Poll: Branded Desktop PC Choices

[falcon2000]

If you don't BYO, which brand of major national brand desktop will you buy? Feel free to explain your choice and tell me any brand that is not in the poll.

[jseidel]

I would pick Asus. They are able to use many of their own branded components and being the new kid on the block, they have to try harder. Many of their machines have good specs and, of course, Asus motherboards which I have come to prefer. I see nice "bundles" for Asus PC's with Asus branded wide screen monitors that are very tempting at Fry's, other big box retailers.
I personally will not buy a PC unless the Windows DVD comes with it. To my knowledge, none of the "major national brands" offer the Windows DVD with their machines. In many cases you don't even get recovery CD's any more. The recovery program is on a partition on the hard drive and if the hard drive goes out . . .
J.

[Steve R Jones]

jseidel - the new machines allow you to create your own dvd's.. And if the hard drive goes out you can get a replacement dvd from them for the cost of shipping...

I've always used Dell for desktops... Just order nine Lenovo lappys for the office yesterday. Spending 4k wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be... Guess it was cause I get to set them all up...

[bistro]

HP bought out Compaq some time ago. They are now one and the same. Though I would never buy a retail desktop for myself, I went with Dell for my daughter's laptop simply for ease of service and a good payment plan, so I would probably recommend to non-builders to go with Dell for a desktop (but get a model with a dedicated graphics card). My gaming laptop is a custom job from GenTech ( I wouldn't care to try building one).

[Midknyte]

I think it comes down to the least of all evils.

I would say Dell. Build quality has been decent compared to other brands. You can still get a vanilla Windows DVD, at least with the corporate systems.

HP/Compaq are one company now. So is Acer/Gateway/eMachines. Lenovo bought out IBMs PC group, so there are some similarities.

[cdroman]

If I was going to buy a pre-built desktop, I would just pick any of the top brands that had all the features I was looking for at the right price at the time. I did pick Lenovo simply because my son just recently got a thinkpad tablet and we really like it.

[falcon2000]

I have always build my own, so I don't know much about ready-made machines. From time to time, some of my clients want only name brands computers; hence, this poll.

I am surprised thus far that Lenovo doesn't get more votes. I have always heard from people that Lenovo is, relatively speaking, better than everybody else.

p.s., I am going to start a post on Laptop also.

[Midknyte]

I've worked on a bunch of IBM systems, but I haven't seen the newest Lenovos. If they take after their IBM heritage, they can be a headache to work on. These are from a tech perspective, not an end-user perspective.

Granted that Dell had some dumb designs (clamshell cases on the GX270 for example).

[bistro]

Granted that Dell had some dumb designs (clamshell cases on the GX270 for example).

Yeah...that one is pretty weird-looking.

[jseidel]

jseidel - the new machines allow you to create your own dvd's.. And if the hard drive goes out you can get a replacement dvd from them for the cost of shipping...

Yea, I should know that, but I still think recovery discs should come with a new machine. Our first computer running Windows 95 was an NEC Ready and it came with recovery discs which I ended up using 3 times over the life of unit. Our second one was an HP Pav with Win 98 and it also came with recovery discs that, remarkably, I never had to use. We had that HP Pav for nine years! To to replace it we bought another HP and it went thru 2 hard drives in 4 years, and the recovery was on a partition on the failed drives. The second time I replaced it with a new Seagate Barracuda (HP installed WD drives) and upgraded it to Windows 7 from Vista. The quality we had with the HP Pav Windows 98 rig was not same with the replacement.
My present rig from Digital Storm came with the Windows 7 DVD. Most of the "boutique" builders provide the Windows DVD with their systems.
J.

[Train]

Dell is the store brand most of my clients get.
Mine are custom or home built.

Laptop, Toshiba has never given me a problem.

[cdroman]

Yea, I should know that, but I still think recovery discs should come with a new machine. Our first computer running Windows 95 was an NEC Ready and it came with recovery discs which I ended up using 3 times over the life of unit. Our second one was an HP Pav with Win 98 and it also came with recovery discs that, remarkably, I never had to use. We had that HP Pav for nine years! To to replace it we bought another HP and it went thru 2 hard drives in 4 years, and the recovery was on a partition on the failed drives. The second time I replaced it with a new Seagate Barracuda (HP installed WD drives) and upgraded it to Windows 7 from Vista. The quality we had with the HP Pav Windows 98 rig was not same with the replacement.
My present rig from Digital Storm came with the Windows 7 DVD. Most of the "boutique" builders provide the Windows DVD with their systems.
J.

We bought a pre built machine, but I didn't like all the trial ware/crap etc. that comes with them. A recovery disc is not necessary; I did a clean OEM install and use a good imaging program to store an image on a portable drive and on my NAS in case of a problem. I wiped the recovery partition that comes with it. Bought it because it was on at a price cheaper than I could build it myself. Not much is high quality in theses days of throw away components. It seems like I am always replacing something that breaks or stops functioning properly (not just computer components)

[falcon2000]

Granted that Dell had some dumb designs (clamshell cases on the GX270 for example).

We have an old Dell (not sure the model) which uses the same clamshell case. Oh boy, it is difficult to open and close. And then, it gets in the way even when it's opened. Yeah, that one is dumb. Having said that, one thing I do like about Dell's desktop cases is that they are tool-less for the most parts.