Good PC suppliers?

[DavidC]

I have been buying PC's for myself & family from Evesham (several years now)
I liked the support and on-site warranty.
The PC's were fine for us and reasonably priced.
But it now looks as though they are going to be bought by Time(UK)

Can anyone recommend suppliers with UK support etc.

Cheers

[Nick A J]

Maybe not the answer you are looking for but the best PC supplier may be yourself. Although a daunting prospect, building a PC is quite easy, and, once you've built it, you'll know how to take it apart and mend it should it fail.

In my experience the majority of PC problems are software or add-on hardware related which are often not covered by on-site warranties. Add in the fact that most monitors now come with on-site warranty (and are usually excluded from packages anyway) and all that is left is the main box.

If you do want to buy a ready built machine there are plenty of companies around that sell them, ebuyer, mesh to name two. And you can usually buy an insurance backed warranty separately.

As I advise anyone buying a PC decide either:

How much you want to spend - and get the best specification for that price, or,

Decide on the specification and buy it for as little as possible.

One thing you can guarantee, whether you buy or build, is that in less than 6 months time the machine will be either cheaper or better specified - but that's the price of technological change!

[Justin]

I've only ever bought HP (Laptops) and self build myself, I bought an unbranded desktop (base only) about 20 months ago, and despite the cheap case and the lack of a brand name it's actually been quite stable. The HD was not that great, but that was not an issue as I slammed a 250GB in there

I used to work in IBM, and their machines are a real mixed bag, the last one I had there was rock solid, one of the best business machines I have ever used, in my job here the IBM ones are crap, despite being from the same family. We have Dell and HP Machines here too, and the dell Optiplexs we have are awful, the HP machines are good and stable mind

[AndyBites]

Nick, i'd agree - infact my IT illiterate mother had a PC meltdown lately so i talked her through building a new one from scratch with bits i ordered from the net.
thank god for the ubuntu live cd -installed, up and running within 3 hours of her opening the box.

[wfnuk]

Have a look at pcspecialist here - they do a range of pre-built systems or you can 'design' your own.

[acidtechno]

a word of warning buying package pcs, if buying for people who want to play games, especially newer games, it's very important to make sure the machine has enough cpu and graphics power. Be aware if you are buying cheap, avoid on board graphics (cough intel).. they will be useless for game playing, and weaker/older graphics cards. Gaming has moved into the next gen on the PC, if you want to play the latest games, it's going to take more power than a cheap package PC.

If you buy cheap, you will only be spending out more later on to upgrade the machine for gaming, most likely more ram and a better graphics card.

If you are scared about building a machine yourself, don't be, there are plenty of people who can lend advice, and plenty of sites that can help. It can save you money, and you can end up with a more powerful PC built for a persons needs specifically.

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk is a very helpful and handy site for those new to building.

a search such as this can help http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...+Search&meta=v

[DavidC]

Thanks folks
I grew up with ye old IBM mainframes, even the water cooled monsters and have in the past built PC's but my eyesight being what it now is.....
I know - use glasses. I do - 3 pairs and if you have ever tried assembling a PC swapping your glasses around as you go

But I think you are correct, I must build my own, 'cause I do not want that 'malware riddled' monstrosity called Vista (I have just been reading about the MS policy on XP). I wonder what Vienna will be like.

Must buy an XP Pro 3 pack (OEM)

Hmm - pcspecialist look quite good, never heard of them before.

Thank you

Now where did I put those 'locking, swan necked forceps' that are so good for holding & positioning jumpers.

[wfnuk]

A caveat to buying 'big name' PCs is that quite often the motherboards, PSUs etc are 'machine specific' and, if a fault occurs out of warranty, it is not quite as simple as buying a 'generic ' replacement as it most likely will not fit into the case and could prove very expensive to replace. For example, I once had a genuine IBM machine in for repair with a blown PSU (which someone had switched to 110v whilst plugged in!) and, as it was not a 'standard' PC size, the quote from IBM for a relacement was £160.00 (+ VAT!), exchange. As that price was out of the question for the customer, I removed the PSU case (which was pop-rivetted together, not screwed) to assess the damage which proved to be nothing more than a blown 3.15A ceramic (soldered in) fuse! Replacing the fuse 'mended' it, and a few pop-rivets finished the job off! Result? A 'cheap' repair - and a very happy customer!

[wfnuk]

Originally Posted by DavidC

Hmm - pcspecialist look quite good, never heard of them before.

I've only heard good things about pcspecialist (though I've never actually used them). They will build a PC to your exact specifications and I believe that their warranty/support options are good too. Certainly nothing to lose by looking at the options available from them, anyway.

[Justin]

Originally Posted by DavidC

But I think you are correct, I must build my own, 'cause I do not want that 'malware riddled' monstrosity called Vista (I have just been reading about the MS policy on XP). I wonder what Vienna will be like.

Nothing wrong with Vista as long as it's on a proper Vista Premium Ready PC. The trouble is people like Dell (by far the biggest culprit) are doing stupid things with their custom versions of Vista (I've seen huge differences in performance of retail versions and pre-installed versions on the same PC both stability and speed wise) the other major problems is companies like dell are even are advertising systems that are "Vista Ready" but do not live up to the minimum requirements. Unfortunately this has had a negative impact on Vista's reputation

So for instance Vista Premium Ready machine is 1GB of RAM. So what to Dell do, yeah, they put 1GB of RAM into a machine and reserve 256MB for graphics which means in theory there is only 768MB of RAM, they claim this machine is Windows Vista ready. in my view IT'S NOT because it does not meet the requirements of 1GB of dedicated RAM. Perhaps the worst case is the 512MB RAM notebooks they supply wherre 256MB is set aside for graphics leaving Vista Basic with 256MB RAM (Minimum 512MB) Dell then blames Vista, but it's actually their pushy sales.

