Where to buy new desktop PC's - Dell?

[AImports]

I am looking for a few new desktop PC's for my office. I have always used DELL but over the last few years I have bought products and had problems with all the machines.

Anyone has any advice on where to go? Are Dell any better now?

I am looking for 1 x high power PC for designing and 3 x PC's for general office use.

 

[GraemeL]

I use Mesh - can almost design your own at good prices.

G

 

[GlennDrake]

I probably buy 2-3 Dell machines every year, I've not had any problems in the past.

 

[estwig]

I ordered 3 identical machines from Dell a few years ago, keyboards, monitors, mice (mouses?), software, the lot.

They sent me 4 identical machines!!! Never heard a word about it!!!!

 

[MikeJ]

I was a Dell regular, but have used Lenovo and Samsung for my last two laptops. The Lenovo machine wasn't great, and the screen gave out after about two years. The Samsung was always a bit slow, and having spent three weeks trying to buy a replacement screen am now looking at Dell again.

I don't know if I'm unusual in wanting a laptop with a docking station. I take my machine home every night, and don't want to have to fiddle about with cables each time I start it up and shut it down. The docking station requirement seems to rule out about 80% of laptops. I've never found a laptop that fits the old docking station, by the time I come to replace the machine the docking station is now obsolete

 

[ryedale]

For general office pc's I use Zoostorm from Ebuyer - cheap and reliable
http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Desktop-PC/Zoostorm

For the high end pcs, I use Scan's 3XS systems

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/

 

[ldjames]

Dell are very good for office PCs. both in terms of price and performance. I've had a few from there.

 

[10032012]

Zoostorm will do you for a basic office PC but the build quality are really poor. In an office environment its fine but for a home desktop PC it would probably get to you.

 

[hmig89]

I always recommenced the Dell Optiplex range for business. (depending on needs, but if its the usual, outlook, LOB apps, web apps, office, pdfs, the Optiplex's are fine also having dealt with HP, and Fujitsu before, Dell support has always been better. At the moment I recommend any business clients to get at least an i5 with 4 or 8 GB of RAM. Unfortunately some of the LOB, and custom applications only support 32-bit and that presents a problem as only support up to 4GB.

 

[glennbtn]

How about Hp machines. Having been an Hp fault engineer I can say there are not too many issues with these. Buy from Hp direct to get a better price.

Thanks

Glenn

 

[FSIvan]

I would urge caution when it comes to Zoostorm also. I had cpu overheating problems with mine due to poorly applied thermal paste.

 

[TurboIT]

I like HP, but this is coming from the background of using Compaq machines for years before HP bought them.

Still you could do a lot worse, for business the care packs are good deal as spares such as motherboards and PSU's can be expensive especially for the Small Form Factor (SFF) models.

I had just started purchasing lenovo's during my last employment as an IT Manager, after a long stint purchasing HP. The HP's had lasted very well, 1 or 2 failures (in dusty environments) dealt with promptly, efficiently and professionally by HP, they subcontract the engineer to BT.

The lenovos hadn't been in long enough for me give an opinion, but they seemed fine.

One other point about the HPs, is with the professional business desktops the chassis construction is very well designed, with a plastic tunnel for air flow, increases the cooling of the processor and reduces the power / cooling fans required, also resulting in a quieter machine.

Most components fold in and snap-in to place rather than require screw drivers which makes upgrading, diagnosing and repairing very easy.

 

[ryedale]

I would urge caution when it comes to Zoostorm also. I had cpu overheating problems with mine due to poorly applied thermal paste.

Guess when you pay the lower prices, you run the risk of cheaper quality.. I've used 2 of them for a couple of years and they've not given me a minute's trouble although they are not worked desperately hard

 

[10032012]

I would urge caution when it comes to Zoostorm also. I had cpu overheating problems with mine due to poorly applied thermal paste.

Yeah, you always have to replace the noisy PSU too.

 

[Adam.Vause]

I would recommend Dell kit. You want something reliable. I know you've had issues in the past but personally I've not had a problem and have supplied hundreds of machines. Their warranty and technical support are second to non as well. All the kit i resell comes with 3 year next business day warranty and dell haven't let me down yet

 

[Adam.Vause]

I also agree with FSIvan and 10032012, Don't go cheap and buy custom made you will regret it in the long run.. Its all about business continuity and how much it will cost your business if it fails

 

[Woodham90]

Have you thought of running a virtual desktop environment, one machine effectively running all? There are many providers for this.

