Good Desktop PC Brands

WinterFire · 17/08/15 - 19:12

What are good, reliable, brands of desktop computers? Any recommendations?

I'm not after recommendations for individual models, I just want to know what brands tend to be a safe bet.

CBFreak · 17/08/15 - 19:19

I had an Emachines PC which lasted me a good 8-10 years. It's on the cheap end of the spectrum though

Shappy · 17/08/15 - 19:25

Dell makes excellent desktops; their laptops aren't the best though.

HP is slightly cheaper but less good IMHO.

Gizmo210688 · 17/08/15 - 19:28

I would also say Dell. Seem to be pretty decent value for money and a few people I know have had very reliable desktop PC's from them.

barbeler · 17/08/15 - 22:40

They don't seem to be so prevalent now, but I could never fault Medion.

Iqoniq · 18/08/15 - 03:42

It all depends on what you want to do with it. If it's gaming you're looking at Alienware or something similar. If it's just general net stuff then I've never had a problem with Asus (which usually seem to have AMD Radeon graphics cards on board which are entry level, but can do the job), or Lenovo. If you're planning on watching video on the machine (Youtube, DVD/Bluray, etc) then don't get anything that has an Intel graphics adapter as they're abysmal.

I'd steer away from all-in-one machines (the ones that are basically just a screen with all the bits inside) as they're problematic if a component fails and can't be upgraded apart from maybe a bigger hard drive or more RAM. Quite a few also seem to use low powered processors so it can feel like you've been thrown back 10 years in terms of speed.

Philip Wales · 18/08/15 - 09:08

Alienware, very expensive, and considered by most as overpriced. I just bought a Lenovo gaming laptop and it's very nice. But as the poster above says "what do you want to do with it", do you need a computer?, when a tablet will do 80% of the things most people do with their computers. Or maybe a Chromebook, my wife has a Toshiba Chromebook and again it's very nice and suits her uses.

MrMarple · 18/08/15 - 10:45

Shappy wrote: »

Dell makes excellent desktops; their laptops aren't the best though.

HP is slightly cheaper but less good IMHO.

Gizmo210688 wrote: »

I would also say Dell. Seem to be pretty decent value for money and a few people I know have had very reliable desktop PC's from them.

I agree that Dell PC's are excellent, but I found their Customer Service to be abysmal. For that reason alone I'd steer clear of them.

gother · 18/08/15 - 11:53

I found Acer to be quite good and realiable never had any problems with my 5 year old Acer pc, they are reasonably priced too.

[Deleted User] · 18/08/15 - 12:06

I have been buying from Overclockers for a good few years now! Never let me down yet. Good customer service too. Prices are fairly good as well.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/

ags_rule · 18/08/15 - 12:32

I've had an HP for three years now and still going very strong. My other PCs were notceably slower by the time they reached three years old but this is still holding up very well.

As others have said though, it depends on what you are using it for. The requirements for a gaming PC are very different to those for a work or family PC.

Jambo_c · 18/08/15 - 14:02

Generally as long as the components inside are good then the branding of the PC itself doesn't necessarily matter too much.

I've got a Zoostorm machine which I happily use for browsing the web, playing music and playing Football Manager. It's spot on, never had any issues and it was very cheap.

Elyan · 18/08/15 - 14:12

We've had Packard Bell desktop PC running windows 7 for about five years. Not a single issue.

Not the quickest PC in the world but it does the job and is very reliable.

Iqoniq · 18/08/15 - 16:46

Philip Wales wrote: »

Alienware, very expensive, and considered by most as overpriced. I just bought a Lenovo gaming laptop and it's very nice.

I'll admit Alienware are expensive, but they do know their setups. My gaming rig is basically a rip off of one of their specs and I bought the components and built it myself. The only real difference is the fact that it doesn't have a "sexy case" (although the case is made out of steel and weighs a ton) and a load of pointless lights. Lenovo do have some nice machines, but their laptops and all-in-ones are a pain, as I said earlier, because everything is tied together and if something fails then everything fails. You usually can't just replace the part causing the issue, unless it's the RAM or HDD.

MrMarple wrote: »

I agree that Dell PC's are excellent, but I found their Customer Service to be abysmal. For that reason alone I'd steer clear of them.

Have Dell finally stopped using bespoke parts? A few years back I got asked to recondition a Dell machine so it could play games. It was fine until I realised I'd maxed out the power supply, and then discovered that I'd have to pay in the region of £130 for another power supply from Dell. The chassis wouldn't accept the usual "box" power supplies, but only a power supply that had a rounded edge one one side. In the end I had to transplant the machine into another chassis which worked out a lot cheaper. It might be worth checking that they're not using odd parts before buying.

Ann_Tenna · 18/08/15 - 17:59

gother wrote: »

I found Acer to be quite good and realiable never had any problems with my 5 year old Acer pc, they are reasonably priced too.

That's what I am using, and my Acer is about the same age as yours is. Never had a problem with it - knock on wood.

HP.80 Victor · 18/08/15 - 18:27

Build your own. These days it's as easy as putting Lego together and you'll end up with a system that's more powerful than a pre-built branded one for way less money.

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