Steve -
I run a small onsite service business in the Boston area with over 1100 small business and residential clients. Naturally I get exposure to just about every brand, model, and configuration of PC out there. Here's what I've found:
1. Compaq, HP, Dell, Gateway, Sony, Toshiba, ford, chevy, chrysler... not a lot of difference between them all if you get my drift.
2. I've had customers who have sworn up and down that buying {Insert any brand from above list} is the best thing they've ever done and they would never buy another brand.
3. I've had customers who have sworn up and down that buying {insert any brand from above list} is the worst thing they ever did and they would never EVER buy another piece of crap from that company.
Now add to those opinions of my customers the fact that I have had to swap out defective or failed components, video cards, memory modules, CD-ROM drives, hard drives and power supplies, modems and NICS for every one of those brands, and often on machines that are less than six months old and you can see where I derive my opinion of the genericness (is that a word?) of the market as a whole.
My advice is pay less attention to brand name and more attention to processor power, memory and hard disk space for your money, also look hard at the terms of warranty and replacement guarantees. Painful though it is, take an hour and a cup of coffee and read the fine print. Look to buy from an organization that will perform service either onsite or carry-in (meaning not boxing up and mailing your precious PC to a service center in East Nowhere for who-knows how long).
Hope this helps some.
-R |
