Favorite non-Mac, if any

[63dot]

Some of us use PCs at work or at home and like them, some hate them but find a place where they can't avoid it. If you like PCs or other computers, what are they?

For the category of "Others", there are dozens of companies with big ones like Gateway and Dell, and rarer ones like Sager and SGI. Panasonic makes some interesting machines in both regular everyday use format to ultra rugged activity. I can't list them all, so if yours is not on the list, choose "Other".

I chose Toshiba for its quality and very reasonable price on most models I see at stores.

 

[aethelbert]

I love my HP mini 1000 netbook!

 

[riscy]

I still have a RISCOS computer from Acorn which I use occasionally and I think it is the best OS I have ever used.

/me stands back and waits for the flack.

 

[Demosthenes X]

No Dell? They're awfully popular.

For the entire range, I think Dell is the best. They have solid offerings in every category, and aside from from some quality issues, seem to be good value. And their Accidental Damage warranty is fantastic. Nice monitors, too!

For laptops, Sony makes some very, very sleek machines. I'd never buy a Vaio over a MacBook for the same money, but if Apple didn't exist then the Vaio is a very reasonable alternative.

 

[tvp]

I voted other cause my desktop PC is a Dell. Had a few issues with it but for the most part it's a good machine and runs well. My old PC laptop is an IBM Thinkpad, that thing is a piece of junk.

 

[Mord]

I still have a RISCOS computer from Acorn which I use occasionally and I think it is the best OS I have ever used.

/me stands back and waits for the flack.

Doubt anyone has particularly strong opinions against it these days, our attic is filled with a ton of old acorn hardware including weird set top boxes and StrongARM RISC PCs, nice OS but too antiquated to have much serious use these days imo.

 

[OutThere]

Sony are generally the only laptops that approach Apple's design standards.

 

[techfreak85]

acer and gateway are the same thing btw 63dot

 

[63dot]

Sony are generally the only laptops that approach Apple's design standards.

When asked what drove Steve Jobs after his successful one-two punch of iMac and iBook, and thus saving Apple from ruin, he said it was to make his company and his products be like Sony's. He followed their philosophy as do many successful companies and MBA schools.

He also liked how they did more than just computers. Back then, my Mac friends read a whole ton of **** into that statement. Apple Computer became Apple Inc. and the rest is history. Thank you SJ and Apple Inc. for iPod and iPhone.

 

[63dot]

acer and gateway are the same thing btw 63dot

And so is HP/Compaq. And Acer makes stuff for other more well known companies. And wanna talk motherboards? very few companies there and it's downright incestuous


So as to not get flamed, our precious Macs have more in common with the PC than ever before but I won't elaborate. I kind of liked having those Motorolas power my Macs in the past. There was a mystique to them, especially my dual G4 Power Mac. It had power, but people thought it was a space ship.

 

[0098386]

I used to like IBM laptops. Now it's Apple or homebuilt for me.

 

[barr08]

I used to like IBM laptops. Now it's Apple or homebuilt for me.

The Dell in my sig is pretty good. I would deffinitely prefer a MP, though...

 

[dmr727]

I love old SGI and Sun hardware. My V12 Octane2 heats the guest room quite nicely.

 

[maestro55]

I have owned a lot of different systems. My first computers when I was a kid were Macs (actually first was an Apple //gs) but then I had a few homemade systems. My favorite non-mac computer ever was the first computer I ever built, at the time it was considered decent speed (1.2ghz AMD Athlon, my first computer with a DVD player and CD R/W drive... 1GB RAM circa 2003) and I dual booted XP Pro and Linux.

When I studied at TSTC (Texas State Technical College) we had our UNIX classes in one of the two SUN labs and I have to say I really liked the performance our SUN Workstations.

I have owned two IBM Thinkpads (an R40 and a 390X) and currently my Linux notebook is a Gateway CX2620.

I am not picky, but I still think my favorite computer that wasn't a Mac has been the one I built myself. Getting ready to build another Linux box in the near future.

 

[FSMBP]

Lenovo hands-down. It's the only PC laptop that's meant to last and actually doesn't feel cheap.

 

[Mord]

I love old SGI and Sun hardware. My V12 Octane2 heats the guest room quite nicely.

We have three. (plus a couple of indy's and an o2).

Last year I got to go on a tour around SGI UK HQ after snagging two of those octanes and a few drive sleds. They had some serious kit there it was amazing to see so many MIPS based machines still going, I even got to poke around a Tezro!

My girlfriend once blew out the fuse on her floor at university as a result of powering on both her octane and her indy at the same time! The boot power draw spike on those things was insane.

 

[Love]

Sony. Nice design.

 

[mamcx]

I win a Sun Ultra M4 (8GB RAM, 4 Opteron, NVidia FX 1500) and is great. Never collect dust (I have it from 2 years ago) and the enclosure is great.

Badly, I put windows on it because my brother run 3D Max... (I try to install OSX but not succed...)

 

[pdxflint]

IBM Thinkpad A-series (before selling out to Lenovo)

 

[steve2112]

I had to go with Dell. I have used Dells for a long time, and I have never had any of the horror stories I read about from other owners. I have a Dell Latitude d630 notebook from work, and it is a tank. Of course, being a former Dell repair tech may have something to do with my views.

Having worked in the repair side of things, I will say that Dell was so much easier to work with than HP or Gateway. (Our major lines were Dell, HP, and Gateway). Trying to get parts/support from HP and Gateway was a major hassle. As far as end-user support, if you go with the business side of things, and get the business warranty, things are usually pretty good.

 

[MRU]

Other than my myriad macs, I voted HP.

I like my HP2140, 2GB, 60GB SSD Netbook, Windows 7 7057
Runs like a charm and I get 8/4 hours from the 6cell/3cell battery.


Though it will probably get replaced if the Apple Touchscreen Netbook rumors turn out to be true.

 

[robanga]

Another vote for HP, I really like their MiniNote netbook

 

[nick9191]

PC- Home built
Laptop- IBM

Toshiba are good too. Or possibly a Dell professional laptop (their consumer stuff is utter junk).

The rest suck ass. Sony have the nicest looking notebooks besides Apple, but again I don't support them as a company, total hardware nazi's.

 

[11800506]

I've had bad experiences with both HP and Dell and haven't owned PCs other than theirs, so I really don't know what my favorite PC brand would be. Pre Mac, I used to want to like Dell, except I had had such a bad experience with one of their Inspiron 600m's - the entire laptop was practically replaced multiple times so many parts failed. That's when I started liking HP more because we had had an HP desktop that hadn't given us any particular issues. So when I went to buy a PC I bought an HP laptop but I had multiple issues with it having parts failing and their support was a nightmare. I guess it really depends on luck with machines, but I've had pretty bad luck with those two. I guess then that would leave Sony and Lenovo, but I don't forsee myself buying any of those machines anytime soon.

 

[Reventon]

I've had some bad experiences with Dell and particularly HPs both at home and at work (my office uses HP machines), but of the non-Mac PCs, I like the designs and performance of the Sony laptops.