Dell or HP

[Burrellimages]

Im looking at getting a new desktop to run CS4 and Lightroom. I found a Dell Studio desktop with a duo 2 quad processor with 8gb or ram with a 24" monitor, but found a HP AMD Phenom quad-core processor with 8gb of ram and a samsung 24" monitor (that pivots for portrait views) for about the same price. I've had 2 Dell laptops but never dealt with HP or AMD.

Any suggestions?

[Billginthekeys]

Dell. Intel definitely has the better processor right now, but just to clarify is it a quad or duo processor?

[Burrellimages]

The dell is a "core 2 quad processor", the HP is a "AMD Phenom x4 9750 quad processor". The guy at best buy said it's a TRUE quad and not two duals.

[tim]

Intel Core2 quad processors technically are two duals put together, but they still work very well. The AMD is a true quad, but it's still slower than the Intel. Read this (http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=10427&page=16). This is an example of a salesman giving you accurate information that doesn't tell the whole story. I bet he gets a bigger commission on AMD products.

Re HP vs Dell, no idea. Not sure it matters much.

[Burrellimages]

Actually i asked the guy if they get commision, because i wasnt buying today and spent over 30 minutes with him today, and he said he is paid hourly so i didnt have to ask for him when i came back in. Therefore i dont feel commision is an issue.

They sell Dell and HP at best buy and he could have sold me either. He also opted for an "open box" samsung screen to save a few bucks and get a better montitor. The HP system also had a 512mb video card (vs the 256 in the Dell) and a larger hard drive (750HP and 500dell)

My thing is am i making the right move choosing this HP system over the Dell?

[tim]

if you're using a 32 bit operating system a 256MB video card is better. This is because memory in the video card is mapped from the system memory, which has a 4GB limit, so the more memory in your video card the less system ram is accessible. With a 64 bit OS the issue goes away. With Vista having a powerful video card can help as it has all those pretty effects, but still is 512MB really necessary in a video card? I have no idea.

Right now Intel processors are better than AMD. Period.

Can you post links to both machines?

[Burrellimages]

Im getting windows vista 64 with either of them. With the HP system, i like the fact i can get a samsung monitor. I 24" with pivot. Im one of those people that fears that 2 weeks after i buy something, i'll findout i did the wrong choice!

[OdiN1701]

if you're using a 32 bit operating system a 256MB video card is better. This is because memory in the video card is mapped from the system memory, which has a 4GB limit, so the more memory in your video card the less system ram is accessible. With a 64 bit OS the issue goes away. With Vista having a powerful video card can help as it has all those pretty effects, but still is 512MB really necessary in a video card? I have no idea.

Right now Intel processors are better than AMD. Period.

Can you post links to both machines?

The only time a 512MB will help over a 256MB card:

Playing graphics intensive games.

Running two large screen monitors. By large screen, I mean 30". You need a lot of memory for the frame buffer for two displays that large.

Other than that, no real help with a 512MB card for normal windows stuff.

[Burrellimages]

I dont play video games and i will have a 24" monitor and could never see haveing a second one that large as a second monitor.

My main concern is with photoshop CS4 and LIghtroom 2 along with Office, web, etc.

That help?

[Billginthekeys]

Im getting windows vista 64 with either of them. With the HP system, i like the fact i can get a samsung monitor. I 24" with pivot. Im one of those people that fears that 2 weeks after i buy something, i'll findout i did the wrong choice!
I don't understand the samsung comment. You are buying the system from best buy correct? The monitor will work just fine with either system so I don't know who is telling you you can only get it with the HP.

As for your question about the graphics card, 256 is more than enough for anything if you aren't gaming or running a lot of large monitors, it won't do significantly more in any other program.

[Burrellimages]

If i get the Dell, its through Dell.com.......if i get the HP, it's at the local Best Buy where they have the Samsung in stock. That's why, two different locations. I could get the Samsung for either computer if i wanted.

