Computer Topic

[Wookie]

It's a good article on computers coming from builders.

Dell Hp Compaq

I never recommend anyone to buy these beause of all the junk they start them with and then the corners they cut to make these "great computers" cheap for consumers

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=588

I always recomend buying from white-box vendors. The stores who do custom builds.

[BlackArcher101]

Or even build your own. That way you know every single thing that goes into the computer.

Interesting that the author says the Dell was using 407mb of ram with XP Pro. I have TONS of software installed, with probably 15 icons in my taskbar and 40 processes running at one given time. Mine only uses 354mb with firefox being the most at 29mb. Gotta love big name computer companies.

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm opposite of you guys I guess.

Its pretty rare that I recommend a white box solution to a client (ps I also consider Dell to be a white box). I always put an HP/compaq, or IBM, or Toshiba solution into a client site.

I'm in the business of minimizing risks and long term costs, White boxes are usually cheaper right off of the bat, but in terms of a total cost of ownership model in a corporate environment, I've had a lot less trouble with the Compaqs of the world.

If you can build your own box, it will save you some money. Just make sure that the ATI Radeon card that you buy is actually an ATI radeon and not a poorly made knockoff.

Just my own thoughts

[photon]

Originally posted by CaptainCrunch@Sep 4 2004, 01:37 AM
I'm opposite of you guys I guess.

Its pretty rare that I recommend a white box solution to a client (ps I also consider Dell to be a white box). I always put an HP/compaq, or IBM, or Toshiba solution into a client site.

I'm in the business of minimizing risks and long term costs, White boxes are usually cheaper right off of the bat, but in terms of a total cost of ownership model in a corporate environment, I've had a lot less trouble with the Compaqs of the world.

If you can build your own box, it will save you some money. Just make sure that the ATI Radeon card that you buy is actually an ATI radeon and not a poorly made knockoff.

Just my own thoughts

I agree with you, for a business I would never recommend clones, and of course garbage software isn't an issue because there should be a standard build that can be ghosted onto a machine at any time (which if you have a melange of clones becomes much more difficult).

[Ozymandias]

I learned to build my own from scratch simply for quality assurance. I wouldn't recommend buying any pre-packaged computer because either they're poorly put together with cheap parts, or they over-charge for a package that an independent hardware retailer can custom-build for cheaper.

[La Flames Fan]

I assume that it costs more to built your own than to buy pre-packaged? I am in the market for a computer now, and I can't for the life of me get a good idea of who to go to....? Recommendations? I am capable of building my own, should I go that route?

[Ozymandias]

Originally posted by La Flames Fan@Sep 4 2004, 09:38 AM
I assume that it costs more to built your own than to buy pre-packaged? I am in the market for a computer now, and I can't for the life of me get a good idea of who to go to....? Recommendations? I am capable of building my own, should I go that route?

If you can, then yes. You save money on labour costs, and you have far more flexibility in what you want to put in it, especially if you're on a budget.

The downside is, any problems with the thing will relate back to you - no warranty to hide behind. :P

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally posted by La Flames Fan@Sep 4 2004, 04:38 PM
I assume that it costs more to built your own than to buy pre-packaged? I am in the market for a computer now, and I can't for the life of me get a good idea of who to go to....? Recommendations? I am capable of building my own, should I go that route?

You'll probably save a hundred to 2 hundred dollars worth of labour time

In Calgary, Memory Express has good component prices.

Pro-Data is a vendor that we use as a secondary source and thier pricing is ok as well but they only really carry higher end components.

There's a place on mcloud trail called the computer rack, they carry or used to carry about anything.

But someone stated your at issue on any kind of warranty, and he's right. Most components only have a 90 day warranty on thier own now, so if something goes wrong its going to cost you

[Resolute 14]

Pro-Data is on our sh1t list right now at work. They became complacent with our account, and lost it as a result.

We tend to buy peripherals from Metafore and Peripheral Express right now.

