Which PC suppliers should I avoid?

Greg Masters

Greg Masters

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The PC that I have at home was the bee's bollocks when I bought it about 5 years ago, but now the hard-disk is full, the keyboard only works on ½ the buttons, the video card packs up every hour or so (needing a reboot) and it doesn't have a single USB port! Time to buy a new one.

I've been to Costco, and although their prices are pretty good, they don't have exactly what I want. I've been to PC World too. They have what I want, but not at a price that I would pay. So I'm looking at companies like Mesh and Time and well as more mainstream companies like Dell and HP, but it's all pretty hard going.

Do anyone have any good or bad experiences with any PC supplier?

BTW, I'm not interested in games.

What's the difference between XP (Home Edition) and XP Pro?

Do I need a Firewire port?

Cheers.

Greg

PS The sort of spec that I am looking for is:

  • Processor - not much bothered (I use a 233Mhz chip at present - anything currently available will be a massive leap forward)
  • Ram - probably 512Mb
  • 120-160 Gb hard drive
  • DVD/CD Reader
  • DVD/CD writer
 
Had a Dell (still got it networked) which performed well and no problems so can't really comment on their after-sales service.
Replaced this about a year or so ago with a Mesh (2400 AMD processor).
This has performed reasonably well but had two problems. The CD-RW drive failed and then a bit later the DVD drive failed.
Included within the purchase price was a 3 year on-site warranty.
After contacting Mesh on both occasions they sent out an engineer and replaced the drives. The response time from reporting the problem to the engineer arriving was 2 to 3 days. So, they seem reasonably well organised and helpful (at least in my experience)

Firewire... depends what you are going to be doing... eg. attaching a DV camera?
 
I buy all my desktop PC's from Digital Networks they only sell the bits you need none of this bundle bolloks with shit components. PC's are built to spec usually 7 days lead time. They have the best tech support I've experienced and I've dealt with most of the major players.

Machines come with 3 year support and no premium rate support lines and ou talk to highly knowledgable people. They are based in Manchester and are well known in the Linux community. Don't let that put you off they know their onions and will let you spec Windoze.
 
I agree with Judge on this... just decide what you want spec & component wise and get them to give you a price.

A lot of 'High Street' suppliers are trying to cut each others throats so much that their offerings are often built down to a price not up to a quality.

Avoid Time like the plague
 
Tiny

Me first pc came from TINY,
I think they were taken over by TIME, not sure though ?
Tiny were a bloody nightmare, (wont bore you with the details),
Bloke I worked with had a simlar experiance with TIME COMPUTERS,

Afraid I car,nt recommend where you should go, just where not to go !


HTH.





:beerjug:
 
I'd add Evesham to the reccomended list, along with Dell. I've had a number of each and when they go wrong (as they almost inevitably will) both Evesham and Dell have excellent after sales support.

Don't know much about the new Mesh (I think the old one went bust) but they seem to get good reviews.
 
Mesh good.

Time............
shit.gif


I wouldnt bother about a dvd burner either............they're still too expensive and TBH unless you really want one for a specific reason, they aren't worth it.......a CDRW drive is pretty much standard now and as you can make CD's for the car etc, its the thing to go for IMHO.

HD size....well, i have twin 120 gig drives but even with rather a lot of, er, 'special interest ' films and 25 gig of MP3's, loads of games and all my installation disks stored on the drive, i've still only used 80 odd gig up.

Processor speed.........go for something like a 2600+ .......anything much faster and you start paying the premium for being 'bleeding edge'.

You can get a heck of a machine these days for 7-800 quid, but once you get over the grand mark you dont get much more for your dosh......and if you're not interested in games then 600 quid will buy you a very nice bit of kit.

As for the firewire port.......well yes if you either want to stick the films from a digital video camera onto your HD, or if you want to dump very large amounts of MP3's onto an iPOD or something like that....otherwise, there isnt that much that's its needed for...USB2 is perfectly good enough for most other purposes.

(plus you can always bung in a card with a firewire port on it)

As several people have said, go take a look at the MESH site......they are pretty good and i found their customer service pretty good when i had to use them.
 
