[MarkL]

That is why you shouldn't buy proprietary garbage (HP, Compaq, eMachine, and looking like Dell and Gateway are getting that way too). Build it if possible, and if not, buy it specialty...not too expensive if you look around.

What line of work are you in? "Proprietary garbage?" Have you ever worked on "real" Compaqs, HPs, IBMs, or Dells? I'm not talking about their consumer products, like the Prosignia, Prolinea, Pavilions, Dimensions, etc... I'm talking about the business class systems. I have never seen any clone systems that can supply large companies who must rely on their systems with the level of reliability or the quick resolution of failures that the major manufacturers can provide. When we sell Dell Optiplex systems, it's not unusual for some of our clients to buy 200 at a time. And we've never had problems getting parts in a timely manner, usually next day, unlike trying to get replacement parts from major distributers. Warranty is a nightmare with clone systems: With the majors, no problem at all.

And that's just with the workstations. For servers, there's NO comparison. IMHO, the best server around is the Compaq (now HP) Proliant. You simply get very good performance, terrific managability, and superp service. Again, this is something that you don't get with clone systems.

Mark

[milan]

I am a systems administrator.
I meant consumer products...should have been specific.
I have not worked with the enterprise type servers, except for a couple Dell poweredge...I hope HP, Compaq, and IBM do it better than Dell though. Nice once you can get it to fire up, but it was a mess out of the box...no joke.
I will take your word for it on the big boy's servers. For the amount you pay, I know they offer 24/7 exceptional service.
The consumer products from these companies are getting very bad...HP and Compaq being the worst.