Dell vs. HP vs....

[Shaun @ Tru6]

need to get a new PC this week for the company. Just needs to run a custom MS Access application...memory hog, processor hog.

Would like to spend about $500 for a complete PC.

Our old Dell dual Xeon bit the dust way too many times, but it was a 3-4 year old computer.

Does AMD vs. Intel make a difference?

Any recommendations on brand quality and specs?

[Tim Hancock]

Myself and co-workers have had good luck buying from these guys on Ebay. The re-furbished lease turn ins look/function like new. Under $300 for a laptop and under $200 for a desktop.

dell items - Get great deals on latitude, optiplex items on eBay Stores!

[id10t]

Dell, if only for the long next day on site repair/parts warranty. Buy as a small business (no checking or anything) and you get the optiplex line. Go for more cores over more CPU speed, and get as much ram as you can cram into it.

PS - you can hire a geek like me to port it all over to mysql, postgres, etc. and make a web front end for it (even w/ running on local machine/lan and not on true internet).

[t951]

Dell is a master of putting together the cheapest parts that were available that day. You get what you pay for. (If I am running a business server, it will never be a Dell). However, I get my family Dells for personal use. They are good for non critical apps and use. Good support, etc.

You can also go to Dell's refurb site and get good deals.
RAM is critical. More RAM = better. Cores are good if you have apps that can take advantage of them.

just my experience and .02

[porsche4life]

I had to disable an HP to fix a power jack in april... Its already broken again. That HP was the most plasticy POS I have ever messed with... Not saying my Dell is perfect but it much better built. Its about to see its 3rd birthday all living the not so easy college life. I would say its been responsible for ~90% of my Pelican posts...

[red-beard]

My next machine will be a personal build with a 6 core AMD (Phenom II X6 1055) processor. Without operating system, it will be around $440 (shipping and tax included). With Windows 7Pro x64, it will end up around $580. The Cpumark on this unit will be 5151. A similar Intel unit will be around $200-300 more. To double the speed, requires a high end (nearly $1K) Core i7 processor with a much more expensive motherboard. To buy a machine with similar characteristics for Dell or HP would be much more expensive.

[89911]

Having bought dozens of computers for my work and home, I would try to find the item that fits your basic needs, buy it, and expect to get a few years out of it. Gone are the days of buying the absolute "best" that is out there. Todays "bests" is next years "average" for half the price with computers. Sometimes you luck out and you get a good unit that holds up. I have bought mostly Dells for work and have an HP at home with no real issues. I think my first Gateway computer cost close to $3000. Now you can get units that are under $500 that are light years ahead. Yes, they are made cheaply, but the price and performance have improved exponentially.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Thank you for all the replies and PMs. it looks like we are going to go with a refurbished Dell Inspiron 560 with 4GB of RAM.

Inspiron 560 Desktop Details | Dell,

[GH85Carrera]

The last computer we bought was a used Dell workstation. A local oil & gas company buys TONS of workstation, and they replace them every two years. We bought a 3.8 GHz P-4, 4 gig of RAM and a 1 TB drive & XP-Pro for 250 bucks. It is a HUGE machine. It has a NVIDIA Quatro FX 4400 video card. I added a second 1 TB drive and run them as a mirror so if one drive fails I will not loose data. The RAID manager is built into the BIOS.

[red-beard]

I purchased an old IBM with a Pentium 1.8, to use as Network attached storage, several years back. It was pressed into service as we expanded. In the past month, I replaced the MB, added 4GB of RAM, the CPU is a Core 2 Duo running at 2.93 mHZ. The thing is lightning compared to it's previous life. $200