Retail Computer Brands...

o0OBruceLeeO0o

Member

​

Joined

Aug 18, 2002

Location

Charlotte, NC

• Nov 21, 2002

• #1

Out of Dell, Compaq, etc are there any good ones? Or ones that are better than the rest? I ask because I have a friend who doesnt want to build it, and im not experienced enough to trust myself with other peoples money to build it for him. Thanks

 

J

Johnny Knoxville

Disabled

Joined

May 29, 2002

• Nov 21, 2002

• #2

if you don't want to build, dell are usually the best

 

Penguin4x4

Are you my Daddy?

​

Joined

May 28, 2002

Location

Sector 7G

• Nov 21, 2002

• #3

Dell or HP/Compaq.

 

progamer

Member

​

Joined

Jul 20, 2002

Location

california

• Nov 21, 2002

• #4

Yeah. I have a dell and a compaq.

They're pretty good but don't plan on doing any overclocking/expansion/serious gaming.

 

RagingGecko

Registered

​

Joined

Aug 18, 2002

• Nov 21, 2002

• #5

Dell, or if you got lots of $ Alienware. Those are kinda expensive though. My advise though is stay away from Compaq. Quite a lot of their stuff is getting to be proprietary and I had nothing but headaches with their tech support. One of the reasons I built myself a new rig.

 

C

CPFitz14

Member

​

Joined

May 23, 2002

Location

Michigan

• Nov 21, 2002

• #6

Yeah, I've heard dell is good. Our family computer is an hp, and It hasn't encountered any major problems yet.(and its even running windows me Alienware would be nice, but its definitely going to cost your friend.

-CPFitz-

 

kaltag

Senior Member

​

Joined

Jul 28, 2002

Location

Boise Idaho

• Nov 21, 2002

• #7

i would stay away from hp as much as possible. the next time you see a new hp in a store ask to look inside and you'll see why. The cooling in those things is awful. i'm really surprised nothing has caught fire at work yet (Compusa). all the manufacturers use undersized and proprietary power supplies anyway so which ever way you go you're not getting that great of a machine. if you have to i'd say go with a compaq or emachine if money is an issue.

 

nealric

Member

​

Joined

Sep 9, 2002

Location

under the floorboards

• Nov 21, 2002

• #8

compaq is satans ill begotten son- ive had nothing but headaches with them. I would stay away from the whoile hpaq alliance.
Dells get the job done (but they are far from perfect)
Alienware is great, but far far far too pricey
Directron.com sells some pretty nice pre watercooled rigs for a good price. Havent used one of these, but ive had excellent luck with them in general.

 

OP

o0OBruceLeeO0o

Member

​

Joined

Aug 18, 2002

Location

Charlotte, NC

• Nov 22, 2002

• Thread Starter
• #9

I dont think I will direct him to Compaq. My old computer, a compaq presario, was a Celeron. And when my parents got it from Compusa, they said it was a celeron. There was even a Intel Cerleron badge on it. Yet a couple months ago when I opened it for the first time (whew it was dusty) .........it had a K6-2 in it!!!!!!!! I think Dell is right for him. Thanks for replies guys! And if anyone else has any insight on this subject keep the replies comin

 

Demont

Member

​

Joined

Nov 6, 2001

• Nov 22, 2002

• #10

gateway

 

funnyperson1

Senior Member

​

Joined

Jun 16, 2001

• Nov 22, 2002

• #11

www.abspc.com seems good...their prices are awesome, and you choose the components....

 

KiKaL

Member

​

Joined

Jul 18, 2002

• Nov 22, 2002

• #12

I personally really like Compaq. I have a compaq laptop that has been working great for 3-4 years and the comp I am on now started out as a Compaq and slowly evolved to what it is now : P. I personally though have never had one problem with any of my compaqs.

 

mbentley

Gloriously Lead, Overclockix Chief Architect

Joined

Sep 26, 2002

Location

Indianapolis, IN

• Nov 22, 2002

• #13

KiKaL said:

I personally really like Compaq. I have a compaq laptop that has been working great for 3-4 years and the comp I am on now started out as a Compaq and slowly evolved to what it is now : P. I personally though have never had one problem with any of my compaqs.

Click to expand...

yep, i would definitely recommend compaq... mine was very stable and i never had a single problem with it (knock on wood) it still runs as my parent's machine at home. they're not the best for upgrading a ton, but what do you expect... it's got mostly custom parts. if you don't like compaq. i believe dell is the way to go. my school has all dells and they're great to work with, so my choices would have to be 1.) compaq, 2.) dell.

 

Captain Slug

Helpful Senior Member

​

Joined

May 23, 2001

Location

Asteroid B-612

• Nov 22, 2002

• #14

Falcon Northwest

Dell PCs (especially the lower end models) seem to have a short life span (2 or 3 years). I've owned two and they start having unexplainable problems once you get past the warranty.

 

mbentley

Gloriously Lead, Overclockix Chief Architect

Joined

Sep 26, 2002

Location

Indianapolis, IN

• Nov 22, 2002

• #15

Captain Slug said:

Falcon Northwest

Dell PCs (especially the lower end models) seem to have a short life span (2 or 3 years). I've owned two and they start having unexplainable problems once you get past the warranty.

Click to expand...

must be set to self destruct after the warranty runs out now wouldn't that be shady...

 

Captain Slug

Helpful Senior Member

​

Joined

May 23, 2001

Location

Asteroid B-612

• Nov 22, 2002

• #16

mbentley said:

must be set to self destruct after the warranty runs out now wouldn't that be shady...

Click to expand...

It's True! I just had to replace the motherboard in a 2 year old Dell because it had trouble booting up.

My other machine which I had for 4 years (bought it back when they had 3 year warrantees), the Processor died from heat damage because it was passive cooled for too long in the desert heat of Arizona.