 

[oldnickb]

My last two computers have come from cclonline dot com. Each one custom built to do specific jobs. There is no point paying for capacity you won't use.

CCL are great. You give them the exact spec you need and they build it, usually in a couple of days.

 

[10032012]

Have you thought of running a virtual desktop environment, one machine effectively running all? There are many providers for this.

Normally the most expensive way, single point of failure etc. although technology has moved on and improved in this arena its still largely the same. it all depends on the size of organisation, the set up used and purpose for it.

 

[petitionserver]

Why brands like Dell, Asus, Toshiba should matter if all of the desktops have inside parts from Intel, Nvidia, Seagate, etc ?

 

[Comspec]

Personally I tend to recommend a custom-built PC to anyone looking for a decent desktop. A custom build allows you to ensure that all the components are of decent-enough quality, are of a decent brand and you can get the PC specification tailored to your potential uses.

Unfortunately most of the main PC brand names use some inferior components to keep their price low, and the little extra it costs to ensure quality is well worth it.

 

[10032012]

Personally I tend to recommend a custom-built PC to anyone looking for a decent desktop. A custom build allows you to ensure that all the components are of decent-enough quality, are of a decent brand and you can get the PC specification tailored to your potential uses.

Unfortunately most of the main PC brand names use some inferior components to keep their price low, and the little extra it costs to ensure quality is well worth it.

Likewise, most of the custom built computer builders on the market, source refurbished, used and open box components.

Are manufacturer refurbished products inferior to new OEM products? They shouldn't be, but more likely to be a problem than new.

Are (hardly) used products inferior to new OEM products? Slightly warn components more likely to fail but might not be noticeable, depending on use and quality.

Are open box (typically returns) components inferior to new OEM products? Most computer components are static sensitive and relatively fragile, so interference from a third party could cause issues; when they are returned they are usually tested so should be in full working order, but is this product more likely to be less good than a new OEM product? if kept well, should be the same.​

So in general if you purchase all the components separately you can ensure you get a good quality system, however, unless you are getting it from a wholesaler its going to work out really expensive, and most custom builders are going to stick a premium on it.

There are so many "build your own computer" (customisation) builders these days... most begin quite affordable but when you exceed the threshold its extremely expensive.

You also have to be conscious of specifics (most retailers/builders specify these) "i3","i5" and "i7" means nothing alone... common sense implies the higher number, the better the processor. Intel have released some terrible processors across the range; you just need to avoid the terrible "i5" and "i7" processors that perform rather badly.

 

[abbasmuraj]

Custom built machines from chillblast and for office/everyday use direct from HP ( business models with Win 7 Pro )

 

[daisyrogers]

Why brands like Dell, Asus, Toshiba should matter if all of the desktops have inside parts from Intel, Nvidia, Seagate, etc ?

Brands like Dell matter because they matter because they are the one who provide after sale services.
e.g.- if you buy a PC from dell and its GPU has some problem then all you have to do is call Dell, an engineer will come and check the problem and than depending on problem he will fix it or replace broken part. This way you won't have to waste your time trying to find which part has problem and whom you have to contact for repairing/replacing it.
In offices with more than 20 PC they are best choice because its common for someone or something will screw up some part of PC it can be software related or hardware, than all you have to do is call helpline.

 

[Adam.Vause]

That's exactly right. I prefer to supply Dell kit to my clients because of their fantastic after sales service. It is important to make sure you have a next business day warranty and not just the return to base warranty or you will have the grief of sending your PC off for 2 weeks while its repaired.

For the extra money and the peace of mind it's more than worth it and i don't have to mess around on site trying to troubleshoot the problem which free's up my time and saves my clients money.

A client of mine based in manchester was in Scotland on a call out when his laptop screen failed. One call to dell and an engineer was booked in next day to replace the screen in Scotland.

 

[10032012]

Dell are quite good, I believe the next day call out is usually included and you upgrade to a quicker same-day response.