If you had to buy a PC, what would you NOT buy?

[Cassie]

Spin off of other thread. I'm interested in what people don't particularly care for in the PC world.

And for the love of all that is good, no flaming PLEASE.

[dukebound85]

an integrated graphics card

[EV0LUTION]

I would make my own.

[Reventon]

As I said in the other thread, HPs. The Pavillion line to be precise. Not that reliable, or very powerful even when I got it. (Can't run Windows Movie maker, or NHL '06 a month after I bought the computer) and the fan is so loud it sounds like it's going to take off into flight.

[Schtumple]

I don't base it on what company, (it's not exactly hard to reinstall XP yourself...), but any product that has a MSI motherboard I steer well clear of, mine was my main reason for moving to macs, it would constantly cause BSODs 4 times a day, it became very hard to be productive... My dad got a MSI motherboard in a PC from PC World, it was fine for the first 6 months, then BSODs became infrequent, then frequent, then he replaced it with a Intel Motherboard, and all was well...

I'm pretty sure MSI make good motherboards, and mine and my dads problems are isolated, but it left a pretty sour taste in my mouth regarding MSI and PCs in general...

[dukebound85]

I would make my own.

really the only way to go desktop wise

[Cassie]

Whoops, forgot to post my own opinion.:p

Anything HP. I had a Pavillion for about 3 years before I got my Mac mini. Oh, it was horrible. Two motherboard replacements, countless re installs, video and audio problems, ugh... My parents used to be huge HP fans, until their last few had problems like mine did. Now they all have Dells, and I have one too. :D

[SuperCompu2]

eMachines. They have an average lifespan of about 3 months from my experience (never owned, serviced many)

My HP has never given me too many problems, no more than any other PC Brand other than say IBM (Had a Thinkpad way back when, loved it).

All the random companies you've never heard of (Medion, Averatec, etc.) usually provide equally crappy computers, so I usually stick with the mainstream lines. Sony and Dell are notoriously bad for reformatting though, what a pain (I work in my school's IT department, we play the nose game for Dells and Vaios :))

[Melrose]

Dell and Sony. Never ever.

[timerollson]

Dell and Sony. Never ever.

This and Hewlett-Packard/Compaq/Gateway/Toshiba, etc.

The only laptops I'd consider would be IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads.

[Arran]

Any desktop. I can't be bothered with cables and "furniture issues".

[sikkinixx]

An off the shelf one *hugs my do-it-yourself PC*

[Davy.Shalom]

This and Hewlett-Packard/Compaq/Gateway/Toshiba, etc.

The only laptops I'd consider would be IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads.

Smart guy. IBM lenovo are amazing. Very good warranty, and built like tanks. Just a bit ugly, but they are getting better.

I personally HATE eMachines, Dell, and any other company that sells a Celeron in a notebook.

I personally have an HP compaq 1.6 core duo, and its an amazing computer. Granted, it does have integrated graphics, but I bought it for $170 off a friend and then upgraded it. Very reliable.

Dell-I service dells a lot. Usually B-130s.
eMachines-I service the crappy motherboards they put in em.

[Mr. Giver '94]

I'd never buy a Compaq or Dell. :)

Nothing super fat.......oh wait I guess I'll have to go buy a MB

[FadeToBlack]

I will most likely never buy anything that's not a Mac. Last "PC" I had was an Eee PC that ran Linux. I liked it, but I have to have OS X and it was really too small for me. Just bought a new White MacBook a few days ago and I'll hopefully have it for a long time. I'm VERY happy with it. :cool:

[Dagless]

Any branded PC.

I'd build my own.

[63dot]

In the mid-90s, IBM was the one to avoid but they eventually got their act together and produced better machines, and very good laptops.

In the late-90s, HP was pretty good and eMachines were terrible. But today, I think they are about equal. No PC out there is that bad as they have either gone out of business or greatly improved. Dell was on the rise and eventually they got their quality up.

Sony was great back then but others have caught up and today's Sonys seem overpriced. Dells, some models, are probably just as good.

As much as I hated Dell 15 years ago, more than any PC, they are probably the best value for the dollar in the PC world.

Today I would avoid HP due to the wild swing in prices, quality, and corporate leadership over the years. Other companies seem safer to buy from. I keep an eye on the company, too as that is one factor few look at. While Apple has always been good for me and never let me down, their products seemed best when Jobs ran the show. I trust his intentions more than Scully in the past, though Scully may have been the best person to take Apple big. HP, which is not merely big but huge, is now more of an arbitrage racket and I would trust Bernie Madoff more.

This is one reason I like Apple, that they have not become so big, like HP, that in bad times, companies like HP feel they have to buy out other companies, just to sell off the pieces to make a profit or seriously reduce the ink in their already overpriced cartridges. I didn't think I would see a more predatory company than Microsoft (in its Bill as CEO days), but HP has taken the cake.

