The Big Brands

Blog Archive Repost

The big brands!!! Which is best? Part 1 - Hardware

Published 07 December 07 10:17 AM | RjBass  Edit

Here we have an interesting topic.  The big name brands, and which one is best.  I am very anxious to hear peoples opinions on this one, and while were at it, I'll give you mine. 

First let's list some of the big name brand computer manufacturers. 

Dell
HP
Gateway (owned by Acer)
Compaq (owned by HP)
Lenovo (sorta kinda owned by IBM i think)
Acer
Sony
eMachines
And we shouldn't forget Apple, who in recent years has risen up to the top 5 computer makers in the US.  

I am sure there may be more, but those are the ones that come to mind the most when I think of the big name brands. 

So now let's look at this from three angles, hardware quality/support, software quality/support, and overall customer service. 

Some of these company's I have not had to many dealings with.  While other I tend to see more often then I care to.  As a bench tech/system builder I have come to learn which company's put out better computers hardware wise and which don't. 

Let's look at the hardware side of the matter first.

My small business is about 75% computer repairs and 25% new system builds and new sales (that's a rough guess, i have never really ran the numbers like that yet).  Being that most of my business is repair related I have some pretty strong opinions as to which big name manufacturer is the worst.  But I should also say that they are the worst only when it comes to desktops.  While I am starting to see more and more laptops make their way onto my bench, the bulk of my work is still desktops. 

And in my professional opinion, the absolute worst big name computer manufacturer in terms of hardware is Dell.  As I write this I have 6 busted up computers in my shop or on my bench waiting to be repaired or are in the process of being repaired, and four of them are Dells.  Below that bench I store my older trade in computers when a customer decides that it just isn't worth it to fix their old machine and purchase a new one from Rj Systems.  Currently I have 16 older computer trade ins (which will eventually find their way into needy schools and families) and out of those 16 computers, 12 of them are Dells. 

If I were to give it a rough guess, I would have to say about 80% of the Dells I have serviced in the past two years were due to bad hard drives.  Originally I thought it was the brand of hard drive they were using in their systems, which for a moment I thought was Maxtor.  But then I started seeing other hard drives in Dells going bad, like Seagates (which actually owns Maxtor), Western Digital, Samsung and others.  Now I don't know about most of you, but Western Digital hard drives don't normally just go bad after only a year or two of being used.  I have a couple Western Digital hard drives that are nearly 10 years old now and they still work just as well as the day they were brand new.  The same goes for Seagate and Samsung. 

I realised after awhile that it wasn't the brands of drives that were bad (well maybe it could have been with the Maxtors, but that is purely speculation), rather it was the design of the computer.  Those of us who have been building and maintaining computers for awhile know that computers don't work so well when they get hot.  Dell computers tend to only come with one single fan that blows cool air onto the CPU.  That air is blown onto the CPUs heat sink and then after it is heated up is then spread around the computer.  The only real air outlet is through the power supply or through one of the air vents that are not equipped with any fans.  So in other words, what we have is a processor that is getting some cool air, but the rest of the computer components have to share the remaining hot air that the processor gives off.  To add insult to injury, the one fan that is blowing cool air on to the CPU is a decent size 90mm fan, however it is tuned down to not make any noise, therefore it isn't blowing nearly the amount of cool air that it could, and as a result the CPU tends to run warmer then it should.  This goes for older Dells made between 2000 and 2005 and newer Dells made after 2005.  I'm not sure why Dell did this, maybe they thought that less noise was more beneficial to the customer then products that didn't die prematurely. 

So here we have a Dell with only one 90mm fan that is tuned down, and an average air temperature inside the computer case that is probably hot enough to cook and egg, and then we have to add to that, that the average computer owner never cleans out the inside of their computer of dust and dirt, so everything is all clogged up.  Now we have a computer that is basically a microwave oven. 

Well in those situations, since the processor is at least getting some air, it tends to hold out, but the now over heated hard drive is starting to have issues, and before it should, it fails.  And not just the couple files missing and bad sectors, but the full on clicking and clacking after power is applied. 

Now this may come as a shock to many of you, but my favorite big name manufacturer is Gateway.  The part that is really surprising is that Gateway for the most part does the exact same thing as Dell with only the one fan.  However, if the inside temperature of a Gateway gets to be above a certain degree, or if the processor gets to be above a certain degree, that 90mm fan kicks into overdrive and stays there until temperatures are back to acceptable levels.  To add to Gateways reputation, I have a couple older Gateways under my bench, and nothing is wrong with them.  They are perfectly fine and working computers.  Both of them have all the original hardware that they came with, including the hard drive.  One of them is even 10 years old.  In my personal and professional opinion, if somebody absolutely had to get a big name brand computer, Gateway would be their best bet (although now that Acer owns them, the future for Gateway could go either way).  But in the last two years, I have not had a single Gateway come into my shop with an actual hardware issue, and that to me speaks volumes about a company's products. 

When it comes to the other brands, like HP, Acer, eMachines etc... I don't see to many of them.  This in my opinion is a good thing.  Although very recently I had a bought with a Sony Vaio made sometime around 2002.  It was hard to work on as Sony seemed to cram as much junk as they could into a very very small space, it was clogged with dust, and like Dells, it didn't offer any real cooling options.  But that was only one computer, so I don't have anything really to go on as I can't judge an entire company's products on only one example.  I have worked on a few eMachines, but they were all pre Gateway buy out.  Since Gateway purchased eMachines their level of hardware quality has gone way up in my opinion.  I just haven't worked on a more recent one to say anything for or against them in more modern times. 

The biggest problem with most of the big name brands is hardware replacement and upgrading.  Most of the big name brands are very limited with their upgrade options.  Dell most of all above the others.  Their cases will only work with the motherboards that they sell.  Even Gateway is like this.  But interestingly enough, eMachines (again Gateway owned) are not set up like that.  In most eMachine computers you can change out the motherboard and still have it work with the case.  Acer is like that a well (at least for the machines I have seen recently).  This in my opinion is a big plus, because most of us should know by now, if your two year old Dell or Gateway goes down because of a hardware issue, your best bet is to get a new computer, as none of the big name computer makers keep their stock supplied with older gear.  If they do still have something older in stock, they will charge you an arm and a leg for it, making the purchase of a new computer seem much more reasonable.  And wouldn't you know it, the customer who also purchased the two year extended hardware warranty with their Dell computer just had the power supply fry out on them, taking the motherboard and everything else with it on day number 731. 

Well that's my opinion.  I am almost positive it will clash with what many of you have experienced. 

Since I haven't done so much work on HP's and other brands, I am interested in hearing what you all have to say about them. 

In part two I will discuss software.  Specifically the types of software that the big name brands come stocked with. So stay tuned for that.