Can anyone point me in the right direction when choosing a good brand for a desktop pc? (in terms of product reliability and technical support)?

So much of the answer to this question is based on one’s personal experience and one’s own ability to diagnose and fix. I’m not sure that there is one answer that is universally applicable.

I have an HP desktop – it is now 3.5 years old. I am pretty computer savvy and have upgraded it over the years (disk, add-on IO cards), but the machine has been solid as a rock. The one time I had a need for HP customer support, it was easy and fast, and they gave me the answer that worked. First time. And they spoke English as their first language.

My daughter had a Gateway desktop; it too was very solid, and never needed attention. So the quality of customer support never entered into it.

This survey at PCWorld might help.
Among your choices the Lenovo and Gateway seem to be better than the others.
HP used to have the worst support but it has improved in recent years, and their build quality is better than it used to be too.

Compaq

“but in all other respects, this is a solid budget PC. Perhaps the best deal going for its features, it also outperforms other desktops in and above its price range on general computing tasks. We recommend this system to anyone shopping for a low-cost computer.” CNET

I lean towards machines targeted at business customers. I’ve worked in IT supporting hundreds of users, and in sales, supporting thousands of customers. Those environments entail a lot of repeat business, so reliability is hugely important.

For my mother I recently purchased a Lenovo ThinkCentre because it had a 3 year warranty. I didn’t see any other major brand that had more than one year. The total was about $500 US including delivery and sales tax.

I would discount the Customer Service Scoreboard rankings. The respondents are people actively looking for a place to vent their opinion, and that usually means someone is aggravated and wants some small revenge.

Much more helpful are the broad surveys where the surveyor seeks out thousands of respondents and asks about their experience. Like the PCWorld link provided by @dabbler.

I think you get a pretty good bang for the buck at the Dell Outlet. I like the filtering interface – for example, you can filter out computers with less than 8 gigs of RAM and filter out options you don’t want. The computers are scratch and dent, refurbished, etc but you’d never know they weren’t brand new. I’ve bought several laptops, printers, monitors, and PCs from the Dell Outlet.

I’m workin on a Dell xps 400 that I’ve had for years. However, my best computers have always been the ones I built.

If you’re good enough, you should build the thing yourself.

Nothing better than having all the drivers and all the manuals in a box somewhere, whenever they might be needed.

I have always been happy with HP products, having had most recently 2 laptops and one desktop, as well as two scanners. My old HP laptop lasted me 8 years and I would still probably have it if I hadn;t done such an extensive overload on it, working on a high pressure graphics job 36 hours straight after putting in about 1 month straight of 12-hour days on it. I expect to keep my new HPs just as long.

The key is to buy for future needs not just the present, more memory and storage than you think you’ll ever need, the latest tech copying devices.

@Thammuz Is it really worth the effort to build your own these days when you can pretty much do so by specifying what you want? And I do make sure I have every manual even if I download it.

“If you’re good enough, you should build the thing yourself.”

Some people make their own clothes too.

“Nothing better than having all the drivers and all the manuals in a box somewhere, whenever they might be needed.”

Just like you can get from any manufacturer’s website.

Of those five, if I had to buy a computer with the same constraints, I’d buy Lenovo.

That said, you’re really rolling the dice with any of them. It’s just that with some you only win on boxcars or snake eyes.

@anartist always worth the effort.

Having everything on hand and making something tailored is less expensive and means having to deal with far less proprietary crapware, shitty peripherals and assorted bullshite.

Your OS, your drivers and nothing else.

Regardless, avoid Acer. My GF has an Acer built pc, it’s been nothing but trouble between crapware, the ram chips dying like flies and the USB ports crapping out after a month.

@Thammuz my s/o can build and has built machines for me for years. Now that I am going this way [he and I develop the specs] I immediately remove the shiiteware, I buy no unwanted peripherals just the box. Lately, I have wanted to dispense with the box altogether and have decided on an all-in-one desktop [with a couple of TB backu WD My Books]

For a while, for a combination of small footprint aesthetics and budget and lack of availability of S/O’s services I was buying $150 Gateway all-in-ones on eBay that lasted a couple of years each. I am very happy now without a built box.

ps My accountant had an Acer or two and they SUCKED.

@anartist I speak from my own experience, and nothing else, and i’ve always found better results and durability with custom builds.

Especially because you can easily replace single hardware pieces, unlike with some pre-builts that have specific tailoring to their box, like the aforementioned acer shitbox that had a motherboard that was slightly smaller than expected and turned out to be a real pain in the ass to replace when we erroneously considered it faulty (when the ram chips crapped out).

Then again i’ve been a gamer ever since i was 6 and have been around computers since i was 3, so i’m kinda demanding when it comes to customization and freedom on my machines.

I am using an Acer desktop right now that is running XP that is nine years old. I love this PC and have never had a problem with it.