Desk top computers...recommendations...

[little lady]

I would like to take a sledge hammer to my home computer!! I have tried everything I know of(which isn't much) to try to help it but to no avail. As I see it I can do one of two things...A-take it in to try and have whatever is wrong with it possibly fixed(it is almost five years old and has crashed once before) or B. buy a new one. So I am leaning towards buying a new one buy don't want to re mortgage the house for one so I am looking for input from others fro suggestions as well as doing some of my own research, but I find that ones own personal experience usually speaks volumes as far as quality goes. So give me your 2 cents worth...

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Dell!!

 

[Riverrose28]

I don't know about you, but I'm about ready to throw mine out of the window, or better yet shoot it with my 22 rifle! I have a HP, when I bought it I didn't have much money and thought it was a good buy, wrong. I've always had Gateway and they were great, but expensive. Sorry to rant, but seems like nowadays nothing is made to last. Back in the day a TV would last at least 10 to 15 yrs. Not today, OUr airconditioner in this end of this house is two yrs. old, shot, needs to be replaced, my computer is dieing too, and needs to be replaced only three yrs. old. Then they get you, you buy a new one, and the new programs are not campatable with your printer, so you need a new one of those too. My digatal camera was fine with my old windows, but the software is incompapable with this new windows, so I can upload pictures, but not videos for buyers. Same thing with my cell phone, seems like every time I turn around I need to upgrade for some reason or another. IN this economy every penny counts, and they get you every which way.

 

[little lady]

I don't know about you, but I'm about ready to throw mine out of the window, or better yet shoot it with my 22 rifle! I have a HP, when I bought it I didn't have much money and thought it was a good buy, wrong. I've always had Gateway and they were great, but expensive. Sorry to rant, but seems like nowadays nothing is made to last. Back in the day a TV would last at least 10 to 15 yrs. Not today, OUr airconditioner in this end of this house is two yrs. old, shot, needs to be replaced, my computer is dieing too, and needs to be replaced only three yrs. old. Then they get you, you buy a new one, and the new programs are not campatable with your printer, so you need a new one of those too. My digatal camera was fine with my old windows, but the software is incompapable with this new windows, so I can upload pictures, but not videos for buyers. Same thing with my cell phone, seems like every time I turn around I need to upgrade for some reason or another. IN this economy every penny counts, and they get you every which way.

Amen Sista Riverrose28!!!!!!!

 

[chandab]

Then they get you, you buy a new one, and the new programs are not campatable with your printer, so you need a new one of those too. My digatal camera was fine with my old windows, but the software is incompapable with this new windows, so I can upload pictures, but not videos for buyers.

I got my new computer, and it's not compatible with my digital camera, I can't use the USB cord to download photos, at all. I bought a USB cardreader, and it works great; just take the card out of the camera, plug it into the reader, plug that into the computer and I can load all my pictures onto the computer. Yes, its one more step, but it works great. I don't know if they make readers for all card types, but my camera uses a SD card, and I got the reader for that type of card.

 

[circlesinthesand]

Hmmm, not sure about brands anymore especially for Desktops. My husband typically builds one from scratch when he wants a new one. Tiger Direct is his friend I know they sometimes have refurbished computers that you can get for pretty cheap.

Personally, I like laptops, because I'm always moving around so I've been buying the cheapest laptops I can find every 2 years or so. I wait til a tax free school purchase day and snap one up for $200-300. If I need to do any mega processing, like for pictures or video, I can always go use Hubby's desktop.

 

[Mona]

I recently bought a new Acer All-in-1 Desktop model. It was CHEAP...under $500 and has a 20" monitor, a wireless mouse and wireless keyboard. The monitor has a build in DVD Multi Drive, and Multi-in-1 Media Card Reader. I have owned 3 Acers previous, and never had any troubles, so even though they are a "cheap" system, they have thus far proven to be, to be very dependable...at least for me they have.

 

[REO]

I've had Dell's for 13 years

My first one lasted 10 years.

 

[tagalong]

Worth every penny. *pets pretty 24" iMac*

 

[Jill]

I have HP for my office staff and they seem to do well, but we've had various brands over the years. I honestly don't think there is a lot of brand distinction in pc's any more. I'd recommend reading technical performance reviews at CNET to help narrow down the selection. Good luck!

 

[Jill]

PS I personally / professionally have used Toshiba laptops for nearly 15 years and overall have been pleased.

 

[little lady]

Thanks everyone for your input. I am going to go with a desktop and I am currently researching brands however something that isn't necessarily right out there is customer service. What has been your experience if customer service is needed with your brand of computer?

 

[tagalong]

EXCELLENT customer service with Apple.

 

[user 488]

Everything thing that Tag said.

Nothing better or more problem free than a Mac. No blue screens, no viruses, no problems. Just easy. Apple customer service......excellent.

