off lease (which I would probably never purchase).

Over the years I have had plenty of problems with scanners. Darn if I am not having issues with an HP all in one PFSC that I bought new from BJ's not that long ago.

I have an Epson CX6600 scanner that has not given me one problem. Not one, printing or scanning. I kinda wish I had gotten the Epson all in one (I like Epson products) too, but didn't pull the trigger on that one. It'd hardly ever get used and I couldn't justify the cost difference.

Chris_ · « **Reply #18 on:** February 28, 2011, 03:32:57 PM »

I've supported scanners and MFP printers/copies for a few years, and you get what you pay for. The cheap $100-300 laser and ink all-in-one printers were the first ones to stop working. The larger 30,000-page MFP printers were more reliable.

The HP 3380 LaserJet is not a bad printer compared to others on the market for the price and the toner is affordable.

LC EFA · « **Reply #19 on:** February 28, 2011, 03:42:06 PM »

I'd not purchase a retail level compaq/hp computer of any description. I spent too many years supporting them to ever have any faith in them.

If you're committed to getting a name brand machine look at Dell or Toshiba.

Eupher · « **Reply #20 on:** February 28, 2011, 03:44:18 PM »

Quote from: chris_ on February 28, 2011, 03:32:57 PM

I've supported scanners and MFP printers/copies for a few years, and you get what you pay for. The cheap $100-300 laser and ink all-in-one printers were the first ones to stop working. The larger 30,000-page MFP printers were more reliable.

The HP 3380 LaserJet is not a bad printer compared to others on the market for the price and the toner is affordable.

You know a lot more about this kind of stuff than I'll ever know, but as cheap as laser printers are these days (I absolutely refuse to buy inkjet), I'll buy a printer and it'll last for 4 or 5 years, then I'll give it away.

I also don't fall victim to that bullshit line "You gotta use official, gen-you-wine, can-only-get-'em-here" toner cartridges that are triple what you pay for them elsewhere.

I've got two Canon ImageClass MFP printers (these are b&w) at home, and an HP Laserjet 1600 color printer. They work terrifically -- that is when I can get the #$%^@#!! print server to work.

But I'm not married to these things. They start messing up, and I start looking for a way to junk 'em out. I remember when laser printers would run big, big money. It isn't that way anymore, thank God.

Chris_ · « **Reply #21 on:** February 28, 2011, 04:04:05 PM »

I dislike inkjet printers. They're overpriced and if you don't use them regularly, the damn ink will dry out and cause all kinds of problems. The majority of printer needs are going to be black and white and if you can live without color ink, you'll save yourself a lot of money and grief. I get mad when I think of the number of color ink printers, cartridges, and useless gimmicks I've gone through in the last 10+ years.

When I was at Ford, we had 300 printers in one building. Five were color lasers and only one was a color ink plotter They eventually dumped three of the five color lasers (LJ 6550). Color printing is enormously expensive and just not worth it in my opinion.

Eupher · « **Reply #22 on:** February 28, 2011, 04:08:48 PM »

Agreed, Chris. I use the color laser fairly sparingly - only for publications (master copies) that are slated for mass photocopying elsewhere. I'm a newsletter editor for an organization I belong to and I need that capability.

Our workhorse printer is the Canon ImageClass MF4270. It's fast, quiet, can print duplex, and relatively cheap, certainly compared to color.

Thor · « **Reply #23 on:** February 28, 2011, 05:24:21 PM »

Quote from: CG6468 on February 28, 2011, 12:57:44 PM

I'm looking for a desktop machine. I got this one directly from Dell, but I won't do that again. Sam's and other places carry just what I need, but how about brand reliability? The big retailers aren't good at all for repairs.

I've also heard of programs that will directly transfer programs and data from the old machine to the new one. Anyone have any experience with those? Although the programs are what I'm interested in; my data is backed up on a separate hard drive and on my laptop.

It's easy to transfer programs when using the same Operating system (windows XP to windows XP for example) But when migrating to Windows 7 (or Vista) that can be problematic.

Deb, what you need to do is save your document as a word 97-03 type document. If people have 2007 or better, then they can read, edit, etc the .docx format that 2010 saves them in.

Doc · « **Reply #24 on:** February 28, 2011, 05:30:24 PM »

Quote from: chris_ on February 28, 2011, 03:32:57 PM

I've supported scanners and MFP printers/copies for a few years, and you get what you pay for. The cheap $100-300 laser and ink all-in-one printers were the first ones to stop working. The larger 30,000-page MFP printers were more reliable.

The HP 3380 LaserJet is not a bad printer compared to others on the market for the price and the toner is affordable.

Any recommendations for a wireless laser multifunction printer??

doc

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Author Topic: Which Brand of PC? (Read 8503 times)