Hp vs Dell (new title- need more feedback for new PC).

[WayAbvPar]

I customized a PC through Dell last week. It was supposed to ship Friday (31-July) and arrive Monday (I paid for overnight shipping). Friday afternoon I logged in and checked the status of the order- and it suddenly had an arrival day of 10-August instead of 3-August. I checked my email- no notification or explanation from Dell. So I started slogging down the customer service email track. I finally got a real person to reply to me. I told them how unhappy I was that they had bumped my order back, and I was especially peeved that they hadn't bothered to notify me. I demanded that they refund the shipping costs or cancel my order. They wouldn't eat the shipping, so I canceled.

I ordered a different PC from HP last night. Was going to post the specs for both here and see how I did. I went to Dell to get the specs on the canceled order. And it was listed as SHIPPED today. I called customer service and then escalated to a 'supervisor'. He told me that there was no one at Dell authorized to call Fed Ex and have them return the package to Dell. I am sure that Michael Dell himself would be helpless to do anything about it   I spent 8 years in the courier business, and I can guaran-godamned-tee you that a shipper can call and ask for a package not to delivered and instead returned. Dell's solution was for me to go through their return procedure. Fuck that. This is THEIR fault, not mine, and I am not jumping through hoops for them.

My next call was to my bank to dispute the charge. The charge for the HP system I bought last night was posted. There is no record of any past, present or pending charges from Dell. I asked her to note in my account that I called and planned to dispute any charges, and told her I would call back and initiate the dispute procedure if/when it appears. So at this point Dell has irreversibly shipped out a free computer.

My next call was to Fed Ex. Armed with the tracking number, I called their claims department. I had the shipment marked as return to sender in less then 2 minutes.

More as the story unfolds. My first attempt to order a PC through Dell. Wow. HP should be kicking their ass soon.

System specs for both below in case anyone cares. I am curious which one everyone thinks is better-

[HaemishM]

Sounds like the HP was a completely better deal overall. I've had good luck with HP/Compaq.

[fuser]

System specs for both below in case anyone cares. I am curious which one everyone thinks is better-

The Dell for simple reason, crossfire 4870's.

[NiX]

Last I recall, CrossFire and SLI weren't that much of a huge benefit unless specifically designed for it.

[schild]

You paid too much for both. I assume you were happy paying like $600 more than necessary though just to avoid building it yourself.

[WayAbvPar]

I would be surprised if it was that much more, but I definitely don't mind paying for convenience. I could newegg all the parts and build it myself, but it would be outdated by the time everything got to me and I finally slapped it together.

[ajax34i]

I'd agree with "paid too much", but on the other hand newegg'ing the parts always results in me paying a couple hundred extra compared to absolutely the lowest price because I simply cannot accept the default cooling fans, or the cheapest cheapest case, keyboard, mouse, power supply, etc.

[Ingmar]

In the long run I always spend that extra 500 bucks on replacing parts or whatever when I build my own anyway, as things die without service in place or whatever else anyway. At this point just buying a Dell every 3 years is pretty appealing to my laziness.

[WayAbvPar]

At this point just buying an Dell HP every 3 years is pretty appealing to my laziness.

FIFY. I beg you, do not give those asshats any more money.

[Ingmar]

I've been using them for years at work - both servers and desktops - and have absolutely no complaints whatsoever. Heck they basically gave me two free 24WFP monitors last time I bought home machines. I do my purchasing through my direct sales rep at work though, so that may explain the difference in the level of service I am getting.

[Trippy]

System specs for both below in case anyone cares. I am curious which one everyone thinks is better-

The Dell for simple reason, crossfire 4870's.

The HP has a far better CPU but a very gimpy GPU so it's hard to compare. For right now, the Dell is the better system for gaming. However the HP has a lot more "headroom" cause of the CPU difference and given WAP bought a prebuilt system he's probably not the type that likes to go in and swap CPUs while changing a GPU card is trivial.

[Threash]

I've been using them for years at work - both servers and desktops - and have absolutely no complaints whatsoever. Heck they basically gave me two free 24WFP monitors last time I bought home machines. I do my purchasing through my direct sales rep at work though, so that may explain the difference in the level of service I am getting.

Ditto.  Been buying Dell for years, zero complaints.  Will keep buying for the forseable future.

[Sheepherder]

Integrated Audio

Try not to make stupid mistakes like this when buying nearly $2000 of equipment.

