| Author |
Message |
Taek-Ho Kwon (Stickanddice)
Intermediate Member
Username: Stickanddice
Post Number: 2239
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 2:14 pm: | |
I did a lot of research on these for my business and felt IBMs were the way to go based on their corporate support. That said, for personal use I've narrowed it down to either a Dell or a Sony Vaio.
Rob,
My take so far on the Vaios is that they have the most attractive packaging by far. There are going to be some new releases within the next few months. One will be a 17" contender although I think the screen is a little smaller than 17" but bigger than 16". The other is an upgrade on the 505 series. Some of these laptops and desktops are also going to come with their Giga Pocket feature where it kind of acts like a beefed up Tivo.
As for desktops I think the Sonys are absolutely tops. They look so damn cool! Their funky aspect ratio screen and fold up keyboard setups are just fantastic spacesavers and look real cool. Needless to say they're quite fun for DVD viewing given the favorable screen configuration and size.
The Dell I'm considering is the 5150. Don't really care for the funky blue cladding but they are supposed to be fantastic.
Cheers |
David Perini (Oppie20)
New member
Username: Oppie20
Post Number: 15
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 1:46 pm: | |
Dude you're gettin' a Dell!
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Rikky Alessi (Ralessi)
Member
Username: Ralessi
Post Number: 426
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 1:12 pm: | |
You guys really should build your own computers. This may come as a shock at first but it is really easy - especially if you are into tinkering/messing around with things. Getting the gestalt of how things works doesn't take too long - a few days browsing a forum should work to find out all of the best parts and prices.
One of benefits of this is price, of course, but also quality. Dell et al use inferior parts. While you could order a new Hard drive with 8 mb cache and 7200 rpm, they might give you an old 2 mb cache model with 5400 rpm. Same thing goes with motherboards, power supply, cd-rom, etc.
It is actually quite fun, and you get a better quality product for a cheaper price. Warranty will generally come from the manufacturer of the products, and whatever store you order from will swap you parts if one is dead on arrival.
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arthur chambers (Art355)
Advanced Member
Username: Art355
Post Number: 2775
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 1:02 pm: | |
I just bought three new dells for the office earlier this year. Got 2.8s, with 512RAM, etc. Bought their top of the line, with 17 flat screen monitors. I tend to keep computers about 2 - 3 years then upgrade. These ran about 1700 - 1800 each, and so far there has been no trouble, no warranty issues, they work very well. We got Office Professional with the computers, with XP Professional. I noticed that they are much faster than the older IBMs which we replaced. Keep an eye on their website, best time to buy is right after Xmas.
Art |
Pat Pasqualini (Enzo)
Intermediate Member
Username: Enzo
Post Number: 1189
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 12:36 pm: | |
Rob,
Just purchased a Sony a couple of weeks ago.
Desktop $800 2.6 ghz 700mb of ram DVD burner 80gig hard drive. Works great so far no problems |
Steven R. Rochlin (Enjoythemusic)
Member
Username: Enjoythemusic
Post Number: 882
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 12:03 pm: | |
i live or die by compters per se. Have owned/used Osbourne, Zentih, Tandy, Atari, Comodore, AST, Compaq, Toshiba, HP, and Dell.
Over the years have found Dell the best. Over the years have now owned three different Dells and love them all. As another said, "Gatweay blows chuncks". Get a Dell.
Get a MAC if you like, but the majority of us use Win OS. Macs are great, but i prefer something else... and don't get me going about Linux :-)
Enjoy the Drive,
Steven R. Rochlin
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Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
Board Administrator
Username: Rob328gts
Post Number: 6694
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 11:53 am: | |
I bought a Dell desktop in 1996 and still have and use it. Bought a 8200 lap top a year ago and it's awesome. Wife is about ready to by a 600 or 1100 lap top.
Any problems I've had weren't Dells fault, mostly Microsoft.
What does everyone think of the Sony Viao(sp?)? |
Glen C Winters (Wildwarrior)
New member
Username: Wildwarrior
Post Number: 40
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 11:19 am: | |
We have added 3 Dell pc's per year for the last 9 years and have only experienced one major problem after moving one tower from my offices to home study.I do however find Macs to be better to use with my art and drawing programs. |
Fred (I Luv 4REs) (Iluv4res)
Member
Username: Iluv4res
Post Number: 573
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 11:03 am: | |
I bought a Dell a few months ago. When I first got it, there was a problem that the phone reps spent 3 hours trying to diagnose. I finally told them to send me a new computer since I didn't want to waste any more time messing around with the original one. They initially declined, so I told them I would return the one I had and re-order another, which in essence would be the same thing. After threatening them with returning the system (it was only 1 day old), they sent me out a replacement that has worked flawlessly so far. I really like it a lot!! Fast, quiet, reliable, does everything I want very well, so far! Priced right compared to the competition. Only irritating thing is that they package so much junk software with it you constantly get pop-ups to order, update etc... Overall though, I'm very happy with it! |
Michael Zaic (Mikez_nj)
Junior Member
Username: Mikez_nj
Post Number: 104
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 10:28 am: | |
Ditto to the Pro over Home comment. |
David Perini (Oppie20)
New member
Username: Oppie20
Post Number: 14
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 10:27 am: | |
Another thought:
Get XP Pro not Home.
