I just recently bought a toshiba from best buy and I like it quite a bit. IBM makes excelent computers that are very durable. I'm focusing on laptops though. If price is a concern for you stay far away from alienware but you will get the best computer from them while paying out the ass for an alien head logo. Look for something on sale too. My toshiba laptop cost me 1100 and it has more memory and ram and all that than the computers around the corner that were priced at 1400 or more.

it all matters what kind of computer you want and what your going to do. if its going to be a laptop for basic uses i have to say dell because they are cheap and pretty decent, but nomatter what kind of computer you get avoid windows vista, if you dont know what that is, it is the new windows operating system. you want windows XP because its just so much better than vista is in its current stage and also there is a steep learning curve. the stuff you want inside your computer is atleast around 1 gig of ram and 80 gig harddrive with a 1.8ghz processor. also you want a 128mb or 256mb video card. also a 15 inch screen is the basic size for good viewing again if your looking for basic computer there isnt any brand that has any difference. the only difference is really customer service and i only expierance dells. the only times when computer brands have any wide variety in them is when it comes to hardcore gaming or graphics designs

Assuming you know what kind of specs you need in your new computer, and assuming you are using your computer for general computing, not a powerhouse gaming system or graphics system, then I will deal solely with brand / value. If I were building a scale of value (customer service not included), it might look like this (lower value at the top): Alienware Sony Panasonic HP Compaq Acer Dell Gateway eMachines But you see, the list is meaningless. Because although eMachines would appear to be the best value (for the money), they're poor performers. Moving on, Dell are a great value if you plan to buy, use, then throw away in 3 years. Don't get any illusions of upgrades or longevity. HP and Compaq (the same company) make decent systems. If you shop around you might even find a refurbished model in some stores that offer even better value. The brands at the top of the list make great machines, but charge a lot of money for them. But you may have noticed that we haven't even brought customer service into the equation yet. So my summary would be that there's more to choosing a PC than apparent value based on sticker price. When I help clients buy their next PC, we talk about a lot more than what brands are available. In fact, I tend to shy away from the brand names, period. There's better value (IMHO) in going to a local ma and pop shop and getting a system built to your needs, using quality parts.

I think, for Windows-based computer brands, Fujitsu ranks top-notch, falling second to only Mac computers (Fujitsu ranks highest with me though because I do not really care for Mac computers) I bought a Fujitsu laptop this past October, and it is unlike any other computer that I have owned/ used. I have owned/ used every mainstream brand computer except Alienware and Asus. In a very recent consumer report that has been posted, on a 1-lowest-10-highest scale, Fujitsu ranked in a tie at 1st place with Mac, and ranked 2nd place to Mac in other rankings. All the other mainstream pc brands came in lower that Fujitsu and Mac pc's. With this said, and once again with me not really caring for Mac pc's, this makes Fujitsu top of the line computers for me. Me buying one and using it only confirms my high ranking of it as well as the consumer report being true. So, to sum this up, I highly recommend that you look into buying a Fujitsu laptop, unless you are wanting to spend the fortune on one that Apple charges for their Mac computers. I will say that, if you look further than Fujitsu brand, it is not wise to consider any pc by Sony. I bought a brand new Sony pc, and the pc became defective just within 3 weeks of owning it. I sent it to Sony to be repaired under the warranty, and they refused to repair it with the false statement that it had suffered water damage, which was not covered, although I had dropped Nothing on it. If not for the place that I bought it from being so kind as to exchange it for me, I would have been out $1300.00. Another time, with the same laptop, within just 60 days of purchase, the battery also became defective. Once again I contacted Sony for the battery to be replaced under the warranty. And the tech support person told me that the warranty did indeed cover the battery being replaced, but that I had to contact Sony Customer Service. Upon doing that, that person also said that they would replace it. They took my address, info, etc.. About 2 hours after that, and after I had sent in the receipt to prove date of ownership, Sony called me back, and they said they refuse to honor their warranty and replace my defective battery. They gave me no legitimate reason, and Sony was very rude to me and very vulgar. So my advice is never buy any Sony electronic product, especially a computer; not unless you have about $1300.00 and tons of frustration and time to throw away and go through. Thanks for listening.