For personal use, I usually build my own since I end up using a lot of spare parts, and it just comes out cheaper. But if someone asks me to build them one, I direct them to Dell. For really basic stuff like internet and homework, Dell rocks for the price. My gf has a Dell and its running well.

 

I personally own a Dell desktop and an IBM laptop right now. The Dell has given me a few issues, but nothing major concidering i've owned it for about 4 years at this point. The IBM ThinkPad laptop I just got in January through my school and I absolutly love it. Its lightweight, seems to be durable, and overall is an amazing machine...


On the otherhand, I used to own a Gateway Desktop about 6 years ago.... man that thing was a pos :jlammy:

 

Just to be fair let me say this to give you a cheap option.

I bought my Emachine as a temp computer for $300 while I was building another. After rebates I think I paid all of $150 or so.

Now for the price I paid I was fairly impressed but not astounded.
Once I upgraded the RAM to 1 gig and swapped out sound and vid cards it and installed XP Pro it was actually a pretty decent machine and I still have it somewhere around here.

The thing I didn't like was the proprietary motherboard configuration. Lack of overclocking ability (may have changed) and getting Windows ME as stock OS.

 

ive never had any probs w/dell.

..i'd rather get a dell than hassle over pirated software or worrying about finding software updates

 

This is amusing.

 

please enlighten us then, mr. linux. :bowdown:

 

Just for your sarcasim. No.

 

For PC, I'd go with Dell.
At places i've worked or had personal experiences with, I think Dell is the most reliable of all. For work, i've dealt with Gateway, Dell and Micron. Personally (not work related), I've dealt with Sony, Acer, Toshiba, HP, Compaq, Packard Bell. Also, I have had no problems with the last Compaq that I bought. It runs great.

 

:chuckles: dammit!

 

well I bought a Dell in 1999 or 2000 I think (?), whenever the first 1g p4 processors were coming out. now that I know more about PCs I can look back and say it was A B S U R D L Y overpriced. I actually financed it through Dell because I couldn't pay for it at once.

I will say while it worked, it worked great. but it "crashed" one day (the WEEK before I was sending them my final payment, lol) and I couldnt figure out if it was the mb or the power supply. either way I couldnt fix it without ordering new parts from dell because the parts they use are (or were, I dont know if they still are) so proprietary. so I just built a new pc at that point. the only part I was really able to use in the new pc I built was the floppy drive, lol, and I even had to rip the face off it to get it to fit in any new case.

so I wouldnt really call that "user error"... it crapped out and I couldnt fix it without ordering the parts from dell at about 50% more cost.

with that said I wouldnt buy a dell if I had to by from a manufacturer unless I got a rediculousy good deal and it was only going to be temporary. I also bought a gateway back in 1995 which honestly worked just fine. of course I knew even less about PCs then but I don't recall ever having problems with it. in fact I still have the 4gb hd that was in it, lol. but I can't speak for them now because since the dell issue I have only built PCs if I need them.