What brand/type of Computer do you have? - We're going to buy a new one soon, sugg?

CAMSMOM1 wrote: We're going to buy a new computer next month, THANK GOD! Oh, I'm getting happy just thinking about it!


But I want to make sure we don't get another lemon.

What type or brand of computer do you have? Do you like it?

What's the best type to get? And do you like laptops? Flat screens?

Did you purchase insurance on your computer?


2nd question, do you have dial up? What's the other option, is it through your cable? What's faster? Do you have broadband? DSL?

Thanks!

luvmykids replied: I already gave you my opinion, no offense to other gateway-ers, but the one we bought and the one they replaced it with were TOTAL POS's!!!!! (excuse the language )

I have an HP now, and it's ok but I wish I'd gotten a better model. I have a flat screen and love it.

Like I also told you, everyone I know is buying Dell and lovin it. And our computer guy recommends them highly, and they're inexpensive. We bought them for our new system at the office and so far so good.

I have DSL through my phone company and love that too. It's a little more expensive, but we were paying for a separate phone line for internet and don't have to now, so it came out even. But some dial up companies do "upgrades" that say they're almost as fast as DSL, I haven't tried any though.

Good luck and get one soon, before yours conks out and we can't hear from you!

C&K*s Mommie replied: We have an e-machines CPU, and a Samsung flat screen monitor. Crazy combo, but Chris got them at Best Buy, and they had incredible rebates on them. So he went for the mis-match. And the salesman made a pretty penny off of him, since he bought a bunch of other computer stuff to go with it.

Since you are not time-crunched I would do research on different comps. I am sure Consumer Reports would have some good info for you. I trust them, since they are not paid by any company to report good things about that company.

I would love to have a notebook computer, one day. It is not high on our wish list, so we are in no rush to get one.

I prefer flat screens though, personally. It saves soooo much space.

I am not sure if he got the insurance or not on this thing.

Our ISP is our cable company. It appears to be one less bill every month, since it is added to our cable bill. The version of high speed internet we have is the middle range, it has a max bandwidth speed of 4Mbps. Depending on the traffic on the net, it is rather fast and we are very pleased overall.

Oh and one myth that I found:
Cable is faster than DSL. Let’s compare typical speed ranges:

Download Speed* Upload Speed *
DSL up to 7 Mbps up to 1 Mbps
Cable up to 15 Mbps up to 2 Mbps

HTH's

holley79 replied: Dh builds computers so he bought all the hardware and put one together. He said this was best because then he could upgrade without having to go through the builder.

We have cable. I think I would shot myself if I had to go back to dial up.

coasterqueen replied: We have two Compaq laptops and a Dell desktop computer. We never use the Dell, really don't like desktop computers so that's probably why. It doesn't have the flat screen monitor because it's several years old, but brand new almost since it's never been used.

At work I have used the Sony Vaio's, Toshiba and the HP laptops. I've liked them all. We have two Gateway desktops too. The Gateway desktop I bought straight from Gateway I really like. The Gateway we bought from Best Buy, what I'd call a cheaper version of what you get directly from them is "OK". We've also had Dell desktops too and liked them as well.

I did have 1 problem with my newest Sony laptop at work. The hard drive crashed not too long after I bought it, but that was my only problem.

We've also tried generic brand laptops at home. One name I recall was a Seanix, would NEVER EVER buy one from them again. They were/are a Silicon Valley company. The computer was a lemon as soon as we got it and they were so hard to deal with customer service wise.

We've also built our own computers too.

Edit to add: I am a laptop gal, though. You get more use out of the mobility of it than a desktop IMO. And since they can be expensive and are very short lived with all the technology advances I feel I should get more than my money's worth out of it, including using it whereever I go.

We do not have insurance on any of our insurance. We used to a long time ago, but decided it wasn't worth it.

At work we have DSL and at home we have cable modem. Both comparable IMO.

So I'm not really any help because I've all liked something about all the computers we've had. LOL.

gr33n3y3z replied: Rick built his own computer
then we have 2 Dell lap tops and 1 dell desk top

If you can or know someone who can build you one thats the way to go bc you can put what you want in them and it saves $$$$ to build your own

MyLuvBugs replied: Well, my DH is a computer guru and is SOOOOOOO finicky about the types of computers that he buys. (He's a Snob in other words) lol But we have a Dell custom built PC upstairs with a flat screen, and also with two other older DELL towers attached to it for extra storage and stuff that I don't understand b/c it doesn't interest me. HOWEVER, the laptop downstairs was my idea, and it's new from Best Buy. A HP Pavilion dv1000 Special Edition with a centrino inside. It's pretty nice. I like it anyways.

My3LilMonkeys replied: We have an HP and it suits our needs just fine. We mostly use it for online and downloading music/uploading pictures and burning cd's though so we don't need a whole lot.

Ours is a desktop, but I would like a laptop. We just couldn't squeeze out the extra $$ when we bought this one.

