Brand Name Status

Wasn't certain this fit any other forum.

I repair business computers for a living. I'm kind of the low end of the IT business. That's fine. The problem is, most of my contracts and assignments are working with companies utilizing legacy hardware, and usually from one brand. So when coworkers approach me, and ask for computer brands to buy or stay clear of, I have to rely on reading, which is not always current. I know several of you are more tuned in than I so I ask: which brands currently would you recommend to another for home useage? Or recommend staying clear, and why?

Dell - I'm a bit distrustful of them for now, because of that whole flawed capacitor fiasco. I've actually encountered the problem repeatedly at a school district I serviced.

Dell's Alienware

Gateway

Lenovo - I tend to be wary of things coming from China, but then so many items from the pc front do come from China nowadays. The business Lenovo's I've encountered from about 2005-2006 issue seemed fairly solid.

HP/Compaq - I'm not overly thrilled with these. Last 2 years I've worked on hundreds of these, and there was, IMO, an unusually high failure rate on major parts. What's your view?

Sony

Toshiba

Other?

EDIT: corrected some unclear wording in the Lenovo description

Another OEM to look at is Asus. They make pretty good netbooks (really being the ones to largely kick off the market with the eee pc), and their higher end notebooks also avoid fairly well at become those semi-portable desktops-with-a-battery style systems.

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

Lenovo is still who I look at first when it _has_ to work. These machines are used by people whose bill rate approaches the cost of the hardware, so virtually any decrease in downtime is worth the extra money for reliability.

For my own use, my last three laptops have been ASUS. They've consistently delivered the feature set I was looking for at the best price.

Dell
I used to love Dell. Then, in my opinion, they started consistently doing things wrong, or at least in a 'sub-optimal' manner. They moved their tech support off-shore and it STUNK. It's better now, but still sub-par. A lot of their components are custom items - particularly power supplies. My office has a ton of Dells, and we continue to buy from them because their prices are good and the reliability is acceptable 'out of the box'. If anything goes wrong, *I* diagnose it and fix it.

Dell's Alienware
Dunno. No experience.

Gateway
I've owned a Gateway and my office has had several. However, this was YEARS ago. I was absolutely satisfied with them, but have no recent experience.

Lenovo
I expected quality to decline when they bought the product line from IBM but, so far, they seem to be doing a good job. I had opportunity to use a Lenovo notebook not too long ago and I'd buy one for myself without hesitation.

HP/Compaq
My office has one of these. (Everything else is Dell, except our IBM server.) The price was good, features were good and zero problems so far. Hardly extensive experience, but so far, so good.

Sony
Dunno. No experience.

Toshiba
I like Toshiba. My mother had a Toshiba laptop and I had a subnotebook. Pretty good bang for the buck and neither of us had any problems.


I do a lot of reading about computers and manufacturers, too. I was looking at buying a netbook. If I was going to buy a netbook today, it would probably be Asus.

I've owned 2 HP/Compaq pre-built PCs over the past 6 years. My first one was bought at Wal*Mart, and is still running strong. Granted, I've upgraded the RAM, HDD, CD-ROM (to DVD burner) and OS, and stuck a vidja card and wireless network card in it, but it's still doing fine. I gave it to The Wife™ back in February when I got my current HP from Best Buy.

Before I gave The Wife™ my old HP, she had a Dell Dimension 2400 that she also got in 2004. It, too, was just fine. It's currently sitting on the table here in my office, semi-gutted. I'll probably upgrade it some when school gets to the point where The Child™ needs a compy for schoolwork.

The only problem we had with either of those compys from 2004 were HDDs dying. IMO, for general use, they're both fine. For casual gaming, some upgrades will need to be made. For hardcore gaming, not so much without major upgrades. And for that, you're probably gonna be better off having a compy custom built for your needs.

[ ProTip: The banner is a link to art refs!! | The Khellection | The HBAS Repository | Brute Guides (4/16/10) | How To Post An Image - A Quick Guide ]
Biggest Troll on the forums? I'll give you a hint:

I have a lowish opinion of Sony, in that their hardware tends to be pretty but... I guess I'd say idiosyncratic. They tend to use weird non-standard parts and the support for them may be dodgy.

I've been not-miserable with HP in the distant past, but Carly sorta wrecked them, I don't know whether they've recovered.

Lenovo's apparently preserved a fair bit of the awesome that was the ThinkPad line, although obviously there are a lot of people saying it's not as good anymore. But then, people always say that about everything.

Had some pretty bad experiences with Dell in the past.

Have had decent luck with the eMachines part of Gateway; they weren't high-end machines, but they were okay. Had great luck with Toshiba hardware in the past but it hasn't been relevant to me for a couple-few years.

