PC Owners: Talk About Your Systems

[Bonochick]

I'd love for everyone to share information about your PCs. What kind you have, when you got it, where you got it from, hardware specifics...as much detail as you know and/or want to share. Also, do you have any complaints about your computer? Would you get that brand again?

 

[Liesje]

I've only ever used HPs. My parents had an HP desktop, then I nannied all summer to buy an HP desktop before I went to college. Then I sold that one because I wanted a digital camera more than a computer, and then a friend sold me her old HP laptop for $200. In Jan. I sold that old laptop and finally bought a brand new HP laptop from CompUSA.

I've never had troubles with HPs that I wasn't responsible for. I tinker and I mettle, so when I break something I don't blame it on the computer. The only time I did have a problem that wasn't my fault, I e-mailed HP and they contacted me within the hour with a list of solutions.

I've always believe that with ANY computer of any brand or platform, you get what you pay for. If you only paid $600 for a laptop, expect your computer to have crappier parts and design and not last very long.

My current model is HP Pavilion dv2050us. It came with Windows XP Media Edition but has a free upgrade to Vista and is a "Vista premium ready" computer (meaning I need no additional hardware for the upgrade). It's very small, very light, has a built-in webcam/digicam, plays and burns DVDs, 2GB RAM, dual core processor, 160GB hard drive, remote control, media card slots, built-in wireless, ethernet port, firewire, VGA, S-video, various audio ports, USB ports, a 6-cell battery that lasts 4 hours playing music. I love it and couldn't be happier with it. The only con so far is that there is no PCMCIA slot, but I knew that when I purchased it and probably will never need one.

My default PC option is usually HP because I prefer the way they look and I much prefer their laptop keyboards to Dell and Lenovo. Since I've never had a major problem with one, I'll probably keep getting them unless I can afford a Mac or higher end "business model" PC.

 

[LyricalDrug]

I use a Mac Powerbook, and I'll never use a PC again. It never crashes, never gets a virus, and is sleek and simple to use. I rarely gush over consumer products, but this one deserves it.

 

[Sicy]

Are you getting hot yet BC?


I have an HP Media Center PC. It's about a year old and its' got a 200g hard drive, 1 gig of RAM,

well hell here it is

 

[U2Man]

dell dimension 8300

3 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor. Northwood.

512 Mb RAM.

120 Gb HD.

Ati Radeon 9800 Graphics card.

it broke once, outside the warranty period. i convinced them to change the motherboard for free anyway. makes me want to buy a dell the next time too.

 

[ntalwar]

I've always believe that with ANY computer of any brand or platform, you get what you pay for. If you only paid $600 for a laptop, expect your computer to have crappier parts and design and not last very long.

My Acer notebook was only around $500, and I'm very pleased with it -great specs for that price. It's still running strong after 2+ years and has good parts. Acer is based in Taiwan and seems to have lower labor costs, and is so big that they can negotiate lower prices for components. My parents and two coworkers are also satisfied with theirs. I believe U2Man is also pleased with his Acer notebook.

 

[U2Man]

i am. and i am on the lookout for an additional notebook. i considered dell, but they only have two ram slots. acer has 4

 

[Liesje]

My Acer notebook was only around $500, and I'm very pleased with it -great specs for that price. It's still running strong after 2+ years and has good parts. Acer is based in Taiwan and seems to have lower labor costs, and is so big that they can negotiate lower prices for components. My parents and two coworkers are also satisfied with theirs. I believe U2Man is also pleased with his Acer notebook.

I looked into Acers, but the places around here carried only 1 or 2 models, if any at all, and they had too much of what I didn't need and not enough of what I did need.

My decision on the dv2050 was ultimately made when they offered it to me for $930 (originally they are $1300-$1400), plus a great three years warranty (I can have keyboards, screens, and batteries replaced even if they are not broken, and of course everything else is covered for 3 years, and it's very easy to transfer if I sell the compy before then).

Also, I've had good experiences with HP customer support so I'm reluctant to switch without a really convincing reason.

 

[daafish]

I didn't buy any particular brand, I put it together. AMD 64 3800, 2 gigs of ram, BFG nvidia 6800GT 256MB video card, Soundblaster Live sound card, a whopping 40GB IDE! hard drive, 4 USB ports plus a card slotted with 4 more USB ports and windows XP.

My only complaint is the hard drive which I'm fixing to change within the coming days.

 

[anitram]

I have a Toshiba Tecra. It's a corporate Toshiba and you can tell - it's not built for media and things like that although I don't think I'm getting stiffed as I still have all the features most laptops have. But it's far better on security features than laptops you buy in stores, it's built to be carried around, and has served me well. 1 Gb RAM, 120 Gb hard drive, Vista ready but currently runs XP Professional. I have a 12 cell battery which is probably the best thing about it.

 

[bono_man2002]

ummm here's what I built in October of 2006

Motherboard: Gigabyte 965P-S3 DS3
CPU: Intel Dual Core 3.4ghz
RAM: 1GB (2x512)
HDD: 200GB
Video: 256mb Asus...I don't play games, so I really didn't need much a video....

The motherboard rocks, well at least compared to the one in my old computer (which was built in 2001!) because of it, I did not need to buy a network card or a sound card...well I guess i could get a better sound card, but the one intergrated works perfectly fine for me

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

I have a Dell I bought in 2002. It has a 40 GB hard drive, and every time I boot it up, I have to reinstall my sound system drivers. I say a prayer over it every night before I go to bed, hoping it will last me until I can get a job after graduation.

All joking aside, Dell customer service has been pretty good. Even after your warranty runs out, you can use a free chat with a technician, and most of time with remote assistance they can diagnose your problem.

I also have an equally old Dell laptop that I bought on ebay for a few hundred dollars. Since I wanted to use it only for schoolwork (away from all the distractions on my desktop), I purposely bought a very bare-bones model.

New computer

 

[fly so high!]

I'd love for everyone to share information about your PCs. What kind you have, when you got it, where you got it from, hardware specifics...as much detail as you know and/or want to share. Also, do you have any complaints about your computer? Would you get that brand again?

Bonochick.....you're a SPY ARE'NT YOU!!!!


Na-ah-ahhhhhhh!!! you ain't gettin hold of my whole $26.78

 

[Bonochick]

Nooooo, I'm just a dork who:

1. Salivates over hearing this kind of stuff. (Sicy... )

2. Is hoping to get a new computer later this year but isn't sure what I want yet.

 

[fly so high!]

^ Righto!

OK....here goes!
Motherboard ASUS K8N-E DELUXE
1 GB of cosair ram
amd 3.6 ghz with a 1 MB cache
and
thermal take,beetle heat sync Soprano Case!