What's going on with all those 1 star PC reviews?

[tsinsf]

I'm probably going to jump ship from Mac to PC for the usual reasons. Since I've never been in the PC world, I have questions. I've decided to buy from Puget System because they seem honest, helpful, and are fact based, and offer lifetime help. One pays a premium, but I think it is worth it. If you read any of the reviews of any of the major PC companies (Dell, Lenovo, Acer, etc) products, there are always 1 star review horror stories of getting a new computer and having immediate problems, or having serious problems develop just a few months later and having to deal with horrible customer support. My question is this: what is going on with those new computers to cause them not to work properly? It's not a common thing in the Apple world. Mismatched components that don't play together well? Actual hardware failure? Incompetant users? Something else? Interestly, Puget Systems studied hardware failure rates over a three year period and determined that the piece of hardware most likely to fail was, by far, the motherboard, somewhere between 2-4%. So could it be that all these horror stories are just bad motherboards that don't get picked up before being sold and shipped out?

[mcbroomf]

I've built a few desktops and although anecdotal I've had bad motherboards, memory and graphic card.  A mix of DOA and died within, and outside of warranty.

I got fed up and bought a well spec'd system from Puget about 18 months ago.  3-4 months later it started rebooting randomly and I had to send it back after our joint diagnosis failed to find a root cause (ended up needing a new PSU and at the same time a dodgy DVD player was replaced).  Puget paid shipping both ways for the (big) desktop and gave good support all around but it wouldn't surprise me if all electronics are made with thin design/manufacturing and QC margins these days. 

Not a statistical sample mind you ...

[tsinsf]

Thanks for your reply. The kind of failures that you and others describe with PCs just don't occur that often with Macs. Why? They use the same CPUs, GPUs, RAM, and hard drives.

[dpirazzi]

My guess? It is a numbers thing. When you sell millions of PCs, the small (percentage wise) but vocal minority that have had problems gets pretty loud. I've had a series of Dell XPS desktops and laptops and have had no problems. At the aerospace company where I worked, we used Dell laptops by the thousands, and while they weren't sexy, they were dependable.

Historically Macs have had better hardware, which you pay for.

[Alan Klein]

I've had used Dell for many years and have had few problems.  The systems I bought were well documented.  I think the later purchases reliability were more solid than years ago.  I don;t know if that because Dell got better or because the technology is more reliable.  I haven't had a virus in years but that could be because of the virus software I use, Kaspersky and not necessarily the equipment.  Don't know. 

[geneo]

I think Puget is a fine choice. I quit buying DELL and other such brands some time ago. I found their components in some cases subpar (e.g. PSU), and other no great bargain (e.g. OEM versions of graphics cards with features removed to reduce cost), in general not upgradable, and not as performant as they should be. They may be cheaper, but I don't think they are a great value.

I have built my own for some time now. I have never had anything completly die, partly because I bought good components from places with good return policies, and I fully test builds. But there is always the risk some component will die and I would have tro deal witrh the warranty process of the component manufacturer, which often can be a frustrating pain.

Puget offers high quality component choices, build it to your spec, test it, and I assume they will handle any warranty issues for you.

EDIT:
BTW, Puget pages for photgraphy specific systems say Quadro cards are required for 10-bit dispalys. This is no longer true. Nvidia studio AND game ready drivers now fully support 10 bit displays for newer Nvidia RTX (and probably some GTX) cards now.

[Alan Klein]

I think Puget is a fine choice. I quit buying DELL and other such brands some time ago. I found their components in some cases subpar (e.g. PSU), and other no great bargain (e.g. OEM versions of graphics cards with features removed to reduce cost), in general not upgradable, and not as performant as they should be. They may be cheaper, but I don't think they are a great value.

I have built my own for some time now. I have never had anything completly die, partly because I bought good components from places with good return policies, and I fully test builds. But there is always the risk some component will die and I would have tro deal witrh the warranty process of the component manufacturer, which often can be a frustrating pain.

Puget offers high quality component choices, build it to your spec, test it, and I assume they will handle any warranty issues for you.

EDIT:
BTW, Puget pages for photgraphy specific systems say Quadro cards are required for 10-bit dispalys. This is no longer true. Nvidia studio AND game ready drivers now fully support 10 bit displays for newer Nvidia RTX (and probably some GTX) cards now.

How does the warranty work on the whole machine operate when you build your own.  With Dell, I can call them and they walk me through it for the first year.  I could buy an extended service contract covering subsequent years.  Most people are not computer wizes like you may be.  So they need a single source to walk them through troubleshooting.  How does that work with Puget and other places like them?

[geneo]

How does the warranty work on the whole machine operate when you build your own.  With Dell, I can call them and they walk me through it for the first year.  I could buy an extended service contract covering subsequent years.  Most people are not computer wizes like you may be.  So they need a single source to walk them through troubleshooting.  How does that work with Puget and other places like them?

