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OK all my sisters and pc know how, I need a new computer. I am thinking of a Dell as seen on TV. What are the good points and what are the bad points?. Look it looks good but there must be a draw back some where.
Come on help me out here . Carol Ann

Carol..I love Dells, but mind you tech support really is bad...ummmm some kinda language barrier, although Dell is listening and moving some back here. What kind, power-wise are you thinking of? I just got a 2.6 ghz with a 17" LCD monitor for my dad for $350. heres a great web site..has dell coupon codes that you enter at checkout. Also...neat deals at lots of other places.
DeeDee

drat..forgot the link..here it is http://www.edealinfo.com/Coupons/

Hi, Carol Ann -

Personally, I like the Dell (that's what I have) but I also like the HP Pavilion, a true workhorse - - and stay away from Compac, they are gutless wonders, IMHO! My pc *must* use an Intel processor - the AMD just can't handle multiple programs and tasks being done at the same time like the Intel - and that's from personal experience, never mind what the sales people or 'speed tests' say. I'd go with a flat panel monitor (as opposed to a flat screen CRT monitor), the prices have come down tremendously and the colors and graphics on the flat panels are awesome!

I have heard in the past week that there have been quite a few complaints about Dell's new commercial - the one that says they build the computer for just that particular person, etc., but I didn't catch the reasons for the complaints . . . maybe someone here knows??? I do know that customers have complained about Dell not honoring their warranty, by replacing items such as monitors with 'refurbished' monitors when they were supposed to replace them with 'new' ones, and the original monitor was only 2 months old when it died.

There are more members here who are 'up' on the technical side of the pc - - DonnaT, Zippy, Lorna immediately come to mind, but I'm sure there are others, too - I just don't remember who they are!



- SL

gosh Silver..HP and Compaq are one and the same now.....just be careful of the preloaded spyware..same with Dell...uninstall silly stuff you don't need that comes with it. And yes..Dell has some warranty issues, which they are getting trashed about . Do a search for "I hate dell". Its a great PC..but i can work on it myslf...avoid extra warranties and whistles and gimcrackies if you can. And yes..an LCD is the way to go now!!!

DeeDee

Hey, DeeDee -

Technically, you are correct that HP and Compaq are 'one and the same right now' - but only in that they are owned by the same corporation, HP!! The HP and Compaq pc's are still made independently, and their architecture is completely different - the Compaq's are still made with much cheaper components compared with the HP line, and just can't handle the same work load that the HP Pavilion's can.

We've had an HP Pavilion and the dh now has a Compaq Presario - and we are soooo sorry that he didn't just order the Pavilion; the sales staff convinced us that the Compaq was made the same way the HP was, meaning it was a work horse and as good as the HP, and it couldn't be further from the truth!!

On the other hand, my Dell is an older Dimension 4100 that I inherited from my dad - and we've upgraded it and maxxed it out as much as possible - and I absolutely love it! Like you, we work on our pc's ourselves. This Dell is a workhorse, for all that it's still an Intel P3.

Carol Ann, overall I'd say go with the Dell and the best that you can afford. Like DeeDee said above, uninstall the unnecessary programs, especially that spyware although that will be much trickier, and avoid the extended warranties, etc.

- SL

Ok I have owned 2 computers in my life and they are a Gateway (which I will) NEVER BUY AGAIN and a Dell that I am really happy with. I even got me one them hand held computers and am pretty happy with that as well. My father has a Dell my mom (and step-dad) have a Dell at work all the (none specific computers) are Dells so I am guessing that they are a pretty good company. I have not had to call there tech support in a while but when I did they were based over in India but I have heard that they have moved much of there tech support back to the states because so many people had problems with the language barriers.

Any way those are my views on the computer as I see it.

I have a Dell Dimension 4600C which I've had no problems with. And I use a Dell at the office.

Make sure you have the Restore feature turned on, in case something does go wrong you can restore it from a previous period you knew it was working right. I've had to do this when doing the updating of the software a couple of times.

I also use an external USB memory for backup of files.

Stay away from Norton/Symantic for virus protection. McAfee is good enough, and seems to keep up to date pretty well.

with Donna about McAfee virus protection, especially if it comes free with the computer package, and definitely stay away from Norton/Symantec!!

However, an excellent - and free - anti-virus program is AVG-Free Edition, with is made by Grisoft, and is highly recommended by many PC magazines and the like. They also have a version that you can buy which has more features. You can check them out at www.grisoft.com (main site), or http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php for the free version.



- SL

Hi Carol Ann

We have bought and installed several PCs in my volunteer outfit - a music archive in the library. Both Dell and HP Pavilion were successful, but came with a bunch of unneeded software. On the other hand we have had excellent results dealing with a local computer service and sales place. Prices are quite competitive, but, best of all, they will set up a machine that suits your specific needs. There are several shops here in town that give good service, but some that are not so good. So if you do deal with a local, check with a few of their customers. If they are worth anything, they will not hesitate to give you references. If they don't then go elsewhere.

Good luck,

Lydia

Hi all,

Carol Ann,

As with almost any electronics purchase, you have to figure out what your needs are before buying. Heavy-duty digital image processing and simple word-processing and internet-surfing all have different requirements.

As a rule of thumb:

- Go for the largest capacity hard drive you can afford; many programs (including WinXP) are bloated monsters that eat up huge chunks of your hard drive space. Plus, audio and graphics files tend to be quite large.

- RAM, RAM, RAM! (Hmmm... I sound like the Hare Krishnas); get the most RAM your money can buy. I recommend nothing less than 1 Gb of memory. Amongst other things, it will allow your computer to multi-task more smoothly and efficiently and significantly reduce "crash-time."

- Make sure your new PC has all the multimedia ports you'll need... at least four USB and one FireWire (for camera-to-PC digital video downloads).

