I thought about the custom DIY route. The last computer I built was about 12 years ago. It was a 386. I still have it and it still runs!
Where’s a good website to go that would help?
If I go this way, I’d like to know what goes with what.
Deb has a Dellenstein. The puter has worked pretty well from day 1, but about a month before the warranty expired the power supply fried itself. As noted above, the ATX power supply has a connection that is proprietary. When I called support, I was told that they no longer manufactured the power supply for that version, they could not tell me where to find a compatible third party power unit, and that my “best bet” was to buy one of their newer, faster, bigger units for only $600. (The $600 unit was bigger, faster, and cheaper than Deb’s, but then they had no answer for what to do about all the data stored on the dead puter.) I found a third party power supply and a third party motherboard (that could be hooked up to the power supply) that was faster than their new that puter they wanted to sell me (rather than honoring their warranty) at less than $200 and I swapped in the cheaper units.
Even if I was inclined to “swap up” every couple of years (and I do agree their prices are generally good) the hassle of having to deal with an outfit that allows its own (proprietary) hardware to expire before their warranty expires reminds me too much of HP to want to continue doing business with them.
I’ve heard it said that the Dells that get sold to corporate clients are top-of-the-line quality stuff. That serves the dual advantages of (a) keeping the rich clients pleased to buy more, and (b) lulling the worker drones into thinking Dells are reliable PCs for home use. That might account for the difference in experience folks have with their Dells.
(Not me, though – I ain’t paying my good money for a machine that runs Windows 
)
To expound on a couple of points made here Sky, if you’re talking about using your machine for video, Mac is the way to go. They’re made for graphics intensive use, PC’s are all business.
That said, I’ve purchased 10 Dells in the last year, (all operating WinXP Pro) they replaced the computer stew we had here, that was mostly made of gateway products, which were maddening to work on, not to mention we were running every OS from 3.1 to 2k,(including that wretched Windows ME). These machines service law enforcement end users 7x24, and almost never have to be rebooted, (except when the state supplied software freaks out) so if you’re looking at a Dell, I’d second your decision.
FYI, if you can, purchase it through the corporate side, they tend to be a little cheaper, and don’t skimp, go as big as you can afford, you won’t regret it.
I would definitely get a custom made computer from a local store. The folks working there generally know their stuff quite well and can fix you up with a great machine, whatever your requirements. I guess the big drawback folks usually have is they don’t know how long the small company will be in business and so can’t count on the warranties or support. However, if the computer is set up well at the beginning with good quality parts, it is pretty rare that you will have problems for a number of years. To me, that is worth the risk.
I have put together my own computers, but now I would rather have the store do it. It’s usually not much more and that way you can get them to make sure everything is working correctly. Last thing you want to do is accidentally wreck your motherboard during installation.
Dell is good for corporate computer needs. I personally support several hundred at my company, and I love that they are all nearly the same make and model (very easy to roll out on a large scale). Helpdesk support is iffy, on-site support and returns are very good, and web site support is pretty good too. I don’t have much experience with consumer models, and I hear that phone support is extremely dissatisfying right now. Buyer beware and all that.
If you want good quality prebuilt computers (and have the money), check out Alienware or Falcon Northwest. While they concentrate mostly on monster gaming rigs, it doesn’t take much more to turn them into video workstations.
dell has been great for me. had a computer problem this morning a year after i bought it, called up customer service, on hold for maybe 30 seconds, and problem was fixed. two thumbs up!
A few years ago I bought a desktop through Dell. Pretty good product and very decent service.
I just got a laptop through Dell’s website and I can say that the service that was decent 3 years ago is great now.
I was issued a Dell at work, as were all the other folks in the building (BBDO policy. We were their ad agency so by God everyone was gonna use their computers. And drink Pepsi and nibble on M&M’s and Fritos for same reasons). I was in the IT Dept so if they’d been problematic as a group I’d have heard about it from the hardware techies. Such was not the case.
In my own experience, aside from not running MacOS ;), I’d have to say they were pretty nice systems.
I’ve used about 10 Dells at work and have had to fix 3 of them. Each problem has been with some peripheral just not working or dying soon after the computer was purchased. My first Dell monitor actually began smoking. I wouldn’t get one for my home.
I once got a Dell computer for my house and chose a nice video card and a nice sound card. It turned out that both cards were specially made for Dell, with advanced features taken out to make them cheaper. You couldn’t use the drivers from the manufacturers for that reason.
Try www.pcusa.com My computer is from them and now so is my wifes. I like them because I can design my own computer with brand-name parts. There are other sites like them, but the key to me is to use brand-name parts.