Computer purchase help

BobcatLionFan · Post by **BobcatLionFan** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:51 pm

It's just that the quality feedback on HPs are really iffy.

But you can't go wrong. I've liked the support from Dell (where the others just say a short period) But as I said, IF you go Dell, look at the Costco thing.

Apples are good, but pricey. No deals there.

I looked around and Dell prices are very competitive to PC Club type put togethers. (when comparied apples to apples). If you go the put to gether route, he picky on the components used (such as the DVD RW). Some are very good and still cheap, others are just cheap.

As to processor speed, some of the higher speeds are from over-clocking (even from Dell). you can change the BIOS to allow the overclocking, it's just that Dell and others say if it doesn't work (blue screen appears to often) step it back down. It's interesting they would put the parameter in the BIOS.

GOKATS · Post by **GOKATS** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:12 pm

I'll readily admit that I know little about computers, but I own a business that uses AutoCad and several other high powered softwares. I think the last 6 or so computers I've purchased (all desktops) are HP's that I bought at Costco.

One of them I had to take in for a new power switch. Any other glitches I've had where I had to take one in to the computer 'gurus' were generally problems with Windows until I went to XP Pro. According to my 'gurus', most the of the service and repair business they do is on Dell and Gateway computers.

One of my sons, however, works for a company that uses Dell laptops, using AutoCad, etc., and he says they're very reliable. Guess it just depends on your needs.

Just my humble $.02 worth.

BobCatFan · Post by **BobCatFan** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 6:39 pm

by an Apple. Stop messing around with MS cr@p. Mac's are Virus free. Do I need to say more?

'93HonoluluCat · Post by **'93HonoluluCat** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:54 pm

grizzh8r wrote:
'93HonoluluCat wrote:
HB wrote:in 1/2 a year i will be able to get windows xp which will take advantage of 64 bit processing
Actually Windows XP isn't a 64-bit OS...it's only 32-bit. If you want a 64-bit OS, you'll have to wait until...umm...whenever Windows "Vista" is released.
Correction: To my knowledge, Windows has released an XP version that is 64-bit. I know because I was stupid and bought the 32 bit system. All in all, however, it really doesn't noticeably effect the performance running the 32 bit system on a 64 bit processor.

I was actually hoping no one noticed my omission until I had a chance to retract my statement. Sorry.

Hell's Bells wrote:shhh dont tell the mac user that...our little secret...cant wait to run 64 bit windows!

Where's the love, HB???

BobcatFan wrote:by an Apple. Stop messing around with MS cr@p. Mac's are Virus free. Do I need to say more?

$\:D/$

I switched last year, and I've never been more pleased with a computer.

Hell's Bells · Post by **Hell's Bells** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:24 am

'93HonoluluCat wrote:
grizzh8r wrote:
'93HonoluluCat wrote:
HB wrote:in 1/2 a year i will be able to get windows xp which will take advantage of 64 bit processing
Actually Windows XP isn't a 64-bit OS...it's only 32-bit. If you want a 64-bit OS, you'll have to wait until...umm...whenever Windows "Vista" is released.
Correction: To my knowledge, Windows has released an XP version that is 64-bit. I know because I was stupid and bought the 32 bit system. All in all, however, it really doesn't noticeably effect the performance running the 32 bit system on a 64 bit processor.
I was actually hoping no one noticed my omission until I had a chance to retract my statement. Sorry.

Hell's Bells wrote:shhh dont tell the mac user that...our little secret...cant wait to run 64 bit windows!
Where's the love, HB???

BobcatFan wrote:by an Apple. Stop messing around with MS cr@p. Mac's are Virus free. Do I need to say more?
$\:D/$

I switched last year, and I've never been more pleased with a computer.

i was just kidding hc

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:36 am

I got tired of paying a minimum 20% premium for the Apple logo...The Windows XP I have now is as reliable as any Mac I ever owned, and I owned and used them for over 10 years.

Also, more than even a geek would ever want to know at the following:

http://www.anandtech.com

http://www.tomshardware.com

'93HonoluluCat · Post by **'93HonoluluCat** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:56 pm

Bleed in Blue N Gold wrote:I got tired of paying a minimum 20% premium for the Apple logo...

Bleed in Blue N Gold wrote:...The Windows XP I have now is as reliable as any Mac I ever owned, and I owned and used them for over 10 years.

