How are those computers that they always advertise on TV?

You know, on all those shopping channels.  I see them all the time flipping through.  Are they pieces of sh*t?

It depends on which one you were looking at. They are usually the same ones you see at Best Buy and such. IMO, Most of the ones they show are great for the average everyday user; but if you are looking for a 1337 box either custom build it(most of the time it is cheaper than buying one; but no tech support) or get an Alienware PC.

Dell or Gateway is good and they have pretty good customer service and a 3-year warranty.

Depends on how comfortable you are working on computers.

I\'d advise you to stay away from shopping network PCs at any cost.  The companies that sell PCs through these channels are among the most untrustworthy con artists I have ever dealt with.  A friend of mine ignored my advice and bought an early AMD K7 PC from one of these TV ads about a year and a half ago, and the PC he got was a real piece of cr@p.  They use inferior parts whenever possible to lower their costs.  Non-ECC memory, a first generation K7 motherboard with a very inferior chipset, a video card that was useless for anything except displaying a low resolution 2D desktop... it goes on and on.  They didn\'t even send him everything he was supposed to receive.

I wanted to build a PC for him, but he thought he\'d prefer to buy from a company so he\'d have their tech support.  WELL, that\'s sort of useless when they don\'t answer the phone.  Now I\'m his tech support after all, and he\'s lucky he has me.  Most people who buy these PCs don\'t get any tech support at all.  I had to replace several components and reinstall the OS in order to get the damn thing anywhere near stable.

If you don\'t believe me, just look up the company on one of the online rating services like http://www.bizrate.com.  You will probably find hundreds of stories just like this one.

Originally posted by EmperorRob
Dell or Gateway is good and they have pretty good customer service and a 3-year warranty.

Gateway is the e-Machine of customizable computers.

Originally posted by Gohan

Gateway is the e-Machine of customizable computers.

I guess I don\'t know what that means.

don\'t worry i am not so sure either

but i have a gateway and i feel its a pretty damn good deal - i haven\'t had really any problems and it doesn\'t crash too often either

Originally posted by Coredweller
I guess I don\'t know what that means.

e-machines are the worst computers that you can buy in stores like Best Buy and Circuit City. They are not necessarily bad; but not to good either. Gateway tends to use A LOT of cheap parts and they mark them up something feirce. If you don\'t get an above average box from them WATCH OUT!!.

e-machine = trash.

My roommate in college had a Gateway, a couple years ago.  His was pretty good, but they may have gone downhill since then.  My brother-in-law\'s roommate ordered one and they were out of P3\'s so they sent a Celeron and bumped up the RAM instead.  Not my idea of good business practice.

So buy Dell.  I hear Falcon\'s are nice but they are very $$$.

I built my own system for $1100 w/Win2k Pro but no monitor so it\'s cheaper that way, but then again no tech support.

Originally posted by EmperorRob
e-machine = trash

I was trying to sugarcoat it; but if you want to take the direct approach.

Gateway = trash
e-machine = trash
macistrash (I dont care what ANYBODY thinks)
IBM is good
Dell is great.

Dells are a tad more expensive.

Eric Jacob

Originally posted by AlteredBeast
Gateway = trash
e-machine = trash

I guess I\'m just too nice.

Originally posted by AlteredBeast
macistrash (I dont care what ANYBODY thinks)

Gotta disagree with you there. When it comes to graphical editing and such I use nothing but a Mac.(G4 to be specific) The work can be done on the PC but the Mac is just much better for graphical editing. You can put over a gig of ram in some macs for chrissake.

I agree, Adobe is basically MADE for macs.

But any company that decides that the outside of the computer is more important than the inside I have to hate. It is just unethical.

Eric Jacob

[nO-One]

Well I\'ve never seen those commercials so I can\'t comment on them

But I never buy premade,takes all the fun out of building it your self.

Ohh and Mac ain\'t trash,those are the only pre-made compootah\'s that I buy.

[Living-In-Clip]

*hugs my Mac*
Damnit, I love it.