So see! You are really going to be confused now. Everyone has their favorite and everyone thinks they have the best.

 

[Shari]

Dell HP 8300.... I bought one decked out, so I can work on my digital Art. Based my choice via Consumer Reports.

My other is a Dell M1710XPS but it is old enough now, it can't handle the more detailed Fractals or Digital Art. Hence buying the above computer.

Both also do gaming.

Depends on what you want to do with your computer,and so on.

 

[Shari]

I did pay a little extra for top of the line customer service in the US.. a lot of computer companies are starting to do this.

 

[kristen_ttg]

I build all the computers at our studio. I was a loyal Dell fan for years until my last 2 were overpriced junkers, Dell customer service (I paid for the XPS premium US-based CS) was anything but, and my husband's $3K AlienWare came with 6GB of RAM but only a 32bit OS (

). All the studio machines (we're up to about 24 right now) were custom built by myself and in 3 years we haven't had a single major failure or data loss incident despite hard, brutal use so I must be doing something right.

First two questions:

1) What do you want it to do?

2) What do you want to spend?

I'm going to surmise that since you're using a 5yo PC you have pretty basic needs. Surf the 'net, email, some word processing, some image editing. No 3D modelling, gaming, so forth.

Basically, your needs are simple. If I were to build a machine for you from scratch ~$500 would produce something you'd probably be really happy with for a while. But if you take $500 to a store you might end up with garbage or a good deal. So be careful and ask the right questions. I saw some good deals this Memorial Day so I know they're outthere but it's kind of shark infested waters.

I've never, ever found reports from places like ConsumerReports or CNET any good whatsoever. Just read the CR review for the computer Shari mentioned. I think this is it?

http://www.consumerr...bk-99044768.htm

Anyway, here's why I find that review of questionable merit::

The 2320 is a 1155 socket CPU. 1155s do NOT support triple channel RAM. that 6GB has to be in a 3 x 2GB stick configuration. It also says the mobo has no spare RAM slot. That makes me go ??? So the motherboard only has 3 RAM slots? What? Does the computer even SEE 6GB of RAM? What exactly is this 1155 socket mobo that only has 3 RAM slots? To add to my confusion it says it has ATI graphics... but the 2320 is 1155. Granted, it's one of the cheapest of the 1155s, but I can't imagine that horrible ($25) GPU is any better than the CPU's integrated graphics.

It strikes me as VERY odd CR doesn't point any of this out. Add into that they don't mention PCI or PCI-e slots (we can presume there is at least 1 PCI-e due to the ATI GPU) and you have me sitting here wondering what exactly is in that case. Because at face value it sounds bizarre. For geeks like me looking at it CR loses a lot of credibility for at least failing to mention some oddball stuff.

My point isn't to rant but just to advise- ask questions! I hear about people getting these production line PCs and they're dying/BSOD/falling over within a year and when I look at these strange configurations they originally ship with... I've got to wonder.

Here are some questions to consider:

1) How many RAM slots? RAM speed? (the speed is just a quiz for them)

2) Who manufactured the motherboard?

3) Who manufactured the harddrive?

4) What is the harddrive's spindle speed? What is it's cache size? (probably will be 5400 or 7200RPM, 4MB, but it's really just a quiz to see if they know their business)

5) How many PCI-e slots? 2.0 or 3.0? (Probably will be 2.x) What speed? (x16 is what you want to hear, x8 indicates inferior board)

6) FSB?

7) PCI slots?

8) PSU wattage? (hint: anything under 500w means limited to NO upgradability!)

9) Is the PSU standard ATX or is it proprietary? (hint: proprietary means NO upgradability!)

10) 12v rails on the PSU?

11) Who manufactured the PSU? (Why should you care? Because if your PSU dies because it's cheap it's going to take everything else with it)

12) discrete GPU or on-board (quiz time)

13) mobo chipset (when dealing with 1155 boards this is important!!!)

14) USB 2.0 or 3.0? Both?

15) SATA 3.0 or 6.0 on the board?

16) 10/100/1000 NIC?

17) PS/2 port? (just quiz time to mess with them)

18) 64 bit OS or 32 bit?

 

[susanne]

.

I love my 17" MacBookPro. Absolutely superb.

.

 

[little lady]

Well I have ruled out a Mac, I can see some positve qualities. I have ruled out a laptop.

I build all the computers at our studio. I was a loyal Dell fan for years until my last 2 were overpriced junkers, Dell customer service (I paid for the XPS premium US-based CS) was anything but, and my husband's $3K AlienWare came with 6GB of RAM but only a 32bit OS (

). All the studio machines (we're up to about 24 right now) were custom built by myself and in 3 years we haven't had a single major failure or data loss incident despite hard, brutal use so I must be doing something right.

First two questions:

1) What do you want it to do?