I am actually thinking about getting a desktop PC with specific intent to run CoH on it, but I am terrified of having to deal with Windows again. (I'm not a Windows guy, and the marginal cost of learning to maintain another operating system for a single application is pretty high.)

Sony makes good hardware. However, being Sony, half of just about everything is proprietary. Custom sized power supplies, cases designed to fit the hardware for that model and very little else, etc. Acceptable in a laptop, not acceptable in a desktop.

In addition, driver updates are spotty at best. Sony apparently believes a> you don't need to upgrade your computer ever and b> when Sony's support runs out, it must be time for you to trade in or throw away your old computer.

I did the Dell Mainboard Replacement runs a few years back myself, doing the same thing (subbing for Unisys, driving around doing multiples at a time almost every day at multiple schools.)

Generally? If I have people ask now, I tell them "All I see are the problems" - which really skews things. Much like a mfgr's forum - nobody posts to say "Hey, everyone, everything's working great, no problems here!"

I'll tend to point people toward consumer reports, PC magazines, etc. for reliability and (stressing) satisfaction with support, with a mention not to buy the cheapest models from anyone.

Then I'll go build my own system.

See my Guides and Tutorials

Thank you for the responses so far! It sounds like Lenovo and Asus are shaping up to be the leaders for recommended purchases. I've used Asus for years in my home builds. I'd forgotten their complete models.

Quote:

because of that whole flawed capacitor fiasco

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironblade Man, it never ends. I had a Quantex system with popped capacitors on the motherboard. This was in 2002.

From what I gather, the "flawed capacitor fiasco" as I called it, resulted from a Chinese capacitor company doing shoddy work. The capacitors were passed along to Dell and other companies. The real problem was that Dell not only failed to acknowledge the problem but actively tried to cover up the story and continue selling defective product, rather than forcing a correction in the manufacturing process. That, to me, really takes a hit to the trust relationship. I've not learned which other companies also suffered from the capacitor problem, nor how they handled it. Here is a link to a ZDNet article discussing the case.

Quote:

Originally Posted by seebs Have had decent luck with the eMachines part of Gateway; they weren't high-end machines, but they were okay. I am actually thinking about getting a desktop PC with specific intent to run CoH on it, but I am terrified of having to deal with Windows again. (I'm not a Windows guy, and the marginal cost of learning to maintain another operating system for a single application is pretty high.)

You just recently came to CoH, right? and you are considering a CoH rig? Sounds like you're liking our part of the universe.
Thanks for the eMachines comment. I admit to having snobbishly thumbed my nose at them. Perhaps that was hasty. I'll do further checking in a reconsideration.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starcloud Sony makes good hardware. However, being Sony, half of just about everything is proprietary. Custom sized power supplies, cases designed to fit the hardware for that model and very little else, etc. Acceptable in a laptop, not acceptable in a desktop. In addition, driver updates are spotty at best. Sony apparently believes a> you don't need to upgrade your computer ever and b> when Sony's support runs out, it must be time for you to trade in or throw away your old computer.

This sounds...so typical of Sony. I'd hoped for better, but it fits the pattern. Thanks for the feedback!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattMiracle Toshiba - Dont get me started. It was really bad for us as we had 2-3 month wait for repair parts when the units were failing in just year 2. Lots more problems with our repair company but that is a different story. HP/Compaq - No true PC experence here. We use their servers for our infrastucture and have not had any problems.

Great feedback all around, MattMiracle. Thank you! My experiences had left Toshiba pushed to the background with a "meh". Yours is more precise info.

HP/Compaq: I'll flesh out my experiences a bit. I had a project the last 2 years supporting a bank using HP/Compaq exclusively. Server-wise, I cannot really comment. Most servers had been kept in duty too long and were frail. The new servers were too new to show problem patterns. My big issues were with desktops and laptops. New desktop models dc7600 to dc7900 had just under a 20% hard drive failure rate in the first 4 months of service. Mid-aged laptop model nc8430 (about 4 years old) was my bane, with significant patterned failure rates in the vid screen, hard drive, and motherboards, especially at the point of power connections. They also had pattern problems with thermal issues. The new nc8510 and nc8530 models had patterned problems of sluggish behavior.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill Generally? If I have people ask now, I tell them "All I see are the problems" - which really skews things. Much like a mfgr's forum - nobody posts to say "Hey, everyone, everything's working great, no problems here!" I'll tend to point people toward consumer reports, PC magazines, etc. for reliability and (stressing) satisfaction with support, with a mention not to buy the cheapest models from anyone. Then I'll go build my own system. FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT="

A good answer, Bill! I would note, though, that an absence of patterned problems also makes a statement. I did a 9-month contract involving dozens of IBM/Lenovo desktops and laptops. There were no patterned problems, just software stuff and the occasional odds and ends hardware issue. It impressed me, surprising since I've become jaded, wondering if anything good comes from China.

