American made computers

Otto Maddox wrote: In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: Can you make it hide all the porn?

From you? Sure.

z31maniac wrote:

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.

pretty much. If I can't find a US made computer that meets the needs, so be it. But I really don't want to build a computer, and I don't need a high end one.

I'd be for building one just to put in lots o' good RAM and high end power supply.

Cheap power supplies in most store bought PCs are for a lot of issues.

GRM option: Pay someone else on the forum to build you one? (I am not volunteering, but I'm sure many on here would be quite willing)

I bought my wife a mini mac for her birthday. I don't think she has really figured out how to do much on it yet.

Alfa, if you want, I wouldn't mind assembling one for you (for a nominal fee) or helping you assemble it. I'm in Ypsi. I worked for 4 years doing everything from virus removal to building computers.

If you're not a computer weenie, go with a vanilla Dell. Why? Because if, down the road, you need to install more memory or a hard drive, you can simply plug your computer model into their website and it'll poop out a description of the parts you need. No need to remember if the box is running SDRAM or DDR or RDRAM, ATA or SATA or IDE, the website will tell you. Go with a vanilla Dell instead of a high performance one because the latter is more likely to be running less proven tech, and you might find down the road that it uses memory that costs more than the computer is worth - which happened to my in-laws. Why they bought a gaming box for email, I have no idea...

If you're buying a laptop, go to your local Best Buy and play with the keyboards. Then buy the Toshiba you like the most

Keith wrote: If you're buying a laptop, go to your local Sam's Club or Costco and play with the keyboards. Then buy the one you like the most

FTFY

I'm pretty sure that Macs are made in the USA. Or in a sweatshop in China where people commit suicide from the working conditions. I can't remember.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Keith wrote: If you're buying a laptop, go to your local Sam's Club or Costco and play with the keyboards. Then buy the one you like the most

FTFY

I stick by my recommendation for Toshiba, although I don't care where you look at them. I wouldn't recommend a Dell laptop. You've got a better chance of speaking to someone who knows something about computers at an electronics store, though. Maybe not an ubergeek who can build you a supercomputer out of a shipping container full of Commodore 64s, but at least you're pretty sure he wasn't selling produce last week.

In reply to Keith:

That's what I am replacing. Instead of getting a vanilla machine that is made somewhere else, I trying to choose a machine that is partially made here in the US.

I understand the point about expansion or change or whatever. Once in my life I had to do that. For a used laptop I bought. To me, that "feature" isn't worth much. Certainly not worth at least knowing the parts were assembled here in the US and the support is here in the US. I'll pay for that.

Not for theoretical expansion possibilities.

pinchvalve wrote: I'm pretty sure that Macs are made in the USA. Or in a sweatshop in China where people commit suicide from the working conditions. I can't remember.

Foxconn sounds 'murican enough. Move along... nothing to see here.

scardeal wrote: Alfa, if you want, I wouldn't mind assembling one for you (for a nominal fee) or helping you assemble it. I'm in Ypsi. I worked for 4 years doing everything from virus removal to building computers.

I'll consider that. But I'm really trying to find American companies to support- not figure out all of my options to replace what I have.

Keith wrote: You've got a better chance of speaking to someone who knows something about computers at an electronics store, though.

Sorry - I am pre-wired to knee-jerk at any recco to send someone to a place with high school age kids working on commission. All I ever see at Best Buy, HHGregg, etc... is sweaty fat future cons selling E36 M3 to old people that they clearly don't need.

Our local Costco has better prices by a good bit and a lot of decent brands like Toshiba, Lenovo, etc along with a Walmart-like return policy.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to Keith: That's what I am replacing. Instead of getting a vanilla machine that is made somewhere else, I trying to choose a machine that is partially made here in the US. I understand the point about expansion or change or whatever. Once in my life I had to do that. For a used laptop I bought. To me, that "feature" isn't worth much. Certainly not worth at least knowing the parts were assembled here in the US and the support is here in the US. I'll pay for that. Not for theoretical expansion possibilities.

Maybe I keep computers longer than most This is being typed on a Toshiba laptop that I bought in 2006 or so. It's not unusual for me to upgrade hard drives and memory as time goes on - the Toshiba is due for a new drive. And since I don't pay any attention to hardware when I'm not buying a computer, I like being able to easily find out what's compatible without having to go into research mode again.

