What are your computer/hardware/software/electronic prejudices?

[fitbrit]

Some people can't get over the Hitachi "Deathstar" hard drives of years ago.
Some see anything to do with iPod and dub it iPoo.
Others bash Apple at any/all costs.
A few "experts" won't touch anything RCA.
We all know nobody in their right mind would go near anything by MDG, whether they made it or are just selling it. :)

What are your prejudices? And how up-to-date are they?

I'll go first:
I don't take a second glance at Fuji or Kodak digital cameras. I read a few bad reviews 3 years ago, and I still don't take them seriously.

Bose: I read a webpage dismissing Bose as a huge marketing gimmick. Since then, I don't pay any attention to their new products.

ECS: Used to have a bad reputation, and despite recent better reviews, I am reluctant to purchase their mobos.

E-machines/Gateway: Just like the ECS story.

Most American cars. :cheesygri

Dell computers... but some of them are good deals for those not needing to tinker.

[willy]

I agree most of your points except #1 ... My Fujifilm F20 is serving me really well :)

Dell ... Well, I don't see myself getting a Dell. However, I did (and will) recommend to *certain* group of users and they are happy so far.

[Byrns]

Maxtor hard drives because I had several fail in the past. Same goes for Seagate. (although my options are disappearing)
I only buy ASUS motherboards. Seems like every time I tried out someone new (ie MSI) I get junk
Sony products. I hate 'em.

[fitbrit]

I agree most of your points except #1 ... My Fujifilm F20 is serving me really well :)

Dell ... Well, I don't see myself getting a Dell. However, I did (and will) recommend to *certain* group of users and they are happy so far.

You're NOT supposed to agree with me, willy! It's a prejudice and I'm admitting that it's unfounded. I'm hoping this thread will cure me of some of these... or confirm my 'feelings'.

[fitbrit]

Here are some of my experiences with brands that others often see negatively:

TigerDirect rebates- never had a problem with these, ever, except one by Soyo 5 years ago. I don't shop there much any more because they started charging both taxes, shipping is a lot, and they don't have such good deals so frequently.

Maxtor drives: Always been good to me, just like WD and Seagate.

Apple products: I was a Mac user for 13 years before turning to Windows in 2002. I did so because I enjoyed upgrading my Mac and it was getting expensive compared to the options in the PC world. All my Apple products have worked very well indeed and are often less of a headache than their competitors.

eMachines: I had one fo their laptops and it was fantastic! Very sturdy machine indeed.

BenQ: 1620 DVD burner. Wish I hadn't sold it. :)

More as I think of them.

[Impossibles]

I stay away from HP/Compaq because all the bloatware they pre-install.

[JAC]

MDG: Do you even have to ask?

Bose: Over-marketed, over-priced, crap.

Monster: Over-priced, over-litigated.

Sony: Love my DVD player, but their rootkit fiascoes pissed me off.

Tiger Direct: Never buy anything with a rebate.

Frigidaire: Sucks, sucks, sucks.

ECS/PcChips: Not with a 10-foot pole.

OCZ: Over-priced rebrands.

Acer: Disposable computing at it's finest.

Mac: Laughably expensive. Not as infallible as some would have you believe.

Asus: Love 'em. Wouldn't use another brand.

Seagate: Love the drives, hate the lack of advance RMA in Canada.

[chiumanji]

Keep buying Seagate drives even though I've had two fail on me. No clue why I still buy them.

Used to like apple before their iPod success. never owned an Apple though, just always thought they looked nice.

Usually dislike Dell, but they have such good deals its hard to pass up. Money talks for me. Their 2005WFP changed my perspective on Dell a bit.

Always prefer Asus or Abit

Will always be a loyal Nintendo customer.

[Kaitlyn]

I'm definitely against Apple. I think they make a decent product and granted are innovative in their design, but their business revolves around advertising.

The iPod, for example... you don't get that much when you pay for it. There are other quality MP3 players that do a lot more and most are cheaper too. Cowon and iRiver to name a few

[Negotiator]

Don't EVER buy ANYTHING with tons of features. The more features - the more chance the thing will fail. Be it computer parts, electronics, cars - anything at all.

