>I don't really have a problem with HP's computers, I've installed several for people and found them to be both very good value and reliable. My problems have been with their repair policies for printers/faxes/etc., not their computers. I have never had any problems with any of their computers, so I can't comment on whether the same problems I've had in the past exist there or not. I personally have used Compaq's and installed them for others without any problems there, either. What problems have you encountered with Compaq?
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Spotty QA - I've seen lots of DOAs (one of my clients used DEC to provide their turnkey boxes, and after DEC was acquired by Compaq, I got the chance to see all kinds of problems from the models that COmpaq shipped instead.) Drivers are almost always an issue. I won't talk about Compaq's NICs, other than to say they don't play well with others and have a poor track record from my experience. Power supplies are consistently poor. And the parts are nearly always propretary on their low-end boxes. I don't have complaints about their servers, except for NIC issues, but it's a company that I find to be very scary to deal with; they do not seem to pay attention to their OEM customers, and I find their support policies (when you call for free support, better have a credit card on-hand, or they won't talk to you, in case they decide it's your fault, not theirs.)
Generally, I'd say that they're better than Leading Edge most of the time, but not always. They seem to make some bad judgement calls as far as where to cut corners to save a dolar or two. And they're a PITA compared to HP on supporting their PCs.
>My only experience with an eMachine was very positive. A friend bought one that I helped setup. Took it out of the box and 5 minutes later they were online, no problem. An awful lot of extra useless crap came installed on the hard drive, though. Pretty similar to the low-end Compaq's. And I definitely don't like eMachine's and Compaq's decision to do the memory sharing that they do with their video. Does help to keep 'em cheap, though.
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I don't mind the sacrifice of some system memory to video - after all, it's there in the AGP spec. I have the option of using non-eMachine parts, often a problem with Compaq's low-end stuff. And since the OS CD comes with it, you can just blow away the preconfigured crud and start fresh with an install from CD that can go with the machine.
If you get the impression that I don't like Compaq, well, you're right. I'd rather write COBOL than use the low-end Compaqs. I'd rather debug uncommented APL than use the low-end Compaqs. I'd rather stick bare wires in an electric socket and play PD Voltage Tester than rely on Compaq...
>I've built a good many boxes for the office, others and myself. I'm not usually involved with too many "high end" systems, as you seem to be, though. We've used alot of Acer boards and have had very, very good success with them, though I have heard that others have had a terrible time with them.
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Acer is not on my list of preferred boards - Asus and SuperMicro make solid products, especially when venturing out of single-user systems. My bias against Acer comes from long periods of piss-poor product, interspersed with a few well-done components. It's hard enough to keep up with what the processors and chipsets are capable of and deal with some manufacturers that know what they're doing than to play Acers' games - they're one of the "board-du-jour" set, so that I was never exactly sure what would arrive from week to week.
>A friend of mine uses DELL pretty exclusively, and I know he is very happy with their products and support. He's purchased some very high-end equipment from them, and sometimes he's like one of the very early users of a product. I know he spends a fair amount of time on the phone resolving some early release configuration problems, but it always gets resolved in short order, even if it requires a new box or component be shipped out.
Dell, Micron and Gateway are reliable vendors that have real engineering departments behind their systems, and very good track records. I like the Dell Inspiron laptops a whole lot. If they have something close to what I need beyond what can be easily bought off-the-shelf, or a client with several offices needs systems built in part to order, all three are good choices. Locally, Gateway's on-site support outfit has the best track record of the three for showing up on time with the needed parts to fix a problem, but not by a lot.
