[OPLINTECH] Eval of HP or Dell

Fri Oct 29 10:41:57 EDT 2010

Dell support is pretty stellar, but then again I haven’t had to make a call
to HP in the last two and a half years.

We switched to HP because every single line of Dell computers has had a
single component go bad and drop like dominos.  On our 270s, it was the
motherboard.  On our 280s it was the power supply.  Our 520s have developed
a noisy fan, and we’ve had several of their power supplies fail as well, but
over all have run very well.

I understand this happens.  However, we purchase the super-duper extended
warrantee on our computers, and when we had 5 power supplies fail one month
after the plan expired I was told that since there was no service alerts out
on that model and component they couldn’t do anything about it.  The
replacement cost of the power supply through Dell was more expensive than
the extended warrantee, so we went with a reseller instead.

Since then I’ve gone with HP.  Maybe once those are 4 years old, I’ll see
the same problems arise.  For now though, they have run without fail since
purchase.

I currently favor HP.  We have a local certified retailer that can do
service under warrantee and can completely circumvent the need for me to
call national tech support as far as I understand it (I could be wrong
there… ) 

Just my two cents.

Travis McAfee

Systems Administrator

Way Public Library

101 E. Indiana Ave.

Perrysburg, OH  43551

Voice:  (419) 874-3135 x103

Fax:     (419) 874-6129

Email:   mcafeetr at oplin.org

Web:  http://www.waylibrary.info <http://www.waylibrary.info/> 

From: oplintech-bounces at lists.oplin.org
[mailto:oplintech-bounces at lists.oplin.org] On Behalf Of Ed Liddle
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 3:46 PM
To: OPLINTECH at oplin.org
Subject: Re: [OPLINTECH] Eval of HP or Dell

I think that either are good choices. I would look at how long you
expect to use them for then compare warranties to see which warranty
will carry you through the longest if a good warranty is mandatory. If
the warranty length and what it covers is not a big issue, (you plan on
fixing them when the hardware breaks) then I would look at the
availability of replacement parts, mainly power supplies, hard drives,
and on occasion a motherboard. Does the form factor change fast enough
that when you might need a new power supply or motherboard a few years
down the road that you can still buy one.

We use mainly Dell computers and have pretty good success with them for
reliability and service. I usually run into as they get older having
hard drives or power supplies fail on them. Hard drives and power
supplies can be purchased pretty reasonably, hard drives can be
purchased from about any vendor that sells them. Typically power
supplies I purchase through Dell since they are not a standard size
supply that would fit into a tower case which can be found locally.

We do have one HP desktop computer, 2 hp laptops, and 10 acer laptops.
One HP laptop and the acer laptops are about 4 years old or so. The
other HP laptop was purchased recently and the HP desktop is about 3
years old. All of them have been holding up well. I would have to say
our oldest machines we are using are 2 gates computers with windows 2000
on them. They are used for the kids games and they are both gateways
with Pentium 4 processors. I did replace the hard drive in one a fews
years ago. 

--
Ed Liddle <eliddle at marysvillelib.org>
Marysville Public LIbrary

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Hardison <bhardison at norweld.org>
Reply-to: Bill Hardison <bhardison at norweld.org>
To: Pantuso, Frank <fpantuso at akronlibrary.org>
Cc: OPLINTECH at oplin.org <OPLINTECH at oplin.org>
Subject: Re: [OPLINTECH] Eval of HP or Dell
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:03:30 -0400

I would echo what Mr Neeper said, and add that whenever a batch of units
are purchased at the same time, it is likely they will have component
parts that were also purchased in a batch and unfortunately it can make
it appear that an entire line/model of computers are bad when it was
just a single bad batch.

[?]

Someone told me I was WAY to patient, but in the end I got what I wanted
+ a more powerful laptop + 2 new monitors, because Dell stuck it out
with me.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Bill

Bill Hardison
Computer Services Coordinator
Northwest Regional Library System (NORWELD)
419-352-2903
Yahoo - TechnobraryGeek
AOL - aTechnobraryGeek

        You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.
        Miracle Max: The Princess Bride (1987)

On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 1:00 PM, Pantuso, Frank
<fpantuso at akronlibrary.org> wrote:
        Sorry for any cross posting.

        [?]

        We are currently using Dell workstations exclusively and are
        looking into possibly replacing them. We have had so much
        trouble with the motherboards on the units, I was considering HP
        as an alternative

        [?]

        Anyone have any insight, comments or general feedback on one
        over the other. Could anyone recommend some Web sites that can
        provide a reasonable evaluation of HP and Dell.

        [?]

        [?]

        Thanks for any input you can provide

        [?]

        Frank Pantuso

        Network Services Coordinator

        Akron-Summit County Public Library

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