my Dell computer smoked filled the house

[davepa]

My wife, Denise called me at work today to let me know the computer was on fire. I told her to unplug the tower and grab the fire extinguisher.

 

Came home, opened the case and sure enough the circuit board is fried, scorched or melted almost everything inside. I was lucky Denise was home or Lord knows what may have also caught fire.

 

So what desk top/ laptop computer do you guys and gals think I should buy for a replacement?

 

I had a dell dimension 2400 running XP which had been upgraded a couple of times with more ram etc.

 

I am now using the OLD HP windows 98 I gathered back from the attic to ask this question and it is super slooooow!! I even have to use internet explorer because it can't handle Moxzilla of Flock browsers. Any computer sales right now?

 

Dave

[MidlifeVenture]

Personally I went Mac and I will never go back.

[pegscraper]

Whatever you do, don't get a Mac. They're not popular enough for the low lifes to bother writing viruses for them. But if too many people start buying them, I may have to start troubling myself with antivirus software. Right now, that, and the stability of OS X, make life on a computer really easy.

[skydoc_17]

Keeping with the fine tradition of having a BBQ on SuperBowl Sunday, Dave has thoughtfully donated his computer as a BBQ pit for his festivities this afternoon!

What a GUY!

You Da' MAN, Dave!

Earl and Jean

 

[star4772]

I got a mac and will never go back. See ya microsoft.

 

Joe :happy65:

[friesman]

It depends what you want a computer to do . If all you do is web browsing and email, you are probably better off budget wise buying a 400 to 600 buck machine from any reputable manufacturer like HP any running Vista or XP home. The big thing is I would try and buy whatever you get locally so you can get support and warranty when you need it, rather than try to send something across the continent for repairs or having to talk to an offshore support desk.

Personally,

I try to stay away from Dell and Gateway as I find their stuff too proprietary and you need specific drivers from them that arent always available on their website,and if you cant find what you need they are gonna charge you lots for support.

 

I cant really recommend Macs either as quite a few games and programs wont run on them and I am finding their hardware is NOT as reliable as every thinks it is. Our school system is about 50/50 split macs and pcs and our MAc hardware reliabliity rate is actually about 20% lower than our HP desktop and laptop rate is, and the price is substantially less on a pc. (We have over 6000 machines in our system so its not a small sample). Macs do, however a better job at dealing with graphics manipulation and image sampling but for the average user the mac isnt necessarily a better machine.

I do realize that you can run XP when you use bootcamp on a MAC but then youll have to buy an XP license separately adding to an already higher price.

 

This is just a few personal observations, and everyone will have their own take on it I am sure.

 

Brian

[ddoggma]

I would get the "dell deal" of the month. Look for a free monitor upgrade, Order it with no preloaded trial ware. And I would go with windowsXP and 2 gigs of RAM. If you get Vista 4 gigs of RAM is recommend. For $400.00 you should be able to get a good puter and a 22" monitor from them. Good luck. I build my own but I play 3d games and need a beefy Video card etc. So I'm forced to build my own to save money. The puter I built for myself cost about $500.00 with no monitor, but its a $2000.00 box in the stores

[Squidley]

I am going to build my next one with the help of my guru neighbor. I WONT be giving Bill Gates anymore of my money, I'm going to go with Linux on this next one and go from there, Microsoft just irritates me to no end, so I will refuse to support them in any future computers...theres more than 1 way to have an operating system.

[hig4s]

check out this site

 

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=182

 

Base machine starts at $362 and you can customize from there.

[doug radford]

our dell did almost the exact same thing about a month ago,we got a new hp works pretty good

[Lone Eagle]

After I installed the new AVG upgrade, a week later something found it's way into my machine - and has now fried my hard drive. Sharing the wife's computer is no fun - at all. So, I am going to have to start figuring out what to do - my I t guy said that within his customer base (he has a farily large clientele) he has had (8) hard drive crashes within the last two weeks. These "bugs" get you, I guess.

[Mariner Fan]

We just buy the cheap computers any more. Seems they don't last very long anyway so why spend all that money for a top of the line model? I figure if I get a couple of years out of it I'm good.

[davepa]

Thanks all, I will begin my search today for a replacement , but this old HP is going to make an adventure! Slow so slow...

Dave

[Freebird]

There are some good deals out there. You should be able to pick up a pretty decent computer for not a lot of money. I don't even have a desktop setup any longer. I use a laptop for everything I do. Have wireless setup in the house and can computer anywhere I want to. As for the Mac systems? I know that some folks swear by them but they are just not for me. I bought into all the hype and bought one a few years ago and absolutely hated it. It turned out to be just an ugly paperweight for me.

 

I also don't have the animosity towards Microsoft that many seem to have. I started out long ago running MSDOS and finally moved to Windows at version 3 I think. There were some back versions but once I got to Windows NT, 2000 and then later XP, I have been very pleased. Millennium was a joke and I never installed it. I've also never gone to Vista but am still happy with XP.

[davepa]

Keeping with the fine tradition of having a BBQ on SuperBowl Sunday, Dave has thoughtfully donated his computer as a BBQ pit for his festivities this afternoon!

What a GUY!

You Da' MAN, Dave!

Earl and Jean

 

 

Thanks Earl well we didn't tailgate this afternoon but we did remove the smoke from the house. It seems there is always money leaving my motorcycle fund for other needed items.

