Since hour home desktop is deciding that too many XP updates is making it sick, we are going to be in the market for a new desktop PC. For fun, I thought it would be interesting to look into any American made computers- which I have found. Does anyone have any experience with the following:
Systemax- computers made in Ohio
Pugets Systems- computers made in Seattle, more custom
ZT Systems- computers made in New Jersey.
Lotus PC- computers made in Florida
The Systemax line is also available at CompUSA, which gets me some more "credits" for other consumer things we do- so that's the one I'm leaning toward.
Anyone?
(and don't bring up Mac- that IS on my list of options, I'm just asking about the 4 companies above)
If you are happy with the performance of your desktop - why not just install a new operating system? There is no reason to chuck hardware because of a software issue. Worst financial case - buy the mac, swap your files over and put linux on it to use as a toy (learning to comfortably free yourself from the chains of commercial OS's?)
I'll just assume you are invested somewhat in windows... Newegg will sell you Win7 Home for under $100 and Win7 Pro for ~$130.
alfadriver wrote:
Since hour home desktop is deciding that too many XP updates is making it sick, we are going to be in the market for a new desktop PC. For fun, I thought it would be interesting to look into any American made computers- which I have found. Does anyone have any experience with the following:
Systemax- computers made in Ohio
Pugets Systems- computers made in Seattle, more custom
ZT Systems- computers made in New Jersey.
Lotus PC- computers made in Florida
The Systemax line is also available at CompUSA, which gets me some more "credits" for other consumer things we do- so that's the one I'm leaning toward.
Anyone?
(and don't bring up Mac- that IS on my list of options, I'm just asking about the 4 companies above)
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
Mainly because the computer is pretty old, and I'm pretty sure that it's not really up to 7 snuff. I recently replaced a laptop that was not able to upgrade, and this desktop is older than that.
that, and real things are starting to break- right now the DVD is failing. A previous computer routed that failure (since i replaced it, and didn't work) to a motherboard break).
Any intrest in building your own? I have not used any of the machine listed above but building one yourself would give you the same results. It really is not hard to do and there are plenty of people on here that can help out if the need arises.
You'd be surprised who old and creaky a computer that can run Win7 can be...
As an aside, the computer will be "assembled in the US" as I don't think there are any manufacturers of components like motherboards, graphics cards etc left in the US that actually manufacture over here. Not sure if that makes a difference to you or not.
I wonder if a single component in those computers is manufactured here, or if they're just plugging stuff together for you?
Probably lots of companies assemble computers here. Dells are so heavily customizable that I suspect they're all still assembled here. Wikipedia agrees. Macs these days seem to ship direct from China (it's amazing to watch the tracking info and see how crazy fast it is).
Assembling a PC is so cheap and easy I wouldn't buy one pre-made from one of the big manufacturers. Lots of local places will do it for you if you don't want to do it yourself. These guys over on Ellsworth do a pretty good job.
Last I heard Dell's were assembled in Ireland.
Too bad they don't make them in green and ship them with a can of Guinness?
Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote:
Any intrest in building your own? I have not used any of the machine listed above but building one yourself would give you the same results. It really is not hard to do and there are plenty of people on here that can help out if the need arises.
Good question. But no, I am not.
PHeller wrote:
Last I heard Dell's were assembled in Ireland.
Too bad they don't make them in green and ship them with a can of Guinness?
Wikipedia says the Irish ones are for the Euro/Asia market. Also specifically mentions that Alienware stuff is assembled in Miami. Not that you're their target audience.
I've heard that despite the price, Alienware makes a computer that's difficult to replicate. They often have some trick software that works with unique motherboards, innovative cooling solutions, and of course...all those fancy LEDs.
BoxheadTim wrote:
You'd be surprised who old and creaky a computer that can run Win7 can be...
As an aside, the computer will be "assembled in the US" as I don't think there are any manufacturers of components like motherboards, graphics cards etc left in the US that actually manufacture over here. Not sure if that makes a difference to you or not.