We get our computers from IBM at the moment, but I dont see that lasting much longer. After all the problems we have had, I would never recommend an IBM desktop to anyone.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally posted by Snakeeye@Sep 4 2004, 05:11 PM
Pro-Data is on our sh1t list right now at work. They became complacent with our account, and lost it as a result.

We tend to buy peripherals from Metafore and Peripheral Express right now.

We get our computers from IBM at the moment, but I dont see that lasting much longer. After all the problems we have had, I would never recommend an IBM desktop to anyone.

Pro-Data tends to do that, but we use them as a secondary source if our primaries can't get them, ie Panasonic tough books.

Mostly we use Ingram Micro, and techdata etc


I don't sell a lot of IBM stuff anymore, I've had some bad experiences with them over the last 10 years.

Right now most of our clients are booked on a Compaq standard from desktop to server to notebook, and because of thier managebility it works well for us. We also have literally no service problems with the hardware

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by Ozymandias@Sep 4 2004, 12:41 PM
The downside is, any problems with the thing will relate back to you - no warranty to hide behind. :P

Actually, say you buy all the parts from Memoryexpress. If you build the thing yourself and something goes wrong with it, you can take it into memoryexpress and they'll do diagnostics on it for free (since it's their parts). If the damaged part they find it due to a bad installation from you, then they'll charge you, if it's just a bad part, then they replace it for free. (If under warranty).

[La Flames Fan]

I guess you guys don't know a good place in Los Angeles do you? HAHA

[Skip2mylou]

Originally posted by La Flames Fan@Sep 4 2004, 06:23 PM
I guess you guys don't know a good place in Los Angeles do you? HAHA

I don't think it matters who you buy from just as long as you know what your buying. Purchasing online isn't a bad route to go if your building your own and you'll probably save a few bucks. NCIX, and Newegg are some reputable dealers that come to mind.

I don't know why people are so fussy about warranties, the 30 or 90 days you get is more than enough to ensure it's not a manufactures defect. 95% of the time it's software related and can be fixed with simple driver updates.

Another suggestion is never pay for the little performance gain you get out of top of the line products, especially, videocards, and CPUs. The performance difference between a $250 video card and that $600 videocard is almost never worth the extra money in real life applications and games. Add to this that prices come down so fast and that technology advances so rapidly in the PC world, that top end video card will be a budget card in a year. The only hardware that I don't recommend being cheap on is the monitor for obvious reasons, and the Motherboard usually because they are fairly cheap to begin with and will save you money down the road cause you won't have to uprade as quickly.

[Wookie]

Originally posted by Skip2mylou+Sep 4 2004, 04:02 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Skip2mylou @ Sep 4 2004, 04:02 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-La Flames Fan@Sep 4 2004, 06:23 PM
I guess you guys don't know a good place in Los Angeles do you?# HAHA

I don't think it matters who you buy from just as long as you know what your buying. Purchasing online isn't a bad route to go if your building your own and you'll probably save a few bucks. NCIX, and Newegg are some reputable dealers that come to mind.

I don't know why people are so fussy about warranties, the 30 or 90 days you get is more than enough to ensure it's not a manufactures defect. 95% of the time it's software related and can be fixed with simple driver updates.

Another suggestion is never pay for the little performance gain you get out of top of the line products, especially, videocards, and CPUs. The performance difference between a $250 video card and that $600 videocard is almost never worth the extra money in real life applications and games. Add to this that prices come down so fast and that technology advances so rapidly in the PC world, that top end video card will be a budget card in a year. The only hardware that I don't recommend being cheap on is the monitor for obvious reasons, and the Motherboard usually because they are fairly cheap to begin with and will save you money down the road cause you won't have to uprade as quickly. [/b][/quote]
zipzoomfly.com newegg.com are good places to start.

they'll put the stuff together too if you want. Great online retailers.

[flambers]

I went to Memory Express in Calgary to upgrade my Computer.