Hardware:
Sometimes we customize the machines slightly. But getting 2gb or ram in one box and 512mb in another shouldn't mean that the otherwise the same 8200 machine have different NICS. But it does.
"Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" still holds true, even today. Now HP/COMPAQ on the other hand.... Well we can all ask our friend Carley Fiona about that. $70,000 machine that liked to reboot once a day, usually when the boss was checking his mail.... Never ever ever again. Thank god it wasn't my choice.
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Lou B (Toby91)
Member
Username: Toby91
Post Number: 356
Registered: 4-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 8:37 am: | |
I currently have four Dell's in our two homes and am very satified. My only hardware (or software) problem was my last Dell arrived with a bad E Drive. Called Dell on a Friday afternoon and Mon 9:am a guy knocked on my door and replaced it. Nice. |
Michael Zaic (Mikez_nj)
Junior Member
Username: Mikez_nj
Post Number: 103
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 8:17 am: | |
The company I work for (a computer consulting company) recommends Dell to all of our clients. They make pretty decent machines and at very good price. Phone support, however, is horrible. So horrible, in fact, that we may start recommending someone else.
In terms of the price - you're absolutely right, there are a million coupons/rebates. If you want to find the best deals, I would go to:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums
Then go to the "Hot Deals" forum and do a search for "Dell". You'll find all sorts of combos, which will include the price and any coupons/rebates/etc used. |
Pat Pasqualini (Enzo)
Intermediate Member
Username: Enzo
Post Number: 1186
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 8:17 am: | |
David,
I'm surprised that you have a problem with the hardware not being consistent. We have never had a problem with that at all. Things can happen I guess. IBMs are great also we use their rack servers by the dozens. |
David Perini (Oppie20)
New member
Username: Oppie20
Post Number: 13
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 8:08 am: | |
At first glance I thought this was a thread about buying a DELI. Time to get the old eyes checked.
I have lots of Dells and at work. That is all we buy. I am reasonably happy with them. The biggest problem is that the hardware from one system to the next is not consistent. That doesn't sound bad but it can be a nightmare for adminisrtation.
The support web site is very good. The phone support has all been outsourced and is USELESS unless you are calling to request a replacement part and you already know what part you need.
If you have a choice, build your own or go IBM.
Dell laptops had some trouble last year with driver conflicts from the factory. The new ones are much better.
A BIG PLUS is that DELL took the quiet PC thing to heart. They are so quiet its amazing. Ambient noise in the office went down a noticeable amount when we replaced this floors computers with all new Dells. I could never hear the A/C machines before. Now that is all I notice in the backround. It's marvelous for worker happiness as well.
Warren:
The cheaper the better. Ussually you can get free shipping which is nice.
get a flat panel monitor. Do not think anything else. You'll thank me latter. |
Pat Pasqualini (Enzo)
Intermediate Member
Username: Enzo
Post Number: 1185
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 8:05 am: | |
All we run at work are Dells and for the most part we don't have any problems at all with them. Don't even try looking at Gateway they blow chunks |
Ernesto (T88power)
Intermediate Member
Username: T88power
Post Number: 1817
Registered: 2-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 7:55 am: | |
I have had my Dell desktop for three years now, absolutely not problems. I am completely happy with it. I haven't had to call Dell customer service once.
Ernesto |
rob guess (Beast)
Member
Username: Beast
Post Number: 446
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 7:36 am: | |
We have dells at work and i have to say i am not impressed with them. |
Will 575 (Willh)
Member
Username: Willh
Post Number: 344
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 7:33 am: | |
Have bought 2 Dell laptops and been happy with both, current model is an 8200 Inspiron. Probably one of the larger, heavier laptops you can buy!
As a non techie consumer, I felt both Mac OS and Windows were terribly unreliable until Mac OSX and Windows XP. I had a terrible time with a Mac G3 desktop I purchased directly from Apple - and their service was atrocious, but then it would be easy to collect horror stories from users of both platforms, I'm sure. Computer folks never seem to understand that I want an appliance, not a challenge. For me, Ferraris have a bit of mystique that forgives some quirks - computers don't.
On the other hand, my Dad the techie just switched this year, at age 70, from Mac to Windows so he could pursue his programming hobby more easily. |
Vincent (Vincent348)
Intermediate Member
Username: Vincent348
Post Number: 1102
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 1:02 am: | |
Mine's great and I use it as my digital studio as well. Also have a laptop, and it's just fine too.
vincent. |
Tyler (Bahiaau)
Intermediate Member
Username: Bahiaau
Post Number: 1123
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 12:48 am: | |
The good doctor is right. I've switched to Mac and you could not drag me back to PCland. |
Drstranglove (Drstranglove)
Member
Username: Drstranglove
Post Number: 911
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 12:45 am: | |
Get a Mac. You'll thank me alot!!!!
DrS |
Tim N (Timn88)
Advanced Member
Username: Timn88
Post Number: 3507
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 12:33 am: | |
had a dell. had lots of problems after about a year or so. |
Warren L. (Warren)
Member
Username: Warren
Post Number: 299
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 12:24 am: | |
The choices are overwhelming but more than that there are a million different coupons and rebates out there. Any websites that clearly sum up what deals currently exist?
Just doing a little research it looks like the price fluctuations are $100+ for finding the right or wrong online coupon / rebate. |