buying a new desktop

GWC Community GWC Hive Mind
#1

Hi! I’m in the process of picking a new desktop for my parents, and was wondering if this is a good time to buy one. I kind of want to wait til Windows 7 comes out so I don’t have to be stuck with Vista, but it seems like it’ll be at least a year before that would be out.

So, any particular opinions on any desktop models? It’ll have to be either a HP or a Sony (because they’re the only brands with a real customer service and a good warranty here where they live and they would no doubt NEED it).

I hate HP, but Sony is too goddamn expensive. Hm.

#2

Admittedly, I’ve never used a desktop from either brand because I can’t stand the idea of buying a prebuilt desktop (which I understand isn’t an option in this case). However, with laptops at least, I’ve had nothing but good luck with HP. Their support has been superior to almost any other manufacturer I’ve worked with.

From your post, I’m assuming that your parents aren’t exactly “power users.” So, I’m curious, why are you so hesitant to go with Vista? It might not be the best choice right now for really heavy-duty users that are still used to XP, but for the average Joe it’s a great OS. Nearly none of the issues from its initial launch are still lingering. In fact, when Microsoft rolls out 7, it will likely suffer from a period of initial instability as most operating systems do. Personally, I’m going to keep using Vista for for at least a few months after 7 is released to avoid any potential headaches.

#3

I have to echo The3’s thoughts on Vista. It’s just fine for every day computing.

I’ve also been happy with HP. Our HP desktop lasted a good six years before showing its age. And they’re certainly more affordable than Sony.

#4

Last I had heard Windows 7 was going to be shipping with computers bought in September or October (though this was a few months ago, things might have changed), so it might be worth waiting. Spouse was using the Beta for awhile and quite liked it.

I’m running Vista on one of my machines and XP on the other and I’ve not had a problem with either, though, so unless you’re worried about them wanting to do the upgrade to Windows 7 later, I would say don’t wait if you get a good price. However I WOULD wait (particularly if you go HP) for sales. I bought my HP laptop last year around 4th of July and got a lot of bang for my buck.

#5

I’ve used Gateway’s, Dell’s, and HP’s. Used them, worked on them, fixed them, dealt with their tech support for home and corporate. In the end, you’re really buying the pretty “packaging” - I can’t really say that one is sooo much better than another.

As for Windows 7, it’s just a “pretty”, more annoying version of Vista. I have RC1 on a work computer and I’m somewhat frustrated. Granted, if you’ve not used Vista, you probably wouldn’t be as annoyed as me. It seems that as hard as it is to find stuff in Vista sometimes, at least I =mostly= know where stuff is. And then they moved it all around in Windows 7. Yippee!

#6

Our family computer when I was in HS was a Dell. That was the family computer from 2000 until the very end of 2005, and in all that time the only problems it ever had were due to my sister downloading all kinds of ridiculous media from dubious sources and not having good enough virus protection to handle that. I’d recommend Dell desktops, but NOT Dell laptops. As long as you’re going for a stationary computer, you can get great deals and be pretty certain that your parents will have no problem.

#7

I’ve been really happy with Dell desktops, the only thing is you have to wait a week or two for it to be shipped to your house, HP you can buy almost anywere and have in your house this afternoon.

As for Vista, I have not had problems with it, other than the learning curve going from XP to Vista. But I only have Vista on my laptop and only use it for some writing, while I still do most of my software and graphics work on the XP desktop.

#8

Thanks for everyone’s input! I love the awesome power that is the hive mind. I know, I have my grudges against Vista, because it just takes longer to do things on it than on XP, but I have decided to buy my parents a computer now anyway.

But, I’ve decided on NOT buying an HP desktop. You know why? Here’s what’s happened in the past three weeks or so to me:-

My hard drive in my HP laptop has crashed three times. THREE TIMES!! I’m glad the customer service people are sincerely helpful, and they fixed it every time (by replacing the hard drive each time) for free, and I’ve got everything on backup, but I can’t help but curse HP. Three frakkin times? That’s ridiculous. What are the hard drives made out of? Potato chips? Little porcelain dolls? Eggshells? Tiny little bits of tissue paper?

I’m also a little sick of seeing the tech people again and again. I think they’re kind of in awe of what’s happened, that somehow I’ve managed to get 3 crappy HDs out of the hundreds and thousands that are perfectly fine. On top of that, I’m pretty much in and out of having a computer I can use at home, and I’ve become a crazy bitch at backing up just about every half a day, or pretty much anytime I’ve got some new files in it. Tomorrow, I am going to buy yet another external hard drive, just so I can back up my back up, on top of another backup on the laptop’s other hard drive that functions fine. But yeah, the interruptions it’s caused is making me a bit batty.

Anyway. HP does have a good customer service who’d respond any time, but given the crap hard drives they keep putting in my laptop (and it’s not like I’m a crazy heavy user.), I’m not sure I trust any hardware they put in their machines anymore. Either that, or I’m just incredibly unlucky and got a lemon computer and several gallons of lemonade hard drives. Either way, I think I will be buying one of the cheaper computers, like an Asus or something, instead of an HP, in light of what’s happened. Dell I do like their desktops, but the customer service is atrocious where I live.

Anyhoo. I think I just came here to gripe about the fact that three different hard drives all somehow failed me in the past 2, 3 weeks. I am a threat to all living hard drives everywhere, apparently.

#9

Just to share my 2 cubits.

I am a Dell man. Bought the t-shirt, got the tattoo. When I was a managemnt consultant for a living I ordered hundreds of the damn things ranging from servers to laptops. Dell has a bad rap for, “bad customer support” which I have never, ever experienced. I have found them courteous, swift and excellent when any issues ever arise.

Being parents I think I can assume their requirements…which is they don’t need anything crazy. Quick glance at their handy dandy website shows me you can score a new off the rack model for $249…$349 if you want to get one with a 17’ flatscreen.

…and you can get both with XP home. Huzzah. The only thing I would change is memory. Bounce it up to 2Gb. Anything else is up to you and your knowledge of their requirements.

#10

I’m with Solai on Dell. I’m on my second and have never had to call for support but then I used to work on PCs and do whatever I need fix it myself. They are affordable and I’d bump the memory to 4 GB on the smallest desktop offered…just in case the parents suddenly find podcasts, online music, movies, etc. Can’t go wrong maxing out the memory…

#11

hey man, Microsoft just announed that Windows 7 will be out on October 22nd. So, you can wait. Or, if you want, I’ll build you a machine with XP in it and you can upgrade to Windows 7 later on :slight_smile:

#12

Thanks for everyone’s help! The old computer went kaput, so I ended up getting an Asus (which doesn’t really have a great customer service here in Asia, but it’s a brand that I can get fixed quite easily in computer shops, and it’s pretty darn cheap for the value) for my parents. I do wish I could have waited for windows 7, but… oh well, I suppose my parents wouldn’t know the difference. Also, I do wish I was in the States to get Dell, because I did have very good experiences with their customer service and computers when I was. But here, Dell doesn’t have much of any services, so I might as well get a cheaper computer.

(Though, I had to adjust some settings, because those warning “do you really want to do this? Change the font? DO YOU??” messages? They scared the shit out of my mom, who thinks something is wrong with the computer everytime they pop up, which, let’s face it, ALL the frakkin’ time.)

Anyway.