Besides one Intel Mac in our office (my machine, running Vista), all the other desktop computers and workstations are Dell machines. They are good office working horses and so far, Dell´s support has been nothing but great and fast. I gave them a call in the afternoon at around 4pm that a 30" display had a problem. The next morning at nine o'clock I had a replacement. A notebook display went bye-bye. The next morning a technician was there and replaced it. A hard disk died. The next day I got a new one. (We only pay for next-business-day service, in case you wonder.)
In the server room, I have a couple of HP ProLiants - they were all DOA (dead on arrival), one even had to be replaced twice. It took me 2 weeks with the HP support before they finally accepted that the machine was junk and sent me a replacement. We actually pay for 4-hour-same-business-day service. Now what does that tell me abot HP?
The good old days of ever-lasting IBM hardware are over. The hardware that you buy today WILL fail, it's only a queston of WHEN, not IF. What counts then is the reliability of speed of the service. And from my experience I can tell that Dell's business support is doing a very good job, and HP's business support just sucks.
Years ago, I also bought a Dell for my privat use once. Never had a problem with that machine and I still think it was worth every single penny.
I also bought a Gericom and a Toshiba notebook once, and in both cases the service of the companies was shitty as hell. Toshiba did not even provide Windows NT, 2000 or XP drivers for that satellite notebook. At least not in Germany, I had to dig it out on some very well hidden remote server in Asia.
Now I'm only using Apple computers at home, but I cannot yet say anything about their service. None of the machines has failed in the last two years. ;-)
In the server room, I have a couple of HP ProLiants - they were all DOA (dead on arrival), one even had to be replaced twice. It took me 2 weeks with the HP support before they finally accepted that the machine was junk and sent me a replacement. We actually pay for 4-hour-same-business-day service. Now what does that tell me abot HP?
The good old days of ever-lasting IBM hardware are over. The hardware that you buy today WILL fail, it's only a queston of WHEN, not IF. What counts then is the reliability of speed of the service. And from my experience I can tell that Dell's business support is doing a very good job, and HP's business support just sucks.
Years ago, I also bought a Dell for my privat use once. Never had a problem with that machine and I still think it was worth every single penny.
I also bought a Gericom and a Toshiba notebook once, and in both cases the service of the companies was shitty as hell. Toshiba did not even provide Windows NT, 2000 or XP drivers for that satellite notebook. At least not in Germany, I had to dig it out on some very well hidden remote server in Asia.
Now I'm only using Apple computers at home, but I cannot yet say anything about their service. None of the machines has failed in the last two years. ;-)