Best/worst computer brands.

[CastletonSnob]

If you don't feel like building your own computer and would rather get a prebuilt, what are the best major computer brands? The worst?

[Sarra]

2 minutes ago, Grand Admiral Thrawn said:

The worst is Dell. You are welcome.

Disagree...

 

Dell is tied with HP for second worst. Actual worst is Apple.

 

"Best" is... Is... Well. No idea.

[BiotechBen]

Depends, what are you looking for:

Worst initial quality: dell 

Biggest disappointment: dell 

Biggest letdown: dell 

Unexpected problems: dell 

Terrible customer service: dell 

Most annoying keyboard: lenovo 

Most annoying customer service: HP

 

 

 

 

 

[dean_5234]

12 minutes ago, CastletonSnob said:

If you don't feel like building your own computer and would rather get a prebuilt, what are the best major computer brands? The worst?

IMO the worst is Apple.

Followed by the proprietaty parts brands, Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, ect.

[BiotechBen]

1 minute ago, davemc said:

IMO the worst is Apple.

Followed by the proprietaty parts brands, Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, ect.

I would agree with you for apple, I mean, I don't even count them as having customer service. For them it's product replacement....

[LloydLynx]

Acer. They take shortcuts with building the hardware, and they bloat up the Windows 10 installation. Also they tend to have terrible Linux compatibility.

 

Origin is the best for pre-built gaming computers. They're hella expensive for the specs, but the part selection, build quality, packaging material, and customer support all combined make it one of the best.

 

LTT did a video comparing pre-built systems.

[BiotechBen]

1 minute ago, LloydLynx said:

Acer. They take shortcuts with building the hardware, and they bloat up the Windows 10 installation. Also they tend to have terrible Linux compatibility.

 

Origin is the best for pre-built gaming computers. They're hella expensive for the specs, but the part selection, build quality, packaging material, and customer support all combined make it one of the best.

 

LTT did a video comparing pre-built systems.

Oh yeah, Acer 100% had three of the same computer have problem after problem, one simply died. "Fatal error: return to manufacturer" and then shut down.

[Lord Szechenyi]

17 minutes ago, CastletonSnob said:

If you don't feel like building your own computer and would rather get a prebuilt, what are the best major computer brands? The worst?

depends if laptop or not.

HP and Dell are the 2 best for the warranty.

And in terms of how sturdy/strong the computer is, Lenovo is the best, it's Ex-IBM

[dean_5234]

2 minutes ago, Lord Szechenyi said:

depends if laptop or not.

HP and Dell are the 2 best for the warranty.

And in terms of how sturdy/strong the computer is, Lenovo is the best, it's Ex-IBM

Dell scams you buy making you pay for warranties even if you don't want them. Watch Linus's secret shopper on this.

Also, "prebuilt" usually refers to desktop

[Lord Szechenyi]

1 minute ago, davemc said:

Dell scams you buy making you pay for warranties even if you don't want them. Watch Linus's secret shopper on this.

Also, "prebuilt" usually refers to desktop

Dell in the USA maybe, not in europe.

well, as far as i know they don't actually make prebuilts, but you should get a computer with as many parts made by Gigabyte, best company in GPU and possibly Motherboard too

[dean_5234]

1 minute ago, Lord Szechenyi said:

Dell in the USA maybe, not in europe.

well, as far as i know they don't actually make prebuilts, but you should get a computer with as many parts made by Gigabyte, best company in GPU and possibly Motherboard too

Dell has a ton of prebuilts

[CastletonSnob]

Is "best prebuilt brand" relative? Because I've heard bad things about all of the major brands.

[Chris Pratt]

No brand is perfect. Dell is indisputably the worst. Followed closely by every other name brand: HP, Lenovo, etc.

 

The best option is SIs like iBuyPower, Origin, etc., as you get real components and not cheap, proprietary crap that can't be upgraded. None of them are perfect, though. Origin is probably the "best" from objective measures like quality and customer service, but they also give the worst specs for the highest price.

 

Apple is Apple. I wouldn't say they're anywhere near the worst, but I also don't see it as a real competition. You either are in the Apple ecosystem and buy Apple because you buy Apple, or you get a PC.

[Pc6777]

the best brand would be a brand that uses high quality STANDARD PARTS, so it will last, and if something does happen out of warranty, you can always fix it yourself without having to hunt for special proprietary parts on eBay. apple uses high quality parts for sure, its not cheap crap, but the os and hardware is complely locked down so I would never buy or recommend one. like I understand thin and light laptop require some not standard parts I guess, but the full size desktops are proprietary too which makes no sense. plus you can diy something with the same or even better components for cheaper. or buy something with high end components that's not a mac for way cheaper. 