Was going to say "stay away from Dell and MDG computers" but now that I think about it, I try to stay away from ANY pre-configured computer. When I don't know what kind of parts is inside, every upgrade is a jeopardy. Beside - all computers always come with a lot of free pre-installed garbage software, and the first thing I do when have to deal with such computers of my friends - delete EVERY SINGLE ONE of those trial versions.

NEVER buy anything recently released. Until all the glitches are worked out and until prices drop dramatically.

I no longer like anything cheap. 'You get what you pay for' is now a standard of living - if something cheap costs $20, and good quality stuff $40 - that means that whatever you buy, is gonna cost you $20 - anything over that is for quality.

I got a thing agains Insignia even though I never owned any of their products. No idea where it started but somehow their cheap prices are scaring me.

[Aske001]

Sony - quality is job #103445678.

I swore off Sony 10 years ago after I had problems with about 5 expensive bits of Sony gear in a row, a rate far higher than any other brand-name electronics I've ever owned. I've never had cause to reconsider.

[contoursvt]

I agree with almost everything you have said :) Word for word.

The one thing that I did recently that goes against my normal behaviour is to try one of those scary TV sets. Even scarier than Insignia! Try "Dynex" from bestbuy. LOL. Picked up the 32" and you know what, it wasnt bad at all. Blacks could be darker but overall, great clarity and colour rendition. I'm usually very picky but I'm keeping it. Found the manufacturer to be AOC.

Oh one thing I will add. I hate Apple more than any other pre-built computer. I dont even know how to express the loathing and hatered for the stuff. Its the very proprietary nature that bothers me most as well as the horrible design of the mini and imacs when it comes to heat and upgradability. Yes its not their main concern but still its rubbing me the wrong way. Any computer with a logo of fruit needs to burn down. LOL


Don't EVER buy ANYTHING with tons of features. The more features - the more chance the thing will fail. Be it computer parts, electronics, cars - anything at all.

Was going to say "stay away from Dell and MDG computers" but now that I think about it, I try to stay away from ANY pre-configured computer. When I don't know what kind of parts is inside, every upgrade is a jeopardy. Beside - all computers always come with a lot of free pre-installed garbage software, and the first thing I do when have to deal with such computers of my friends - delete EVERY SINGLE ONE of those trial versions.

NEVER buy anything recently released. Until all the glitches are worked out and until prices drop dramatically.

I no longer like anything cheap. 'You get what you pay for' is now a standard of living - if something cheap costs $20, and good quality stuff $40 - that means that whatever you buy, is gonna cost you $20 - anything over that is for quality.

I got a thing agains Insignia even though I never owned any of their products. No idea where it started but somehow their cheap prices are scaring me.

[Trooper8111]

Used to hate anything coming out of Korea (Samsung, LG). Not anymore.

Sony is overpriced crap made of loads of plastic.

I'm very prejudiced against those extended warranties. Why is it that the more expensive the item is, they make it sound like it's the most fragile item on the planet?

[Fx45]

How about Monster?

How they justify their prices in their conscience is beyond me. I would never pay $150 for cables that I can get at monoprice for $6.95.

[fitbrit]

How about Monster?

How they justify their prices in their conscience is beyond me. I would never pay $150 for cables that I can get at monoprice for $6.95.

Agreed about Monster, but I have considered their stuff when it's the same price as cheapo equivalent items.

[fitbrit]

BTW, I'm VERY impressed with the 24" Westinghouse LCD I got this weekend. That company is improving its products rapidly.

[akbar_k]

Dell -> once in a while pretty cheap, not always, and not as often as their advertising makes it appear. pretty decent but some of their laptops I saw in real life and could not believe how bulky and ugly they were. I have two LCDs from them and they are functional and were dirt cheap. Don't have any frills like no onscreen controls, which was the first time I had ever seen that, and the only time. I'm a sucker for their Day of Deals, even though they are pretty bleh most of the time.

Lenovo -> wow visaperks.ca used to be really good about a year back for Lenovo discounts. Got a desktop for 299$ free shipping and a laptop for 599$ free shipping. Beautiful solid machines. Cheap and durable. Lenovo branded.

IBM/Lenovo -> have a Thinkpad laptop apart from the aforementioned Lenovo laptop and it's nice and solid. Great hard drive active protection. Overpriced usually but I got a good deal so I'm pleased with it. Wouldn't repeat purchase unless I saw an incredible deal. Just too expensive for what you get.