2) What do you want to spend?

I'm going to surmise that since you're using a 5yo PC you have pretty basic needs. Surf the 'net, email, some word processing, some image editing. No 3D modelling, gaming, so forth.

Basically, your needs are simple. If I were to build a machine for you from scratch ~$500 would produce something you'd probably be really happy with for a while. But if you take $500 to a store you might end up with garbage or a good deal. So be careful and ask the right questions. I saw some good deals this Memorial Day so I know they're outthere but it's kind of shark infested waters.

I've never, ever found reports from places like ConsumerReports or CNET any good whatsoever. Just read the CR review for the computer Shari mentioned. I think this is it?

http://www.consumerr...bk-99044768.htm

Anyway, here's why I find that review of questionable merit::

The 2320 is a 1155 socket CPU. 1155s do NOT support triple channel RAM. that 6GB has to be in a 3 x 2GB stick configuration. It also says the mobo has no spare RAM slot. That makes me go ??? So the motherboard only has 3 RAM slots? What? Does the computer even SEE 6GB of RAM? What exactly is this 1155 socket mobo that only has 3 RAM slots? To add to my confusion it says it has ATI graphics... but the 2320 is 1155. Granted, it's one of the cheapest of the 1155s, but I can't imagine that horrible ($25) GPU is any better than the CPU's integrated graphics.

It strikes me as VERY odd CR doesn't point any of this out. Add into that they don't mention PCI or PCI-e slots (we can presume there is at least 1 PCI-e due to the ATI GPU) and you have me sitting here wondering what exactly is in that case. Because at face value it sounds bizarre. For geeks like me looking at it CR loses a lot of credibility for at least failing to mention some oddball stuff.

My point isn't to rant but just to advise- ask questions! I hear about people getting these production line PCs and they're dying/BSOD/falling over within a year and when I look at these strange configurations they originally ship with... I've got to wonder.

Here are some questions to consider:

1) How many RAM slots? RAM speed? (the speed is just a quiz for them)

2) Who manufactured the motherboard?

3) Who manufactured the harddrive?

4) What is the harddrive's spindle speed? What is it's cache size? (probably will be 5400 or 7200RPM, 4MB, but it's really just a quiz to see if they know their business)

5) How many PCI-e slots? 2.0 or 3.0? (Probably will be 2.x) What speed? (x16 is what you want to hear, x8 indicates inferior board)

6) FSB?

7) PCI slots?

8) PSU wattage? (hint: anything under 500w means limited to NO upgradability!)

9) Is the PSU standard ATX or is it proprietary? (hint: proprietary means NO upgradability!)

10) 12v rails on the PSU?

11) Who manufactured the PSU? (Why should you care? Because if your PSU dies because it's cheap it's going to take everything else with it)

12) discrete GPU or on-board (quiz time)

13) mobo chipset (when dealing with 1155 boards this is important!!!)

14) USB 2.0 or 3.0? Both?

15) SATA 3.0 or 6.0 on the board?

16) 10/100/1000 NIC?

17) PS/2 port? (just quiz time to mess with them)

18) 64 bit OS or 32 bit?

Kristen: you are great help, although a lot of what you posted is over my head. I know I want something that I can multi task with and that is quick.My current computer I had bulit from scratch based on what I told them I needed to use it for and it has done that although there are a few programs I wish I would have installed. I have no idea who manufactured what part. I do know that it is a dual processor and how many GHz and ram it has but what that really means? The computer before that was a Dell was happy with that until it died.(found out what helped kill that and fixed it now) I am a simple person that just wants to surf the web, email, use it for my pictures-picture editing-download pictures, charge camera, download music, burn disc, watch DVD's but most of all I want something that will work. When I come home of an evening and just want to surf the web and visit with cyber friends and it is slow or not working right it just aggravates me. :arg! So even if I ask these questions they can blow smoke right back at me because I would not know any better, so I would greatly appreciate and additional advise you could provide.

Feel free to PM me or email me.

 

[kristen_ttg]

My current computer I had bulit from scratch based on what I told them I needed to use it for and it has done that

So just to be clear, the machine you have right now was custom built for you at a mom n' pop type place and is NOT a brand name? This is actually pretty good news because if you're willing to go this route again you might be able to reuse some parts, like the case and possibly the PSU (power supply unit) Also, it means it might be worth investigating repairing your current machine instead of investing in a new one. With needs like yours you can wring a lot of life out of machines, but it does take a little TLC. Brand-name computers generally make this very difficult due to propretiary parts, but if you've got a custom built rig repairs might be practical.

The question is pretty much going to come down to are you interested in trying to wring a little more life out of this machine, or just want to start over? If you want to wring, how much wringing are you willing to do? What programs do you wish you had installed? What do you wish it would do? Do you use things like Hulu/AmazonPrime/Netflix Streaming?