Can you recommend an excellent computer supplier?

[Enid]

Ah, the mumsnet members, you who know all.

I have had a nightmare with my PC since April. We bought it from Evesham who are supposed to have good customer service but have been terrible and failed to find the problem, despite sending engineers out etc etc. We are going to cut our losses and dump this PC in the New Year and buy another from somewhere else - an excellent, top of the range PC that WORKS.

Any recommendations? I need good after sales service and a top spec PC, money is pretty much no object as I will be using it for any freelance work I can get (and surfing mumsnet of course!)

Dell. We have an elderly corker at home that was top-specced by dh five years ago and is still going strong, despite not having little gadgets like CD-r. Only had to rebuild hd once and that was HIS fault. Bad luck with Evesham, Enid - they used to be such a good supplier.

We have another duff Evesham with some serious probs and likewise thinking of getting a new one in the spring. Will await with interest any tips on where from!

Enid

We've just taken the plunge and bought a PC after much deliberation, as I was recently made redundant and missed having access to e-mail and the internet, (most notably Mumsnet). We went with MESH which is similar to Dell and seemed to come out well in the surveys in computer magazines. We visited their showroom at Staples Corner (they have other regional offices), as I wanted to view the products and speak to a salesman personally, rather than just order the PC over the phone.

I was a bit worried when it arrived that it would be difficult to set up, but it was relatively straightforward for my dh to do and we only had to call technical support once for advice and they were very helpful. Obviously it's early days, but so far we're very happy.

We also included a printer in our package and Microsoft Small Business which would have been double the price if we'd bought it from PC World.

I think that this question is related ....
I am looking to buy a PC but am not too sure what to ask for ...
Does anyone have recommendations as to the right spec to ask for ?

My current PC is so old it is literally constructed with elastic bands and old fairy liquid bottles!

I have 2 OK printers but want something that's quick and reliable. Any ideas please ?
Thanks

We would recommend Dell as well. DH recently dropped our computer during our move and the nice insurance people sorted us out with a cheque to replace it. They are doing machines for £999 inc delivery and VAT just now (unfortunately DH didn't get one of these but didn't pay much more for it). Don't know much about the technicalities myself but it is possible with Dell to choose what you want spec wise all that I know is it looks quite snazzy, black with a nice neat flat screen and Mumsnet is still on it!!!

DH says avoid Tiny and Time computers mind you he says they are made up of all the rubbish, don't know how true this is.

does anyone know how much more you pay for a pc with a flat screen? can't bear the thought of a big monster monitor, after having a flat screen at work. ta

bundle, the Dell machine one offer at £999 just now has a flat screen.

ooooooh how exciting

We had thought of Dell actually, so its good to know that there are positive vibes out there. A flat screen is a definite MUST as the computer is in the sitting room and our old 17" monitor takes up a lot of room (oh, and they look cool too).

Mesh sound worth a go too, thanks Xanthe.

One word. Macintosh.

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Dp (who works in IT) says brands don't matter that much for desktops (as opposed to laptops which he says are a better idea all round but still very expensive) but that Dell, who do all their stuff online, are a safe bet.

JJ - no way! I used to run a design dept with a network of 5 macs and it was a nightmare...they look great but pretty much crash constantly.

Dell have good products but shite customer care. We have three years on site support - but the few times things have gone wrong they've basically asked us to wipe our computer before they'll come out. How good is that? The last time our disc drive had gone - it was obvious what the problem was - but it took hours of being on the phone and threatening all hell letting loose before they would agree to send someone out with the threat..."but if they can't fix it you'll have to wipe the computer". Lo and behold, a new disc drive and everything was fine. Plus it takes bloody hours to get through to them and they never call you back.

Oh no, how depressing, its the customer care bit that I really want, Evesham's was so bad it was insulting.

Sorry Enid, but I totally agree about Dell and customer care. The worst bit is when they tell you to go to their european help website and download files to help repair your computer.If you can find the file you want, you finally call back, get a totally different person with a whole new angle on what was wrong in the first place...

I am disappointed about Dell, although it sounds like Evesham too, everytime you ring their helpline they tell you to reformat the hard disk and re-install windows and all the drivers - I have now done this EIGHT times and its still got problems. They won't even listen to you until you've done this and it is infuriating!

I've just been looking at this site but, although it looks good and has lots of promises I'm still not sure. Has anyone got any experience of them? I'm thinking of buying dp a cheap PC for Christmas, but I'm not really sure what I need. I think I want a very basic machine so he can access the internet and play games. Although there's a lot of helpful advice on the site above does anyone have any other pointers?
I want to spend as little as possible but leave him the potential to upgrade later if he needs more memory or power. Any experts there?

JJ. I'm with you on Macintosh! We have four in the house connected wirelessly all on broadband, so all of us surf at the same time, no wires, cables etc.

We have and old iMac DVD SE two of the new iMacs with 15' flat screens and I am about to buy the one with the 17" screen for myself, DH can't moan he already has one! DD will inherit my new iMac and we'll get rid of the old iMac.
Any offers!

Sorry Enid, Macs are the greatest, never 'catch' viruses and touch wood, never let us down. Took me a long while to get converted to mac but our biggest client was Apple and so we had no choice. Now all our clients are PC, but I won't change, I used to have so much hassle with the machine at the kids house where I was a nanny, so used to say they couldn't use it if they couldn't sort it out for themselves!

Enid

I would thoroughly recommend Mesh computers.

All of mine over the last 7-8 years have been from there and I have had no trouble at all with them.

I bought one recently and I can honestly say that I was amazed at what I got for the price.