Sony -> I really dislike this company, in fact I hate them. These jokers have proprietary software drivers, proprietary memory cards, and proprietary dead-end formats (UMD, MiniDisc). They think they own the high-end and they can walk all over my lawn and make me like it. Hell no I ain't gonna get locked into their proprietary overpriced fantasy world. Oh and did I mention their Rootkits. Technological mongrels!

Acer -> Wow. Impressed. Cheap and cheerful, can get plenty of great hardware from these guys for the price of a night on the town. Have a desktop from them that is beautiful, such a good looking case, functional system, and really nice inside for expansion. Various parts like LCDs, burners, etc from these guys and love the price point and the quality. I don't hesitate to buy from em.

LG -> just started with them. Bought a new screen from them today in fact. A 19" widescreen from futureshop for 180$ before tax. Pretty nice screen, I'm liking their 3-yr warranty. Hopefully I won't need to use it, and the quality seems as good as Acer. May be better, people seem to think they are better. I'll find out. Giving them a shot when the price is good.

Samsung -> What a great company. Digicams, screens are great from these guys. Their low-end digicams are durable and cheap and aren't full of features that I don't care about. Really enjoyed their stuff. I fondly think about my 4MP digicam that I dropped repeatedly on concrete, threw around, and still use occasionaly. Screens have a weird MagiTune MagiColor feature that I really didn't understand. Ended up disabling it on the samsung screens I use. But happy with the quality, if the price is a bit high.

Asus -> they were the king, but not anymore. For motherboards I go for Gigabyte, and MSI and even ECS.

ECS -> wow I used to hate these guys in 2003. Had a board burn out on me and take out some of the system. Couldn't believe it. The PSU was fine, the board crapped out. What a joke. Then I found out that the system I use the most these days and depend on has an ECS motherboard (my lenovo). Can't believe how good it's held up. Had to re-examine this prejudice.

Apple -> Lifestyle company. If I got a free Mac I would use it for the comic making program: Comic Life. That is one cool program. That's a system seller to me. Smooth and what a laugh. If I found a cheap mini say about 400$ I might pick it up for Comic Life. But apart from that why bother? Really don't see the point in Apple computers. Ipods? cant believe how bad Itunes is. What a joke. Proprietary junk made cool on the altar of mass indoctrination cum mass advertising. These guys are spin doctors par excellence. Mac's are cool if you're bored and you know computers or if you are a 'pure user', you just surf, email and word process. Creativity on the Mac? Somehow their advertising dept has convinced the world that creative types need to be on a Mac, but in one word: 'No.' I just laugh at that assertion. Ok except for Comic Life ;) And yes it's lame how Microsoft has copied Apple's lame eye-candy and smacked it onto WinME-Vista2007-LOL.

Microsoft -> Never trust these guys. Never. But yeah XP is solid, has a good network stack, and runs fast on modern hardware. Not gonna 'upgrade' for a while. Their other software is sometimes really neat, but then doesn't go far. OneNote was cool. Apart from that, Microsoft Research is hella cool. Those guys are into some power-up xtreme power-gloves. Check out Microsoft Research's Photosynth. Wow. Just wow. They can afford to hire the top guys. But why don't we see that sort of thing in 'our apps' ? Instead we get some lame Vista-Eye-Slow-Canday. Oh and how exactly is Office 2007 better than Office 2003 is better than Office 2002 is better than Office 2000 is better than Office97? Man I still use Office97 even though I could use the rest. What a joke.

Corel -> Wordperfect was cool. Corel who? Too bad, they are based in Ottawa. Would be neat if they were actually good these days. Still use Wordperfect 8. LOL.

Hitachi -> use their hard drives, no big problems. I think the deskstars are old news!

Ok I'm done with this essay. I hope I get a good grade :D

P.S. I like SOYO (not Sony). Cheap and good.

[fitbrit]

Used to hate anything coming out of Korea (Samsung, LG). Not anymore.


Agreed. When I lived in the UK, Samsung was a "cheap brand". In 1996 I moved to Canada and bought a $300 VCR, when most equivalents were $450. Wow, that was the best VCR I ever had,a nd it made me respect Samsung products since then.
LG did something similar, but mostly from shared experiences of others.

[dhamilton]

Sony - everything I've purchased that is Sony dies just out of warranty...it's ridiculous. Now I don't touch anything that's Sony - it's all overpriced anyway.