You must not install/uninstall a lot of programs then, or your conversion must be still pretty new. When a lot of the DLLs become "orphan DLLs", Windows becomes a terribly difficult OS to keep running reliably. Even Microsoft itself recommends reinstalling Windows every 12 months or so, just to keep the OS from running similar to molasses.

My OS X doesn't need that sort of annual tune-up... $\:D/$

BobcatLionFan · Post by **BobcatLionFan** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:54 am

'93HonoluluCat wrote: You must not install/uninstall a lot of programs then, or your conversion must be still pretty new. When a lot of the DLLs become "orphan DLLs", Windows becomes a terribly difficult OS to keep running reliably. Even Microsoft itself recommends reinstalling Windows every 12 months or so, just to keep the OS from running similar to molasses.

My OS X doesn't need that sort of annual tune-up... $\:D/$

Could that be because there are limited programs that run on OS X and thus you don't change programs often?

Apple is good, but (big but) expensive.

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:40 am

'93HonoluluCat wrote:
Bleed in Blue N Gold wrote:I got tired of paying a minimum 20% premium for the Apple logo...

Bleed in Blue N Gold wrote:...The Windows XP I have now is as reliable as any Mac I ever owned, and I owned and used them for over 10 years.
You must not install/uninstall a lot of programs then, or your conversion must be still pretty new. When a lot of the DLLs become "orphan DLLs", Windows becomes a terribly difficult OS to keep running reliably. Even Microsoft itself recommends reinstalling Windows every 12 months or so, just to keep the OS from running similar to molasses.

My OS X doesn't need that sort of annual tune-up... $\:D/$

I do, in fact, install a lot, and to a much lesser extent, uninstall. Mostly, the uninstalled ones are games that my kids have beaten. When you uninstall, I recommend going into the registry and manually deleting the various references to the uninstalled program. I also run a utilities program every week that cleans up those pesky orphan DLLs. I can't even remember the last time my OS crashed (knock knock)...

Microsoft does recommend doing a clean install annually, and I know several people who do that...I don't do that - what a pain - and so far, I've been blessed. BTW - my machine is a refurbished Dell laptop. Don't know if that makes a difference, but I've always had great luck with Dell.

'93HonoluluCat · Post by **'93HonoluluCat** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:17 am

Bleedinbluengold wrote:I do, in fact, install a lot, and to a much lesser extent, uninstall. Mostly, the uninstalled ones are games that my kids have beaten. When you uninstall, I recommend going into the registry and manually deleting the various references to the uninstalled program. I also run a utilities program every week that cleans up those pesky orphan DLLs. I can't even remember the last time my OS crashed (knock knock)...

Microsoft does recommend doing a clean install annually, and I know several people who do that...I don't do that - what a pain - and so far, I've been blessed. BTW - my machine is a refurbished Dell laptop. Don't know if that makes a difference, but I've always had great luck with Dell.

You're one of the "success stories," then.

Hell's Bells · Post by **Hell's Bells** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:40 am

'93HonoluluCat wrote:
Bleedinbluengold wrote:I do, in fact, install a lot, and to a much lesser extent, uninstall. Mostly, the uninstalled ones are games that my kids have beaten. When you uninstall, I recommend going into the registry and manually deleting the various references to the uninstalled program. I also run a utilities program every week that cleans up those pesky orphan DLLs. I can't even remember the last time my OS crashed (knock knock)...

Microsoft does recommend doing a clean install annually, and I know several people who do that...I don't do that - what a pain - and so far, I've been blessed. BTW - my machine is a refurbished Dell laptop. Don't know if that makes a difference, but I've always had great luck with Dell.
You're one of the "success stories," then.

the only microsoft os i havent had problems with is xp
if i had problems with xp trust me my hp laptop would be running linux right about now

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:47 am

'93HonoluluCat wrote:
Bleedinbluengold wrote:I do, in fact, install a lot, and to a much lesser extent, uninstall. Mostly, the uninstalled ones are games that my kids have beaten. When you uninstall, I recommend going into the registry and manually deleting the various references to the uninstalled program. I also run a utilities program every week that cleans up those pesky orphan DLLs. I can't even remember the last time my OS crashed (knock knock)...

Microsoft does recommend doing a clean install annually, and I know several people who do that...I don't do that - what a pain - and so far, I've been blessed. BTW - my machine is a refurbished Dell laptop. Don't know if that makes a difference, but I've always had great luck with Dell.
You're one of the "success stories," then.

I think the real success is with XP. MS finally got it right.

