I could use a computer recomendation

[fasteddy1970]

I'm thinking of buying a new computer made by HP. I've had a Gateway in the past and not liked it. Can anyone tell me if you've had experience with their product or technical support? thanks

[BiPolar_Nut]

I don't like that HP used non-standard power supplies but the last HP I bought was 6 yrs ago. No clue if that's still the case. I also didn't like that they gave no operating system reinstall discs....they used a "recovery partition" which does no good when your hard drive goes kaput. Again...this is 6 yr old info.

As for support....I have a *major* problem w/ their peripheral (printer/scanner/etc) support, but from an IT guy's perspective. They make it very difficult for someone besides a registered owner in their system to get any help. After enough threatening and speaking with a couple supervisors, they finally gave me the support they should have given initially.

For the actual end user, their support is fairly typical on the phone. I have gtten good service from their "online chat help" on their website...although that could be difficult to access if your computer is broken [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[fasteddy1970]

Thanks Bi; They still don't give you disks and I was a bit hazy as to how much support they'd give. Could you recomend a good product? Gateway? Dell?

[BiPolar_Nut]

I like Dell on one condition. Buy their Gold support (it bypasses India) cause it goes straight to Level II.

Dell standard level one outsourced support to India sucks.

That does increase the price tho...so you may be better off w/ another brand. I've always built my own, and for "best bang for the buck" machines, I'd usually order Dell's for my clients, simply so I had someone to blame and call for replacement parts under warranty since so many of todays components just plain suck. It only cost me $50 more to order a midrange Dell than to build one myself, and warranty replacement is so much easier when Dell will ship you the replacement first.

Depending where you live, you may find a good local shop, too. We have one here that offers excellent support: "Average hold time of 15 seconds" and "If we can't fix it in 2 hours, we'll replace it" are their claims to fame.

Don't take this as a green light for Dell tho...last time I ordered a dozen Dells for a client, within 18 months 10 mainboards had to be replaced, 3 power supplies, and 10 hard drives...all under warranty but still was frustrating.

I'm not aware of *any* hard drives worth a flip these days. Most people I know running many drives (like one friend w/ 3TB at his home network, and another 5TB at work) have killed about every brand out there (if they're run 24/7). This includes PATA, SATA, and SCSI drives ranging from 40GB to 300GB and about 10 brands. Modern hard drive lifespan in 24/7 use: 12-48 months...w/ most failing closer to 18 mos.

Some manufacturers even dropped their warranties from 3 yrs to 1 (Maxtor).

The industry is so competitive, corners get cut and bad runs of hardware get the same shiny box or OEM packaging that the good stuff gets. It's bingo.

Buy local w/ a warranty and you have someone to confront face to face if/when things go bad.

Buy Dell w/ gold support if you can tolerate waiting a business day for a repair (ordering from the small business section will also give you different specials than the home section)

Take someone else's advice if they have something that sounds better. I have no experience w/ Gateway support but one of my clients switched from Gateway to Dell a few years ago...but he's the one that had the bad dozen I mentioned above, so he'll switch back or go elsewhere next time I'm sure.

[HEK]

Have a local computer guy build one for you. It's cheaper and better.

[fasteddy1970]

Thanks much for the helpful adive.

[Sharksfan]

[ QUOTE ]
Have a local computer guy build one for you. It's cheaper and better.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to agree with HEK...you will get much more for cheaper having one built for you. The parts will be better quality and you can get exactly what you need/want rather then spending money on crap you don't need/want.

[BiPolar_Nut]

Just be sure to check warranty info on a local build. Cheap shops will stick you w/ passing all warranty stuff off to the original manufacturers...which can be a pain.

Since OP asked about support, I figured there was a decent chance he doesn't do much component replacement himself...so having only mfr's warranties would still cost a service call for the labor.

Find a local shop that honors warranty stuff in-house, tho, and you're good to go.

[goldtoes]

i dont know if buying a PC from a local computer shop is wise anymore. when something goes wrong you are generally screwed over.

i would go with dell. in my experience they have the "least-sucky" standard support out there, and plus you cannot be the prices.

if you are looking for a system to do standard things like poker, internet, email, pictures, downloads, etc. dont waste the time doing it locally. go with dell hp, etc and get more for your money and better support (free generally).

you just can't build an average system cheaper than what you can buy them anymore. computers are now disposable they are so cheap.

[Shroomy]

I also wouldnt recomend going with a local guy.

They are always going to build something custom, so its hard to get stuff like driver updates and stuff.

Also you can't just go to a site and see what type of memory you have or whatever.

I personally like dell, you go to their site and type in your number on the sticker, and see a list of updated stuff, or if your machine crashes you have one spot to go to download your audio drivers and stuff.

As stated, their phone support isnt the greatest (no ones is) but their website support is very good.

also their replacement policy is pretty good, they are good about getting you replacement stuff for things that go bad, very quickly and without too much hassle. (besides the hasle anytime anything goes bad)

I have an HP also, and hate their install, if you try to remove all the crap that they preinstall, you run into big issues about stuff breaking. Pluss I hate to have all these processes running that HP installs, like their PC health crap. If you are semi computer literate, the PC health crap causes more problems than whatever problem you have to try to fix.