[wasab]

2 hours ago, Grand Admiral Thrawn said:

The worst is Dell. You are welcome.

Why?

[Heliian]

9 minutes ago, wasab said:

Why?

Order one and find out. 

 

They suck all around. 

[wasab]

Just now, Heliian said:

Order one and find out. 

 

They suck all around. 

What do you think of acer?

[Blademaster91]

2 hours ago, davemc said:

IMO the worst is Apple.

Followed by the proprietaty parts brands, Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, ect.

I agree with you about Apple, their repair service is known for being bad or overpriced to the point they pressure into buying something new.

But Dell I would only buy an XPS laptop because those are decent quality, their desktops are too proprietary, HP and Lenovo are even worse and their quality on the consumer level stuff is crap, I'm not sure with Acer though.

[Heliian]

1 minute ago, wasab said:

What do you think of acer?

I've had an Acer aspire 5517 laptop for 10 years that I still use. Just upgraded the ddr2 ram last year to it's max 4gb.  Never had a problem.  

 

As far as prebuilt desktop PC's, I would go with someone who uses off the shelf components. So much more room for upgrade. 

[tire]

no one:

 

apple ceos: lets charge 6000 dollars for an 8 core cpu that can be outperformed by a 1000 dollar system!

[wasab]

19 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

But Dell I would only buy an XPS laptop because those are decent quality

Oh yeah, these are real sexy ultra books. I especially like their linux version. Acer swift isn't too far behind. M1 mac air are real nice too. I typically loathe apple products but their new m1 macs are real revolutionary in battery life and snappiness, so much so, for the first time, I think macs can actually be good value. 

[Spotty]

> Moved to Laptops & Prebuilts

 

You should check out the Secret Shopper series LTT did looking at a couple of different prebuilders.

 

[Hon Leung]

I don't see why people are saying Apple is the worst manufacturer/brand. For this as the "Laptops and Pre-Built Systems" forum, in late 2020 Apple produced the best value-over-performance laptop and mini-PC in the market, and in late 2021, they are rumored to be releasing the same thing with performance that would crush almost any other consumer laptop or mini-PC (with M1X) at the same price point — and that's just performance. With very reasonable speculation, the only reason Apple's devices previously struggled with performance and thermals could simply be them still putting up with the disappointing Intel chips at the time that they should have decided to dump way earlier.

Apple's laptops and mini-PCs have been the golden standard for multiple aspects such as laptop displays (Retina), build quality (virtually 0 keyboard flex), trackpad size and more — while in some cases others have surpassed but never delivered consistently at the same price point, and in other cases others simply fell behind by far. Apple is often if not always unbeaten in any comparison regarding premium-ness at the same price point — build quality (material and anti-flex), keyboard and trackpad (except the one butterfly-switch keyboard mess-up that they fixed the next generation and offered a 4-year free replacement program for), presentability (display, speakers and design) and more.

They brought 1440p into the market as the more desirable resolution, they introduced the importance of color-accurate displays, they made Dell have to make the trackpads on their XPS's bigger, they made everyone care more about putting in bigger speaker modules, they made manufacturers copy their design (XPG XENIA, Razer Book, Mi Notebook), they made Google want to make a chip of their own (for new Pixel devices), etc. While none of this is the solely Apple's effect, no other single manufacturer brought upon more changes and inspiration to the industry.

Apple's customer service is often exposed as scam, their negligence in overseeing manufacturing partners regarding workers' rights is outrageous, their anti-repair behaviors allow more e-waste to be produced and reduce the longevity of their older devices, their marketing presentations are often purposefully confusing, the list could go on; but given how much people care about the actual product than the rest of it, and that other manufacturers/brands do the same thing, to say Apple is the worst overall manufacturer/brand under the scope of this forum is likely still far from the truth.

[Commodus]

Apple definitely isn't the worst brand — not by a longshot.

 

The computers clearly aren't for everybody, and right now in particular (with a large chunk of the x86 lineup still intact) it'd be bad to buy some models. And yes, Apple is sometimes overeager to replace devices outright rather than fixing components.

 

But worst? No. If the systems fit your needs, they're often speedy, pleasant to use and reliable. And in my experience, the support experience is good. Phone reps who aren't just reading from scripts (at least in my experience), and there's fairly quick turnaround. I'd add that the in-person experience is something you rarely get with other brands. Depending on the issue, you could walk out of the store with a working system on the same day. At least in pre-pandemic times.

 

On that note: people sometimes overstate the problems with whole replacements. Yeah, it's a pain if you're out of warranty or haven't backed up your data, but it also means you have a functional system in a short amount of time.  As someone whose home computers double as work machines, having a usable system quickly is more important than waiting for 'real' repairs.