Where do you buy your desktop PC?

jaydeeuk1

Acer do some great budget laptops, if you remember that it is a budget laptop

Asus would get my vote. Most reliable manufacturer (based on laptop sales) and 2nd only to Apple in customer service surveys.

Marty_J

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

Its a good job then as their hardware reliability record % wise is worse than Asus, toshiba and sony and just marginally better than Dell.

That depends on who you ask:

Apple ousts ASUS as most reliable in new study

Apple has taken the lead as the most reliable computer maker thanks to ASUS' over-dependence on netbooks, a new RESCUECOM study says. Where ASUS led the rankings in the third quarter of 2008 and in the spring this year, Apple has surged back to earn a reliability score of 374 for the third quarter this year, or more than twice ASUS' third-place 166 score. Much of ASUS' fall is attributed to first-wave Eee PC netbooks getting older and failing in relatively large numbers due to their poorer build quality.

"Now that many of the netbooks by ASUS have been out for a while, there is obviously a higher need for service," the repair firm's CEO David Millman says.

While the results are dependent on the ratio of computers shipped versus the number of requests for help that RESCUECOM receives and can fluctuate, the company notes that it's counting not just the construction of the system but the post-sale support from the manufacturer itself, taking some of its own influence out of the equation. Apple accounted for about 9 percent of US PC shipments in the summer but only made up 2.4 percent of calls.

Apple's lead was considerably narrower over second-place Lenovo, which reached 320 points, but fared much better against much larger competitors. Toshiba reached fourth place with a score of 165, while HP and its Compaq label were a distant fifth with 134. HP's ratio was especially poor; while it shipped 24.9 percent of computers, it represented 18.5 percent of support calls.

The shift partly supports Apple's distaste for netbooks. Executives have often commented that they don't believe they can produce a high-quality system at the sub-$500 prices demanded by the category. It has also avoided going significantly under $1,000 even for full-size notebooks due to similar concerns and has lately focused on components that are more likely to last, such as the stiffer unibody shell in all MacBooks and a preference for slot-loading optical drives that don't have a tray to break.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/12/07/asus.netbook.quality.lets.apple.take.lead/

jaydeeuk1

Marty_J wrote: »

That depends on who you ask:



http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/12/07/asus.netbook.quality.lets.apple.take.lead/

That looks like an American site (and no doubt because of yankie fat fingers breaking the netbooks ), I was looking at a Nov/Dec 2009 uk survey

fantasyvn

@Basil1234 : It's good to know that Asus is reliable. I like its sleek design.

My budget is around £400. I still use my laptop at home, but want to have a desktop PC for internet surfing and office work. Sometimes I may use it to play casual games, but I'm not a die-hard gamer.

BTW, I also like those all-in-one PC as they normally look neat and beautiful. But maybe £400 just cannot buy a good, long-lasting all-in-one?

Marty_J

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

That looks like an American site (and no doubt because of yankie fat fingers breaking the netbooks ), I was looking at a Nov/Dec 2009 uk survey

There are more Macs in the US than the UK (both in number and as a percentage of the market), so I would imagine a US survey would be better placed to more accurately reflect their reliability.

Regardless, Apple are pretty much the only major computer company not to make unreliable cheap and nasty netbooks, so it's hardly shocking that their computers would be more reliable. They don't even have to try very hard; a cursory examination of the PCs on sale in PC World will show that the build quality of most of their competition runs from "mediocre" all the way to "absolutely awful".

busenbust

busenbust wrote: »

The 27 inch iMac is absolutely gorgeous; what a screen; edge to edge display albeit a very glossy one. If I could afford I would take the plunge and possibly use BootCamp to have a dual W7/Leopard OS, as I am a Windows user. And shame on Apple, when you consider the price, for not including an HDMI port. Am I in Love?
http://viiprnews.com/images/2009/10/new-apple-imacs.jpg

busenbust wrote: »

Indeed you can;). The amount of rubbish on the market is absolutely incredible. Low quality screens (they might quote a high resolution but that matters not if the panel itself is of poor quality), 'spongy' keyboards, trackpads that don't track, touchpads that don't 'touch' (unresponsive). How the hell can they sell this stuff. Oh well, they can. There are only three netbooks (out of a multitude) I have seen that display decent build quality: The Asus, the MSI Wind and, my favorite of all, the Samsung series (esp. the N510).

Bought my Apple 27inch iMac from the Apple store; delivered post-Christmas; always been a Windows user (multiple Operating Systems); but bought my new Apple due to reasons in above second post - the shoddy build quality nowadays is shocking. But, having said that, might be on the (Apple) prowl for yet another Windows 7 laptop

chrisjw37

Cheap system, quick = e-buyer (not cutting edge, but excellent machines and service)

Posh slightly overpriced, but reliable until you need a service 2 years later - John Lewis

Direct no frills, but very reliable builder = Dell
(The National Health have thousands and we thrash them - very reliable and they last for years and years)

albionrovers

I bought a Medion 3 years ago from Aldis, they have one just now for £350 which has twice the power mine has. Comes with a dock which houses an external (Medion) harddrive without need for external power socket or USB connection.

Good family PC, I'm not a PC gamer though so can't comment.

jaydeeuk1

Aldi have come up with some superb bargains technology wise recently.

fantasyvn

Could you pls tell me if the stock from Aldi can all be seen from their website, or do we have to go to local store to check?