Online orders, buying computers & parts on-line (CD, keyboard, motherboard)

[Brian.Pearson]

Thanks, ya'll!

[Tek_Freek]

On line my majority of purchases come from Newegg.com and Amazon.com with Newegg being the main source by far.

[swagger]

Mwave.com (nothing but praise for this one, and i buy from them almost monthly)
Newegg.com
TigerDirect.com (sometimes)
OEMPCworld.com (good site for memory)
Geeks.com (good for cables & stuff)
Cyberguys.com (a lot of sites are just front-ends for the same drop-ship warehouse - this is one of them, but their prices are typically much lower than most)

[Tek_Freek]

Hey Mods! Can we get this pinned to the top of the forum? This is an excellent reference.

[Tek_Freek]

I buy from Neweg.com both for personal as well as business. Been doing it for years. Never had a single problem. Computers, software, ram, network accessories, you name it.

[mensaguy]

Many thanks to ShadowCaver for making this a "sticky" for us.

[Tek_Freek]

Here's where I check for Wii availability as well as PS3

Wii Alerts - The only site you need to find a Wii,Wii Fit or Any Product. And it's free!

[K-Luv]

I like Other World Computing for Mac stuff:

Find the latest Performance Upgrades, Firewire and USB Hard Drives, SATA, Memory, Laptop Battery, and more at OWC

Low End Mac, while not a store, is a good resource for used Macs. Plenty of links, articles, and pricing guides.

Low End Mac: The Mac Experience

A lot of Mac and PC people swear by Crucial for memory:

Memory upgrades, flash media, and usb storage at Crucial.com

I prefer Newegg for non-Apple related items.

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by John1960

Hi, I want to replace my 2002 desktop computer with a more up to date model. What site on the internet would buy a computer from

John, can you tell us how much you want to spend?
What exactly do you need it to do?
Do you want XP or Vista?

Originally Posted by YapCity

I guess it depends on how you deal with Dell. If you have a larger corp account with 10,000 of their machines in the company they treat you pretty well Although, I have not had any complaints from friends or relatives. They are always able to get what they need when they call Dell support. I know this because they don't have to call ME now, lol. This is why I love Dell. They returned peace and quiet to my evenings

From my experience, Dell has a lot of pissed off customers that don't know how to play the 30 day warranty game, thus they end up getting stuck with a refurbished computer that they agreed dell can send them if their computer didn't work. I know people that have also gotten ripped off with software they paid for due to their replace with a refurb policy.

Recently someone I know had issues with their laptop and tried to get the next day service they paid for; they did not get next day service.

Originally Posted by YapCity

Just in case, if you're looking for a real "whoop-dee-doo" gaming machine, you might try Alienware.com
Expensive, but for an off the rack PC they're a force to be reckoned with. This is what I consider to be a "high-end" pc.

just goes to show everyone has different opinions. Have you ever bought one or are you caught up in the hype? They've been known as the "dream PC" as well as not reliable, and I can link to posts at other places where actual customers aren't happy.

Originally Posted by YapCity

Here are some places/names I would avoid.....

-TigerDirect (but as we see experiences are mixed)

How often have you used them? I build computers and buy parts from them. Tiger is a very reputable company.

Originally Posted by YapCity

-Hewlett Packard/Compaq machines. - LOW quality control, and they're not always designed well. They have some great machines, and some VERY bad ones. It's a crap shoot if you don't know what to look for. Although, if you're looking for a laptop, they make some EXCELLENT business grade stuff.

I've owned compaq and can say they make a decent computer. It's the only name brand I suggest.

Originally Posted by YapCity

-eMachines - You get what you pay for. This company ALWAYS uses bottom-end parts in their machines. A warranty does not retrieve lost data.

You're right, you get what you pay for but sometimes you need a cheap computer and it does it's job. Before buying one, find out if they still use propriety parts.

Originally Posted by YapCity

-Gateway - Their support is horrible, and their machines are flaky. They might have changed in the last couple of years, but I remember them as always having something oddly proprietary inside the box. Avoid.

Now my pain management doctor has an old gateway and has used support and said it was great.

Originally Posted by YapCity

-Local computer stores. They generally load the machines with very low end parts, including refurbished, and you can't be sure they'll be around to honor the warranty they offer. If you can get an honest to goodness referral it might not be a bad idea, but as I said, they may not be around to honor the warranty.

-TT

I've never used a local store to actually buy from but one year did go to one to configure and the service was excellent. He was going to use a Coolermaster case with a gigabyte motherboard, I ended up building it myself. He's helped me out over the years as he's had used parts I needed.

[Roselvr]

By the way John, I also want to add that I know people that have bought from Cyber Power (daily specials w/ free shipping) and have been happy. With cyber power, it's like you are picking the parts as you would if you built it yourself.

Now, having said that, the generic power supplies they use aren't the greatest and should be changed out within the 1st 6 months. Since I build computers, friends usually send their computers down to me when we find a power supply deal, then I change it out. They also offer better power supplies if you're not comfortable doing it yourself.

If you do something like this, I suggest a Gigabyte motherboard which allows you to back the system up out of the box so that if it goes down, all you do is press F9 when booting, it was restore it.

As with any company, cyberpower has had issues as has ibuypower pc but I haven't had issues with them. I actually wonder how many are user error.