Computer?

[LemhiRG]

Hi all,

I am in the process of buying a new computer, and it's main function is going to be having Photoshop Elements on it, a bunch of photos, and a DVD burner. It will not likely even be hooked to the internet. The past two weeks I have ordered two Gateway media centers, and sent two Gateway media centers back. The first one came with a "virus" (Gateway's words) and made the operating system (Vista) not recognize some of the hardwear, the second, Vista wouldn't recognize it's own programs (control panel, personalize settings, etc)! So - I am all shot of Gateway (sorry to any Gateways users out there, but you can understand my complete frustration). What does everyone have and recommend?

Gracias!

Sara

[lowbone]

Hey, sometimes there is no sunshine on the Horizon,
Two weeks ago I bought a new HP computer at Best Buy. Ideal, I thought for my Photshop needs with 3 gigs of RAM and 500Gigs of storage. Every time I put in a password it would jumble the letters as if it was encoding. After six trips back to Best Buy with my complete computer, a messed up back from carrying all of that stuff and a threat to turn it over to the consumer division of the attorney generals office they finally did an exchange and gave me a new computer. This one seems to be O.K. A Techie friend in the computer business told me that none of the computer companies bench test their equipment before shipping anymore. They feel it is cheaper for them to deal with the lemons then it is to test everything. If you and are are an indication of the market in general there will be allot of lemons to deal with.

[Codebreaker]

My vote goes to Dell. I've used them for years and years and had virtually no problems. Reliable, good after sales service and reasonable prices.


Colin

[Joe M]

I'm not sure who is making the best computer now.

My wife has a Dell that's been reliable and works good. I recently helped my Aunt order a new Dell that she is very happy with. I have a Gateway laptop that's about a year old and haven't had any problems.

I recently built my own desktop computer. It was the first time I built a computer from scratch and it was much easier than I thought it would be. There are plenty of how-to guides on-line.

Some people may disagree but I personally would not use Windows Vista yet. There just seems to be way to many problems with it that Windows XP doesn't have. That may change when the new Service Pack comes out for Vista, we'll have to see. (Many big computer makers will let you install XP instead of Vista.)

Let us know what you decide to get and how it works out.

[elwoodsusanm]

I have Sony Vaio with Vista - no complaints so far:D

[LemhiRG]

I should have mentioned that I am only looking at desktops, not laptops at the moment. :)

[baycruisers]

I bought an HP a6130 (I think that's the model; I'm at work) at CompUsa about 6 weeks ago for $50 less than Best Buy. It has Vista, 3 GB RAM and 500 GB storage with built in memory card readers. It has run flawlessly and is extremely quiet.

[cats4jan]

On my third Dell desktop - had two Gateway destops

Have never had a problem with any of them.

When you order a computer - from whomever - tell them to leave the "craplets" off them. (Not my word - saw it in a computer column)

My Dell came loaded with so many trial versions of junk programs that I was truly annoyed. Wish I knew then what I know now. You do not HAVE TO take all the junk they GET PAID to load onto your computer - and you can still ask for XP instead of Vista.

[Codebreaker]

'Craplets' - like it :-)

That's the first thing I always do - get rid of it. It's a bit of a con really because many folks I've talked to think they're getting all this wonderful stuff for free only to find out they need to insert money after 90 days.

Colin

[lowbone]

I got them to take all of the offers off my computer. I think any dealer will do it but you have to ask. Vista works flawlessly on my machine. I think the new computeras that are loaded with Vista work well it is the so called Vista ready ones that have problems. At any rate it will only be a year or two before people start having trouble with programs and software if they are still on XP. That's what hapened with Windows 95 and 98.

[raindog]

I read a lot of reviews and comments before recently getting a Dell 531 desktop with 22" monitor, 2gs, Vista Premium. It's run perfectly. For simple stuff I'm doing, Vista hasn't presented any problems, though it's true, to more of a degree than many people are accustomed to, the new security system throws up an approval box you've got to click on for the computer to proceed in opening certain programs, web pages, downloads.

The one irritating exception relates to the upgrade vid card I ordered so that I could get the monitor to run off DVI. Before long, I realized that photos had weird proportions, eventually leading me to understand that scaling was amiss. The instruction manual talked about scaling, but the card's control panel wouldn't provide for it. It turned out that the card supported scaling, and only needed drivers updated. For a novice like me, discovering this involved a lot of time online dealing with dell's "tech support". You feel like you're paying a lot of money for gear. It'd be nice if manufacturers just set it up right from the get-go to, thereby saving everyone a lot of time and money.

There's lots of horror stories around associated with any manufacturers product. To a certain extent you're probably just lucky if you do get a good machine from HP, Dell or the others, even though they're basically good companies. With so many machines produced, somebody's going to get a lemon from time to time.

[baycruisers]

On my third Dell desktop - had two Gateway destops

Have never had a problem with any of them.

When you order a computer - from whomever - tell them to leave the "craplets" off them. (Not my word - saw it in a computer column)

My Dell came loaded with so many trial versions of junk programs that I was truly annoyed. Wish I knew then what I know now. You do not HAVE TO take all the junk they GET PAID to load onto your computer - and you can still ask for XP instead of Vista.

There's a free program called the "De-Crapifier" that purports to remove much of the "free trial offers" and similar doodoo. I ran it and it didn't do much and I ended up removing a number of programs manually, but it was easy.

http://pcdecrapifier.com/

[baderms]

I get all mine built to my specifications at a small shop in northern Virginia that I've been dealing with for 15 years. I have computers from them that have been running without a hiccup for 8 years. They give a one year warranty on parts and 5 years on labor. For some of my customers though that want to buy off the shelf I've been recommending HP as Dell isn't what is used to be and their customer service leaves lots to be desired.

[baycruisers]

I bought an inexpensive custom-built PC 4 years ago when my office computer motherboard failed. They took the old HD out and put it into the new PC so I didn't lose any data or even have to reinstall some programs. It has run flawlessly ever since (OK, the cooling fan rattles for about a minute at startup). Don't overlook a custom PC from a reliable local source.