Apple - severely overpriced and people just buy it because of the marketing and to look cool.

I know there's a lot more, I just can't think of it lol

[fitbrit]

Dell ->

Lenovo ->

IBM/Lenovo ->

Sony ->

Acer ->

LG ->

Samsung ->

Asus ->

ECS ->

Apple ->

Microsoft ->

Corel ->

Hitachi ->

Ok I'm done with this essay. I hope I get a good grade :D



Thanks a lot for your honesty and detailed answers.

[woodstock827]

Sony: My TV and home theatre system still working great after 12 years. still on my first PS2 even when it's been mod twice. I don't have their DC, but their ultra-compact cameras really is one of the best out there and really good looking, although the memory stick thing do suck (they're so cheap now anyway so don't really care much anymore). Their phone sucks though.. either it's slow, bad reception, or simply breaks... but they do have good mp3 and camera features..

Apple: never gonna get one...

LG: not gonna buy their cellphone.. other stuff are not bad

American cars: never will get one, although I would consider one of the new Saturnized Vauxhall/Opel (Sky looks great but heard it runs pretty bad) :D

MDG: never buying anything there. Friend used to work there and it's the worst place.

[risqu3]

SONY: Monitor, Camcorder, TV, PS1, PS2, w/e else you can throw, top quality, never had a problem with them.

Acer: Dont even think about it.

Apple: Overpriced but you can usually get a cheap ipod..(the only good thing to ever come out of apple)

WD: ALWAYS have used a WD hd, reliable and fast. wont use another one.

MSI: They are improving their products, but they still have a long path ahead of them..

Abit: The crazy overclockers motherboards, i remember the socket 754 mobo's with everything unlocked from the factory.

Blizzard: I hate them fro stealing 1 year of my life :/

Logitech: Their new mice are really weird, i wish they would go back to normal looking mice (just look @ the G9 it looks like a ******** mouse)

Intel: Ever since the horrible Pentium 3, and my brothers Pentium 4, i have never wanted to touch an intel again.

AMD: Still give the bang for the buck, cant wait for teh phenom x4's.

Valve: WHY DO WE HAVE TO USE STEAM. Way to ruin Counter-strike with 1.6.

[B0000rt]

Cdma!

I have no prejudices, well I seem to like Asus for mobos heh.

My current system is an E2180 w/ Asus mobo with 2900 PRo
My previous system was a 2500+ XP w/ Asus mobo with 6600GT
My system prior to that was 300a w/ Abit BH6 and 9600 pro

[ShadowVlican]

MY PREJUDICES:

SONY: dislike their business practices but some of their products are cool as hell
ASUS: best motherboard manufacturer
ABIT: used to be crazy OCing boards... now I ignore them
THERMALTAKE: engineers there are very good at copying other companies
LOGITECH: best peripherals
SAMSUNG: best LCDs
KODAK/HP/ETC: i ignore all their digicams and only look at CANON/FUJI and sometimes SONY
LEXMARK: garbage printers, CANON FTW
APPLE: love the way they change the techworld even though us geeks know of better products
LG: overpriced notebooks, ASUS ftw
AMERICAN CARS: ignored...
MAXTOR/WD/SEAGATE: all the same to me, i must be lucky
DELL: i like how they listen to customers and dell days are teh win!! laptops are fine and competitive, i ignore their desktops as i build my own

[board123]

All OEM systems are garbage.

Apple: garbage

Asus: overpriced motherboards; "enthusiast" boards are not very advanced at all

Dell: very nice monitors, very bad desktops, average laptops

DFI: best motherboards

Gigabyte: motherboard layouts are less than perfect and look ugly in general

Lexmark: garbage

Logitech: good quality and innovative peripherals

GIMP: the worst piece of software ever created

Microsoft: AWESOME! My favorite software company :cheesygri

Verbatim: it's either Verbatim (or better) or nothing

XFX: overpriced (you're paying for the number of 'X's a.l.a. XFX 8800GTX XXX Edition)

Zalman: good VGA coolers, very overpriced CPU coolers

[magical]

ASUS: Screwed me over with the P5PE-VM, what a piece of crap, finally got a replacement after hours and hours of whining and 3+ replacement crap boards...