[bhodi]

My integrated audio is fine. Most are fine. Sound Blaster has been repackaging the same damned sound card for YEARS. There is NO REASON to buy a separate card at this point for video games or general music listening unless you're doing studio work or have a studio ear.

[Ingmar]

Integrated Audio

Try not to make stupid mistakes like this when buying nearly $2000 of equipment.

I'd take integrated over a Creative card any day at this point.

[Rasix]

buying a Dell every 3 years is pretty appealing to my laziness.

Pretty much why I do it.  Then I hate myself when in a couple years I start replacing parts.  Their "cable management" is a nightmare. Their cases are incredibly difficult for adding certain pieces in.  Once when I changed a motherboard, it wouldn't let me install windows anymore.  And for when I start putting in better pieces, they inevitably have very poor air flow in the cases (and little way to improve save taking the side panel off) causing heat problems.  You really notice where they cut corners when you open the sucker up.  Maybe they've improved in the past few years..

But it all seems better to me than building my own.  My last attempt resulted in a very problematic PC that took forever to build and took years off my life in frustration.  I'm pretty confident I could do it now, but there's always the nagging feeling that I'm going to colossally fuck it up.

edit: The one time I tried integrated audio it was nothing but trouble.  Certain games just straight up hated it. Don't care much for Creative either.  Windows seems to hate their drivers.

[trotski]

The first couple computers I actually bought instead of built, were Dells and were nothing but crap nightmares. My last couple have been HPs and I haven't had one complaint. A++ Would buy again.

[Ingmar]

My last Creative card just would not work right with LotRO ever. I would get horrible blasts of static, etc. There were some other things it had issues with too. I finally just went out and bought some fly by night $10 audio card and it works perfectly with everything.  

[fuser]

Last I recall, CrossFire and SLI weren't that much of a huge benefit unless specifically designed for it.

Long as a game has a profile there should be a very tangible increase in performance.

The HP has a far better CPU but a very gimpy GPU so it's hard to compare. For right now, the Dell is the better system for gaming. However the HP has a lot more "headroom" cause of the CPU difference and given WAP bought a prebuilt system he's probably not the type that likes to go in and swap CPUs while changing a GPU card is trivial.

I was thinking about future expansion and the 940 is drastically outperformed by the i7 but the system is so gimped in the HP. As you mentioned the GT 220 is a really gimp card, and would have to be replaced to play pretty much anything beside peggle. This leads into what kinda PSU is in the HP and whats the slot physical limitations. Poking around dell's site there's really good i7 deals there if crossfire is no concern to you (1,100studio xps - 1,600xps 435 for i7-920's).

[Morfiend]

I'm going to second the paid way to much. You could build that same system for around half that price (looking at the hp). I owned 2 Dells, but for the price you can get such a better machine if you self build. Also, how is ordering the parts from Newegg and building it going to take you so long? Shipping time from the egg is about the same as you would get from Dell, and then like 2-4 hours to build, and maybe 24 hours of burn in/testing.

That system I specced recently was the same but with 12gb ram and a nvidia 285 for around $1300.

[Big Gulp]

I just bought a 3.0Ghz quad core with 8 gigs of RAM and a 9800 GTX for less than $600.  Why the fuck would you pay what you just did when an hour of snapping the thing together would save you over $1000?

[Ingmar]

I just bought a 3.0Ghz quad core with 8 gigs of RAM and a 9800 GTX for less than $600.  Why the fuck would you pay what you just did when an hour of snapping the thing together would save you over $1000?

Service & support, non-shitty-bargain-brand components, the aforementioned laziness, and no chance of accidentally fucking the cooling up and melting your CPU.

[schild]

I just bought a 3.0Ghz quad core with 8 gigs of RAM and a 9800 GTX for less than $600.  Why the fuck would you pay what you just did when an hour of snapping the thing together would save you over $1000?

Service & support, non-shitty-bargain-brand components, the aforementioned laziness, and no chance of accidentally fucking the cooling up and melting your CPU.

This is why one shops at Fry's? I think they have them in Seattle.

[Engels]

Dell has had some serious delays in shipping of late. I'm not sure why, but of the last 5 purchased systems at work, including a home purchase of a laptop, each and every shipment has been pushed back at least a week, two weeks in some cases.

I'm not sure what's going on with them. They may be redoing their distribution chain, moving manufacturing, or some other such thing, but its been really slow going with them.

