Recommended PC?

I would recommend Lenovo products they are built really well. Dell is not bad but I know there laptops feel cheap imo.

Either Acer or ASUS, hands down. The other guys don't hold a candle to them, unless you're willing to spring for something like a Falcon Northwest or the sort. Lenovo is also decent.

DerfBWH said:

Either Acer or ASUS, hands down. The other guys don't hold a candle to them, unless you're willing to spring for something like a Falcon Northwest or the sort. Lenovo is also decent.

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Are you honestly suggesting Acer? You can't even compare Acer to ASUS or Lenovo.. IMO.. I've tried several Acer Laptops, after half a year, to a year they broke down. These were NOT the super cheap laptops. Every single person I know who've had an Acer laptop had problems within the first year. I would definitely go with a Lenovo or an ASUS laptop - price is decent and quality is top notch!

EDIT: reading your comment again, I am not quite sure if you mean workstations or laptops. I have no experience with pre-build workstations so I can't comment on that.

EDIT2: As for the Asus I mean the Zenbook line! You can get those in 13" and 15" now! Otherwise, stick with Lenovo's thinkpad series!

DerfBWH said:

Either Acer or ASUS, hands down. The other guys don't hold a candle to them, unless you're willing to spring for something like a Falcon Northwest or the sort. Lenovo is also decent.

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Those two aren't the worst (Dell and Sony tie for WORST) but they certainly aren't anywhere near the best in terms of quality, performance and price. Lenovo is hands down the best. ThinkPads are used exclusively in many Fortune 500 companies. I also see them here at Intel. HP is a close second. But stay away from Dell, Sony, Acer and Asus. Those represent the lowest end with Dell and Sony bottoming out that list.

Back to the OP, if I had to buy a Windows machine, I'd buy a Lenovo. But try to avoid their IdeaCentre, IdeaPad lines. The ThinkPad, ThinkCentre lines are much better.

I used IBM/Lenovo laptops for work for many years and never had a failure. These were all business class models, not the consumer ones.

designs216 said:

Friends and family will often ask for PC hardware recommendations and though Dell drove me back to Apple years ago, I haven't the foggiest idea what Windoze box is actually good. So the question is, if you had to buy a PC, which one would you choose? If your answer varies for laptop vs. workstation, please differentiate.

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If I was buying a pc I'd buy an imac.

If I was going to buy a windows box it would have to have a great cpu with windows 7

For a laptop anything in the ThinkPad line at Lenovo is pretty good. Just make sure to help them choose something with at-least an i5 and a screen with a decent resolution (i.e. not 1280 x 800)

For a desktop, if they have a decent monitor/keyboard/mouse have them get a Mac Mini base model. That is a good price for mac or pc. If they only want to use windows you can install bootcamp for them and then you can get them to use OSX little by little for things windows can't do until one they they will stop booting into Windows.

Lenovo ThinkPad. That's what I'd have if I wasn't into Macs.

SnowLeopard2008 said:

Those two aren't the worst (Dell and Sony tie for WORST) but they certainly aren't anywhere near the best in terms of quality, performance and price. Lenovo is hands down the best. ThinkPads are used exclusively in many Fortune 500 companies. I also see them here at Intel. HP is a close second. But stay away from Dell, Sony, Acer and Asus. Those represent the lowest end with Dell and Sony bottoming out that list.

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Acer? Yeah. They've always been sort of a middling brand to me. But Asus? Nooo. They produce some of the best computers money can buy...so long as you stay away from their lower end offerings. I've been buying computers and components from them for years, and they've never let me down. Any of their $600+ machines are about as solid as you can ask for.

But I'll back you up on Lenovo. They make some great stuff.

I really like my Lenovo T400 Thinkpad I use at work. A couple of years old, but if I had to get a PC laptop today, I'd spring for a T430. I love the matte screen and 14" is perfect imo.

Intel NUC, for $299 it's a really neat of hardware. Although you have to add a SSD, RAM and Wireless card...hmm maybe its not such a good deal after all.

Lenovo, toshiba, or Samsung.

With the others I would only by business models:
Lattitude, elitebook etc

Dell, Lenovo... The trick is, don't buy consumer brands, buy the business brands - Vostro, Latitude, or ThinkPad.

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designs216 said:

I wanted people to reflect good experiences with either form factor, although it seems like the thread currently addresses portables.

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My point still stands. A Vostro desktop is much nicer than an XPS system, and without the bloatware.

