HP vs Dell

Since I am still using Windows XP on my desktop and have had my Dell XPS for 5 years, I'm thinking of upgrading withing the next few months. I've always had Dell, but I checked Sam's Club in Roswell today and they seem to have some pretty high-powered HP's for a reasonable price.

Anybody have any ideas about the pros or cons of either one?

Personally I think the HP's are better...a more critical issue would be what's inside... eg. what is better an AMD or a Pentium...here is the best analogy I've heard about that - if you have an AMD it is like having a few dump trucks that can move a whole lot of data real fast (read good for video and gaming and stuff where you need to move a whole lot of mass data at once) and if you have a Pentium it is like having a whole bunch of pickups that can move a lot of data real fast too but they have a lot more control (read probably way better for us still photographers)

My mom always buys a Dell because that is what she does...the next time she goes shopping for a computer I am going to try and get her to buy an Apple...LOL

Get the HP with a Pentium inside! Save your money for software or lenses!!!

THe VERY FIRST thing you need to do is to check the compatibility of your current software with Windows 7.

You will be going from a 32 bit architecture operating system to a 64 bit architecture operating system.

This will affect most if not all of your software. I would not trust backwards compatibility. Make sure that you get every

update available for your current software.

Hope this helps.

I was an avid XP fan. Didn't even consider Vista when it came out. Was forced into Windows 7 after my system crashed a couple years ago now. Day 1 I hated it. Day 2 to present I love it!

I have both HP's and Dells and find them comparable for my needs. One thing I have added is a WD My Passport portable hard drive with a TB worth of storage (Costco $99). Just plug it into the USB port, point my camera download to the Passport drive and "voila." Shooting a ton of RAW files "quickly" fills up the ole hard drives on the computer and ultimately slows down the systems.

Not that you need more data to muddy the waters, but here's my two cents worth.

So far, nobody has mentioned RAM. All Programs (MS-Word, Photoshop, Lightroom etc.) are executed from RAM. When you open one, it is copied from the Hard Drive to the RAM. Therefore I vote "LOTS" of Ram. Minimum of 6G. 8G would be better.

I bought my new PC in January. I had planned on the Core-i7 processor, but to save money I backed off to the Core-i5. I used the extra saved to upgrade the Ram to 16G. Haven't regretted it.

I bought the HP because I'm a "fan" of the Lightscribe feature for burning CDs and DVDs

Mike150 said:

Therefore I vote "LOTS" of Ram. Minimum of 6G. 8G would be better.

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I second this thought!!!

I've had both, prefer HP, 8G RAM, works great!

It's like buying a car. Do you buy a Ford, or do you buy a Chevy? I have had nothing with bad luck with HP or any HP in the family. Back in the day of my last HP they loaded it up with a bunch of their software, which I did not care for. I'm going back ten years or more maybe things have changed since then.

Right now I'm using a Dell it been running 24 /7 for the last two years, outside of an air cleaning every six months. I have had nothing but luck with it. It's all personal taste if you ask me, all computers are IBM clones and made from the same basic parts. You get what you pay for. For Desktops I like Dell, for laptops I like Toshiba. The Toshiba's have a lower Mortality rate.

I'll have to echo what others said here check your software for 64 bit compatibility and load that new computer up with tons of RAM.

When I made the switch from 32 bit to 64 bit I only ran into two programs that was not 64 bit compatible. Both of those were written over ten years ago, and more than likely for windows 98 or ME and that is why they don't run for me.

Mike is absolutely right! Maxing out the ram is what I do on every system and it is so second nature that I don't even think about it.

So get ALL of the ram your system can handle!

Besides, it'll make you look geeky as hell to tell the store clerk that you want the ram maxed!

Kinda like your TriKini! (You didn't think I had forgotten THAT, did you?)

I'd like to point out that, on a 32 bit system, whether it's XP or Vista or Win7, the most RAM you can use is 3 gigs. The system won't recognize anything more. On a 64 bit system, you can stuff as much RAM as the motherboard will allow, and it will read it all. Win7 comes in both flavours............32 bit and 64 bit. Please don't get Vista. Totally useless OS, in my humble opinion.
As for which laptop to get, my money would be on the HP. They've come a long way from the crap they used to put out years ago. Very dependable now. It has been my experience that Dell is a proprietary built system, using the cheapest components that the company can buy. And like Rick said, you get what you pay for. So, having said all that, I'd go for the HP, Helene. These are my thoughts and opinions and no one elses.