The warranty is per component. Like I said, I haven't ever had any real issues, but could deal with them if I do. If I didn't want to deal with that or was computer non-savvy I would pay more for Puget over Dell as IMO their quality and performance /$ is much better than DELL and I expect their support probably is too.

[mcbroomf]

My Puget system is warrantied by Puget, just the same as if I bought a machine from Dell or Lenovo etc.

[Alan Klein]

How hard their warranty service been?  Have you used it?

[armand]

With Puget it's nice that you know what's going in the system and seems easy to upgrade, similar to my own builds. If you think you'll keep it for a very long time and you don't want headaches initially, I see the value. Plus you can choose components not available in prebuilt computers.
A Dell XPS is still much cheaper though than a comparable Puget: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-desktop-computers/xps-desktop-special-edition/spd/xps-8930-se-desktop/xdvsetcr008s?configurationid=482d24a0-b52d-4e84-b669-2dcfd35200ae

[mcbroomf]

How hard their warranty service been?  Have you used it?

Yes, see my 1st post

[Arlen]

I build my own, but for the last couple of machines I have used components based on what Puget Sound uses, to increase the probability that components will play well together. It saves a lot of money. I've been building my own PCs for many years. Only once have I had a serious problem right off the bat, or soon after building one. That said, if you aren't pretty knowledgeable, or have someone who does that can help you, you are better off buying one that is already built, with a warranty. Troubleshooting a build on your own, when you don't really know what you're doing, can be pretty daunting.

[Alan Klein]

Although I never built a computer desktop, when I was 13 I put together a little crystal radio. It was really exciting actually tune in stations from something you built. A couple of years later I built a vacuum tube version (yeah I'm a boomer) of a preamp-amplifier for stereo system manufactured by Fisher kit. You had to solder all the resistors and other discrete components and the tube sockets and everything else. It was also very exciting to see that work and it work for years without any problems. Maybe I'm just too old to do stuff like that now.

[Arlen]

Putting together a PC is not hard. There really aren't that many components, they all just plug into standard places (no soldering etc.), and there's plenty of guidance on the web that shows how to do it. If everything goes well, which it usually does, then you would be good to go. But when things don't work, figuring out why and what to do about it can get frustrating fast.

[BobShaw]

I'm probably going to jump ship from Mac to PC for the usual reasons.

I am not sure what the reasons are. My current machine is a 2013 iMac and it works fine for everything I do. It replaced a 2008 iMac that also still works fine, but doesn't run the latest OS. I have never lost any data since I started digital in 2007. I don't build my own computers because I don't need another hobby. I think that the reason Macs work so well is that the hardware and the OS are made to work together and they do. Good luck with your PC.

[tsinsf]

My reason to switch from Apple to a PC is that Apple doesn't offer what I want. I want a top specd Intel i9 ninth generation CPU, 64 RAM,  and a 2TB fast SSD. I have a $2200 fabulous Nec monitor, so I have no interest in an iMac. That leaves the MacMini, which doesn't offer enough under the hood for me, and the not yet released new Mac Pro for a base model of $6000, which by the time I upgraded the RAM and SSD will be over $7000. And the CPU is a Xeon that is really designed for video editing and will probably be slower for running Photoshop and Lightroom than an i9 processor. Hard to justify that price for something that isn't ideally what I want.

[BobShaw]

I want a top specd Intel i9 ninth generation CPU, 64 RAM,  and a 2TB fast SSD.

You can buy an iMac with i9, 64G (expensive) Apple RAM and 2TB SSD for about $6000AU which would no doubt be about $4000US and connect your extra monitor to it. If you put your own RAM in it would be less.
Personally I think a 2TB SSD is a waste. I only put my OS and Apps on a 512GB and everything else is external. That way It is a snack to move computers.

[Jonathan Cross]

Agreed, Bob.  I now have Apple laptop and Windows desktop, and will probably go fully Apple in a year or two.  I have a 2TB Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD that comes ready formatted for both systems and with connectors. It's very fast and very small. Amazon has it at a very good price.

Best wishes,

Jonathan

[kers]

You can buy an iMac with i9, 64G (expensive) Apple RAM and 2TB SSD for about $6000AU which would no doubt be about $4000US and connect your extra monitor to it. If you put your own RAM in it would be less.
Personally I think a 2TB SSD is a waste. I only put my OS and Apps on a 512GB and everything else is external. That way It is a snack to move computers.

That is double the price of a windows box also considering all the external connected hardware you need.
The windows box also let you change a GPU, room for 128GB ram, has no cooling problems, so can run as fast as it goes.
Mine can handle 10 harddisks and two or more nvme - all in that box. I even have a firewire-connection card and a dvd writer in it, and three pci slots left.
The screen is my own choice.  The cpu is overclocked within range and has watercooling.
if i want to buy another 2TB NVME - i spend 450€ and just put it in.