[deuce]

Humm... hadn't seen that yet. Hadn't seen that "local retailers" thing yet either. Noticed Dell was uptop! (Dell was up 1.58% too at the close )

[hewee]

Dells always on top and wait and lets see how the "local retailers" grows in the next "Reliability and Service Survey" as more and more of us have a PC made or make are own.

[SavvyLady]

I bought Sony VAIO


Savvy

[deuce]

Sony makes good computers. (They are all my dad uses) ...not as good as mine though... hehe

[82ABN]

I own a Gateway which I bought 3 years ago (PII-350). It's done well by me. I have had small incidents with it, but nothing major. I will just upgrade it as needed for now and pass it on to the kids when it's no longer sufficient for what I do with it. I recently upgraded the memory from 96Mb to 256Mb and will soon add a CD R/W. When the time comes, my next computer will be a Dell.

Rick

[deuce]

You are right, there is nothing wrong with gateway (I have personal problems with them... but that is a different matter, time and place... no I have never owned one) but good call for after the gateway kicks out... go dell on your next one.

[Lurker1]

I like to build my own but I try to stay with brand name components like Asus and Gigabyte. I usually shop at the computer shows around here and buy from a company that also has a local store. That way if any thing is wrong during the warranty period I just take it and and get it replaced NOW. Also I don't upgrade my computer all at once. Usually about half of the components change at a time. If I was buying a brand computer I would go with Dell. I provide hardware support to about 2400 dell computers at work and have found them to be very reliable.

[BML]

Right at this moment i am seriously considering building one.

My first computer was a packard-bell. By the time it was 18 months old I discovered that nobody was selling them anymore and they had merged with NEC i think. So i was out in the cold.

Then I bought a HP Pavilion 6653. I knew HP would be around a long time. But now i find this computer to be slow. After doing some digging/researching I find that you cannot upgrade this one beyond 800mhz Celeron and the motherboard is specific to HP so not any ATX form factor board will fit inside. They have done this to prevent people from upgrading too much, so that people will throw it out and come back to HP for a new one. What a crock of #@#@@! and when you turn on the HP machine, you get a load of "software" that is totally a waste of disk space.

Also, you only get a 1 yr warranty on the whole system. if you buy parts seperately some come with longer than 1 yr. HP is waaay overpriced too. Their monitors cost $300 w/1 yr warranty while on the next aisle they have a Samsung Monitor for $159 w/3 yr warranty. And its even a better quality. (the samsung)

Then, look at the aggressive marketing efforts. Wal-mart is currently selling a HP package with a 1.4ghz Athlon CPU for $849. This makes the resale value of my 533mhz HP machine ALMOST NOTHING. Geez..this is worse than a used-car lot.

Now i have a great deal of contempt for the name-brand PC makers. Although I can't really say anything totally "bad" about the computer itself, HP, Compaq, Gateway.... they are out to Rape the buying public.

[Max19]

The resale value of ANY used PC is almost nothing. Don't blame Wal-Mart or HP or anyone else for that. It's the nature of the industry. The technology changes very fast.

HP provides a product for a specific market. Those computers are for people who want a stable system with good tech support and a warranty with only ONE manufacturer to deal with. People who buy HPs generally do not plan to install any new hardware themselves. HP computers are great for the market they service.

If you want extensive upgradability, rock-bottom prices, and don't need the convenience of one-stop shopping for warranties and support, then obviously an HP isn't for you. Don't slam the company for that. Just buy something that IS for you.

[deuce]

This makes the resale value of my 533mhz HP machine ALMOST NOTHING. Geez..this is worse than a used-car lot.

That is just the way it goes. When I built my P4 at the end of August, dell was selling a somewhat comparable computer for about $1500... which is way more than I paid for the one I built. Now, not even 3 full months later, dell's model is well under $1000. Oh well... you just have to live with it. The 100 GB hd I bought in august went for $300 then (I only paid $150 though) and now it goes for I think somewhere in-between $130 and $160 depending on when and where you get it. Back in early 2000 a 28 GB HD was unheard of and expensive. (hell... back in 98 a 5 GB was something) Now a 28 GB HD is still unheard of but worth nothing... because nobody makes anything that small anymore... and that is only 18 months later and now 100 GB is fairly common. It is something like every 18 months that we double the amount of silicon we can fit on a microchip... so basically that comes out to your investment getting cut in half every year and a half. It isn't all that bad though, because it happens to everybody, so it isn't exactly like you are getting screwed. Also, the way to beat it is instead of buy todays computing power, wait a few days and you can get yesterday's junk for free.

[deuce]

Oh yeah just to add... I remember when 486 came out... those easily went for over $3500. (a packard bell could have gone that high too)

[hewee]

Top 15 Home PCs

The new ABS Performance 1 leaps to the top Power position, while
NuTrend's Athlon Mega 3 holds on to the number one Value spot.

From the January 2002 issue of PC World magazine
Posted Tuesday, November 20, 2001

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/artic...d,68789,00.asp

DELL losted the TOP spot.

[RandyG]

I would go with custom built as well, but always recommend a top brand name for newbies. I used to recommend Gateway, because I truly believed their support and warranties were better than Dell's. Since Gateway has closed ALL of their overseas offices, I will start recommending Dell instead.

For anyone with even an iota of experience with computers, I would recommend getting in there, with help from a local friend, and build your own! The experience you gain, even from watching someone else build the system, and you only hold the screwdriver, is phenomenal!


Ladylisa - you go girl!!

[Dark Star]

I've looked at the thread carefully and there is a number of good points being made here......

.......having said that I assure you that for those of us here that have built systems past and present there is not one here that has any wishes of not ever having done that.

There is a thing called a learning curve everyone finds a comfort level but you learn most with hands on, and for every mistake I've made I've learned from it and then corrected it.

I really have to agree with Randy in as far as.....

"For anyone with even an iota of experience with computers, I would recommend getting in there, with help from a local friend, and build your own! The experience you gain, even from watching someone else build the system, and you only hold the screwdriver, is phenomenal!"

..... so really there is nothing to fear but fear itself, everything to be gained building your own. Hands on will also enable you to know what it is you need to learn more about and what specific questions to ask about and there is plenty of talent and experience right here at TSG

I'd tell anyone who is considering building their own "go for it" there is the "theory" (you can read about it all you want to) and then there is the "practice" (building it) the rewards of building one are many............one being you know what it is that you have.

One last thing Lady Lisa you go girl ....... I agree with Randy there as well.

DS

[aleece]

Originally posted by John Sparkman
Although I have had no problems from my Gateway system, except for the ones I caused playing around with it, I will most likely have my next one custom built.

I want to put in a plug here for Gateway. I'm on my third in two years, only because I want the newest technology as soon as it comes out.

I like the Gateway three year warranty, their excellent Web site and technical support both by phone and email, their competitive prices, and of course, the fact that their computers work unless messed up by the owner.