The best way to get a Dell is sign up for their mailing list and wait until you get an e-mail you like. You can almost always get free shipping this way.
Cheers!
[quote]harmonjh wrote:
BigWall wrote:
***** Computer Nerd About to show his ugly head *****
Dell = sucks
Gateway = sucks more
Apple = sucks the mostest
I know most people over the age of 30 cant deal with computers, but the BEST way is to invest some time and learn how to build your own. Its Hella more fun, you get 10 times more bang for your buck, and its EASY! its like snaping together legos.
I agree. Oh…the hatred I have for Dell and their bastard parnter in crime, Intel. My parents bought an emachine a few months ago, it isn’t that bad. I recommend an AMD machine, they are much more reliable, better performance, and cheaper than Intel.
Like others have said, it depends on the machine you want. If for office/internet, you don’t need fastest machine with all the fancy components. I assume it isn’t for gaiming, becasue if it was, you wouldn’t be consulting t-mag.
[/quote]
AMD gives a lot of bang for the buck… but in my approximately 10 years or so of building computers (thats a guess) I have never found AMD to be more reliable than Intel. To me, Intel processors are like a Mercedes-Benz… fast, well designed, and very refined. AMD is like a 1967 Camaro with no seats - fast, but quite unrefined. AMD runs hot, requires you to buy these big expensive fans that are loud as hell, and last I checked the methods for attaching the heatsink/fan to the CPU was abominable, leading to frequent problems with people cracking their CPUs.
Personally I’d go for Intel. Intel charges a big premium on their “top of the line” processors, but if you drop back to “second or third best” you can get a VERY reasonable deal, often competitive with AMD.
As to the original poster:
First off if you want a mac, get one. They are great machines - I have both a mac and a home built PC. Go to the online Apple Store, and in the Special Deals section you will find refurbished computers. Right now, they have a refurb 1.6 G5 for 1299 and a dual 1.8 for 1799. Either of those systems will blow away an imac, and are very quick for almost any use. I myself got a refurbished single 1.8 from them, and it is immaculate - definitely good as new.
If you decide against mac, I’ll give my standard line. Build your own pc with the help of a savvy friend if you can. If you can’t, go to DELL.
[quote]harmonjh wrote:
I’d really appreciate if you could answer this question: Which processor does your company and/or customers prefer Intel or AMD?[/quote]
We use almost exclusively Intel.
Logistics. Most of the motherboards we buy have an Intel chipset. If we put an AMD processor in them, and something goes wrong with the motherboard, the manufacturer will try to blame it on using an AMD processor instead of Intel.
Now, you and I both know that this reasoning is utter bullshit, but it takes DAYS to pound this into the manufacturer’s skull and get an RMA. I can’t afford that. So whenever I use an Intel chipset, I use an Intel processor. Whenever I use an AMD or NVIDIA chipset, I use an AMD processor.
Unfortunately, most of the AMD and NVIDIA chipset motherboards I see are from Abit, and we don’t do business with them. (It’s a warranty policies issue.) But there are some ass-kicking server motherboards out there that have an AMD chipset – and I would not hesitate to drop an AMD processor in one of those.