I have several Dells at work which have been very reliable. At home, I bought both my kids Dell laptops to take to university which have been excellent and I bought myself a new Dell PC last year. This was an interesting experience as it was dead on arrival. I am a complete numbskull with computers and was amazed when the help line suggested I opened up the thing up and start fiddling with the motherboard,etc. I said to the charming chap on the phone (in Bangalore) that I knew nothing about computers and he said it was no problem. If anything went wrong, it would be their responsibility not mine. After some very clear instructions, the machine worked perfectly and I have been delighted with it. The bottom line is that I have lost my fear of opening up the magic box and feel more confident in Dell's service than I thought I would at the start of the process.

I am sure there are better suppliers (as suggested by Judge and BHT) but it is clear they are computer experts whereas the rest of us may not have the knowledge to know what we want. I have found Dell an pleasant company to deal with (but I am sorry to say that their delivery company are complete :GS:GS:GS:GS:GS:GSs).
 
Like Bob Jeffries I've used Evesham for 5+ years. Very few problems with the machine, and those I've had have always been resolved quickly by an engineer calling to my home.

Regards

Tim
 
I prefer Evesham though I bought a Dell for my kids a cople of months ago. Dell are a bit less upfront with the costs (they always advertise lower and then when you spec it up to something reasonable you find it is about a £150 more than the equivalent with Evesham.

Evesham & Mesh effectively build to order so they get your money off your card and delivery is about a week so so later.

Dell are currently doing offers but it is difficult to relate their advertised prices to the reality of the system.

Had the engineer out 2 times for the Evesham in 18 months (power supply in both cases though they changed the motherboard 1st time round). Not had any probs with the Dell but it does not get worked the same as the Evesham. The Dell however would not connect to broadband and their helpdesk is not open at the weekend. Turnedout the config was not correct and I had to reinstall a driver.

I would avoid any of the Dixon Group - Curry's, PC World etc. Fine until it goes wrong and then you have to fit into their schedule. Evesham & Dell offer next day on-site.
 
Thanks for the comments, guys.

I was fishing to learn what you might say about Time - I'd had one poor report from a (non-GS, actually, non-biker) friend who I'd trust, but as none of you had anything good to say about them and several of you had bad things to say, they are now off the list.

Dell still look promising, but I'm leaning towards Mesh (as they are just down the road - could be useful for warranty and/or service work) and Digital Networks.

Thanks

Greg
 
Check out Medion PCs. These are the people that make the ones that end up in LIDL supermarkets. Very high spec at good prices. They also make PCs for Media Markt.
 
PC Pro

If you have not decided what to buy then have a look at the www.pcpro.co.uk website then look under reviews and "A list" They are generally a good review team and the A list stuff has been very good. I have bought a PC and two printers on their recommendation and they have been great. If you look closely at the reviews there will often be a special code to put in to the manufacturers website which should find the exact spec that they have reviewed - certainly they do this for the Dell site. they also give computers in different price ranges so you can set your budget!

The other Tim
 
To be honest you are better seeking out the local independent PC vendors in your area. Walk into their shops, take a good look around and if you like the look of the shop talk to them otherwise beat a hasty retreat.

Getting an independent based in the same town as you to build a custom PC will save you a shed load of money. Get a good branded motherboard - Asus, Gigabyte etc and then simply specify processor speed, RAM, Disk and graphics card type - tell him what you want the system to do and he should be able to build the perfect system rather than a prepackaged compromise from one of the major retailers. Plus, as he is local he will have a reputation to maintain and therefore won't screw you over. If you have any doubts about prices post the spec here that you are quoted and I'm sure some of us can tell you if it is a good deal.

Also - re Gecko's recommendation - the PCs sold in Lidl are fantastic value though hard to get hold of.

Mike
 
Go Dell if you can they aint bad

I've / we've installed in the region of 350 Dells over the last five years only think of one DOA.

Also purchased 10+ from the outlet store @ Dell for private use no probs there either and very good value.

Graham
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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