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Thread ID: 51218	2004-11-14 20:35:00	Advice on choosing a family computer, please.	MattG (6409)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
292104	2004-11-14 23:59:00	> Consultation with family members on > purchases of any kind is the key to keeping the peace > and is what makes up 99% of happy families today. Somebody - in this respect you sure are a disilusioned person	Greg S (201)
292105	2004-11-15 00:03:00	Haha my hubby doesnt even know how to turn the computer on let alone use one or buy one...... he had no say in this item whatsoever, he will never understand half of what i say when it comes to comps. so why bother scaring the bejeebers out of him trying to get him to understand this is what i want? normally we consult and i have final say...;\ and also im sorry MattG that you feel metla is not worth going to see again, you may have lost the opportunity to own a fantastic computer, but its your choice. Good luck beetle	beetle (243)
292106	2004-11-15 00:04:00	> Somebody - in this respect you sure are a > disilusioned person Greg - I'll take back what I said if you can properly prove to me that men are better at making computer-buying-decisions than women are. Your family may be functioning well at the moment, but others may not with your philosophy. Money issues are responsible for huge number of divorces in NZ each year.	somebody (208)
292107	2004-11-15 00:23:00	I must say that metal has been very restrained in this particular thread, well done, [u]keep it up[/url]. Matt the basic advice is still valid, whatever your choice there is going to be some risk involved, obviously you are trying to mitigate some of that risk with your query to this forum, good move. To go over the ground again: Name brand PC's are like anything, they vary in quality even within lines of a manufacturer. Their biggest customers are corporate's, who typically look for standardised hardware, which will not be user configured, is minimalist, stability for a limited amount of applications. Corporate's will upgrade on a cyclical basis which is not likely to have too much relevance to a home or SOHO user. They also purchase or have onsite support, if a unit fails they swap it out, not send it to Auckland or wherever to be repaired. Name brand PC's that are not aimed strictly at business use, tend to be generalist while not being particularly good at anything, although they will run your basic applications just fine (Word, Exel, web browser, email), if you take them outside their capabilities they will only disappoint (as anything). If you decide at a later date that you wish to increase those capabilities you may as well purchase a new PC. Most advertising in large retailers as far as PC's go is no more than puffery. Most are neither: cutting/leading edge, fast (but may be fast enough), future proof, the best at anything, easy to configure. Their salespeople are just that, as a general rule you will not get a knowledgeable technician but someone who has to shift units, be they PC's or TV's. Large retailers can and do stop selling a particular brand of product, often the quality of after sales service will suffer if as a result. The better brands are generally reliable with good support to a point before you start paying serious money. The retailer is less likely to go down the gurgler (when they do it's spectacular). Custom built PC's should fit your needs exactly, if they don't it is usually fairly trivial to alter them. They will not necessarily be better than a name brand PC, it depends on you brief and the advice you get (small businesses can be crappy and use crappy components, and stretch the truth, just like big ones can although, they're more directly accountable to their local custom). If you purchase a custom built PC, it's best to purchase locally rather than over the net from an out of town source. It should be upgradeable to gain a longer in service life, however PC technology changes rapidly anyhow, it's not exactly obsolete when you walk out the door but it's days are numbered. Small businesses do go bust, leaving customers high and dry, however, unless the multi-billion dollar hardware manufacturer goes belly up as well you should still get support from their NZ agent (proprietary components for name brand PC's, by and large, can only be sourced from the name brand. If they no longer make it, tuff). Well, more could be said but, I think that's a reasonably fair summary of peoples views, or my slant on it. I personaly would not buy a Dell, IBM or Compaq unless I was picking up a cheap box for a server or something along those lines. On the other hand, I'm not likely to buy a custom built PC either, just the components ;) Murray P	Murray P (44)
292108	2004-11-15 00:30:00	Oh my! isn't that pretty. [/u] :8} Murray P	Murray P (44)
292109	2004-11-15 00:39:00	I think Murray sums it up perfectly, especially the reasoning as to why a brand name box isn't ideal. Buying a custom built box locally is the best option, whether its from metla or not. It might be an idea to find out who the supplier was that stung beetle and stay away from them like the plague. In my opinion metla is a top bloke and if I lived in Taranaki/Manawatu area i wouldnt hesitate buying from him.	Pete O'Neil (250)
292110	2004-11-15 01:09:00	This morning has certainly been a learning experience! To sum it up it would appear that you guys think best advice is for me to buy from one of your own. To avoid brand names like the plague. To ignore the wishes of my family. And to take more control at home. I've been insulted and (apparently) diliberately confused. I've been led to a conversation in which your best mate sounds off in a very immature fashion and throws insults to people like confetti. Sure this may not be his market place but, as someone pointed out, this web site is like a street corner. And he has a great big sign above his head say "buy from me!" My experience here started of really well, then the playtime bell rang. I won't be back here again and I won't be buying your mag any more! What a bunch of kids! Goodbye!	MattG (6409)
292111	2004-11-15 01:42:00	Can one of the moderators compare IPs and do a reverse DNS lookup on Potus and MattG? They sound remarkably like the same person.	alphazulusixeightniner (185)
292112	2004-11-15 03:41:00	> Thanks Susan B. Computer Medic is the one on Guyton > Street, right? We went there a couple of weeks ago > and had a look. Got talking to the salesman but we > left even more confused than when we went in! I > gather the owner is one of the people here? Perhaps > I'd be better talking to him maybe. But my wife > thinks that a bigger store would be better, we have > some friend who bought a computer from a company that > went bust last year. The thing broke and they had to > get a new one. Your a fraud,No husband and wife came in during the last few months and talked to me long enough to get confused. Plus the entire thread was set up so that the a brand name comp would be the most likely suggestion,and seeing as your hell bent on refuting any advice given to the contrary then there is no way you would have been in my shop discussing a custom build. Seems to me this was an elaborate scheme to draw me out and then try and discredit me,If so then it backfired badly.	metla (154)
292113	2004-11-15 04:28:00	> Seems to me this was an elaborate scheme to draw me out and then try and discredit me,If so then it backfired badly. ROTFLMAO But you're not paranoid at al, are you! Thanks for believing that I could create such an eleborate hoax ;) But I would have to get up that early to fool some of you :D	POTUS (5276)
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