 

I am operating so slow with the HP bidding on ebay is a 2 minute process...hope to find a replacement PC today...keep in touch Earl we WILL ride together this Spring! And maybe use my back yard pavillon for a little gathering..

[timgray]

My recommendation is a MAC as well, unless you are married to a specific software program that is really obscure.

 

Otherwise whatever you want on a PC can be found on a mac. either by the same name or under a different name. And if you have a program you MUST HAVE, you can get vmware and run windows on the mac to run that specific game. I can run all programs from windows And OSX on my mac. I do not have to worry about my computer getting messed up or slowing down (the windows install you can "revert" with a single click to a fresh clean Windows) plus the kids cant mess it up.

 

If you do not want to waste time taking care of the computer get a MAC. if you like wasting an afternoon every week or month cleaning it stay with windows.

 

You can get a MAC Mini for cheap, and unless you are into the heavy guts spurting 3d games that need a $500.00 video card, it will do everything you will want it to do.

 

I'm a 25 years experienced Windows expert and IT professional, and I have MAC at home so I dont haveto do IT support when I come home from work. They cost more, but are worth it not having to mess around with them.

 

Also the external hard drive as an automatic backup with the built in time machine is incredible. even if my wifes mac were to burst into flames we will not lose any photos or files.

[davepa]

My recommendation is a MAC as well, unless you are married to a specific software program that is really obscure.

 

Otherwise whatever you want on a PC can be found on a mac. either by the same name or under a different name. And if you have a program you MUST HAVE, you can get vmware and run windows on the mac to run that specific game. I can run all programs from windows And OSX on my mac. I do not have to worry about my computer getting messed up or slowing down (the windows install you can "revert" with a single click to a fresh clean Windows) plus the kids cant mess it up.

 

If you do not want to waste time taking care of the computer get a MAC. if you like wasting an afternoon every week or month cleaning it stay with windows.

 

You can get a MAC Mini for cheap, and unless you are into the heavy guts spurting 3d games that need a $500.00 video card, it will do everything you will want it to do.

 

I'm a 25 years experienced Windows expert and IT professional, and I have MAC at home so I dont haveto do IT support when I come home from work. They cost more, but are worth it not having to mess around with them.

 

Also the external hard drive as an automatic backup with the built in time machine is incredible. even if my wifes mac were to burst into flames we will not lose any photos or files.

 

Best place to shop for a MAC?

[timgray]

Best place to shop for a MAC?

 

store.apple.com is the easiest.

amazon.com has some as well.

 

Mac Mini is what you are looking for, the low end model is more than enough for most people who are NOT doing HDTV video editing, engineering, or other high end applications. The mac mini will do regular video editing quite nice with iMovie (it comes on it for free)

 

They work very well and use your existing monitor, keyboard and mouse so you dont have to buy new ones.

 

Although the MAC mouse and keyboard are 300 times better than any dell or hp keyboard. they are actually made of aluminum and high grade polycarbonate instead of abs plastic.

[davepa]

Thanks for all the input!

 

I opened the case again today, it seems the front usb port pins some how touched/shorted and sprayed fire across the mother board. The hard drive, power supply, extra memory, and all other componets seem to be ok since they are reading 12 volts

 

The mother board is toast and locked so I will not repair the tower, good news I can still retrieve the data on the hard drive.

 

Stick a fork in it I'm done with DELL.

Edited February 2, 2009 by davepa

[KiteSquid]

Any computer sales right now?

 

All we use at my work is Dell computers for MANY years and cant complain about them. My IT guys recommend them to everybody.

 

I just bought a refurbished laptop from Dell Outlet for personal use and am happy with the price for the performance.

[friesman]

when you get your new computer set up, try a nice easy way to backup your important files. All you do is download the free client to your computer (PC or MAc) and it will backup your files to their server on whatever schedule you like. You pick all the settings and it will backup up to 2 gigs, so you can now get your important pictures and documents away from your home or business in case of emergency. Its at www.mozy.com and just look for the free one.

 

Brian

[davepa]

Thanks Brian saved in my favorites

[davepa]

All we use at my work is Dell computers for MANY years and cant complain about them. My IT guys recommend them to everybody.

 

I just bought a refurbished laptop from Dell Outlet for personal use and am happy with the price for the performance.

 

Maybe mine is a lemon!

 

This Dell had issues from day one. Had the bios flashed 3 times in the first couple months. Dell went in remotely to correct other software issues. Started running stable and memory stick failed, installed additional memory ran good for a while and usb ports would fail. And lastly the usb port pins shorted and caused fire...and the port was not being used....other than that, excellent machine !

 

Reminds me of a Chevrolet Vega my wife had when when we were first married...

 

Geez that is this coming Wed. 02/04/09 ...25 years...do you think she might want a new computer?

[halfwitt]

In my house we currently have 3 HP laptops and 1 HP desktop. The only problems we have had have been user related. We had an HP printer but I don't like two cartridge color printers so we went to Epson with five cartridges. We have nothing but positive to say about HP and the support we get when, on the rare occasion, we need it.

[timk]

We bought a Acer for cheap $ at Tiger direct in October and have been pleasanty surprised. Am using Trend Micro anti virus, as it gets updates every 2 hrs,so far so good. I'm sure Macs are top of the line(my granddaughter let me play on hers), but didn't want to spend the $$.