I'm running Vista on a HP Laptop here with no crap added to it and it's much speedier, and stable and better peforming than I've ever seen a Windows XP Pro install on the same specs. Put it quite bluntly, there's no point in getting a totally top of the range PC and putting XP Pro on it, because experience has taught me that you're not going to see the full value of performance, certainly when you get into Duel Core CPU's, the performance on XP Pro is crap compaired to Vista.

[wfnuk]

Originally Posted by Justin

.....certainly when you get into Duel Core CPU's, the performance on XP Pro is crap compaired to Vista.

Perhaps because XP Pro is a 32-bit operating system...?

[kmount]

Both XP and Vista have 64bit versions.

[Justin]

The standard version of Vista is 32Bit although you can get a 64 bit version, I was talking about both 32 bits versions of XP and Vista respectively.

[wfnuk]

But who, logically, would want to run a 32-bit operating system on a 64-bit PC....?

[kmount]

Anyone with sense would have stuck to 32bit XP until more recently.

Drivers are a huge issue.

I'm running 32bit linux because of it

[Justin]

Originally Posted by wfnuk

But who, logically, would want to run a 32-bit operating system on a 64-bit PC....?

Drivers, stability being the key issue, and software compatibility.

[acidtechno]

Originally Posted by wfnuk

Certainly nothing to lose by looking at the options available from them, anyway.

you really have to be careful when ordering from pc builders, because there could be a lot of money to lose. It's best to shop around and look at a range of builders and see what price they offer for building a similar spec machine. Some of these builders can really rip you off. It's a good idea to look at the parts of a machine someone can build for you, look them up at places like ebuyer/dabs and do some adding up, and find out just how much money companies/individuals are putting on top. Might do better to use a local individual (good if it's someone you know) who won't charge a lot and who can order the parts, have them delivered to your home or theirs and build it there. Obviously you also have to be careful not to get ripped off by individuals also (house of horrors!).

[wfnuk]

Perhaps omeyas would like to comment (if he reads this) as he considered a couple of options (both a local 'builder' and pcspecialist) before committing himself. Are you out there, Frank?

[DavidC]

I can certainly vouch for the machine specific mobo/psu from Dell.
There was an extra wire from the psu to the mobo on our old cad stations.
You had to buy replacements from Dell.

As for Vista, I can only go on what I have tried, seen and read about.
The reports from the usa suggest that many oem's are backing out to XP, and this is shown by MS easing the process for oem's to do so. Even giving the oem the option of batch codes for XP in place of Vista.

I have software that will not run on Vista & it will cost me £xxxx's to buy the latest (only just released)

Our IT manager has looked at Vista, looked at the cost of suitable hardware & has not been heard from since.

[AndyBites]

no WINE available on 64bit linux

to be honest i've not needed though.. as i said in my post way up top, thank god for the feisty fawn

[keith_thfc]

Originally Posted by wfnuk

Have a look at pcspecialist here - they do a range of pre-built systems or you can 'design' your own.

I would echo that.

Bought my new high spec Vista PC from these guys a few months ago and am very pleased. Excellent support and cheaper than Evesham (who I would also recommend if don't mind paying a little more).

Would also strongly advise to avoid Mesh if at all possible - there is a support forum below which makes for truly painful reading.

http://forums.hexus.net/forumdisplay.php?f=109

[Valley Bluenose]

I've bought from Evesham in the past and been very happy.

I'm currently configuring a new pc based upon the Intel Gamer at www.komplett.co.uk.

They have a 'baseline' machine and you then configure it with the components you choose - they only offer compatible components - and they build it for you. Research each component item by item, e.g. the PSU I chose recently got a 'best buy' in one of the leading computer magazines, and I'll pick a 'good' motherboard after a little more research.

Has the bonus that the machine doesn't come with loads of useless software - and it comes with a 3 year guarantee.

I've trawled the internet for info on Komplett and, whilst they are mainly noted for being suppliers of components, they do seem to have a good reputation and are a well established firm.

[John]

I currently put all my personal and work business CCL Computers way - http://www.cclonline.com They are a very good company, won PC Pros Online Retailer of the year last year beating other online IT firms. There support team is excellent (I know some of them personally and know that they actually know what a PC is, how to build it, how it works etc and don't just read from a flowchart to solve your problems).

They also have an active user forum http://forums.cclonline.com where there are many people there to be able to assist you if you have questions and problems, these include CCL staff, Component Manufacturers such as MSI, Corsair, Abit, Foxconn, XFX and many more manufacturers as well as PC nutters and other people in the same position as you, wondering what PC to buy or who are unsure of what to do.

CCL do it all from the bits to make your own, to fully assembled systems "off the shelf" as it were, pre-designed and ready to go, or you can choose the bits and pay them to build it and test it and send it to you, or get the bits.

To sum them up very good company, I have a lot of time for them and they are VERY helpful if you are unsure what to buy / do, fine they do like money as does every firm in the world, but they also value you as a customer unlike others.

[DavidC]

Thank you

I now have 3 new bookmarks

pcspecialist, komplett, CCL Computers


Shame about Evesham & all thanks to the gov' dropping HCI (Evesham had invested £30,000,000)

[duncrub]

hello, have a look at dabs,

they're pretty good. theres also some good links on the nvidia website, i think its on the partners page.