What's the best deal on a pre-built PC system ? (It's for an older user, I prefer self-built)

[av1998]

I would like to know if anybody can tell me what's the best deal currently out there on pre-made PC systems ? Would it be the $799 Dell advertised on TV, or one of those Gateway pricematch promotion or whatever ...

It's for an older friend who is unable to buy parts to build his own machine.

Thanks.

 

[TunaBoo]

Dell dell dell dell dell.

 

[AthlonMan]

DELL over gateway, Gateway's are POS's.

Dell probally makes the best name brand PC's you can get.

But self-built is always better.

 

[Desmoquattro]

ummm...i dunno eMachines? 700 or 800 Celeron and some other stuff for $400...and then they give you $400 back for earthlink. if not then go for dell...i guess.

 

[TunaBoo]

Dude e-machines use PC-Chips.

As I said before, go dell if you want a large scale built PC, you cannot get better. IMHO computers output at factory like speeds are not the best thing to buy, but I am somewhat biased and it is 3 in the morning.

 

[DuffmanOhYeah]

In case you didn's listen to the guys before...
DELL DELL DELL DELL DELL DELL DELL DELL DELL

 

[samgau]

One more vote for DELL...

 

[goul]

dell is good but prebuilt rulez

 

[GregMal]

Why would anyone purchase a Dell???
The $799 deal uses the Intel 810 chipset, very hard to upgrade, and
if something goes wrong, all you can do is use the "recovery" CD
which wipes out your hardrive.......
I'd go with an outfit like NuTrend......build it with the parts you
want and you get a regular OS CD............
Greg

 

[dullard]

<< Why would anyone purchase a Dell???
The $799 deal uses the Intel 810 chipset, very hard to upgrade, and
if something goes wrong, all you can do is use the &quot;recovery&quot; CD
which wipes out your hardrive.......
I'd go with an outfit like NuTrend......build it with the parts you
want and you get a regular OS CD............
Greg >>



Read the original question, the user will probably never upgrade. If someone needs to ask another person just to buy the computer, then the buyer obviously doesn't have the capability to build his/her own. Older users most often need to write a one page letter, check email, browse the internet, etc. All of these uses do not require saving important data to the harddrive (The user would probably see no problem with the harddrive wiped out).

I personally would check only major manufacturers with free and quick customer service. The user would get more benefit from this than from saving $50 on a home built machine. I like Dell customer service (10 minutes average wait), Gateway is not as good (30 minute average wait).

 

[av1998]

Wow !! Looks like Dell is way ahead in positive customer feedback thus far. How about some other big-league players like HP and Compaq ?

 

[TunaBoo]

<< Wow !! Looks like Dell is way ahead in positive customer feedback thus far. How about some other big-league players like HP and Compaq ? >>




NO!!!!

 

[andalas]

Dell

 

[PointlesS]

e-machines blows....chances are...you'll be upgrading an e-machines if like it or or not...becuase the parts will fail...I have one...the things that I haven't upgraded were....cd-rom...floppy...motherboard...everything else I had to upgrade...but..another vote for dell....my friend uses one...he loves it...no problems for him...

 

[Desmoquattro]

well...i just threw e-machines in there since it's so damn cheap...hmmm...didn't know they fail so much. i thought the worst was those kmart blue light PCs.

 

[Duvie]

Since dell likes to lick INtel's arse...I would recommend compaq or micron and look for some sort of promotional offer.

Until Dell sells AMD and opens up fair competition I will never promote or buy from DEll..

In case anyone wants to rehash the old quote &quot;dell already told us why they don't use amd products&quot; you can shove that cause we all know that argument is false and would have fit with older amd products years ago. Via problems??? nothing stops them from using ali chipsets, besides most systems even intels require same type of updates. It is mostly a limitation on microsucks windows program not having all the drivers necessary...GF problems??? many have them working fine...

So what is the problem Dell??? Intel stop giving you your allowance!!!

 

[GregMal]

OK...Let me give you my own experience........
I have a friend who retired and then his wife passed away.
He bought a Gateway for the same reasons...easy to set up and learn,
will never upgrade, good tech support.
He just wanted to web surf and Email.
One year later he found a new babe, wanted to upgrade, discovered he
basically had to purchase another computer.
I will never recommend systems like Dell and Gateway........
Greg

 

[PG]

well...i just threw e-machines in there since it's so damn cheap...hmmm...didn't know they fail so much. i thought the worst was those kmart blue light PCs.

Actually, I was at a KMart a while ago and I get pissed when they have stuff on the shelf with no price. They only had 1 PC in the store and it was a display model. And naturally, it had no price on it. After asking the price just to annoy them, they didn't know, but eventually they told me it was $99. I grabbed it, bought it, and got out of the store ASAP!

It isn't bad at all. The motherboard is a an MSI i810 board. I think the model number is MS-6178. It even has some overlocking options in the BIOS. The CPU is a a Celeron 633. The HD is a Western Digital 7.5 GB. The case is small but sturdy. It has a 145 W power supply, and it even has a switch on it. Most cheap power supplies don't. I can't complain at all, but I got probably a once in a lifetime deal.