CelticCat · Post by **CelticCat** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:49 am

XP is pretty good but still has its flaws. I'd own a Mac first choice, but they are expensive and can't run as many games as Windows can, although that has changed significantly in the last few years.

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:14 am

There is are two really nice Dell and HP systems at costco (I am looking at spending $1200). They look very compatable ($$) to what I can get on line. About the only thing I would add to the system would be a huge second hard drive. You can never have a big enough hard drive!! What about service from Costco. Things happen, and and I don't always mind if a part breaks etc. occationally, but what I care about is does the company step up to the plate to solve the problem quickly.

BobcatLionFan · Post by **BobcatLionFan** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:53 am

On the Dell, I do have some experience. You call a number supplied by Costco, the recording asks if it is billing or return oriented, if no, they transfer you directly to Dell tech support.

Depending upon the warranty that comes with it (a lot of times 3 yrs with the Dell at costco) it works well. But you want to make sure you drive the point that it is a hardware problem or Dell likes to transfer you to a S/W support line and charge you for support of other people's S/W. Just make sure you are convinced that it is not H/W before they let you let them transfer you.

As for HP, sorry, no experience.

BobCatFan · Post by **BobCatFan** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:39 pm

BobcatLionFan wrote:
'93HonoluluCat wrote: You must not install/uninstall a lot of programs then, or your conversion must be still pretty new. When a lot of the DLLs become "orphan DLLs", Windows becomes a terribly difficult OS to keep running reliably. Even Microsoft itself recommends reinstalling Windows every 12 months or so, just to keep the OS from running similar to molasses.

My OS X doesn't need that sort of annual tune-up... $\:D/$
Could that be because there are limited programs that run on OS X and thus you don't change programs often?

Apple is good, but (big but) expensive.

The new Mac is very comparable to any Dell, HP or Gateway. Open you eyes and see the facts. If you spend $100 more, you will be glad you did 2 years from now.

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 6:55 am

So Apple has finally figured out that they shouldn't charge a premium for their logo, eh? Problem now is that mslacat probably has $5K-$10K wrapped up in windows based software. It now becomes an expensive conversion to move over to a Mac.

I hardly can read minds or know the ages of the posters here, but it does appear that the college aged folks lean toward Mac, and the older folks lean toward Windows-based systems. Funny, I, too, was a diehard Mac user in college and for many years afterwards - in defiance of the Evil Empire.

BobCatFan · Post by **BobCatFan** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:04 pm

Bleedinbluengold wrote:So Apple has finally figured out that they shouldn't charge a premium for their logo, eh? Problem now is that mslacat probably has $5K-$10K wrapped up in windows based software. It now becomes an expensive conversion to move over to a Mac.

I hardly can read minds or know the ages of the posters here, but it does appear that the college aged folks lean toward Mac, and the older folks lean toward Windows-based systems. Funny, I, too, was a diehard Mac user in college and for many years afterwards - in defiance of the Evil Empire.

MS has a software program that will run pc software on the MAC. It cost $79 and can be puchased in a package deal with MS Office.

I use pc and work and Mac at home. I hate my computer at work. It crashes and it is hard to set up and make changes. For xp, what a piece of crap. I just got it at work this week and talk about being slow. It took 90 minutes today to sign on to Outlook when I started the compute today.

Mac will be using itel chips next year, what will by your excuse then? See the light and come over to good side.

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 8:29 am

That conversion program works well for word processing, spreadsheets, etc. I used something similar when I had my Macs.

I'm talking about modeling programs. Those only run reliably on one OS or another, and 99% of them are written for a Windows based OS.

If you're work computer crashes and takes 90 minutes to boot up Outlook, then you have a lemon, or your system wasn't set up correctly to begin with. I'd be bitchin' to my IT person or whoever bought it in the first place. The Outlook issue might be related to RAM. You should have at least 1GB for XP, imho. Even though most new systems only come with 256MB.

'93HonoluluCat · Post by **'93HonoluluCat** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:43 am

Bleedinbluengold wrote:I hardly can read minds or know the ages of the posters here, but it does appear that the college aged folks lean toward Mac, and the older folks lean toward Windows-based systems. Funny, I, too, was a diehard Mac user in college and for many years afterwards - in defiance of the Evil Empire.

Wow! Can I print that out to show my wife? She reminds me often how old I am...

The reason I switched to Mac was the secure nature if OS X's BSD backbone. It's a much more secure OS than Windows, and then there's the fact there are fewer viruses for the Mac than I have fingers on one hand.

But Microsoft doesn't call them bugs or holes...they call them "features."