MAXTOR: dont trust em, as far as I can throw em, had a 6 drive raid-5 and 2 drives in a month die, replace them all with seagates and zero failures for 3+ years.

SEAGATE: 1yr ago, top knotch, now, nothing special, am in the PC business and have had lots of failures, 320GB AAK firmware fiasco! I still buy em but now buy WD aswell.

WD: Seem fine, only gripe is warranty isn't as good!

LG: There optical Drives suck, made maybe 4 burns in a year, and the 5th burn the unit died!

PIONEER: Great drives! except for the 109/110, but the 111's and 112s are great, 101-108's were the best quality wise IMO!

ECS/PC-CHIPS: A Joke, need not say any more

GIGABYTE: Just Ok.

ABIT: Decent

CORSAIR: Good Ram, with a few problems, but in general real good.... Power Supplys are AWESOME and top-knotch.

Antec: Used to be old-faithful but now I won't touch em due to the fujji-yu fiasco, I know the problem is fixed, but they should really do something to people that bought this crap product with a KNOWN problem, even though most work they are still very flakly with those caps! and come on, cheaping out over literally .30cents a power supply to make $$$ .. gimme a break.

Enermax: Always solid and still solid.

Lian-Li: The best cases if you ask me bar-none, some may not like the no-frills style, but as a system builder, you'll appreciate the cases, very well designed and no band-aids necessary.

APPLE: If you like overpaying for something that quality wise ain't anything better, same as all brand names, who knows what you get that 'day'... plus I hate the all-in-one pcs (yeah I know they make UBER expensive seperate unit pcs) .. all image, all looks... same goes for IPODS .. useless crap, non-replaceable batterys, all image ... hardest thing about picking a IPOD is the color ... people that buy MACS/IPODS care more about how it will coordinate with their clothes/etc rather than the quality .. plus I hate the "Fisher Price" Mac Interface and loathe people that get macs cause 'they dont have problems with virii or other issues' to those people I say stop downloading from kazaa, morpheus, p2p, etc etc etc and get some good antivirus + spyware software, which reminds me my antivirus software isn't even Active, I'm just not a moron.

AMD: Since I sell business systems, no time for them as I call em "tweakers" systems, sure they used to perform better than intels but now they lag behind the core 2 duos.

Intel: They had great processors up till the prescott's, after the 3.0E came out I was devistated, pretty much was forced into AMD, but once they came out with the Core 2 Duo's they have killed AMD once more. There Motherboards are top-knotch and all I Use, since I dont overclock, they are rock solid and stable as hell.

People that Cheap out on Blank Media: A Joke, anything other than high grade MCC, or Japan Made Taiyo's aint worth it IMO.

External HDD Enclosures: Anything without a fan unless 2.5" are pretty much a joke, heat kills, and unless used as a backup (which is crazy) why bother... get a RAID system instead (no backup but at least you dont have to worry bout hard drive failures)

Dell: Only buy there monitors/ups's .. I guess they are ok for price, but as a builder I dont really like any pre-built machines.

Linksys: Best SOHO routers in the business, won't reccomend anything other than a WRT54GL for home non-VPN use!

Sennheiser: Worlds best headphones! comfortable and sound good!

Ford: I owned several, pieces of crap, sell it fast

Chevy: Liked a bit more than ford, but they dont stand by their vechiles, my friend had 102K on a known headgasket blower, and cause he was 2k over they wouldn't honour the warranty, wonder why they dont have customer loyalty

Dodge: worse than Ford+Chevy, funniest thing are all the magnums and 300s you see, they are for poeple that want to look cool but they are the biggest pieces of crap on the road, horrible visibility, fugly if you ask me, and to be compared to the dodge intrepids, horrible reliablity.. not many of those around if you ask me ...

Honda/Acura: Stands behind there product and believes in customer loyalty, even tho they are assembled in canada/usa are still very high quality.

Toyota/Lexus: See Honda

Nissan: Not quite a good as honda or toyota but still better than a ford chevy or dodge

Subaru: Not bad, but nothing special, cept the imprezza wrx sti.

Audi: No Comment.

Volkswagen: German built ones are ok, expensive, semi-reliable and the mexican ones aren't great.

---

I'll think of more later

[SW20 MR2]

Dell -> Good for people like my dad/uncle who know nothing about computers. I used to keep up with new technology, but not anymore. I'm considering buying a new Dell machine for simplicity and convenience since I don't do anything but surf the net on my home computer.