No insurance, just the standard warranty.

We have DSL through our phone company and it's fast enough for me.

kayla's mama replied: We have an E machine. It works ok. We had to replace the motherboard a couple of times though. We have DSL and love it. When we go to my parents house, they had dial up, it drives me nuts cause its soooo sssslllooowww.

~~*Missi*~~ replied: ok
I use a HP pavilion laptop (widescreen dvd/cd burner) I love it

Our "home" computer is HP desk top, we also have a built computer that is like 4 different brands LOL (its not even unpacked)

And my husband has a Acer laptop (work) he likes it.

It doesn't have a lot of hard drive space but works for him the HP i use has twice as much space


We use DSL and all the laptops are wireless. I have had both cable & dsl and they run the same i think around here. So dsl was a better deal!

jcc64 replied: We're big Mac fans here- have a powerMac G4, and my son uses my old G3, which still performs pretty well despite its advanced age. We also have a Dell and a Gateway, and I really can't stand them, particularly all the viruses.
Macs are just more user friendly, imo, particulary where troubleshooting is concerned, and the prices are more competitive now. If money's an issue, look into an IMac or an EMac, both very nice computers for not alot of money.
The support is great, and I think Apple is a nicely run company.
Oh, and we use a cable modem, and we never buy insurance for anything. Dh is an IT guy, and can fix just about any computer problem.

luvmykids replied: Interesting: When we were computer shopping they told us most viruses are written for PC's and not Mac's, so Mac's get much fewer of them.

kimberley replied: i have a compaq AMD sempron processer. so far so good. previously had one built for us that was a P4. lasted a loooong time. i love love love my flat screen! its acer i think. will have to ask dh.

TeagansMom609 replied: I have an HP Pavilion Laptop. I love it. As far as internet goes, we have a cable modem which we have through our cable company. My mom has DSL from Verizon and I think its slower. Check with your cable company and see what kind of deals they have. We have cable internet, cable phone and digital cable tv for $95.00 a month. Its a steal!

my2monkeyboys replied: We have a dell desktop that I wouldn't trade for anything. I've had it almost 4 yrs and have never had any problems. I may upgrade to flat-panel one day, but at the time they were still new and way to expensive for us. We have DSL through our phone company, so we get a good price on it. I'd never go back to dial-up. If you plan on doing a lot of graphic work I'd go for a Mac though. They are unbeatable in that department. I used to have a mac at work, and they seem pretty similar/equal to me, other than for graphics.
I had just the standard warranty, too.

booey2 replied: Most of our computers are made at home with bits and pieces that my DH and brother in law made. Today I just got a used dell Latitude from brother in law for $250.00 they were upgrading at his office so we got this one, I finally have a puter that is mine - all mine- buhahahahah . I usually share the boys or DH but not any more and once DH gets my wireless router I will really be rockin' but for now I have to use it on my lap in my bedroom. We use DSL at home and at work and at home we are networked with 4 puters now.

MamaJAM replied: All of our computers are Dells. Computers are DH's department -- so I can't tell you what types/styles they are. Mine has a flat-screen...which is nice so I have room for paperwork on the desk in front of me. DH's has a fatter-screen...but an extra-large one which works well for his programming work. DH also recently got a Dell lap-top to take to clients...the one with the largest screen they offer -- again it really works for his programming work and it's digital quality and can hook into our cable at home. We also each have a pocket-pc...both Dell.

So - though I can't tell you what exact computer to get....I can tell you that my DH - who makes a living by working on our computers - finds Dells to be the best ones he can get.

3xsthefun replied: We have a Dell desktop and we love it! We have had it for little over a year and it is still running great! We do want to get a lap top someday.

We have DSL and I really, really like it! I never want got back to dial-up!

Lexismama replied: The one Im on right now which is my moms is a Compaq, at home we have a HP desktop and a toshiba laptop[SIZE=7][FONT=Impact][COLOR=purple]

jcc64 replied:

That's absolutely true. I've never ever had a virus strike my Macs. It's one of the biggest advantages to using a Mac, imo. Dh is a musician, and I am a graphic artist- so we naturally gravitated towards a Mac for those reasons as well.

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: We have a (desktop)Sony Vaio in the basement...it's my work computer pretty good but we also wiped it almost completely clean so nothing would slow it down. In the kitchen we have an HP (also a desktop) it was the onsale cheap one at Best Buy it's also pretty good. THis one has everything on it and still performs well w/o slowing down . I also have a Dell lap top I wanted a tablet but dh bought this one thinking it would make me happy....I like it but would have prefered the tablet. Our HP laptop died after about 2 years and we have no clue why Best BUy said it woulod be $400 just to send away for HP to look at it so we decided it wasn't worth it. The best thing for our computers is we have a networked memory drive so all pictures and documents get saved to the network instead of a computer. We can now access from anywhere and don't use up all the memory saving things like that. Pictures are killer on your computer...I think we filled mine w/ one years worth of pictures.