If there were not signs of hardware issues, I would more consider it. But the cost of Win7 upgrade isn't insignificant- and by cost, I mean $$ of mine as well as stress of mine.
As for the "made in USA" label- yes, I would rather the parts be made here in the US, but I will accept stuff that's just assembled here. More than likely, I'll call my options to find out the content and what is actually made here. Maybe even choose a more expensive model if more of the parts are made in the US.
If it helps them consider buying a new vehicle from us or friends across town, that's a good thing. Sending most of the money to china surely isn't going to make that happen.
I had a Systemax during the XP era. It performed flawlessly for the four years it lived*. It was better than the Computer City house brand it replaced and certainly better than the crappy POS HP laptop that succeeded it.
*computers in "sleep" state don't take kindly to a basement flood, especially when it's sewer backup. 
Sometimes I wish you computer geeks would just tell us exactly what to buy. Provide a link to the absolute best deal. And none of this - if you just replace this with that and adjust this and that.
In reply to ppddppdd:
yea, their starting price is way too high, and all I'm looking for is basic home office kind of work. I have not played a game on the home desktop if well over a decade.
Thanks, though!
In reply to RealMiniDriver:
Good answer- thanks- that's the kind of experience I'm looking for.
In reply to Otto Maddox:
Mac - they just work.
and I'm not a fan of mac
alfadriver wrote:
ZT Systems- computers made in New Jersey.
Crazy! I had no idea they were US made. I actually own one of these. It was the cheapest thing I could find 6 or 7 years ago. Clearance at staples for like $275 with a then expensive 17" flatscreen. The sales droids all made fun of the name on the box which was something like ziznet which they just called shiznit.
It has been flawless. Aside from upgrading the RAM a while back it has required nothing. It runs 24hrs a day 365 days a year and only in the last few weeks has the CPU fan started to get a little noisy. I make it a point to reboot it once a month or so if windows update doesn't do it for me. I take it to the garage and blow it out with the air compressor twice a year.
Another vote for build one.
You'll end up spending a bit more, but you'll also have way higher quality components. The computer takes just a few minutes to assemble, and with the fast processors/big amounts of RAM the OS installs pretty quickly as well.
Especially if you use an SSD for the OS and a larger traditional hard drive for storage.
alfadriver wrote:
In reply to ppddppdd:
yea, their starting price is way too high, and all I'm looking for is basic home office kind of work. I have not played a game on the home desktop if well over a decade.
Thanks, though!
Sounds like any cheap thing you can get your hands on will work then.
I had an @XI (California) workstation at my last job. Customer support was ok, computer build and performance was great. A little cheaper than what you'd get from Dell and much more customized. I would buy from them again (if I didn't build all of my computers myself).
http://www.xicomputer.com/
Edit: likely out of your price range. I imagine with the labor costs in the U.S., there isn't much profit to be made building custom machines in the <$1000 range.
Otto Maddox wrote:
Sometimes I wish you computer geeks would just tell us exactly what to buy. Provide a link to the absolute best deal. And none of this - if you just replace this with that and adjust this and that.
There isn't such a thing as an absolute best deal, because people's needs vary a lot.
For me, a used Mac Pro at $ick is a good deal but I'm a professional programmer and have different needs than someone who is looking for something just for home use. And my setup would be considered completely useless by any self respecting gamer (hey, it's good enough for iRacing so it's good enough for me...), but it's OTT for your average home user.
Otto Maddox wrote:
Sometimes I wish you computer geeks would just tell us exactly what to buy. Provide a link to the absolute best deal. And none of this - if you just replace this with that and adjust this and that.
Tell me what you need it to do and I will provide you a fantastic computer for the job - ordered for cheap, marked up appropriately and hand assembled here in the good 'ol USA by my duo of poorly paid white kids under the age of 12.
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
Can you make it hide all the porn?
I've used both ZT Systems and Systemax. Both were good, no complaints.
Is IBuyPower or CyberPower still around? Those were good custom companies if you were on a budget as well.
Falcon NorthWest?