Here at work we have 3 emachines computers that have flaky power supplies. When you turn them off, they start back up. I did some searching on the internet and found that this is a common power supply problem with emachines computers. But maybe the newer ones are OK. The old ones had just 120 W power supplies.

 

[Duvie]

I agree the ones that say they only want it to surf the web and they wont upgrade, are always the ones a year later who want to do more and need the upgrade and our pissed to find out they can't do what they want.

Try to find a local mom and pop shop and see if you can get a good deal. they often carry good warranties and are close to bring in for repairs and support...at least you will know all the parts that go into it cause you pick them out, plus no proprietary BS. You can upgrade all you want and not have to worry if the board will take a diff speed chip...will the ps work with a different mobo....will the floppy work...can I reformat my hdd. Wouldn't it be nice to actually own a copy of the OS????

Edit: Dullard, &quot;save 50 bucks&quot;...What are you nuts??? You would save more then that with build it yourselves. Take one of those dell machines and customize and see how high those prices jack up. On a base system you may save 100 dollars easy...customize a few things and you could get up to 200 plus fast. Look how much they charge for ram upgrades...monitor upgrades...vid card upgrades...etc.

PLus if you don't catch them on a free delivery week you will have to pay 80-100 bucks like a co-worker did. Look mom and pop and avoid that cost altogether. I had priced a slightly better athlon system fully legal with software to the p4 1.3 he bought and could have built it for near 400 dollars cheaper. So obviously most of that has to be overhead items such as the 6months of dellnet (should be valued at 120.00). All the parts I bought were retail (except case) and carried 3 year warranties anyways.) So the rest was basically for tech support he most likely didn't need.

 

[Jvolm]

At the risk of sounding like an echo...DELL DELL DELL DELL!

I've used Compaq and Gateway as well, and neither compare. Of course, by brother-in-law works at Compaq, so I hope he doesn't know what my handle here is....

 

[xyyz]

Dell or IBM... preferably Dell systems.

I have had bad experiences with gateway systems but others have had good experiences.

Whatever you do... stay away from compaq systems...

HP's are okay as well... but there's a reason why everyone is &quot;Dell happy.&quot;

&quot;Why would anyone purchase a Dell???
The $799 deal uses the Intel 810 chipset, very hard to upgrade, and
if something goes wrong, all you can do is use the &quot;recovery&quot; CD
which wipes out your hardrive.......&quot;

Well the reason is that recovery CD collects dust because it's not really used. Dell machines are put together nicely and they're stable.

 

[TunaBoo]

No local mom and pop stores, internet based mom and pop stores with tuna in the name

 

[Salvador]

For a home pc, definitely Dell. Look at me. I'm a parrot.

Sal

 

[dullard]

<< Dullard, &quot;save 50 bucks&quot;...What are you nuts??? You would save more then that with build it yourselves. Take one of those dell machines and customize and see how high those prices jack up. On a base system you may save 100 dollars easy...customize a few things and you could get up to 200 plus fast. Look how much they charge for ram upgrades...monitor upgrades...vid card upgrades...etc. PLus if you don't catch them on a free delivery week you will have to pay 80-100 bucks like a co-worker did. Look mom and pop and avoid that cost altogether. I had priced a slightly better athlon system fully legal with software to the p4 1.3 he bought and could have built it for near 400 dollars cheaper. >>



Ok take a $799 (or cheaper) computer from Dell. Now try to custom build the same thing. I highly doubt you could save $400. You need to read all the posts (including the original). True if you customize a Dell that ends up at $4000, there may be $400 in profit for Dell - but not on a $799 computer. Plus if you add in the cost of labor (since the person cannot build it on his/her own) the labor to build the machine will quickly eat up any savings.

Edit: Plus the original post said the person was UNABLE to buy the parts to put a machine together. I don't know how to self-build a machine without parts, but if you can, you should make a fortune.

 

[Duvie]

Dullard,

Reread my post!!! You don't read and comprehend well. I didn't say I could save 400 on the 799 advertised special. I said I beat the price by 400 on the p4 system by getting a comparable amd system which we all know to beat a 1.3 p4 wouldn't have to be much more then 1.0 gig tbird cpu. Being the cost of p4 1.3 isn't bad compared to athlon 1 gig (about 80 bucks) then the rdram cost (about 80 bucks) at pricewatch it shouldn't be too great of a price deduct going amd. It was 2000 plus 80 for shipping and I priced a 1.2ghz system with everything the dell had plus with all top name brand retail package components with full 3 year warranties for 1571 shipped. So i add 140 markup and build cost and that is damn near 400.00 dollars. Now one can say obviously the amd should have ran 160 less so the remainder is 240 bucks or 380 before my markup. So is that worth 6 months of dellnet and 1 year of toll free support he may never need. Most ppl now someone to call or get on the web to places like this to answer there issues.

So I saved a bunch on a 2000 dollar system, Duffard!!! I don't know if in a home based pc at dell I can even get t0 4000...

Don't forget he would get a system totally capable of upgrading without major rehaul. No proprietary BS.

You are the one who brought up build it yourself..not me