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Question

Most Stable and Reliable PC Running Windows 8 Now?

Nov 30, 2013 11:36PM PST

I'm a PC guy, but one of the things I've always envied about Apple is the wedded design and manufacture of both their software and hardware.

Conversely, the various problems we've suffered through with generations of Windows through the decades is at least in part due to Microsoft's OS product being stuffed into hardware designed and manufactured by other companies.

I'm about to buy a new machine, and though tempted to go over to Apple, my intent is to stay with a PC.

With the context of the first two paragraphs above in mind, I'd be grateful for any thoughts on which current PC brands/models you believe provide the best integrated, and therefore stable and reliable, marriage with Windows 8.

Thanks in advance!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Tough question.
Nov 30, 2013 11:58PM PST

At the office I have about a handful Windows 8 machines and not one has been unreliable. In fact no machine there is unreliable so your post has me wondering what's going on to make you ask this? The office no longer uses desktops or rather, the last desktops are there since they still are working and reliable.

Really tough question to answer since when a machine is unreliable we figure out why.
Bob

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PS. Ahh, the canned air revelation?
Dec 1, 2013 12:20AM PST

I took the liberty of checking past posts and I get the feeling you buy a machine and then use it. Don't take this wrong as that's how most use PCs and Apples and most things. I'm sure you recall the story of a car owner that went 100K miles without an oil change. Why do that at all? You got to 100K and saved all that service work cost for your next car.

I bet there was more to that story about engine check lights, stalling and reliability but my bet is on tablets for those that don't want to deal with maintenance.

So how about that Windows 8 RT tablet?
Bob

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In Response
Dec 2, 2013 4:17AM PST

First, to "wpgwpg", thanks for your post below.

Bob, thanks you for your posts, it is amazing how many valuable posts you add to the forums. This is in response. With respect to your first post and "what's going on", over the years, at work and at home, I've used many successive Windows versions in many computers, the computers have almost always been Dells. As you would predict, I've endured the periodic slow boot ups, blue screens, crashes, etc., etc.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean in your second post when you say, "...I get the feeling you buy a machine and then use it". But when you continue with the car analogy, I think perhaps you mean, "...use it, but don't maintain it". If that's what you meant, I can happily say that's not the case. I regularly do the physical things such as dust maintenance, as well as "system tools" type actions.

With all that in mind, I'll try to better communicate my question. It's really based on 2 assumptions -- either of which can actually be right or wrong:

1. Some of the periodic slow boot ups, blue screens, crashes, etc. that one experiences with Windows are due to the fact that the OS and hardware are married after being designed and manufactured by separate companies

2. Folks experience less of these bad things with Apples because the design and manufacture of both their software and hardware is an integrated process executed within a single company

Now if (and only if) both of those assumptions are accurate, my question is: as we embark down the latest Windows path (8/8.1), is anybody out there seeing a particularly stable/reliable marriage between the latest OS and any particular PC brands and models?

NOTE: If either or both of those assumptions are inaccurate, then my question is moot!

Finally Bob, to your question regarding tablets (and for that matter, laptops). I confess unabashedly to being an old school guy. Beginning in the early '80s, I, like so many others, appreciated that as the capabilities of PCs evolved, so did screen size in monitors -- albeit sometimes ever so slowly. So with full realization that I'm now in a shrinking minority (and wishing the majority all happiness!), tablets and laptops are a non-starter for me as I am unwilling to go backwards and once again use smaller screens. I'm actually planning to purchase a 27-inch all-in-one.

Again, thanks for all your time and effort in making such a huge contribution to these forums.

Dan

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If you want hardware designed for Windows, get a Surface.
Dec 2, 2013 4:44AM PST

I'm sure that's the reason Bob mentioned the Surface. As far as hardware not designed for Windows goes, I think whatever viability that argument had in the past has largely been eliminated today with Windows 7 and 8 as long as you don't get too far off the "beaten path". A lot of people get into trouble with rouge software or trying to "soup up" their hardware. This is especially true with the overclockers, but some combinations of hardware don't always work so well either. I've seen a lot of posts from folks adding a super fast video card to an older PC getting into problems; this is an example of getting off the "beaten path". When Windows has billions of computer instructions, there's no way to check all possible paths through it - hence my comments about the "beaten path".

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1. Some of the periodic slow boot ups, blue screens, crashes
Dec 2, 2013 5:20AM PST

"1. Some of the periodic slow boot ups, blue screens, crashes, etc. that one experiences with Windows are due to the fact that the OS and hardware are married after being designed and manufactured by separate companies"

At the office we don't have these issues so I wonder at times why folk have so much trouble. But I'm not that out of touch to those with the issues as I ran computer repair shops in the '80s and later sold them to move on.

I'm going to disagree the issue is separate companies as not one of the dozens of PCs at the office has these issues. Not sure what that means to those with troubles.
Bob

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Answer
I haven't seen any reliability probs. w/Windows 8
Dec 1, 2013 12:10AM PST

I've got two test PCs that've been running Windows 8 since the pre-release days of Feb. 2012, and I don't remember having the first problem with it freezing, crashing, or having to reboot to get around a problem. One of these is a 4 year old HP desktop with an Intel E7400 CPU, the other a PC I put together with an AMD Athlon-II X3 processor. I also support 4 Dell Optiplex PCs with Windows 8, and haven't experienced any problems with them either.
I have to add that it's rare when I've had to reboot Windows 7 which I've been using since 2009. Folks who overclock and tinker seem to have some problems, but if you stick just a bit behind the bleeding edge, it's been rock solid. I'm running Windows 7 on 2 desktops and a laptop at home, and I support 28 PCs with it as well.