Which manufacturer?

[Arc]

I'm going to be working over the summer so that I can get a new computer. I couldn't decide on which brand to buy, so I'm asking you guys. I would like to buy a tower, that is fairly upgradeable, because I don't want to buy a new tower in 2 years.

Thank you for your input,


Viper

[Fed]

I voted other, select ths components you want & put ut together yourself or get the computershop to put it together for you.
Get good stuff now & forget about upgrading, by the time you need an upgrade the only thing worth saving will be the case.

[Flame]

If you're not interested in building a computer, and would prefer to buy one, I suggest Sony over Dell. While Sony is more expensive, their computers seem to have less issues. Dell Is my second bet, becuase their towers are mostly stable.

Flame

[Zylstra]

Dells explode.

That's what I have to say about them, and they just plain suck in many ways.

Compaq/HP is what I would suggest.
They come with good restore disks, and that is more than useful.

And great online support.
Gateways and Dells can be customized a lot more, and Dells can come with the accidental replacement coverage. (Accidental replacement=VERY WORTH IT!)

[2k_dummy]

What fed said.

[homer]

make ur own. the second u buy a premade computer, u have to pay a middle-man to put it together for u. thats a bout $200 extra right there. how else does a company that makes computers make money? and also, correct me if im wrong, u cant open the computer or u will void the warrenty. thats means whenever theres a problem, u gotta ship them the computer, they gotta fix it, and they gotta ship it back. estimated wait time... 4-6 weeks.

[soybean]

What fed said.  

[soybean]

make ur own. the second u buy a premade computer, u have to pay a middle-man to put it together for u. thats a bout $200 extra right there. how else does a company that makes computers make money? and also, correct me if im wrong, u cant open the computer or u will void the warrenty. thats means whenever theres a problem, u gotta ship them the computer, they gotta fix it, and they gotta ship it back. estimated wait time... 4-6 weeks.

Eh ..., not necessarily.  I know some folks who had a problem a Sony that was still under warranty.  Sony sent a repair guy to the customer's location to fix it.  This was in Columbus, Ohio.

And, how often do hardware problems arise during the warranty period?  Also, if you buy from a major retailer and a hardware problem developes during the first 2 to 4 weeks, you may be able to return it to the retailer for repair at their store (Best Buy has their Geek Sqaud) or for an exchange.

[GX1_Man]

I like what Fed said BUT I just purchased (for a family member) an Acer in a nice, quiet case with a Sempron 3100 processor, standard Gigabyte motherboard (even tweakable!), 512 RAM, onboard video but an 8X AGP slot, 160 gig SATA hard drive, DVD burner flash media slots, keyboard and mouse, 1 year warranty and XP Home for <$300. I doubt if you could build one for that price, and certainly not have it assembled. Of course that's not state of the art, but it is quick, full featured, nice looking and non-proprietary (and I didn't have to put it together for him!).

Every Dell Optiplex I ever got had on site 3 year warranty, bumper to bumper but that's been 3+ years since my last one. They are somewhat proprietary, but replacement parts are readily available. Sony is a distant follower in my book, right behind Compaq.

By the way IBM should be removed and replaced with Lenovo. IBM home computers are a thing of the past.

[Arc]

I like that computer there GX1_Man! I would be fine with the not being state of the art, because if I did get one state of the art, it woudn't be in about a week anyway where did ou get the computer though, locally by you, or online?


Viper

[GX1_Man]

Tigerdirect.com, but the rebate period is over now. Stick around. There will be others!

[dl65]

Put together your own ...and then you will have control of what you can do with it down the road.


dl65  

[GX1_Man]

Viper,

Here is another budget delight. This one even has a PCIe slot and no rebate!

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=W3107-R&cat=SYS&cpc=JAD