There are several makers of decent workstations and laptops. The Lenevo used to be an IBM product but now is ENTIRELY a CHINESE company that has stated it wants to dominate the market entirely. While it is sad that American companies use China labor instead of home based, it is even sadder if Americans buy from Lenevo given their mission and their ability to dilute the market.

There are plenty of workstations and laptops that rate well and more than comparable to a Lenevo product. - and of course, one can always dual boot a Mac.

While I use a Mac presently, I love the flexibility of the PC world and for workstation, I have from DOS days always built my own as I knew what was exactly in it that was to my specs.

designs216 said:

Friends and family will often ask for PC hardware recommendations and though Dell drove me back to Apple years ago, I haven't the foggiest idea what Windoze box is actually good. So the question is, if you had to buy a PC, which one would you choose? If your answer varies for laptop vs. workstation, please differentiate.

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If laptop, then Asus or Lenovo

If desktop, then build your own

designs216 said:

I greatly admire folks with the know-how to build their own and it probably screams for a fraction of the cost. I'm not smart enough however to bring together compatible components that will play nice together and the folks that are asking me just want a no-fuss dependable PC.

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If you want no fuss then buy a business desktop from HP, Dell or Lenovo, or consumer one from a local store. They can be the easiest to deal with returns and part replacements.

AVA direct are another alternative here as they are a major vendor. http://www.avadirect.com/

If you want performance and no fuss then go with a workstation.

If you want the best value yet also good gaming performance then you need to look at one of the online custom PC builders like ibuypower, can find others just by searching for ibuypower alternatives.

If you don't mind paying more for quality support and service then there are boutique builders like Puget Systems, Maingear and Origin PC.

Renzatic said:

Acer? Yeah. They've always been sort of a middling brand to me. But Asus? Nooo. They produce some of the best computers money can buy...so long as you stay away from their lower end offerings. I've been buying computers and components from them for years, and they've never let me down. Any of their $600+ machines are about as solid as you can ask for.

But I'll back you up on Lenovo. They make some great stuff.

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No. They don't make any of the best computers money can buy. Lenovo? Yes. Their X1 carbon. Their entire ThinkPad lineup except for the Edge (which is still better than competition but not the "best" money can buy).

SnowLeopard2008 said:

No. They don't make any of the best computers money can buy. Lenovo? Yes. Their X1 carbon. Their entire ThinkPad lineup except for the Edge (which is still better than competition but not the "best" money can buy).

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Who makes the best laptops is entirely subjective, but that doesn't change the fact Asus makes some of the better machines out there. The Zenbook actually outpace the MBAs in some regards (now that they've fixed their janky touchpads). I'd consider them some of the best ultrabooks around.

Their G series laptops run cool, have tons of power, and are solidly built. You want power in a (relatively) thin package, they're the ones to get.

They even made some of the better netbooks back during their heyday.

Asus is hardly what I'd consider a budget brand. Though I will once again back you up on Lenovo. You really can't go wrong with one of their higher end laptops.

Renzatic said:

]Who makes the best laptops is entirely subjective[/B], but that doesn't change the fact Asus makes some of the better machines out there. The Zenbook actually outpace the MBAs in some regards (now that they've fixed their janky touchpads). I'd consider them some of the best ultrabooks around.

Their G series laptops run cool, have tons of power, and are solidly built. You want power in a (relatively) thin package, they're the ones to get.

They even made some of the better netbooks back during their heyday.

Asus is hardly what I'd consider a budget brand. Though I will once again back you up on Lenovo. You really can't go wrong with one of their higher end laptops.

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Take your own advice. You're arguing with me and claiming that it is subjective at the same time.

Right. Excuse me for trying to start up a dialog here, and argue the pros and cons of certain laptop manufacturers in a civil manner.

...some people.

thejadedmonkey said:

Dell, Lenovo... The trick is, don't buy consumer brands, buy the business brands - Vostro, Latitude, or ThinkPad

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This. Go for the business models that any popular brand produce, and they are usually better. Lenovo ThinkPads especially that I have recommended to customers of mine in the past and they've been very happy with them.

-jc said:

This. Go for the business models that any popular brand produce, and they are usually better. Lenovo ThinkPads especially that I have recommended to customers of mine in the past and they've been very happy with them.

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I am also looking into a PC, but looking at the business models, cant find one with a dedicated graphics card. Been leaning towards the Lenovo Ideapad Y580, but is a consumer laptop, not business. Am I overlooking a version? Want to have the ability to do some gaming (Not expecting Ultra settings or anything, just med-high).