PC manufacturers
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And I don't mean Politically Correct, of course... Dell has worked very hard to alienate me at every turn, and while I won't bore you with stories, it's nice to see such dedicated effort yield the desired effect. Consequently, I'm poking around trying to figure out a good source for buying boxes. In terms of customer service, NewEgg is a no brainer. The only wrinkle is the fact that they're not the manufacturer. This is significant because I typically do a fresh reinstall of the operating system (load a clean XP without all the crapware) and thus need to download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's site. So, even if I buy the box from NewEgg, I need to be sure I can get the XP drivers from the manufacturer. You'd think that would also be a no brainer, but apparently it's not the case. As an example, a phone call with a sales rep indicated that you can't do this with a Gateway box. They're preconfigured, and if you do want to buy their one and only box offered with XP, it's a month long wait. They explicitly offer no support for downloading XP drivers. So, Gateway is out. So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy? I have neither the time nor inclination to build my own boxes from scratch. NewEgg carries HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. and of course I'm also open to buying direct from the manufacturer if they're not complete pinheads.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
Buy a mac and slap XP on it?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! VCF Blog
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Wow. To date, I've never had a problem with Dell. I had to wait a week or so for my machine to get here (a year ago, when I first ordered it)...but that's because I ordered it the day it was released. Typically they've got super-fast turnaround. I haven't had any issues with their customer service. I'd love to be bored with the alienation stories. ;P
David Stone wrote:
I'd love to be bored with the alienation stories.
Ditto, do tell. There's nothing like a good post-lunch alienation story to make your afternoon go just a bit better!
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! VCF Blog
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And I don't mean Politically Correct, of course... Dell has worked very hard to alienate me at every turn, and while I won't bore you with stories, it's nice to see such dedicated effort yield the desired effect. Consequently, I'm poking around trying to figure out a good source for buying boxes. In terms of customer service, NewEgg is a no brainer. The only wrinkle is the fact that they're not the manufacturer. This is significant because I typically do a fresh reinstall of the operating system (load a clean XP without all the crapware) and thus need to download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's site. So, even if I buy the box from NewEgg, I need to be sure I can get the XP drivers from the manufacturer. You'd think that would also be a no brainer, but apparently it's not the case. As an example, a phone call with a sales rep indicated that you can't do this with a Gateway box. They're preconfigured, and if you do want to buy their one and only box offered with XP, it's a month long wait. They explicitly offer no support for downloading XP drivers. So, Gateway is out. So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy? I have neither the time nor inclination to build my own boxes from scratch. NewEgg carries HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. and of course I'm also open to buying direct from the manufacturer if they're not complete pinheads.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
You're probably going to find that this is the case with everyone that sells pre-built systems. Few - if any - offer XP on systems anymore.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
And I don't mean Politically Correct, of course... Dell has worked very hard to alienate me at every turn, and while I won't bore you with stories, it's nice to see such dedicated effort yield the desired effect. Consequently, I'm poking around trying to figure out a good source for buying boxes. In terms of customer service, NewEgg is a no brainer. The only wrinkle is the fact that they're not the manufacturer. This is significant because I typically do a fresh reinstall of the operating system (load a clean XP without all the crapware) and thus need to download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's site. So, even if I buy the box from NewEgg, I need to be sure I can get the XP drivers from the manufacturer. You'd think that would also be a no brainer, but apparently it's not the case. As an example, a phone call with a sales rep indicated that you can't do this with a Gateway box. They're preconfigured, and if you do want to buy their one and only box offered with XP, it's a month long wait. They explicitly offer no support for downloading XP drivers. So, Gateway is out. So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy? I have neither the time nor inclination to build my own boxes from scratch. NewEgg carries HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. and of course I'm also open to buying direct from the manufacturer if they're not complete pinheads.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
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And I don't mean Politically Correct, of course... Dell has worked very hard to alienate me at every turn, and while I won't bore you with stories, it's nice to see such dedicated effort yield the desired effect. Consequently, I'm poking around trying to figure out a good source for buying boxes. In terms of customer service, NewEgg is a no brainer. The only wrinkle is the fact that they're not the manufacturer. This is significant because I typically do a fresh reinstall of the operating system (load a clean XP without all the crapware) and thus need to download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's site. So, even if I buy the box from NewEgg, I need to be sure I can get the XP drivers from the manufacturer. You'd think that would also be a no brainer, but apparently it's not the case. As an example, a phone call with a sales rep indicated that you can't do this with a Gateway box. They're preconfigured, and if you do want to buy their one and only box offered with XP, it's a month long wait. They explicitly offer no support for downloading XP drivers. So, Gateway is out. So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy? I have neither the time nor inclination to build my own boxes from scratch. NewEgg carries HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. and of course I'm also open to buying direct from the manufacturer if they're not complete pinheads.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
Long ago I came to the conclusion that the best place to buy a pc is at a local computer store (not a big box store) where they specialize in gaming rigs because I always need that performance. I always shock them by asking for a lesser video card than the standard one but everything else is pretty much the same as a high end gaming rig. And the other conclusion I've come to is to buy more generic type parts like Asus etc. Name brand computers just don't make any sense to me from many different perspectives. If I have a problem I can drive 10 minutes and plunk it down on a real human being's desk who has spare parts on a shelf in the back and confidently expect to be up and running in a few minutes.
