Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="DarkKestral" data-source="post: 4678345" data-attributes="member: 40100">Sorry Relique Hunter, you're gonna have the same problems with a PC bought from a physical store. The problems aren't usually hardware; much of the time, in my experience, they come from the shovelware that gets loaded onto the system by the OEM. And unless you build your own or are willing to wipe your entire hard drive and totally reformat with a low level reformat, you'll have shovelware.Plus, places like Geek Squad really aren't that great at fixing computers. Their methods of "fixing" computers usually consist of finding a model number, going to their disk storage, and formatting the drive and restoring it to factory default. They're not really there to fix computers... they're there to convince you to upgrade. Which they will do at great expense to you. While restoring the shovelware that likely caused the slowdown in the first place.Occasionally, it's a hardware problem. But if it's a hardware problem, you'll typically notice physical signs well before it'll actually fail. For example, the fan will be on constantly at full, or perhaps you'll lose hard drive space faster or maybe hear a weird noise. But by that time, it's usually more cost-effective to buy a new computer. And anyway, many hardware issues can be headed off by the simple preventative maintenance of opening up the case every so often and blowing away all the dust that's collected.Seriously, your best options, if you don't want to roll your own, is to find a smaller shop that'll do custom work. Generally, unlike at Best Buy, these guys will be more willing to work with you to find what you really need, because they survive on customer satisfaction. Best Buy or Wal-Mart will instead get one look at you then put you into a category, whether or not your needs actually fit the category. They think you want hi-def sound and video? they'll show you systems with hi def sound and video and only systems with hi def sound and video. This is because most of their salesforce are essentially uneducated in their product, and it's the easiest way they have of avoiding hard questions like "How much HDD space is enough?" or "What's better for me: Radeons or GeForces?" Guy at the little shop probably knows his stuff really, really well, because he's probably in it in part because he loves it (computer shops are just like FLGSes that way...) and in part because he has to, so if you have questions, he can answer them in depth if need be. Plus, if you have to switch gear later on, the smaller shop will probably be a little more capable of doing harder repair and upgrade jobs. The premium is there, but it's probably worth it in your case.EDIT) And if the small guy is a jerk? Just do as you'd probably do with a LGS: don't offer them your money.</blockquote>

Verification