GPS, I suggested Best Buy because it was the first place that pops to mind when I think of electronics. When I go to Sam's Club, I'm shopping for food I have found that our local Best Buy does have a reasonable amount of product knowledge. When it does come time to replace this poor workhorse of a machine, I'll have a look at the Sam's computer section. I won't buy a laptop without laying hands on it, though - I write books on these things so the keyboard arrangement and feel is pretty important. They don't have Lenovos, although the fact that my wife's work Lenovo has shed a mouse key makes me a bit leery about them despite the reputation.

Can't help on the US part. You're on your own there.

alfadriver wrote: I'll consider that. But I'm really trying to find American companies to support- not figure out all of my options to replace what I have.

Even the American companies Dell, IBM, HP, Intel, Apple, etc are buying HDDs from Thailand and having all the boards and card mfg'd in china.

I would be floored if you locate one entire PC assembled from american made electronics.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

alfadriver wrote: I'll consider that. But I'm really trying to find American companies to support- not figure out all of my options to replace what I have.

Even the American companies Dell, IBM, HP, Intel, Apple, etc are buying HDDs from Thailand and having all the boards and card mfg'd in china. I would be floored if you locate one entire PC assembled from american made electronics.

Dell, IBM, HP, and Apple no longer even assemble here in the US. That one step would better. The companies l listed in the first post say that they at least build their stuff here, I'll call an get more details, but if anyone had any experience (as one person did), that's kind of what I am looking for.

As for "upgrades"- I'd have to check, but I think the computer was originally purchased in 2005 or so. Maybe longer. Zero upgrades. Power wise, it's fine. But physical things are starting to break, and XP upgrades take up a TON of space. Before getting my most recent laptop, I tried re-platforming my previous one- which was not exaclty smooth- but worked for about a month or so, and then Windows got all of the upgrades- and the rest was history. Besides, the battery was dying.

For $500 (or whatever it was), the computer was a great buy- it's now time to replace.

Are you looking for a laptop or desktop, btw?

In reply to scardeal:

Desktop. We each have our own laptop. desktop = base station.... And one that doesn't actually do a lot of surfing, but more financial stuff.

I wonder if there are any mom and pop places still open that do what you're looking for?

In reply to scardeal:

Found one on Stone School- may call them.

built this today... it's def not high end... but it'll do everything I need and after rebates $215... 8gig of fast ram 3.1ghz 3core processor, 500gig 7200rpm hdd, modest video card that has no prob with HD video and HDMI out.

it's my first build... took about an hr from pulling it from the boxes to booting it up with linux.

for windows I'm lucky on that end as my dad works for a shop that gets a bunch of keys to use and never uses them all... so I get a free copy of win7 ultimate... not that I care... win7 home premium works just fine for me

tossing a few TB of HDD into the machine... going to be a hybrid of a HTPC and home server.

anyway... i'm amazed at how easy windows7 to insall and i'm very pleased with it :)

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ THIS

get yourself a nice new big lcd monitor too

slopecarver wrote: ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ THIS get yourself a nice new big lcd monitor too

na get 2 20" $100 monitors... cost a little more then a 24" or so but you'll get much more screen real-estate

right now the desktop sucks... i've been using my laptop sitting next to my 20" and hooked up to the laptop and to a keyboard n stuff... I'm already missing the 2nd monitor...

Putting a computer together is SIMPLE. I used to go from boxes of parts to installing the OS in less than 20 minutes, less if I wasn't picky about wire routing.

I'd happily put one together for gratis for any GRM member. I normally put them together for $50 if I'm ordering the parts, but I don't mark the parts up. Normally people that supply their own parts assemble their own because it's so simple. The last time I was given parts was over 5 years ago. I showed the guy how easy it was, and he's assembled a couple himself since.

RAM and hard drives are all pretty much interchangeable. By the time you feel the need to upgrade a Dell, chances are it's not worth upgrading. If you buy your own parts and put it together or have a friend help, you'll know what goes in it, and it will ALWAYS be standard parts, unlike dealing with OEM stuff. These days, power supplies are about the only thing non-standard, outside of sometimes needing half height cards.