Tech support in-house?

[Tschurin]

I know only a little bit about computers.

I am going to buy a machine with an AMD 64 processor running Windows XP professional. I will be using the PC for business purposes but don’t mind buying the PC from a “gaming” specialty manufacturer.

My question is: what manufacturers of such a machine are there that handle the tech support in-house and in-country, as opposed to outsourcing it to another firm or country. I would also appreciate not having to automatically reinstall the OS as a first step every time I call for help.

Two PC makers that I believe meet that description are Falcon Northwest and Boxx Technologies.

Are there any others? On an earlier post someone said Velocity Micro, however I believe that they outsource much of their tech support.

[Ro1]

Mate I would always go with a Brand computer and an Intel CPU. It will save you issues (and money) in the long run...




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[indianatelco]

Always go with an Intel Pentium, AMD are not made for business, actually, their not made for much of anything.

Next, use windows XP, there is a restore feature that will allow you to get your data back without losing information.

Also, Purchase symantec, ghost for backups. http://norton.com

Finally I agree with what you say. Buy american and boycott the poeple sending our jobs overseas that you cant even understand what they are saying.

I think gateway still does everything in house but not sure, If you find a good one please post it here. If you want to advertise, use the Contact Us link to make your request.
EvilRick

Jonathon

[elroy]

Originally posted by indianatelco
Always go with an Intel Pentium, AMD are not made for business, actually, their not made for much of anything.

Next, use windows XP, there is a restore feature that will allow you to get your data back without losing information.

I've always had excellent performance and reliability from AMD chips. Never had a problem with Cyrix chips either when they were semi-popular. I actually had dealers tell me Windows wouldn't run on a Cyrix chip.
I find it hard to believe that a company would spend $2 billion to build a plant and then make crappy chips.

As for the restore feature it is available in Windows ME and XP. Though personally I've not found it to be very reliable. If you make a lot of changes in your pc the restore feature seems to have trouble keeping up, in my experience. It is one more option when things go south on you but it doesn't replace having a good backup.

[bombledmonk]

LOL... Where do these people come from? Go ahead and buy what you want, some people come in out of nowhere and say that something sucks while they don't have any way to back it up. I'd like to see One issue that is related to the design of an AMD chip that would make Intel better.

As for the topic, I do believe you are right about Falcon Northwest. But you definately pay for it.

[Tschurin]

Just for the record, my reason for going with AMD is that their 64 bit chip is the only one [other than the Intel Itanium for servers] as I understand it, that currently supports the No-execute security function now available in Windows XP [through SP2].

I've read in more than one place that "no-execute" is an important new security feature.

[indianatelco]

I have built hundreds of machines and own a network consulting firm. AMD, no matter what speed cannot multi-task, run extreemly hot, and very unstable.

As far as the Cyrix chip, it is cheep, you get what you pay for.

Intel now offers Hyperthreading in their P4's which still run fast at 800 mhz Front side bus. I havent checked in a while but I think AMD is still on 233 or something like that.

I have built several AMD's going back to the k6-II when it was a decent chip. I had one attached to an ASUS board that I am not even going to talk about because it was nothing but unstable trouble. The last draw was with my a Soyo Dragon MB and 450 Watt Name Brand Power Supply. It was unstable, slow, and toasted a couple motherboards because it was pulling too much power from the power supply.

These hard core amd people will try to confinse you otherwise but call up any major organization and ask them what chip they run. Its going to be a pentium class machine.

I havent looked but doubt Dell, Gateway, or any other manufacturer makes Servers with AMD. There is a reason for that! Save yourself the hassle and go with Intel, except when it comes to motherboards. Their IDE channels have been screwed up on the last couple I have built.

[caswelltech]

This is total crap here.. I exclusively use AMD products at work and at home. NO PROBLEMS have been found. We use them at work for local government tasks. The machines that DO have problems are those Intel machines.

Originally posted by Ro1
Mate I would always go with a Brand computer and an Intel CPU. It will save you issues (and money) in the long run...




*links removed. Sigs and advertising in forums are not allowed. If you want to advertise, click http://www.resellerratings.com/contact.pl - Lara, ResellerRatings Support

[caswelltech]

This has to be the most uninformed, unknowledgeable thing I've seen in any forum anywhere on the net.
I use AMD processors here at work and at home. The users here have had NO problems at all with any of the systems I have built. Local Government tasks are performed daily on the systems and some use GIS here. Again, AMD does make a good product. But you must build your system correctly and be sure the CPU has an adequate heatsink/fan combo. Good quality memory is also a good idea.
Looking back on my work orders I can see that the real problems were the Intel machines. 300+ users can't be wrong, AMD works and works well if the technician knows what they are doing.

The only good thing you said in this post that made sense was about buying American products.

Originally posted by indianatelco
Always go with an Intel Pentium, AMD are not made for business, actually, their not made for much of anything.

Next, use windows XP, there is a restore feature that will allow you to get your data back without losing information.

Also, Purchase symantec, ghost for backups. http://norton.com

Finally I agree with what you say. Buy american and boycott the poeple sending our jobs overseas that you cant even understand what they are saying.

I think gateway still does everything in house but not sure, If you find a good one please post it here. If you want to advertise, use the Contact Us link to make your request.
EvilRick

Jonathon