computer guys...need your thoughts

[mrmako777]

last weekend i decided to buy a new hp elite pavilion e9180t with all the bells and whistles. i thought i had done enough research on hp but i realized i hadnt when 4 days later i run across this thread:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=lockups&thread.id=895&view=by_date_ascending&page=139

yeah thats right, 139 pages of people bitching about how shitty these computers are. everything from lock ups, freezes, stuttering and BSOD.

heres a more consice version from pcmag:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353721,00.asp

so now this potential lemon is supposed to be delivered tomorrow and im debating on what i should do. should i open this thing up, plug it in and see if it works or not or should i just send it back unopened and get a dell? i thought hp had a really good name, but i guess not. anyone have this computer and had issues? what is your experience with hp?

[natedogg624]

mac ftw

[siggywiggy]

buy a mac!

[mrmako777]

macs are way too expensive!

[SJC1000rr]

Not sure what your return policy is, but check it out. Might have 30 day satisifaction etc where you can return it...minus shipping. Mac's wouldn't crash or have compatibility issues as much as pc's, but software is more limited and its a slightly different layout.

I build my own so I rarely deal with all that BS of prebuilt stuff thats going to take a crap all the time. (well, mostly!) /evil eye EVGA Mb! But bios update fixed most of it with some tweaks.

[wrillo]

If you aren't up on how to update BIOS, and install drivers, then send it back. Otherwise, I'd just say to get the computer and make sure everything is 100% updated and take your chances. If you do turn out to have problems, HP is a big enough company you can count on them making it right

[mrmako777]

If you aren't up on how to update BIOS, and install drivers, then send it back. Otherwise, I'd just say to get the computer and make sure everything is 100% updated and take your chances. If you do turn out to have problems, HP is a big enough company you can count on them making it right

see thats part of my problem, hp is not making it right with these people. some have complained that even their 4th repair didnt fix the issue. im no computer genius but i can work my way around one pretty well

[r1crusher]

Buy a Dell or better yet build your own. I prefer the 2nd option personally since you know exactly what you're getting. Hell, tell me what you want to do with it and I'll build it for you.

[the_silverfox]

last weekend i decided to buy a new hp elite pavilion e9180t with all the bells and whistles. i thought i had done enough research on hp but i realized i hadnt when 4 days later i run across this thread:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=lockups&thread.id=895&view=by_date_ascending&page=139

yeah thats right, 139 pages of people bitching about how shitty these computers are. everything from lock ups, freezes, stuttering and BSOD.

heres a more consice version from pcmag:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353721,00.asp

so now this potential lemon is supposed to be delivered tomorrow and im debating on what i should do. should i open this thing up, plug it in and see if it works or not or should i just send it back unopened and get a dell? i thought hp had a really good name, but i guess not. anyone have this computer and had issues? what is your experience with hp?

I've had a questionable run with HP; the towers are ok for everyday stuff and I've had a laptop overheat and die right before a major presentation. Supposedly they've improved but that string of complaints isn't good. Not that Dell gets away scot-free either. Other than Dell's XPS line I wouldn't go with name brand in the PC world for myself for pre-made desktop towers.

Macs are great; I used to have a Macbook Pro myself and it ran both OSX and Windows XP flawlessly. They are pricey though, and when they go down you have to take them to a Mac store to have them looked at because they're built so compact.

Personally I'd go with building a custom PC; I've built my last four machines and it's better peace of mind when you know what you've put in them. Currently I have two machines, one for everyday stuff like Internet and e-mail and my "power machine." I do video editing often and games occasionally so I have one machine built specifically for that. Going the custom PC direction is my preference, but the biggest question you have to ask yourself is what you're doing with it. If you're just using it for regular, every day stuff then off-the-shelf is fine.

PM if you have any other questions; I'd be more than happy to answer them.

[gruss]

If your going to get an HP you need to get their business stuff, thats usually pretty solid and we have some ancient ones around here still kicking it but the normal consumer stuff is crap, if you get a dell make sure to do your backups! The notebooks are solid and take a beating but i've burned through so many hard drives it isnt funny. Not a problem here at work, just ris a spare and you're done...if I paid my own money i'd be pissed though. Their support isnt half bad to deal with. HP I don't remember.

