Compaq, Dell, Micron, Gateway or ???

[vi edit]

I've been a tech for a couple different companies that used Dell, Gateway, and Compaq.

From my experience, here is the order I would rate tech support

1) Dell
2) Compaq
3) Gateway...a very, very distant third

From my experience, Dell actually trusts the onsite techs word and usually will replace a part no questions asked.

Compaq usually has an incompetent fool walk you through a pre-fab list of troubleshooting steps before giving you a ten mile long RMA code.

Gateway usually keeps you waiting for an hour before you get ahold of somebody, and then the tech has to talk to 4 supervisors before authorizing the RMA request.

Also from my experience, the gateways usually had the most downtime, 99% of which was attributed to those gawd awful Western Digital caviars *shudder*. The Deskpro's were reliable, but they were the biggest pain in the ass to work with. It too 20 minutes to swap out a damn hard drive because of the layout of the thing. Good luck adding in a zip drive or a CDRW in those Deskpro desktop cases.

For what it's worth, I'd go with the Dell Optiplex line. Get the minitower models. Whoever is the tech will appriciate it

 

[ragiepew]

I have to agree w/ Rogue... all the people knocking Compaq are either driven by hype or have never run DeskPros before. Where I work (a university) we run a bout a 50-50 mix of Deskpros and Optilex systems. Honestly I think the Deskpros are far supperior to the Optilexs' and from personal experience, I like Compaq's business support far better than Dell's. Please do not post if you do not have any experiences with business class systems (which I think was the intent of the initial poster). Sure compaq presarios suck but their deskpros, laptops, and servers kick major butt. There is a reason why they are still number one in business sales of desktops and number one (by a BIG margin) in servers.

 

[slpaulson]

I recommend Micron to people the most. I have been disapointed with Gateway.

 

[dcdomain]

True... I haven't tried a business Compaq pc... but it's so hard to imagine why there is such a huge difference between their home oriented pcs and their business oriented pcs. It's the same company. Why is one set of PC's so horrid compared to the other set?

As for the Optiplex, I had to install a Hoontech card and Soundblaster Live card on my friend's Optiplex once. Boy was I surprised when I opened the thing up. The layout was beautiful, and the installation was a piece of cake. The entire PCI card bay was removable! AWESOME!!!

 

[lupin]

Dell. No compromise.

 

[RickH]

Thanks for the input. We have several hundred DeskPros at work and they are fine. R.

 

[hungrypete]

compaq deskpro vote- we've got about 40 of em here and they are reliable and the warranty is good. Never had a single problem with the computer's themselves, just lots of problems with half-assed logistics software.....
my workstation is a p3 733 w/ win2k and it's great!

 

[Sunner]

Well said ragiepew, I agree 100%.

And trust me dcdomain, hard to believe its very true.

 

[BIGGDOG]

Micron. They have or at least had superior customer service.
Dell a close 2nd.

 

[ragiepew]

<< I haven't tried a business Compaq pc... but it's so hard to imagine why there is such a huge difference between their home oriented pcs and their business oriented pcs. It's the same company. >>

The main reason why is that they are on different assembly's. The business line is looked over far better before shipment than the consumer line (it makes more money for them).


<< As for the Optiplex, I had to install a Hoontech card and Soundblaster Live card on my friend's Optiplex once. Boy was I surprised when I opened the thing up. The layout was beautiful, and the installation was a piece of cake. The entire PCI card bay was removable! AWESOME!!! >>

Compaq deskpros are fully upgradable, the layout is damn sweet, and everything comes out w/ ease... usually w/o any screws... much like the optilexs'

 

[ragiepew]

second vote for Compaq Deskpros...

(feels like im in Florida)...

 

[alfresco51]

We use Dell celerons on a 10 workstation LAN here. No problems going on about 18 months now. Dells seem very well built. The cases use heavier guage plastic nad they are well shielded. Tech support is great.

 

[LXi]

Definitely NOT Compaq, regardless of what series. Dell and Micron kills it.

 

[Dee67]

several years ago I felt lazy about building a machine for myself so ordered one from Dell.

Since then I've ordered on average one new machine per year from them with no problems or regrets yet.