Computers: Dell Or Hp ????

  • Thread starter Thread starter brn2bafactor
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gmhg41 said:
I don't know what God has to do with it, but DUH! The garage down the street repairs no Mercedes. Do you think the fact that there are no Merceded cars within 10 blocks of the shop is related to that? Like if there just aren't any around, they're not going to turn up in the shop, regardless of how often they break down.



Presumably you think that makes your point clearer, but it doesn't seem related to the issue at hand, which is whether or not the most commonly purchased computers are more, or less likely to break down than machines assembled by users.



That's true if and only if you are willing to take the time to learn everything about it. The last machine I put together (on a Shuttle AK31 MB) wouldn't run -- turns out the RAM I bought with it was incompatible. It had the right specs, it just wasn't compatible. PNY replaced it, but I had to pay for shipping. The MB I bought before that had an AliMajik chipset. Incompatible with the ATI video card I wanted to use in it. So I sent that back and traded for the Shuttle, but I had to pay for shipping. I'm not an expert at building computers, but I've been doing it for a decade, so I know at least more than average. I finally got it running and it was S L O W. Took a day of research to figure out that the bios defaults the clock multiplier to a dumb-stupid number and the instruction manual doesn't mention that I might want to check it.

If the OP felt comfortable building his own, he wouldn't be asking for advice.

Bob
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Hey Bob - Go back and read the original post that I was refering to and you will maybe understand my reference to God and the rest of my points.

Oh and BTW - I have no idea what your point was except for that last paragraph. And even then if you would have read my point you will see that I clearly said that would be what I would do.

Have a nice day anyway.
 
I don't want to waste anybody's time here by trying to defend myself.

This guy was looking for ideas and I gave him mine straight and simple. Hell, go ahead and buy a Dell or HP. It might work for him, it might not. But based on my experience, you couldn't pay me to use one of those things.
 
None of the big name brand PCs are very good. The best thing is to get a custom built PC with a warranty - there are many web and physical retailers which will do this for you.

Big name manufacturers will typically sell you on the processor and the size of the harddrive, and will dump you a bad motherboard, a slow hard drive, and god knows what else. They know most people don't know better, so they screw them, take the profits and spend them on advertising.
 
bdemenil said:
None of the big name brand PCs are very good. The best thing is to get a custom built PC with a warranty - there are many web and physical retailers which will do this for you.

Big name manufacturers will typically sell you on the processor and the size of the harddrive, and will dump you a bad motherboard, a slow hard drive, and god knows what else. They know most people don't know better, so they screw them, take the profits and spend them on advertising.
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Hmm.......
 
I'm with the DIY crowd. What I've seen in the big supplier name PC's is that often they are not upgradeable enough. Lot's of proprietary parts and designs used. Means if you want to upgrade or replace stuff like MOBO or PS you'll have very limited choices or have to learn case-modding to get it done. The OS is often "backed-up" in a partition in the HD that does you no good at all if that drive fails. Replace the drive, buy another copy of the OS since you don't have it on CD-ROM.
Sure, I guess if you buy a system with enough performance initially you'll be well off for a time, but this whole area changes rapidly and you might want a hardware uprgrade at some point. Be sure the system you buy has that capability.
I've built two systems now, and I'm a firm believer in doing it that way. I can get exactly what I want, I have a better understanding of how it all works in case of trouble, and I'm not afraid to role up my sleeves and get inside the case if I want to. Newegg.com has all you'd need for a build at very good prices. It is no more expensive than buying a system from one of the big guys. It is not a difficult thing to build a computer. The people in the factory that do it for a living are no smarter than us. All the info you need is on the web and easy to find and a screwdriver is about the most high tech tool used.
I guess my point is do your homework whichever way you choose, with an eye to the future of your rig, not just today.

Geoff
 
bdemenil said:
None of the big name brand PCs are very good. The best thing is to get a custom built PC with a warranty - there are many web and physical retailers which will do this for you.

Big name manufacturers will typically sell you on the processor and the size of the harddrive, and will dump you a bad motherboard, a slow hard drive, and god knows what else. They know most people don't know better, so they screw them, take the profits and spend them on advertising.
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What about name brands. ie Dell.. that let you custom build your machine on the site? Dell does have the best warranty out of all of the big 3 computer manufacturs. Just a thought.
 
What about name brands. ie Dell.. that let you custom build your machine on the site?
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The options for what you can customize are limited, and the premiums you pay too high.

The warranty issue is a good reason to go with a pre-assembled PC, but any no-name assembler will offer a warranty - if they are local, they might even come to your place to service. Worst case, you have to send it in.

I know in theory Dell is supposed to have great customer support. But in my experience, it's extremely difficult trying to get Dell to fix your PC.

Computer Manufacturers (especially the big brands) also tend to increase their margins on high end machines. So if you're looking for a killer DAW, Dell is really going to gouge you. The money you save from building your own is enough to pay for many service calls.

