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I was reading some of your thoughts on these in the other thread and would like to hear more.

Personally, I have had great luck with Dell, terrible experiences with eMachines.

My question is don't most use similar componets?

Looks like the main thing that could be different would be the motherboard and power supply.

I know alot of you guys are actually inside more of the different brands than me, and I'm just curious. It's getting where I would rather buy a computer than build one myself.

I used to hate eMachines - they were cheap garbage 2 years ago but they've actually make a decent PC now. I personally wouldn't give a consumer grade Compaq or HP to my worst enemy.

I am very familiar with Dell because I exclusively recommend them to my clients and thus I'm inside of them a lot. Depending on what model your order, Dell tends to use better components that their competitors. The one place they do tend to skimp is the PSU but lately I've noticed better quality ones in them.

Dell uses Intel mobos in all their rigs (except the few AMD systems they sell) and these mobos tend to be very reliable. Other OEMS often buy the cheapest mobos they can find.

Dell generally uses WD or Seagate drives and except for a bad run of Maxtor drives 4 years ago (they dumped Maxtor after that) I've not seen any drive issues.

I particularly like the their Optiplex and Precision line of computers. They're better quality than the Vostros which are just rebranded versions of the home edition Inspiron PCs. The Vostros are okay, but there is definitely a quality difference, mostly in the case design.

If you buy a Dell get at least a 1 year ON SITE warranty (usually by default although some sales offer a mail-in warranty by default but you can upgrade for $30 or $40. It's worth it. For the first year if you have any hardware failure they come to your home or office the next business day with the replacement part and swap it out.

Around here the company they sub-contract to do their warranty service does a decent job. Alternately they are more than happy to ship you the part 2 day air, and you send back the old one in the same box with their pre-paid shipping label. If a client calls me in to diagnose it and it's under warranty, I'll usually opt to have them ship me the part and I'll install it.

Now mind you I NEVER buy from the Home division of Dell. Their Small Business division makes better products and you get better support.

Dell's specials change every week on Thursday mornings. Check this page: http://www.dell.com/content/products/fe ... l=en&s=bsd

Also if you don't mind AMD you can save a bit. They bury their AMD systems on hidden pages to make Intel happy. Go here and click on the "Dell Recommends" tab:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... =bsd&cs=04

at the office, we use a mix of dell and hp/compaq desktops. the best machines are the refurb dell optiplex. absolutely solid. the hp machines are all amd, and I have only had a couple of issues with them. They are 4 yrs old at this point, so I'm not kicking. 2 machines lost their onboard nics, but that was an easy fix by swapping in a nic card. a couple of machines had hd's replaced, but that was well within limits since some of them had been running 24/7 for 3+ years. In the last 6 years I've had 3 laptops, hp, and 2 dells. the hp kind of fell apart , mostly because my kids were using it, needs and new power connector and usb port repair, but screen is still decent. I bought my wife a cheap compaq lappie a couple of years ago and it is still chugging along, but seems to develop problems with recharging battery, touchpad, etc. Never had any issue with the dells.

now when i buy stuff for the office or home, the first place I look is the refurb dell bus stuff. you can sometimes find very good deal. the optiplexes were dual core 2.2 ghz with a 3 year warranty for around 700 - I dropped an 8800 gt in one and never looked back..........

It is important to note that all can be lacking incertain ways. The unfortunate part is some Dells use the BTX format, a much harder to come by type if you need to replace a board in the future. Remember also, Dell owns Alienware now.

HP and Compaq models are really lacking in their desktop models, all the way up to $1000. The quality is less than you should expect from the one who came in above Dell last year.

Emachines though better, is still bad when it comes to long -term support. The quality of their systems may be far better, but their support of them leaves still much to be desired.

Acer can go either way, sometimes they are good, sometimes not so much.

In the end, there are problems with all of them, but Dell wins out on long-term support and quality components. Their online configurator though, like the others, charges too much to upgrade parts. Dell also wins on the monitor front as well. Dell has come a long way, its entire consumer P4-line was a bulk of garbage.

Gateway is in a land of its own. Saying that I mean, no one really considers them anymore. They don't try to bother you with fantastic models and you leave them alone. That might have something to do with Acer acquiring Gateway... ofcourse that is after Gateway scooped up eMachines.

Remember the days of many computer-related companies? Software companies snatching up others left and right. Like when Adobe got Macromedia or the many acquisitions EA has done. Let us not forget how Maxtor bought Quantum and Seagate bought Maxtor... There just is not that many actual individual companies anymore.

On desktop computers I order the Dells with the basic 1 year warranty. I figure if something goes wrong with it, I can replace whatever goes out for the price I would have paid for the extra warranty.

But other than motherboards, don't they all pretty much use the the same ram, hard drives, and components ? I mean you can't blame the Dell or HP if the WD hard drive goes out.

I have had very poor luck with Dells.. Hence why I am always Dell Bashing.. I hear so many people saying they're great, but I'm not seeing it. Since I've started working on computers 95% of my PC work has been on Dells. In the last couple of years, most of the Dells I have worked on have been under warranty, but I can't count on my fingers and toes the number of motherboards I've had to replace in Dells around here. I have two Dells at the office right now that are both less than 6 months old and showing signs of a bad motherboard. Kinda lousy if you as me.. But this is just my experience. I usually do recommend their laptops, but I wouldn't wish their desktops on my worst enemy. Again, just my experience. When people say they are getting a Dell I tell them to get the longest warranty possible. My Fiance's parents bought her brother a laptop and about 4 months after he got it, the LCD Connector on the back of the LCD went flaky. They called Dell for a repair and Dell told them it only had a 90, yes NINETY, day warranty. So $700 for a bricked Dell.. Kinda crappy in my eyes. Anyways, I'm done with Dell for now.

HP/Compaq - I have had very good luck with their laptops. I have bought and repaired about 12 in the last 3 years and they are all still running strong. Their Desktops I don't care for. I've seen too many of the Pavilion series go south FAST.

eMachines - I haven't seen a new one lately, but their old stuff sure was junk.

That's my .02 I know a few of you will disagree with me on Dell.. But, my experience tells me otherwise

eGo

nitro237 wrote:But other than motherboards, don't they all pretty much use the the same ram, hard drives, and components ? I mean you can't blame the Dell or HP if the WD hard drive goes out.

You can. They chose to use those models, not because of reliability, but because of cost. Ram is one of the more random things. They tend to use different memory brand chips. HP has been known for its old use of NEC and more recent Infineon. Dells more often I believe, use Micron type. Acer uses Samsung.

The unfortunate part lies in the inconsistency, you do not really know 100% what you are getting till you get it.