I have had great success with Dell. The chassis is easy to access, support is very good and have had no problems with my box since the day I bought it over two years ago.
My recommendation would be to go to ebay and find an authorized Dell reseller. these are the guys who buy new systems in bulk and mark them up a few bucks. When I bought my box, the Dell price was about $1300 on their website. My shipped price was $825. The guy I used was www.originaltexan.com but that was two years ago. In any case, authorized resellers have the same warranties etc...
You can also find really good deals at the HP/ Compaq refurb site. just go to http://www.shopping.hp.com and look for the outlet link at the top right of the page. If you don't mind factory refurbished units you can occassionaly find a bargain.
Myself and two friends bought Dell's from resellers though and have been way happy to the point where I don't think I will be changing brands anytime soon. For what it is worth, I also have an HP laptop - 3.0 AMD and that has been a great unit as well. My last four computers were Compaq, HP, Dell and the HP laptop.
I had 2 problems which needed help. I called the number and the first problem was easy....I knew the problem....I needed a new mouse driver 'cause I switched to a different one...the tech directed me to the correct download spot and I was fixed pronto. I waited 8 minutes for somebody to pick u the call, but I called at 1 am! YMMV
The second was a more sinister problem. The driver for the standard keyboard does not permit the computer to enter standby mode WHEN CERTAIN PROGRAMS are installed. They know of the problem. There is no way to "fix" this....but there is a work-around. That call took about 20 minutes to solve...such as it is. I have no idea which program is causing it!
I bought the 15" flat pannel monitor and thought I would have problems seeing it as I was using a 19" CRT before. This is a great monitor. I can't swear to it, but I really don't notice a difference in size...but I can see stuff on this one soooo much better!
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Horse Called War
hey Raf,
I have had great success with Dell. The chassis is easy to access, support is very good and have had no problems with my box since the day I bought it over two years ago.
My recommendation would be to go to ebay and find an authorized Dell reseller. these are the guys who buy new systems in bulk and mark them up a few bucks. When I bought my box, the Dell price was about $1300 on their website. My shipped price was $825. The guy I used was www.originaltexan.com but that was two years ago. In any case, authorized resellers have the same warranties etc...
You can also find really good deals at the HP/ Compaq refurb site. just go to http://www.shopping.hp.com and look for the outlet link at the top right of the page. If you don't mind factory refurbished units you can occassionaly find a bargain.
Myself and two friends bought Dell's from resellers though and have been way happy to the point where I don't think I will be changing brands anytime soon. For what it is worth, I also have an HP laptop - 3.0 AMD and that has been a great unit as well. My last four computers were Compaq, HP, Dell and the HP laptop.
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Raf
I ended up with a new Compaq Presario.
I can't tell what the heck it is: lemme see some numbers...
Ah, here it is...
80 pound box.
Oh, that's not what you guys care about.
512 mb pc3200 ddr sdram memory
200GB 7200 rpm ultra dma hard drive
blah blah blah
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Steve!
Not bad, not bad.
I bought a couple of Presarios.
It should serve you well.
Did you get the flat screen monitor?
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Raf
Nope. It came with a monitor and I decided not to play the switching game.
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pawtucket
Cool Raf.
200 gig hd. that will last for a while. Did you get a DVD burner?
bring the 512 ram up to 1 meg when you get a chance. 2 gigs if you are going to stay with AOL.
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Steve!
Oh, gawd, you're not still with AOL, are you? Raf, I thought you were *waaaay* more intelligent than that!
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krys
I love my Dell.
I had 2 problems which needed help. I called the number and the first problem was easy....I knew the problem....I needed a new mouse driver 'cause I switched to a different one...the tech directed me to the correct download spot and I was fixed pronto. I waited 8 minutes for somebody to pick u the call, but I called at 1 am! YMMV
The second was a more sinister problem. The driver for the standard keyboard does not permit the computer to enter standby mode WHEN CERTAIN PROGRAMS are installed. They know of the problem. There is no way to "fix" this....but there is a work-around. That call took about 20 minutes to solve...such as it is. I have no idea which program is causing it!
I bought the 15" flat pannel monitor and thought I would have problems seeing it as I was using a 19" CRT before. This is a great monitor. I can't swear to it, but I really don't notice a difference in size...but I can see stuff on this one soooo much better!
Good luch!
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