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Dell, HP, Compaq? Any difference?

bigdog1218

bigdog1218

Golden Member
Haven't looked at new computer hardware for a long time and my sister asked me to pick out a computer for her. Is there any difference between a Dell or HP. She told me she wouldn't mind paying up to $750 if it was worth it, no gaming, but video editing, office, etc. How do these look?


Dell, for $700
AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+
Genuine Windows Vista? Home Basic
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache?
16x DVD+/-RW Drive
256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio.

HP from best buy, $614
AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+
Genuine Windows Vista? Home Premium
1GB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM
320GB Serial ATA hard drive (7200 rpm)
16x DVD+/-RW Drive
128MB NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio.

Looking at this I would just grab the the HP, and maybe another stick of memory. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks.
 
Home Premium and a larger hard drive, and $75 less? I'd definately get the HP, and shove another 1GB in it. For video editing, you might need to upgrade the graphics card eventually, depending on what she does.
 
I would go with the HP and you would really want to add another gig of ram for video editing. I have also heard that Dell doesn't have the greatest warranties/tech support.
 
Originally posted by: Pip75
I would go with the HP and you would really want to add another gig of ram for video editing. I have also heard that Dell doesn't have the greatest warranties/tech support.
Click to expand...

I dunno, they were pretty good about stuff with my laptop I had. I got complete care with it (accident coverage) and when I dropped my battery by accident and broke the housing (battery still worked fine) they sent me a new one, shipping prepaid to send the damaged one back, no questions asked. I used the online chat thing, had I used the phone I know I wouldn't be able to understand the Engrish but that is true with HP as well 😛

I didn't have good service from HP a few years back. Basically they fixed the mobo in the laptop and broke the touchpad, then shipped it to me that way. When I called them about it later they hung up on me - twice - after waiting on hold for over 45 minutes. When I finally got to someone he told me that the "warranty isn't transferrable" after trying to use an email address to verify who I was (stupid, people change emails all the time!). Yeah, if it isn't transferrable then why did you fix it the first time? All I want is you guys to fix what you broke! "No can do" - yeah sure OK, screw you.... Now maybe they've improved since then, that was a few years ago. Hopefully they have.
 
Originally posted by: Pip75
I have also heard that Dell doesn't have the greatest warranties/tech support.
Click to expand...
You heard wrong. 🙂 Every company has a few n00b techs, but in the end Dell has one of the best warranties and tech support in the industry. I've been dealing with their support since 1998, and rarely have I ever been disappointed. Having a NBD on-site warranty is worth its weight in gold, especially for business clients.
 
FYI, HP ate up Compaq a few years ago now. They don't really even sell much stuff under the brand name Compaq any more.

And in my experience, Dell whilst having good quality tech support have a lower build quality than HP.
 
I used to own a Dell, but since then I would buy an HP over a Dell. And to repeat what has already been said, add another gig of RAM.
 
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