"The pursuit of excellence is less profitable than the pursuit of bigness, but it can be more satisfying." - David Ogilvy
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And I don't mean Politically Correct, of course... Dell has worked very hard to alienate me at every turn, and while I won't bore you with stories, it's nice to see such dedicated effort yield the desired effect. Consequently, I'm poking around trying to figure out a good source for buying boxes. In terms of customer service, NewEgg is a no brainer. The only wrinkle is the fact that they're not the manufacturer. This is significant because I typically do a fresh reinstall of the operating system (load a clean XP without all the crapware) and thus need to download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's site. So, even if I buy the box from NewEgg, I need to be sure I can get the XP drivers from the manufacturer. You'd think that would also be a no brainer, but apparently it's not the case. As an example, a phone call with a sales rep indicated that you can't do this with a Gateway box. They're preconfigured, and if you do want to buy their one and only box offered with XP, it's a month long wait. They explicitly offer no support for downloading XP drivers. So, Gateway is out. So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy? I have neither the time nor inclination to build my own boxes from scratch. NewEgg carries HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. and of course I'm also open to buying direct from the manufacturer if they're not complete pinheads.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
Christopher Duncan wrote:
So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy?
First machine: Packard bell; second machine: HP; third and current machine: Dell. No troubles with any of them.
"Love people and use things, not love things and use people." - Unknown
"To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; to have deference for others governs our manners." - Laurence Sterne
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Never buy a Gateway...ever.:mad: Only some here will understand that one.
Current Rant: "Pope Fever!!" http://craptasticnation.blogspot.com/[^]
My dad bought a gateway computer years ago, it was sweet. It had a 40 Gig hard drive, 800Mhz processor, two, thats right TWO cd burners, and the most uber flatscreen big resolution monitor ever. It even had a zip drive, talk about cutting edge! It lasted until a couple of years ago when the motherboard died, it was a sad day. But the monitor is just as big and uber as ever.
My current favourite word is: Bacon!
-SK Genius
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy?
First machine: Packard bell; second machine: HP; third and current machine: Dell. No troubles with any of them.
"Love people and use things, not love things and use people." - Unknown
"To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; to have deference for others governs our manners." - Laurence Sterne
First (PC) machine: Sperry XT Second-current machines: home-built. No troubles with any of them.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
And I don't mean Politically Correct, of course... Dell has worked very hard to alienate me at every turn, and while I won't bore you with stories, it's nice to see such dedicated effort yield the desired effect. Consequently, I'm poking around trying to figure out a good source for buying boxes. In terms of customer service, NewEgg is a no brainer. The only wrinkle is the fact that they're not the manufacturer. This is significant because I typically do a fresh reinstall of the operating system (load a clean XP without all the crapware) and thus need to download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's site. So, even if I buy the box from NewEgg, I need to be sure I can get the XP drivers from the manufacturer. You'd think that would also be a no brainer, but apparently it's not the case. As an example, a phone call with a sales rep indicated that you can't do this with a Gateway box. They're preconfigured, and if you do want to buy their one and only box offered with XP, it's a month long wait. They explicitly offer no support for downloading XP drivers. So, Gateway is out. So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy? I have neither the time nor inclination to build my own boxes from scratch. NewEgg carries HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. and of course I'm also open to buying direct from the manufacturer if they're not complete pinheads.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
Chris, I've had two MicroCenter PowerSpec machines and both have been solid work horses. When my Father's PC went out, I ordered one for him, staged the box and sent it via UPS (but with far more success than John). Thus far, my Father seems to really like the new machine, and considering his CAD / Rendering demands, he claims it's rather speedy. So that's a thought for you ...