Having built many machines, I do have to say though that it's not always easy. You can run into really frustrating problems - when a piece of hardware is bad, for instance, it can sometimes be difficult to diagnose. Often you also need to update your motherboard's bios - a process which takes some getting used to. While the knowledge acquired in the process is useful, I can understand why some people might not want to go there.

If you live in New York, I can recommend some good local custom assembly shops. Otherwise, ask around or look for an online vendor. http://www.monarchcomputer.com is one.

Ben
 
I haven't read through the thread, and I can only imagine the flame wars that may or may not have occurred... I'm just gonna throw out my experiences so far.

I service systems both personally and professionally, as do a number of friends of mine who will probably tell you the same things here.

First - If you're going to buy a dell, buy a Dell PROFESSIONAL system, something they'd ship off to a corporate environment. The personal systems, the $400 budget systems you see on TV for your family, are made from substandard parts, with awful cooling systems, that are guaranteed to crap out in a matter of months.

Second -
Good warranty does NOT equate to good service! Just because they say they'll cover the system for a year, does NOT mean that when you phone up and say "My computer broke" they'll dispatch those Dell interns on TV to come fix it for you. Most likely, you'll spend a week arguing with somebody overseas through a moderately thick language barrier about not running the restore CD and wiping everything you've been working on.

Third -
I'd honestly suggest against buying a premanufactured system, unless you're getting an Apple. In the studio environment, I don't trust premanufactured systems aside from them. If you don't want to go the Mac route, build your own system with quality components (find a computer-saavy friend to help! nerds are always more than willing in situations like this).

Fourth -
If you do buy a higher-end system from Dell (I'd stay far, far away from HP computers personally), track down (*not* buy) your own copy of the OS that came with it (burn a copy of XP from a friend or something).

The restore CDs that get sent out with new systems from Dell, HP, etc, don't only put on Windows, but load up tons of bloatware and garbage that will only serve to CHOKE YOUR SYSTEM, and if you're doing DAW work, you need all the speed you can get. Even restoring the system, and uninstalling the garbage you don't need will still leave remnants buried deep.

Somewhere in the packaging that comes along with the computer you should have the license key for Windows. Find a STANDALONE copy of windows from a friend or something, then use your license key to install this FRESH CLEAN copy. There's nothing illegal about using your own purchased license key with another CD-Rom.

Fifth -
Depending on your level of knowledge about PCs, and how to maintain computers, etc, I'd suggest a Shuttle system. I'm running a Shuttle XPC with a 2.8ghz P4 as my main DAW box (an OSX G4 Gigabit Ethernet Ed. as my secondary sys). They're small, quiet, blazing fast, and well worth the investment. I trust that little beast with my music, it's that solid.

Computers are the same as any part of your recording equipment - You /will/ get what you pay for. While it's okay to be budget conscious, recognise that if you try and buy a $200 compressor, or preamp, or whatever, it's not going to sound like a $2000 unit. In my opinion, Apple is the only manufacturer that can get away with charging $1500 - $2500 for a system, because those components will very literally last a generation, and are damn near bulletproof.

But you can buy quality components at good prices... but something that looks too good to be true /will/ be. A $500 computer (thats actually about $200 in hardware after you factor in the monitor, printer, shipping, software, etc) will /not/ last you in the way $500, or $1000 worth of quality components will.

Wish you the best of luck.
 
alright, i read a lot of posts in this thread, so i figured i'd throw in my personal experience. i own an HP pavillion i bought last year. it's a 3000+ with 512ram, 120gb hd, got a good deal for it at one of those big stores. this one replaced my pentium 3 450 with 256mb ram and 10gb hd i built when i was a junior in college. served me well through half of college and all of grad school, but it died on me. i had contemplated building another, since i know what to look for and have fun doing it. but i was on a budget and for the money, i couldn't build one cheaper than i could buy a prefab one.
i like the hp though, i've had experience with some of my friends' hp's and compaqs in the past and i thought they sucked big time (along with gateway). but i think hp has come around and it making decent consumer level stuff. that being said, i made sure i got a cd version a windows xp pro from my friend who was doing some student rep work with microsoft and did a reformat from the getgo. consumer pc's come with a lot of crap on them, and i like my OS steamlined. i added my geforce2 (32MB one, better than using 64MB of onboard video that can be used for processing power) and my sblive24 and delta 1010lt, and i've got myself a decent system. if i had the money, i would definitely build one, but from what i see, it's only cost effective to build from scratch when you go high end. i've done my share of pc maintanence that i don't really care about support and such, i'm my own support team.
 
bdemenil said:
You definitely pay a premium - but better Alienware than Dell
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Go to Monarch Computer, and they will build a system identical to Alienware minus the gaudy case for a lot less, and provide better support.

Alienware is ridiculously overpriced, and there's no need for it. Their notebooks are made in China, like everyone else's.
 
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