[cfcRebel]

You said they are almost same price. I'll go with Dell too. Based on the experience i have had in several Desktops and laptops from Dell and HP, I have more confidence in Dell.

[Burrellimages]

I was actually ready to place an order with Dell and went to best buy to see if they had that exact model on display and the guy started talking about the HP and it sounded like a better machine, so i had to second guess my order.

All this input helps....which is why i posted this thread! :lol:

[cfcRebel]

I was actually ready to place an order with Dell and went to best buy to see if they had that exact model on display and the guy started talking about the HP and it sounded like a better machine, so i had to second guess my order.

All this input helps....which is why i posted this thread! :lol:If you could share which specific part the salesman said HP is better than Dell, maybe someone here with experience or expertise in that area, can comment on it because you always have to doubt a salesman :D.

[BluewookieJim]

I've had both, and currently have a dell notebook, dell dual-core desktop and a HP quad-core desktop as my primary system. I am generally happy with all of them.

I don't think you can go wrong with either one. Anyway, if you are considering buying an HP, rather than buying it instore I would suggest you use one of the coupon codes floating around on various sites (fatwallet, techbargains, etc.) and custom configure something on the HP site.

I just bought my HP d5000t custom setup about 2 months ago directly from HP for around $950 (US) after a $300 coupon code. That included the Q9400 (2.66 Ghz) quad code processor, 6 GB RAM, 512 MB NVidia GeForce 9500 GS graphic card, a 750GB hard drive, an extra two year warranty, and no monitor.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops&series_name=d5000t_series

This system is a little bigger than most desktops, but I liked that it had 4 toolfree drive bays, which will be perfect if I decide to go with a raid 5 setup, which the motherboard already supports natively.

If that sounds like to much, the a6660t series are also very nice systems. They are a more standard size tower, only 2 hard drive bays, a bit quieter, lower power consumption.

[neil_g]

dell every time. if only to avoid the crappy HP tech support.

[zacker]

best buy sales guys supposedly dont work on commishion.. thats why they dont attack you as you enter the store like the old circuit city guys...they were rediculas.. that said, stick to the dell and intel, cant go wrong there.

[Trique Daddi]

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

You wil get good service out of either machine. I have bought two systems from Cyberpower and been very happy. I hope to replace my aging system again i a few months. You have more control ( with Dell also) by configuring your own machine.

Happy Shopping!

Trique Daddi

[Burrellimages]

I went back to ANOTHER Best Buy store here in town just to browse again and found this unit.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9017093&type=product&id=1218008672894

It seems to be close to the machine i priced on the Dell site, but has a 1 TB hard drive (which is twice the machine Dell priced me), and it's actually cheaper. Looks like im going to try and go this route.

Any other suggestions?

[cfcRebel]

I went back to ANOTHER Best Buy store here in town just to browse again and found this unit.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9017093&type=product&id=1218008672894

It seems to be close to the machine i priced on the Dell site, but has a 1 TB hard drive (which is twice the machine Dell priced me), and it's actually cheaper. Looks like im going to try and go this route.

Any other suggestions?Looks good to me. Google around for some BestBuy coupon. You might be able to bring the price lower.

[tim]

I went back to ANOTHER Best Buy store here in town just to browse again and found this unit.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9017093&type=product&id=1218008672894

It seems to be close to the machine i priced on the Dell site, but has a 1 TB hard drive (which is twice the machine Dell priced me), and it's actually cheaper. Looks like im going to try and go this route.

Any other suggestions?

That looks like a good machine to me.

[BluewookieJim]

dell every time. if only to avoid the crappy HP tech support.

Sounds like a gross over-generalization to me. I currently have both, an HP desktop, a Dell desktop and a Dell notebook, and I find them to be both about equal.

[OdiN1701]

Careful with best buy.

I have heard horrible stories. They will try hard to sell you on a service plan. They will also say that it comes preloaded with software, which will cost you more, and if you don't want it, they charge to remove it!