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Chris, I've had two MicroCenter PowerSpec machines and both have been solid work horses. When my Father's PC went out, I ordered one for him, staged the box and sent it via UPS (but with far more success than John). Thus far, my Father seems to really like the new machine, and considering his CAD / Rendering demands, he claims it's rather speedy. So that's a thought for you ...
Haven't looked at MicroCenter, I'll check them out. Did you get my email the other day?
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
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Haven't looked at MicroCenter, I'll check them out. Did you get my email the other day?
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
Yes; sorry, I should have replied, and was out of the office Monday (did massive amounts of yard work, which did massive amounts of making me feel super old and broken).
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Haven't looked at MicroCenter, I'll check them out. Did you get my email the other day?
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
Christopher Duncan wrote:
Haven't looked at MicroCenter, I'll check them out.
I had bad experience with MC. I bought a powerspec and it died within a year.
You have, what I would term, a very formal turn of phrase not seen in these isles since the old King passed from this world to the next. martin_hughes on VDK
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Yes; sorry, I should have replied, and was out of the office Monday (did massive amounts of yard work, which did massive amounts of making me feel super old and broken).
No worries, just wanted to make sure you got it since you were having trouble contacting me.
Douglas Troy wrote:
(did massive amounts of yard work, which did massive amounts of making me feel super old and broken).
Next time we hook up, ask me about the Machete Incident. :-D
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
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And I don't mean Politically Correct, of course... Dell has worked very hard to alienate me at every turn, and while I won't bore you with stories, it's nice to see such dedicated effort yield the desired effect. Consequently, I'm poking around trying to figure out a good source for buying boxes. In terms of customer service, NewEgg is a no brainer. The only wrinkle is the fact that they're not the manufacturer. This is significant because I typically do a fresh reinstall of the operating system (load a clean XP without all the crapware) and thus need to download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's site. So, even if I buy the box from NewEgg, I need to be sure I can get the XP drivers from the manufacturer. You'd think that would also be a no brainer, but apparently it's not the case. As an example, a phone call with a sales rep indicated that you can't do this with a Gateway box. They're preconfigured, and if you do want to buy their one and only box offered with XP, it's a month long wait. They explicitly offer no support for downloading XP drivers. So, Gateway is out. So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy? I have neither the time nor inclination to build my own boxes from scratch. NewEgg carries HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. and of course I'm also open to buying direct from the manufacturer if they're not complete pinheads.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
Sadly, it's another vote for Dell from me. We have 3 Dell machines in this house, and all are working fine. (Well, the oldest one is running out of life, but it should last a little longer yet) You get some pretty decent deals too. Although i did notice they always use some strange unknown versions of everything. For example my PC came with an nVidia 7300LE card, with 512MB of memory. Where the hell did they get that? I've only ever seen those with 256MB maximum.
My current favourite word is: Bacon!
-SK Genius
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No worries, just wanted to make sure you got it since you were having trouble contacting me.
Douglas Troy wrote:
(did massive amounts of yard work, which did massive amounts of making me feel super old and broken).
Next time we hook up, ask me about the Machete Incident. :-D
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
Christopher Duncan wrote:
ask me about the Machete Incident
Does it involve a ski mask, a remote lake house and a bunch of teenage victims buddies? :-\
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And I don't mean Politically Correct, of course... Dell has worked very hard to alienate me at every turn, and while I won't bore you with stories, it's nice to see such dedicated effort yield the desired effect. Consequently, I'm poking around trying to figure out a good source for buying boxes. In terms of customer service, NewEgg is a no brainer. The only wrinkle is the fact that they're not the manufacturer. This is significant because I typically do a fresh reinstall of the operating system (load a clean XP without all the crapware) and thus need to download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's site. So, even if I buy the box from NewEgg, I need to be sure I can get the XP drivers from the manufacturer. You'd think that would also be a no brainer, but apparently it's not the case. As an example, a phone call with a sales rep indicated that you can't do this with a Gateway box. They're preconfigured, and if you do want to buy their one and only box offered with XP, it's a month long wait. They explicitly offer no support for downloading XP drivers. So, Gateway is out. So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy? I have neither the time nor inclination to build my own boxes from scratch. NewEgg carries HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. and of course I'm also open to buying direct from the manufacturer if they're not complete pinheads.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
I gave up on mainstream manufacturers a long time ago. I deal with a local shop that does a lot of business in the area and has been going strong for over 20 years. I deal with the same person each time, they build 'em the way I want and if I need a part or a spare anything they'll order it in and have it for me at 9:00 am the next day. On top of that they offer a 4 year parts and labour warranty on everything they build. Can't beat it. Cheers, Drew.