[nick9191]

I'd probably buy a Dell business machine. The business machines are actually quite good, its the cheap consumer machines you need to avoid like the plague.

And you want to check the prices on those if you think Macs are expensive.

Other than that, I've had 2 Toshiba's, not had a problem with either.

[63dot]

This and Hewlett-Packard/Compaq/Gateway/Toshiba, etc.

The only laptops I'd consider would be IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads.

What blew me away was I saw a Lenovo netbook, a pretty nice machine, but it was exactly the same machine as the Acer netbook, only a different color. I don't know who makes which one for who, but I suspect a lot of common parts, if not outright clones of each other, in the PC world.

[neiltc13]

MacBook Air. The specs on that thing are terrible and it isn't really any more portable than any other 13 inch notebook.

[remmy]

Dell - from personal experience of people who own and have to use these machines they are incredibly poor quality.

PC world, pretty poor customer service.

[jessica.]

At this point and based on what I've done for the last 15 years before I moved to all Macs would be to build my own. I had the Compaqs, Dells, HPs ... and quite frankly none of them seemed to stand up to a home grown machine. However, if I had to buy something, I think I'd get a Sony. I would stay away from Compaq/HP these days.

[notjustjay]

To the folks that say they wouldn't buy Dell, remember that they have different lines consumers and business. The business lines cost more, but will be higher build quality and offer better support.

That said, there will still be issues -- I was setting up a Precision M6400 the other day (a beast!) and discovered the hard drive was failing, right out of the box.

If I were buying a PC today, I'd probably build one myself, or buy a Latitude laptop.

[Sesshi]

Personally, the XPS M1330.

It was a disaster of Apple proportions.

[thefnshow]

definatly sony...i make my own...love gigabyte motherboards

[Vivaldi]

For desktop machines, I'd always make my own — there's a better degree of flexibility and control, and it's also cheaper. So in that case, I probably would not buy a general HP machine.

For laptops, I'd never buy anything from HP as well. If I had a choice, I'd have to go with IBM/Lenovo, even though their laptops are pretty terrible. I say this because, when compared to other laptops on the market, their machines are masterpieces.

[Beerfloat]

Anything with Intel onboard graphics

[fireshot91]

a G Wi-Fi Card.



I WANT N~

[dinaluvsApple]

never buy any of the mainstream brands!





for business and work- LENOVO
for fun and play-SAGER

[rhett7660]

I would build my own.

[macfan881]

actaully ive had pretty good luck with dell in my family my dad has had 3 wich were givin to work after they needed to be upgraded and never had any problems. im staying away from HP/qompaq cause they have this dumb way of having restore disks to wich they partition 6 gigs or so and use that as the restore. and now if you need to replace the hd or get a virus like i did and couldnt even start up to get the reformat ur screwed i had to order a restore cd from compaq 12 bucks and shiping so i had to run Linux on a live cd for a week or two while i had to wait for the restore disk

[bbbensen]

I dont think that I would ever get a Dell. I never liked them much, and when I think of them, I think of cheap.

[marbles]

My brother has a dell 1530(i think it is) laptop and it's rubbish , my G3 iMac load pages quicker

[toolbox]

i would not buy a HP / Compaq / Acer

The company i work for does warranty work for both hp, compaq and acer. The amount of stuff that has to be fixed is scary

Safest way is to built you own!

[Avizzv92]

Dell, never owned a Dell that lasted more then 2 years...

When windows 7 comes out I hope to build my own PC for my gaming needs. It's so much cheaper, I priced how much it would be and roughly $650 for a pretty nice set up that would be 1.5k+ retail.

[kastenbrust]

definatly sony...i make my own...love gigabyte motherboards

I agree with the Sony bit, but personally i build my own.

and gigabyte? :confused: no way!

[zap2]

never buy any of the mainstream brands!





for business and work- LENOVO


Lenovo is pretty mainstream


For me, I'd have to say any of those big bulky PC laptops..I just have no need for them(although I see some do)

[Turmoil]

I would never buy another HP laptop.

I doubt I would buy any Windows PC but I have a specially bad taste for HP.

[63dot]

I would never buy another HP laptop.

I doubt I would buy any Windows PC but I have a specially bad taste for HP.

Chalk up yet another one for HP, he he - I voted your way, and it would be interesting to see if HP (or should I call them HP-gate, or Dell were the most unpopular. Sony is also mentioned more than once. But smart money, and unfortunately more money, would have me buy a Sony if I were to buy a full fledged PC and not a PC netbook, which is the only PC that interests me at this point.

If Apple comes out with a netbook (iNetbook), then I will probably never buy a PC again, or for a very long time. While Apple is the innovator, they didn't come out with the first MP3 player or cellphone, so in some markets, even ones they are the world leader in today, they came in late.

If Apple gets a netbook, if priced right, the PC companies' existing versions will look like junk.

[thefnshow]

what's wrong with gigabyte motherboards ?