Sony PC ??

My Micron computer is going on 6 years old. It has been totally satisfactory. However, I am hearing a lot of noise and when I download something from the web it sounds like someone with a noisy typewriter. I am assuming that the hard drive is getting ready to fail in the not too distant future. I recently replaced a fan.
I am not particularly knowledgeable in the area of computers.

I had thought that I would probably buy a Dell, but today I was with my son in Best Buy and while he was buying a Sony laptop, I looked at a Sony desktop PC.

It looks good, but I do not know anyone personally who has one.

Anyone here with some personal knowledge or has a friend who has a Sony?

Thanks,
Jerry

I don't know anyone with Sonys. I do know people with Dells. I've used them, they are great PC's. I don't see why Sony should be bad. Give it a go, it should be good.

Sony (and any other PC you can buy in a retail store) is overpriced. Get a Dell...you'll save alot of money, and get a much better warranty. I strongly suggest you pay a little extra for the 3 year warranty from dell. Something breaks, anything, for 3 years, just call up some guy in India, tell him what's wrong, and the next day you've got parts at your door.

Be careful Sony likes to use propritary parts on a lot of their electronics and has a higher than average failure rate. I've worked for more than one computer reseller and Sony stuff always got sent back more than most other brands.

Make absolutely sure that you've got your Windows XP firewall turned on *BEFORE* you connect to the internet.

I think the hardware is OK, but I really don't like the way they set up the software. There are many extra (unneeded) programs that load up when you start the computer that just sit there using up memory and resources.

A friend bought one and called me when the 70 gigabyte drive was full after a month. Turned out Sony partitioned the drive 12 gigabytes as drive C: and the rest as D:, but she didn't know. I'm still mystified as to why they did that because everything you do on Windows tends to gravitate to C unless you're really vigilent.

So, hardware yes, software no.

I'm becoming less and less enthusiastic about Dell. They're becoming more and more proprietary and their phone sales people are overly pushy selling upgrades.

When my computer fixit customers ask me what to get (assuming they're not gamers), I tell them to get an eMachines.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623866,00.asp

HP/Compaq often offer similar specs at a lower price than Sony.

Unfortunately they also come with a lot of unnecessary software.

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georget98 said:
Turned out Sony partitioned the drive 12 gigabytes as drive C: and the rest as D:, but she didn't know. I'm still mystified as to why they did that because everything you do on Windows tends to gravitate to C unless you're really vigilent.



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You can't please everyone. When my employer bought me a Dell, XP was installed and the entire disk was one partition. The first thing I did was re-format and re-install.

Having only one partition makes it impossible to install another OS. Even if you never install Linix, etc. it's real handy to have a place to install another XP in case the first one won't boot. I guess I'll always be a Boy Scout because my motto is "Be Prepared".

If the partition where the OS is installed is getting full of data that may be because you are using My Documents, etc. My Documents will move itself elsewhere if you right click on it and click on Properties > Target.

If you are looking to buy a "store bought" PC, get bestbuys "Insignia" They are just custom builds with all namebrand and non proprietary parts. Something breaks years down the road, any regular part will work. You will never have to get anything from Dell, Sony or any other place. Just my opinion.

Thanks All.

I decided to stop shopping and ordered a Dell 4700. Now I am trying to see what I want to put on it that is on my present computer.
I do not want to put everything I have on the new one. Is there a way to transfer the programs selectively?

Jerry