Although I appreciate the compliment of having a lot of knowledge and experience, that is pretty far from the truth. I have bought 2 PC's in my lifelime besides the one I bought for my mom this week. In 1990 or so I bought a 486 and then in 1997 a Pentium II (so 2 pc's in about 15 years - not exactly the high volume buyer) I do use a pc everyday at work and now the processor and ram I have but thm company buys them and they are pretty stripped of the extras so I pay little attention to the "extras" or the price.
I consider myself higher than entry level in BASIC computer knowledge (I understand processors, memory, hard drive, 32 vs 64 bit processing) mainly from my extensive research I did originally years ago for my other PC purchases BUT I can't even begin to explain the 939 pin slot advantages, AP versus PCI advanctages for video cards, watts & power etc you guys babble on about so well (smile)
I am very busy at work (work about 60 hrs a week), I have two young kids, I play a lot of poker (too much poker sometimes for the time I have - ps that is the basis for my forum name of Chip Leader - poker chips, not computer chips smile) and I thought the forum was a quick way to get a few thoughts on good PC's.
I was far from having my mind made up on Dell, HP or any other brand. I will say when I do tackle something I obsess with it, and over the last 10 days or so I have spent about 30-40 hours + on web sites, in stores, reading these and similar forums etc. Again, last time I bought a PC was 7 + years ago, and at the time it was a far different world - you went to a computer store lie Micro Center or CompUSA where they had 3-4 models max OR you found a custom built place - there was no best buy or circuit city etc or internet ordering, at least not like today.
SOOO... I did not have any idea what I wanted about a week ago. Please read through ALL my posts before you acuse me of having my mind made up before I started this. I thought I would share my journey and experience in case it may help others, but honestly I am too busy and not that concerned about this stuff to have taken all the time to write these posts if I already knew what I wanted. I also do not have enough time to think I will just join a forum and write 50 posts about dell as if it would make a difference one way or the other to anyone.
My biggest issue (as I said in other posts) was that I was trying to buy a middle of the road to bargin PC for my mom. I had to find the right combo of a good price without getting less then she needed without overbuying and getting way more than she needed. For example - swear to god, I spent all this time, bought the Dell, spent about 2 hours getting it set up (it was not hard, but she has a huge desk system that could not be moved so I spent a lot of time crawling undetr the thing) and then when it is finally up and running the FIRST question she asks is "do I still have solitare?"
Other posts I have said for THIS LEVEL I thought dell was great. I also said numerous times for higher end PC's or even maybe the next minor step up to like a emachine, that Dell may not be the best, at least based on price. Or of they were, I had not done the research to verify it. My deal and service was great, but if I wanted to add just a few componants to get to a similar emachine t6212 I think I ended up about $650-$700, well over the $550-$600 price.
SO - in summary, I did not have any idea of what I wanted when I started, if I needed to go a bit higher then I did system wise I think I may of done a T6212, but after what I have researched and my experience with dell for this level of PC I think they are hard to beat. I am extemely pleases as a CONSUMER (not business buyer, not sure how you made that mistake a few posts ago) in Del. Ordered Tues night, built and shipped in a day, and got it Friday. P4 with good ram, monitor, printer etc for $460 - I think great.
I will say when it comes into a situation with a mind made up that is unmovable you may be winning that battle on this forum. Not trying to be a jerk I hope (although this is the 2nd time I know I have said something kinda jerky to you over the last 3-4 days, but just calling you on facts, and I apologize for maybe not doing it very well). However you start a post asking who makes the best desktop, the Dell for exceeded the other votes, but then you post a messgae saying emachines wins depite only two votes, including one from you (dell had at trhe time about 8-9 out of 40 or so total messages). The you say that YOU decided Dell can't count since you don't like them. Then more positive comments come in for Dell (yes including some from me) and you then later Re-reward emachines with the best overall. Talk about having your mind made up. What was the point of folks taking time from their day to answer your post, sharing there experiences, and then you ignoring their comments and posting your thoughts. Why not just say int he first post "I think emachines rock, they are MY best overall... etc." But don't solicite responses on the front of asking a open ended question, ignore all the good people that posted their thoughts, and then post a fictional and incorrect statement. One post you said "the votes are in..." but yet you did not even look at the votes or posts.
Again, I know I am sounding like a jerk, but I am kind of confused about why you would ask for thoughts, then not even acknowledge folks like me who took tike to "vote" in your thread and post wrong results. PS do not think folks are going to buy that you really meant couting responses and comments in EVERY thread across cnet or others. You started a thread, asked a question, Dell won and then you "disqualified them" since you did not like them. Have no iodea why that got me so worked up, but it did, and maybe did cause me to pusj my GOOD experince with Dell a bit more. Again though, 10 days ago I had no idea what PC I needed for the user at my mom's level. I would say if I was buying a new one for me it would be much easier, I would simply get THE BEST I could for my budget. That was not the answer for my mom, since I could of way over-bought so she can "play solitare". Which for the record my original 486 from 1990 also did quite fine (ha ha).