I won't buy anything from there because of their bad business practices.

Also careful with that drive! It is not a single drive:

1.2TB SATA hard drive capacity (640GB x 2; 7200 rpm)

They are doing RAID0. If one of your drives fails, all your data is gone. Sure it's faster, but you better backup to something else.

[neil_g]

Sounds like a gross over-generalization to me. I currently have both, an HP desktop, a Dell desktop and a Dell notebook, and I find them to be both about equal.

over generaliation how? HP support is tosh. even HPs business support is crappy (even the sales guys tell you when youre about to spend the fat end of £70k on their SAN kit), at least with Dell you get a result at the end of the phonecall unlike HP who ive ended up banging the telephone against my desk to try and stop the Indian person reading their script religiously..

[OdiN1701]

over generaliation how? HP support is tosh. even HPs business support is crappy (even the sales guys tell you when youre about to spend the fat end of £70k on their SAN kit), at least with Dell you get a result at the end of the phonecall unlike HP who ive ended up banging the telephone against my desk to try and stop the Indian person reading their script religiously..

I work for a large financial services company in the US, and I must defend HP's business level support. I run about 300 HP desktops at this branch, along with HP servers, and SAN equipment. I've also got HP laser printers all over. If I call in a problem, they are usually there by the next morning and fix it. They will be by almost anytime if a hard drive fails to get me a hot swap unit.

We have not had any downtime since I've been working here that wasn't caused by a major power outage - and our big diesel generator kicks in anyway so usually only a few desktop systems end up rebooting between the time the power is out and the generator is on and running. Servers are of course on UPS. We had some downtime when a Cisco switch had a blip and the SAN lost comm to the server. Not HP's fault.

Anyway excellent support from them - it's people here in the states too. But we do a huge amount of business with them (many branches all over the US), and Dell for laptops. So they may put us at a higher tier.

Their consumer support though is crap.

[neil_g]

likewise i work for a large UK clothing brand and have found that certainly their "UK" business support is shocking. ive spent weeks chasing issues with them. when we went to review the SAN kit in the HP Bristol tech center before buying even the sales guys were slating it.

certainly we've had no major issues with the SAN kit, well youd expect not spending all that money. we have a couple of proliants mixed in with our main dell poweredge systems and there has been more hardware issues with the proliants (popped psu's and dead disks etc).

but i guess you guys in the states have a better deal..

slightly off topic but then the consumer level support is generally of a lower standard to business so read into the above carefully. imo of course.

[GyRob]

Careful with best buy.

I have heard horrible stories. They will try hard to sell you on a service plan. They will also say that it comes preloaded with software, which will cost you more, and if you don't want it, they charge to remove it!

I won't buy anything from there because of their bad business practices.

Also careful with that drive! It is not a single drive:

1.2TB SATA hard drive capacity (640GB x 2; 7200 rpm)

They are doing RAID0. If one of your drives fails, all your data is gone. Sure it's faster, but you better backup to something else.
just had a RAID 0 fail on me -i had everthing backed up but still lost 2gb of photos nothing vital but i wont go Raid 0 again thats for sure.
Rob.

[tim]

just had a RAID 0 fail on me -i had everthing backed up but still lost 2gb of photos nothing vital but i wont go Raid 0 again thats for sure.
Rob.

How did you lose data when you have backups? sounds like it's time to look at your backup routine. RAID is not a backup system.

[boostedbase]

i'd vote hp. had a dell laptop and it just wasnt all that great. i am happier with my hp.

[incendy]

Depends on which model, Dell's Precision Workstations are amazing if you get them with good specs. At work I just got a Precision with Two Quad Core CPU's and 8GB of memory with a four monitor setup that I adore. It was pretty cheap too at just around 2 grand. I am not a big fan of either companies home offerings but generally I prefer Dell's customer support to HP