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
Haven't looked at MicroCenter, I'll check them out.
I had bad experience with MC. I bought a powerspec and it died within a year.
You have, what I would term, a very formal turn of phrase not seen in these isles since the old King passed from this world to the next. martin_hughes on VDK
Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
I bought a powerspec and it died within a year
Bummer. My friend had that same thing happen with two Gateway machines. I guess the difference is, when you buy it locally, you can take it back to the store and talk with a real person. The truth is, all these places use the same computer parts, or just about, and and a $300 machine can crap out just as easily as a $5000 machine; the difference is, when a $300 machine breaks, it's not nearly as off putting as when a $5000 machine does ... Just a thought.
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Wow. To date, I've never had a problem with Dell. I had to wait a week or so for my machine to get here (a year ago, when I first ordered it)...but that's because I ordered it the day it was released. Typically they've got super-fast turnaround. I haven't had any issues with their customer service. I'd love to be bored with the alienation stories. ;P
The problems with Dell only occur when you (eventually) get a human on the other end of the line. Older stories revolve around interaction with less than competent outsourced tech support. More recently, bought a Vostro (larger case) for the purpose of having something expandable, i.e. additional drives, etc. Talked to a rep to get recommendations on the best box for my needs and was assured this was the ticket. Last month another box crashed, I pulled the hard drive to pop it in the Vostro, and there was indeed a spare slot for the drive. But only 2 power cables from the power supply, one for the DVD and one for the existing hard drive. Additionally, their drive bays are also non standard with some sort of sliding mechanism - the brackets to which weren't included. Can't mount, no power if I could. Yep. Truly expandable. Fast forward to conversations today. Looking for another standard, expandable box, wanted to talk to a rep so that I didn't repeat my previous mistake. For the sake of comparison, told him the previous box was a Vostro 200 and asked questions about other boxes that might avoid this problem. He asked questions about the box several times, and I finally asked if he couldn't just pull it up on his browser so that he'd see what I was talking about. He snorted (yes, actually snorted and mumbled something on his way out) and hung up on me. Any reaction I might relay would simply be belaboring the obvious.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
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I gave up on mainstream manufacturers a long time ago. I deal with a local shop that does a lot of business in the area and has been going strong for over 20 years. I deal with the same person each time, they build 'em the way I want and if I need a part or a spare anything they'll order it in and have it for me at 9:00 am the next day. On top of that they offer a 4 year parts and labour warranty on everything they build. Can't beat it. Cheers, Drew.
Had such a guy until recently and he went out of business. Clearly, time to find another...
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
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And I don't mean Politically Correct, of course... Dell has worked very hard to alienate me at every turn, and while I won't bore you with stories, it's nice to see such dedicated effort yield the desired effect. Consequently, I'm poking around trying to figure out a good source for buying boxes. In terms of customer service, NewEgg is a no brainer. The only wrinkle is the fact that they're not the manufacturer. This is significant because I typically do a fresh reinstall of the operating system (load a clean XP without all the crapware) and thus need to download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's site. So, even if I buy the box from NewEgg, I need to be sure I can get the XP drivers from the manufacturer. You'd think that would also be a no brainer, but apparently it's not the case. As an example, a phone call with a sales rep indicated that you can't do this with a Gateway box. They're preconfigured, and if you do want to buy their one and only box offered with XP, it's a month long wait. They explicitly offer no support for downloading XP drivers. So, Gateway is out. So, with this in mind, does anyone have recommendations for what brand of box I should buy? I have neither the time nor inclination to build my own boxes from scratch. NewEgg carries HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc. and of course I'm also open to buying direct from the manufacturer if they're not complete pinheads.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Coming soon: Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua! www.PracticalUSA.com
I buy the computers in a major importer using the web and they take the computers to my enterprise directly. I usually use "Techdata" or "Ingram Micro" in order to buy this kind of stuff. Doing that grants you that you'll buy the computers at the same price that the stores buy them and moreover you'll get direct support from them and from the manufacturer you choose. In our country there are laws regarding to that kind of thing (buying directly to the direct importer) but there are ways to get it being perfectly legal. I don't know if it helps you or not, but it works very well for me... PS: just today my server has had a problem in one of its hard disks, I've just called HP and they have just sent me one in less than 4 hours... The raid has worked well and now I'm ready to go home... Today I'll spend some time in the couch with a beer... ;)