(rant) PC World, why does it exist?

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

You've got a case and power supply? Build owt you want in it when you want to upgrade.

but thats just like building your own pc ... lol

have you ever tried to change a processor in a dell ? i have and it didn't go well

Originally Posted by barwel1992

but thats just like building your own pc ... lol

have you ever tried to change a processor in a dell ? i have and it didn't go well

I have, tis easy they use the standard socket dictated by Intel/AMD. Their cooling systems are proprietary but manageable.

yes the sockets are but most of the mother boards are locked to that chip, well the ones i have come a cross have been. had to go through the haste of messing with bios

[timwilky]

As an IT manager within a company that owns over 42,000 PCs. We Buy Dell.

We can get volume discounts, built to a spec that is maintained. So that kit we buy this year and use a standard build on, is exactly the same next year. We no longer fix dead PCs. Simply call in the man from Dell.

However, our servers. We used to buy Compaq. Now we buy IBM. Our hi capacity cluster had 128 quad core XEON. But I think they are looking to upgrade it.

The thing is IBM/Dell come to use. We don't go out to PC world etc.

I nip into PC world when i've been to halfords just for a laugh as they are next door to each other. PCworld I believe is for people with little knowledge of computers or where to go to get a better, cheaper one. Dell PC's are sturdy machines but DO use very basic parts. I personally build my own after searching for what I want out of my PC, be it gaming or a work horse. SCAN is a great place to go as they have a very large range of products at reasonable prices ( what a plug heh, lol ).
As for peripherals, there are alot of places on the net that are cheaper and you can get advice from.
My advice would be...find someone you personally know that can build PC's and get them to build you one.
I've done that for friends and now they build their own ( wife builds them too ).

Ste.

Well now Amazon has bounced my order back three times because it's just not saving my card details properly (it made my mother's birthday present late because of this!) and then saying the payment has not been approved.

I'm so narked off as I wanted my copy of Windows 7 tomorrow so I can Boot Camp my Macbook that I might well end up going back to PC World and paying the extra £10 just to have the damned thing after all. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[flymo]

We use Dell on thousands of pcs, I use one myself. I've been to the production line in Ireland and watched them build them, very carefully from quality controlled parts. The consumer components and business laptop components are from the very same parts bins, the computers are built by the same people on the same lines. Nothing wrong with them at all.

I have no reason to build my own laptop or desktop nor would I want to. For the same reason I dont walk into a timber yard to buy wood and build my own furniture.

Just because I dont make the same choices as you does not make me mad , btw.

Just posted a response to this and it has disappeared

Basically I was saying that PC would ought to get looked into by the authorities and the likes of watchdog. They are ripping off and raping the average consumer who doesn't know any better. £9.99 for a CAT5 cable! Even the product descriptions on most of the packaging are either misleading or just downright lies. Look at this

http://www.pcwb.co.uk/catalogue/item/BELCA052

"Belkin Internet Modem Cable delivers a signal 10 times faster and stronger than the standard cable."

Then tell me how that is going to make a 56K modem 10 times faster? Or a broadband router capable of max 20Mbps, go any faster than the standard cable that came with the device. The only thing that will get faster is if you replace a faulty or inappropriate cable that is causing signal problems. The cable BT have run to the back of your BT socket, isn't much of an upgrade on doorbell wire! Yet people see it on the shelf and buy it thinking it's an upgrade to what they have and might sort out their slow internet.

PC World are no better than the pikeys you see on rogue traders, telling someone they need a new roof, then charging thrice the price, for work that didn't need doing.

@flymo: My Dell Inspiron has needed no less than six services:
-graphics card exploded within a month of purchase, sent back to Bray (Irish service centre)
-graphics card replaced with wrong model (GeForce 420 Go instead of the GeForce 440 Go), sent back to Bray again
-graphics card replaced with correct model but still wrong (I had 64Mb model, they have me 32Mb), kicked off as I had now been without it a week, advised them that I knew where the service centre was (had recently stayed in Bray on holiday and their posters are all over the DART station) and offered to go over there in person to explain. Gave me an on-site engineer's visit, except on-site engineer told me he wasn't authorized to actually fit the parts in question. Instead he stood in our front room and talked arrogant, ignorant crap at us (my friend was doing his PHd in computer science unlike this clown) while we looked up the schematics online and took apart, removed the incorrect and fitted the correct graphics card he'd brought us.
-screen began developing dead pixels and physical construction was also failing (glass and rubber coming apart), sent back on its third trip to Co. Wicklow.
-DVD drive packed in and coastered several discs, onsite engineer swapped for a new one.
-exhaust fans packed in and system began overheating and crashign, onsite engineer came and took the whole thing apart and fitted new ones.

Would I buy another Dell? Hell no. I'm sure they've worked fine for other people, of course.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Just posted a response to this and it has disappeared

Basically I was saying that PC would ought to get looked into by the authorities and the likes of watchdog. They are ripping off and raping the average consumer who doesn't know any better. £9.99 for a CAT5 cable! Even the product descriptions on most of the packaging are either misleading or just downright lies.

They wanted £20-something for a kettle lead powercable! £6.99 in the Tesco across the way, twice as long too!

Originally Posted by metalangel

They wanted £20-something for a kettle lead powercable! £6.99 in the Tesco across the way, twice as long too!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-Pin-UK-Plug-...ht_2491wt_1033

Over £20, for something you can buy on ebay for a quid. I rest my case. They must be breaking some law or retail code of conduct somewhere.