RH33 Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 We are thinking about getting a new computer, as I know absolutly nothing about them, anyone got any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Mail Ordering one will get you a better machine at a lower price but you may get shafted whe nit comes to repairs or getting things checked out if it goes wrong. I bought mine from a company in Doncaster so I would have problems if it died on me. Buying from PC World for example will be slightly more expensive but means that, seeing as they have stores all over the place, it will be easier to fix themachine if something goes wrong. What do you need the computer for anyway? Email/Games/Office use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Booth Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Mail Order needn't be a nightmare. I bought my PC from MESH in March last year, I had no problems with it until the main motherboard went in July this year. They sent me a label to stick on the box, a courier from AmTrak came the day after I phoned them and I had the PC back within a week, all under warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 I've had no problems but that I would say is the main disadvantage using mail order. If something did go wrong you would be quite far away from the company (perhaps) to try and sort it out. Also depends on the type of warranty you get I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donaldo Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Alternatively find a decent local computer shop. I got a good deal from Hi-Tech Computers in Edinburgh. There is also the Silicon Group and Ideal Computing based in Edinburgh. I think Ideal do mail order as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHU1967 Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 I wouldn't go to PC World out of principal. Rip off merchants. I got mine mail order (didn't take long to come), after reading a review in Computer Shopper Magazine. Buy this mag, £3 quid plus change, read up on what is available, decide what you want it to do, then check out their recommendations. You could be reasonably sure that any they recommend will be safe to purchase from mail order. Edited - Oops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 In light of the current stories coming out of Iraq regarding Ken Bigley I hope you will edit your post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyline Drifter Posted October 9, 2004 Share Posted October 9, 2004 Mail Order needn't be a nightmare. I bought my PC from MESH in March last year, I had no problems with it until the main motherboard went in July this year.They sent me a label to stick on the box, a courier from AmTrak came the day after I phoned them and I had the PC back within a week, all under warranty. I got mine from MESH on the advice of a friend in 1999 and am still using it. That said, it's like Trigger's broom that's been re-handled five times and had three new heads. Seriously, I had one major problem within the first year which was also with the motherboard and the A:Drive. I had a bad week trying to actually get hold of anyone at MESH prepared to accept that their just might be a problem with their machine and that it wasn't software related. Cost me a bloody fortune on a daytime mobile phone call to them as well but they did eventually send an engineer round and he fixed it in about ten minutes by replacing the motherboard and A:Drive. Since it went out of warranty I've had to replace the monitor (lost colour), the mouse (kept sticking), the memory card, the power pack (went kaput one night) and the printer (though to be fair it didn't come with a printer and it was an old one from work I was using before). I think the only original things are the speakers and the keyboard, the C:Drive and the D:Drive. Even now, the A:Drive has been packed in for a month or so. I keep meaning to get someone to do something about that but the guy who used to fix it for me has emigrated to AUstralia and I need to find someone else! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH33 Posted October 12, 2004 Author Share Posted October 12, 2004 Cool thanks. We were thinking about a Dell-any opinions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted October 12, 2004 Share Posted October 12, 2004 Dell are rated very highly. Normally offer some good warranties in case of a problem and are top notch for technical support I hear. I think their machines are slightly dearer than say Mesh or Simply or other mail order companies but you will get a good computer at a good price with some top notch support afterwards. I would recommend checking out a couple of copies of Computer Buyer to find out what machines are hot or not at the minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donaldo Posted October 12, 2004 Share Posted October 12, 2004 Dell are well built machines that we use at work. I've currently got two laptops (my old one and my sexy new one) sitting on desk at the moment. All the guys down at my office in London have the desktops and they are well built reliable machines. The only thing to watch with a Dell is if anything breaks and you don't have the warrantly cover then it will cost a fortune to get replaced as some of the parts are propietary. I certainly know the motherboard and PSU in a dell are non-standard. In order to provide any future warranty on these parts they will also charge you to fit them as they won't let you do it yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SeD Posted October 12, 2004 Share Posted October 12, 2004 Back to PC World online - I ordered a laptop from the website (special deal - not available in stores, blah, blah). It arrived in 3 days but the the display had a bust pixel: all I had to do was take it back to PC World for an exchange, which was done on the spot (as they had some stock). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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