Thanks, all, for the great information. I'm hoping to keep the laptop running since I "straightened it out". But the desktop is the one I want to replace, it just seems to handle all the tasks I throw at it.

Good to know all the stuff about the RAM.

I have Compaq and Hp. Basically the same since they merged. Both good computers. I bought 1 Dell in years past and never could get it to even boot up. Dell wanted to Sell me the restore discs just to get it to run, You can imagine where I told them to put the discs. Got my money back from them.
Bottom line is buy whatever you are happy with, major brands are all pretty good these days. Get Windows 7 64bit and as much ram as you can.
Personally I have 2 HP laptops, 1 Compaq laptop, One netbook, One old Sony Vaio Desktop that is only used with the TV and my favorite of all is my Sony laptop.

Here's the quick and dirty: Dell sucks. If you want a quality PC, there's only one way to go...home built.

All major PC builders use proprietary parts, meaning if anything goes wrong, you'll probably be shipping your $1000 paperweight to Singapore for repairs. If you purchase your PC from Staples/Best Buy/any big box store, be prepared for additional headaches. Your PC will come pre-loaded with a bunch of crap that you don't need and it's all guaranteed to slow down performance and be open gateways for additional problems down the road.

Anthony Hereld said:

Here's the quick and dirty: Dell sucks. If you want a quality PC, there's only one way to go...home built.

All major PC builders use proprietary parts, meaning if anything goes wrong, you'll probably be shipping your $1000 paperweight to Singapore for repairs. If you purchase your PC from Staples/Best Buy/any big box store, be prepared for additional headaches. Your PC will come pre-loaded with a bunch of crap that you don't need and it's all guaranteed to slow down performance and be open gateways for additional problems down the road.

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I absolutely agree, Anthony. That's why I build my own computers, with parts that I know will work for me. Except for this Lenovo T61 laptop I just got, I haven't "worked" on this yet.

Well, I was always interested in robotics . . . wanted to have my own R2D2

I have used both systems over the years and now have 3 HP/Compaq laptops and no Dells, I don't think Dells are bad but I think that their better stuff is a lot more expensive. Hp has good build quality and a decent returns/repair system. As to 32/64 bit go 64, I use lightroom and photoshop 64 on my HP laptop, 4Gb memory and T9100 Dual Core 64bit processor they both work great. Windows 7 is that rare animal a Windows operating system that works (and worked from day 1) I didn't have to upgrade to use it and its faster than Vista by a long shot. I loved from purchase, the auto resize of windows when you drag them to the sides of the screen is a brilliant feature so much so that I try to do it with XP systems and feel like a muppet LOL. So for what its worth, HP with Windows 7

Generally I'm a homebrew kinda guy for my desktop but a friend recently purchased a sweet refurbed desktop from the Lenovo Outlet. I'm real impressed. (One of my laptops is a refurbed ThinkPad and it has been flawless for over a year.)

Ditto max the RAM and 64-bit (whether Windows or OS-X).

+1 for Lenovo. They make great desktop units. And Asus makes bulletproof laptops.

Personally, I'd like to say to buy the HP, as they put dinner on my table every night

I built my own image editing desktop out of a Dell workstation. Dual quad core xeons, 16 GB of RAM, multiple 10k RPM hard drives etc, but that was mainly because I'm geeky and I like geeky stuff.

Either brand will be fine for what you're doing. Definitely try for 8 GB of RAM (or more) - I run 16 GB in my ASUS laptop and my Dell workstation, the laptop came with 6 GB and I found with Lightroom and CS5 both running, it got real slow.

Regardless of which you choose, considering what you're starting with, it will seem like you're going from a Chevy Cavalier to a Corvette.

If you feel like it, post the specs of what you're getting with the price you'll be paying, and perhaps someone here can find you a better deal on something similar or faster. Sam's often has good deals, but they usually aren't the *best* deals!

For what it's worth I just had to replace my 300w power supply in my Dell Inspiron 570 after a year and seven months. Keep in mind it ran 24/7, and I can 't remember the last time I open the case and cleaned it. So I can't blame Dell for that, it was my fault the power supply fried. However I find a 300w power supply weak for this machine. I did upgrade to 430w power supply with duel fans. Now if I want to add a higher end graphics card or anything else I'll have the extra power.