I build my own systems, too. Its fun! But mostly I'm asking so as to assist the Average Joe who doesn't know video card from sound card.

Sony-Good for as long as you just need that... When I gutted my VAIO, I had to upgrade the case and power supply just to add a video card and cpu fan. The motherboard was put in with some crazy reverse screwed in method so it was not just a one for one swap. It rocked when I needed that computer but sony doesn't seem to want you swapping stuff. Also once I gutted it, the TV card was not recognized by Vista and the computer components were not "recognized" by Sony's drivers as a VAIO computer, so the package would not install.

Toshiba-I had a laptop with a dedicated graphics card and a cheapo Celeron. It still worked nicely with the game. The only downside was when my brother corrupted it and got the blue screen. I reinstalled Vista and it can't find the dedicated graphics, so the game says it doesn't support it and won't run the game.

For building a computer, I stick with EVGA now because of their cross-shipment returns. When you register, you have options on how you want your component shipped if anything should stop working. Then they ship the new component to you before you ship the old one. This let's you return stuff, receive your part, and then send the defective part, so your system is not crippled.

Those are the only real opinions I have on specific things.

Sony-Good for as long as you just need that... When I gutted my VAIO, I had to upgrade the case and power supply just to add a video card and cpu fan. The motherboard was put in with some crazy reverse screwed in method so it was not just a one for one swap. It rocked when I needed that computer but sony doesn't seem to want you swapping stuff. Also once I gutted it, the TV card was not recognized by Vista and the computer components were not "recognized" by Sony's drivers as a VAIO computer, so the package would not install.

Toshiba-I had a laptop with a dedicated graphics card and a cheapo Celeron. It still worked nicely with the game. The only downside was when my brother corrupted it and got the blue screen. I reinstalled Vista and it can't find the dedicated graphics, so the game says it doesn't support it and won't run the game.

For building a computer, I stick with EVGA now because of their cross-shipment returns. When you register, you have options on how you want your component shipped if anything should stop working. Then they ship the new component to you before you ship the old one. This let's you return stuff, receive your part, and then send the defective part, so your system is not crippled.

Those are the only real opinions I have on specific things.

Here's my 2 cents on laptops from personal experience.

IBM - I've had 4 of them, 3 have died on me. They seemed to live 2-3 years then quit. One of them was sent in for repair (warranty) and came back functional but died about a year later. The last IBM I had was bought around 2004. The last one is still functional but was retired a number of years ago.

Sony - I've had two 17" Vaio units, both are still in use. One of them lost it's DVD drive and occasionally shows some strange behavior but it's still working 3 years later. The other has been relatively trouble free.

Asus - I currently have 3 of them, all are relatively inexpensive in the $400-$500 range; one is 2 years old and the other two are new in the last 6 months. All three are working perfectly and seem to offer considerable bang for the buck. The older one has been 100% reliable from day one (well, once I reformatted it to XP from Vista) as a Flash Video encoding machine working pretty constantly.

Sager - I've had two, one was purchased in 2003 and destroyed in a fire in '04 but trouble free for the time I had it. The other is a huge 17", 11lb monster that I bought as a video editor (and the machine I'm typing on right now) and it's been bulletproof. Fast, reliable, expensive and heavy and solid as a rock. I've had it for 3 years now, added two hard drives (it has 3 bays) and reformatted the OS a couple of times but it's a workhorse. Lugged around from show to show, banged up, broken the lid latch, cracked the case and it still works perfectly. Apparently you can't kill it with a hammer.

Dell - I've had two, one was bought in the late '90's and worked pretty well until it's retirement 4 years later. The other was bought in '04 and was one of the "inexpensive" units they sold at the time. To say it was a piece of junk is an understatement; constant crashes and file corruption, replaced the HD and reformatted to the same issues, replaced RAM to no avail and finally relegated it to a word processing machine until it finally died.

Alienware - I JUST bought a MX11 last month; it's a bit too early to tell about it's quality but a core i7 with a low level UM COH capable Nvidia card in a 4lb package that small seems promising. It has a few quirks with the software; when I get the chance I'll be formatting it to get rid of the garbage.

All my machines except for the new Alienware have been formatted and reinstalled; I've found that the garbage that OEM's put on the machines causes more problems than it's worth.

I haven't bought an OEM desktop since '92, the last was a Packard Bell so you'll understand why I preferred building my own after that