[Kahooli]

buy a mac!

build, don't buy.

[Aerik]

Really, with a new PC, the best move is to get a friend who's good with computers to take your budget to NewEgg and build you exactly what you need. No bloatware, just the good stuff, and done right.

An hour or two with the box of parts, and he'll have you a badass computer for much less than the price of an equivalent Dell or HP, with fewer problems.

[NinjaNick]

Building your own PC is simple. Lamborghini performance at a KIA price.

[the_silverfox]

Really, with a new PC, the best move is to get a friend who's good with computers to take your budget to NewEgg and build you exactly what you need. No bloatware, just the good stuff, and done right.

An hour or two with the box of parts, and he'll have you a badass computer for much less than the price of an equivalent Dell or HP, with fewer problems.

Hells yeah! Newegg rules! Built quite a few PCs from their stuff. I go for the plain black sleeper case but if you're into glow bug status you can do some mods.

Anyone had experience with buying stuff for a system build at Micro Center yet? I just went in there for new video and wireless network cards. Prices seem half decent, but I feel like you have to know what you're doing to get what you want (i.e. sales guys aren't that great).

[Artmageddon]

Build your own for sure. New Egg is good, Mwave, is usually decent.

Believe or not, The past few times that I've shopped for PC parts, Microcenter has been the cheapest on most items.

They have a few good sales guys, but I always know what I want and their only use to me is to go the back room and get it.

[Aerik]

I know a few other local pc build-geeks, and they swear by MicroCenter. I just haven't been there to see for myself recently. There's a crappy lil hole in the floor place behind Hooter's E. Main that is also quite good for basic stuff (hard drives, dvd-rw drives and such).

[jporter12]

Build your own for sure. New Egg is good, Mwave, is usually decent.

Believe or not, The past few times that I've shopped for PC parts, Microcenter has been the cheapest on most items.

They have a few good sales guys, but I always know what I want and their only use to me is to go the back room and get it.

I love Microcenter for the instant gratification factor, and they have decent prices, and run some really good sales! Overall, they can not touch Newegg for everything, but often times, shipping costs, and the instant gratification factor make it very worthwhile to go there. Not nearly as much worry about low quality components from them.

I know a few other local pc build-geeks, and they swear by MicroCenter. I just haven't been there to see for myself recently. There's a crappy lil hole in the floor place behind Hooter's E. Main that is also quite good for basic stuff (hard drives, dvd-rw drives and such).

Custom computer warehouse. Just make sure you know what you're getting, because they have some CHEAP (NOT to be read inexpensive) parts there, and some good stuff. Just be sure you know what you're getting!

Back to laptops, I have always liked Toshiba. I don't remember them ever going through periods where they had nothing but crap on the market, liek pretty much all of the others have. I'm using a $600 year old Toshiba 17", AMD Turion x2, 320gb, 3GB ram laptop now, and I love it, even with Vista on it!

[serpentracer]

what I've come to realize is most people are just plain ol stupid. computers are always going to be too complicated for most of them. even if it did everything for them, they would still manage to not understand it and fuck it up.

I usually don't buy a prebuilt computer. for one, they load it with a ton of useless junk. two, the os is often altered. you don't actually get windows7 as microsoft intended. it's tailored for HP.

second the parts they use are often cheap china junk they got on discount.

BUT, I bought a HP pavillion 3 years ago because it was actually full of name brand parts.

hitachi sata hard drive

ASUS motherboard

Nvidia chipsets with a Nvidia graphics.

light scribe sata dvd burner.

I threw in 4 gigs of high speed Gskill memory and a Nvidia 8600GTS video card and it gets a 5.9 windows experience index. both cost less than $130 together from newegg.com

my advise is to upgrade it to windows 7 before you do anything else. and next time buy a AMD processor. they just seem to work better than a intel for the most part in my experiences.

Edited October 11, 2009 by serpentracer