[Ingmar]

I just bought a 3.0Ghz quad core with 8 gigs of RAM and a 9800 GTX for less than $600.  Why the fuck would you pay what you just did when an hour of snapping the thing together would save you over $1000?

Service & support, non-shitty-bargain-brand components, the aforementioned laziness, and no chance of accidentally fucking the cooling up and melting your CPU.

This is why one shops at Fry's? I think they have them in Seattle.

Fry's (pew pew pew) isn't as cheap as ordering online, at least locally, and I don't know that I'd trust them to assemble anything.

Dell has had some serious delays in shipping of late. I'm not sure why, but of the last 5 purchased systems at work, including a home purchase of a laptop, each and every shipment has been pushed back at least a week, two weeks in some cases.

I'm not sure what's going on with them. They may be redoing their distribution chain, moving manufacturing, or some other such thing, but its been really slow going with them.

Maybe they've been cutting hours or doing layoffs like everyone else, although I don't recall reading about any big layoffs there recently.

[Big Gulp]

Service & support, non-shitty-bargain-brand components, the aforementioned laziness, and no chance of accidentally fucking the cooling up and melting your CPU.

Service & support?  Over a grand's worth?     Non-shitty components?  I wasn't aware that Intel, AMD, and Nvidia made super-sekret quality components for the OEMs.  As far as cooling goes, how difficult is a few dabs of Artic Silver, and slap on the heatsink/fan?

Fuck, I'm a mechanical idiot and even this doesn't scare me.  But hey, feel free to toss shitloads of money at middlemen.

[Fordel]

Do people still use thermal paste?

Every CPU I've used in the past decade has had a thermal pad already stuck on. They've yet to overheat or catch fire or anything like that.

[Big Gulp]

Do people still use thermal paste?

Every CPU I've used in the past decade has had a thermal pad already stuck on. They've yet to overheat or catch fire or anything like that.

I do, just because old habits die hard.  I know it probably makes marginal difference between Arctic Silver and whatever the manufacturer uses, but I still wipe off their shit and use my own.

[WayAbvPar]

Integrated Audio

Try not to make stupid mistakes like this when buying nearly $2000 of equipment.

I meant to order a sound card and didn't notice until the order was 'final'. Which was another reason I liked the HP system better. I have always had good luck with Intel and nvidia stuff too, (although my proc now is AMD and I haven't had any complaints).

I built a system a long time ago. It is a pain in the ass and I don't relish the idea of doing it again. I have precious little free time as it is with the baby nearing toddler stage (he is mobile now and hard to wrangle!), and I didn't want to slap everything together. HP took 15 minutes to assemble and order. I am sure I paid a premium for it, but last time I bought local I still spent $1500 on parts and assembly, so I didn't think this was that out of line ($48 bucks was for the flash drive and separate shipping, which kind of annoyed me, but that's life).

I am dismayed to hear the the GPU isn't very good. It was the 2nd or third upgrade option. It will certainly be better than what I have now, so it should be ok until I find something it doesn't run very well.

[Big Gulp]

I built a system a long time ago. It is a pain in the ass and I don't relish the idea of doing it again. I have precious little free time as it is with the baby nearing toddler stage (he is mobile now and hard to wrangle!), and I didn't want to slap everything together.

Okay, let's assume it would take you 2 hours to put the thing together, assuming you're nervous about doing so, and want to take the time researching every step along the way.  Hell, let's say it took you 3 hours just to be generous.  You're saying that your time is worth more than $333 per hour?  What the hell do you do for a living???

[SnakeCharmer]

If he's happy with his purchase, who gives a fuck?

[Morfiend]

If he's happy with his purchase, who gives a fuck?

He asked us what we thought.

[SnakeCharmer]

He asked which one was better, not whether he got a good deal.

[Big Gulp]

He asked which one was better, not whether he got a good deal.

Better?  That's like asking whether a $600 Timex is better than a $600 Casio.  They're both shitty deals.

ETA:  To take the analogy further, and put it in context, what if I told you I could sell you the same watch, either brand, that would work identically for $200.  The only catch is that you would have to attach the band to the face yourself, but I'd give you all the parts to do so.  What's the better deal?

[Hayduke]

Kind of a wash between the Dell and HP.  The Dell has a good gpu.  The HP has an ass GPU, but it also has a dedicated sound card (how important I don't know, I use a Xonar sound card myself), a much better CPU, better ram, and extras like bluetooth (cool for a gaming mic), firewire and 802.11n.  If you're happy with it I wouldn't sweat it.