- Focus on the innards, not on the "pretty ribbons and bows": many retailers will try to lure consumers with offers of, say, a free printer or a two-bit digital camera or the like. Not good, if the PC isn't really what you're looking for.

- For the CPU, Intel or AMD are equally good, in my opinion. I've had computers for fifteen years now and I've used both without any real problems. For speed, look for Dual Cores with Hyper-Threading technology. Of course, again, buy the fastest one you can afford (measured in GigaHertz).

- Although they're becoming standard now on new PC's, DVD-rewritable drives aren't available on all machines (as opposed to CD-rewritable). See if this is something you truly need or not. If you do want a DVD-RW drive, try to get one with LightScribe technology; it'll save you a whole lot of label-making headaches.

- Related to a point I made above, invest in a printer, mouse, and sound system seperately. The mouse and speakers that come with a new PC do the job well enough, but for precision graphics work (such as photo editing) and for truly home-theatre-quality sound, buying an optical (laser) mouse and a multi-speaker 5.1 (or 7.1, if you can afford it) Dolby Digital system separately is best. As for the printer, don't let yourself be seduced by newfangled MFC'S (Multi-Function Centers) if all you really need is a printer. Copying, faxing, and scanning are all useful things but you're better off buying a printer and a scanner separately if all you need to do is to print and to scan. The all-in-one concept can lead to major headaches; often, if one component breaks down, all the others are also put out of commission.

- Always try to avoid having your sound card and graphics adapter (or video card) "built-in" to the motherboard itself (what the ads call "integrated" graphics and sound). Make sure these cards are separate and that they have their own RAM; this reduces the likelihood that they'll drain your CPU's resources or that they'll need to call on your system's RAM. I recommend at least a 128 Mb video card (ATI, for example, is a reputable manufacturer of graphics adapters) and an equally fast sound card (SoundBlaster is usually the norm, here, even after all these years).

A bit of advice: while Dell is good--this is what Marie and I each have (bought at Future Shop without the extended warranties)--it's not the only manufacturer of good machines out there. If you're ready to shop around a little, look for a retailer that

- Has a good reputation
- Has what you want in stock
- Has a good aftersales service
- Has no black marks against it at the Better Business Bureau
- Has employees that listen to you; in other words, who are not trying to sell you something they want you to have but something you actually want or need (which is why it's important that you know what your needs are in this regard)

Also, if you feel comfortable enough tinkering with a PC, I'd also recommend, as others here have done, you forego these extended policy bells and whistles (this is where retailers such as Future Shop make most of their profits on PC's). As a rule, computers work well enough on their own--this, by the way, is quite a separate issue from that of the often daunting learning curves many complex programs come with (something the guy who sold you your PC cannot really help you with)--if, and it's a huge "if"--your machine is well-maintained.

Which brings me to my final point: uninstall all that "safety and security" crap that comes pre-loaded on your machine. Get rid of Norton and get rid of McAfee; they're incredibly invasive programs that hog up so much system resources it isn't even funny. Get these, instead:

- Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus
- SpyBot Search & Destroy This is the best spyware-hunter, in my opinion.
- BelArc Advisor This is a PC auditing program (if you want to know what's really installed on your machine and what its true configuration is).

The good thing about these is that they're all still in development, they're all self-updating, and they're all free. There was also the ZoneAlarm firewall that was pretty good but I'm not sure if it's still free. I use the one that comes with Windows. Not the best solution but, for my current needs (and level of paranoia), it'll do.

One thing you want to do is maintain your PC; clean and defragment your hard drive on a regular basis (these tasks can be done automatically, by the way).

Good luck in your PC-hunting, Carol Ann. Let us know how it turned out, eh?

Love,
CJ

I agree with the others about the Dell. Solid machine with questionable tech support. But, then, I haven't found good support in a long time from anyone.

Personally, I wouldn't buy anything from HP except they do make good printers.

SilverLady(SO) wrote:However, an excellent - and free - anti-virus program is AVG-Free Edition, with is made by Grisoft

Be careful of this one. I used it for a while and it erroneously reported a virus and trashed my laptop. IE - you get what you pay for. I've used Norton/Symantec for many years and still have no complaints and just switched back to it from the AVG fiasco. But, McAfee is among the best so you can't go wrong there.

I'd love to have a flat screen LCD monitor but my budget just won't allow it.

I just upgraded my desktop to an Acer PowerSeries 3 GHz Intel Celeron with 1GB ram. So far it has done whatever I've asked it to do and I'm quite pleased with the overall performance.

Kathy

Ladies, ladies, I am so over whelm with all this info I had to write most of it down to make notes for myself. I was looking at Dell's site and their XPS 400 which saids can be upgraded??. But after I checked into their credit plan I'm not paying 24.29% interest. My mastercard is only 11.05%. So today I will head for the big city and do a little looking around at PC. No not buying yet because I still would like more input from you'al
Take a look at dell's xps 400 and give me your opinions. Hay my wife loves games, I like to surf and send photos, but I need a floppy and a zip for my photos and files. I have a new dvd rewriter I put in a year ago and have never used it, as my files files aren't all that big. So anyway off to the big city, Carol Ann

PS:
Something just crossed my mine, can I burn my old floppy and zip files to a CD so I can reload them into a new pc?. Now why didn't I think of that sooner. I believe I can get some use out of this thing.

dell's xps 400 looks pretty good, lots of RAM and a large HD. Take note of the footnotes and call Dell to ask questions about them.

As for burning your files onto a CD, I prefer a USB memory, either a flash/stick memory or an external USB HD. These external memories are a lot more dependable than a CD.

Circuit City apparently has a good sale ongoing for external memories.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/category ... 012973&c=1