Lenovo -> Great laptops. We've used a total of 5 laptops in our family (home and work), and they're all great.

Sony -> I like their products. We've had Sony TVs since I was young, and my recent Sony LCD purchase keeps it going.

Panasonic -> Same as Sony. I have a Panny plasma as well.

Acer -> Decent products for cheap. I don't hesitate to buy "disposable" products from companies like this (ie. computer monitor). I just don't buy high-ticket items like laptops.

LG -> Same as Acer. I considered buying an LG fridge, but was a little weary of long-term reliability.

Samsung -> I still can't get past the stigma of Korean-made products. Applies to LG as well. I know that companies like Samsung and Hyundai have improved tremendously over the years, but it's just a mental block. I know that Sammy's LCD TVs get good reviews, but I couldn't bring myself to buy one.

Apple -> Don't like them at all. I'm not "trendy", so I couldn't care less about buying an Ipod or Ibook(?) (whatever it's called). I still can't get past the retro 80's looking operating system that they had.

[hagbard]

Canon - if you want to know why, run a search on Canon with author hagbard. Criminal customer support.

As for everything else, seems like things were better made years ago then they are today. Absolutely no quality control and useless support, that goes for retailers as well as manufacturers.

[fitbrit]

Internet Explorer: Hate it. Would rather use Firefox or even Netscape 8.x. We were forced to sue it at work for 2 yrs, but now it won't work with a recent OS update, so we can use FF. Yay! :razz:

[bokep]

mine

opera: best browser ever

firefox: sucks the hairy one. i switched to it from opera when it first came out because it was new and hip and it was all good until some version that crashed every 2 seconds and slows everything down. **** you mozilla. permanent scar, never again.

sony/microsoft: i hate them both because their ps/xbox fanboys can't shut the **** up. especially applies to people who play halo online. why don't you do something with your life instead of working on your gamer tag all day you big loser

FSP: best PSUs ever

intel: i hate them because i bought a prescott thinking intel is good... hah... but i'm using c2d right now because of that 640m deal

amd: why the hell did you buy ati now you both suck

nvidia: the devil, but ati/amd doesn't make good high-end cards... not that i care

shure: so good but why the hell are your earbuds so expensive i lost mine on the bus and felt like ****.

dell: i love your deals

zalman: i like your notebook cooler

american cars: yeah they suck

lexmark: i wouldn't use one if i got paid for it

acer notebooks: for people who don't know better

ibm/lenovo: best notebooks ever

hp: i like you

EA: thanks for ruining C&C *******, don't screw the pooch with bioware

Trendnet: i don't want to touch you anymore

[optimum]

Apple: garbage



far from it :cheesygri

[Takada]

MDG: Garbage.

Acer desktops: Decent. They actually put in a Seagate hard drive and brand name memory, decent speed into my ultra budget desktop.

LG: Stylish products. Good quality too.

Sony: After going to the Sony HQ in Japan, I have to say that they have some pretty sexy technology. Overpriced though.

Panasonic: They make good plasma TVs

Creative: Decent soundcards, but way too many marketing words in their product descriptions. Makes fragile Aurvana headphones with thin cords.

Canon: Awesome cameras and printers. Love them.

Dell: Improving w/ prices lately.

Lexmark: Garbage

Audio-technica: geekiest looking, but most comfortable, high-quality headphones

Sennheiser: Nice headphones, but lots are plasticy and cheap-feeling.

Altec Lansing: Nice speakers that don't get enough attention.

Logitech: Decent speakers that get too much attention. Great keyboards/mice though.

Benq: Used to make the best dvd burners. Long-time 1620 user

Microsoft: Gets way more hate than they deserve. Windows 2000 was a huge improvement over 98/ME.

Samsung: Decent all around products. VERY nice MP3 players that don't get enough credit. Great, cheap laser printers too.

Maxthon: Best browser ever.

Firefox: The new mainstream anti-microsoft movement.

HP: Don't like their printers or computers that much anymore. Competition is stiffening up.

Epson: Garbage ink cartridge systems. Expensive. Nice photo quality though other companies are now comparable.

Philips: Nice Divx dvd players.

Sharp: Nice LCDs.

[fitbrit]

I have to agree with the love for Canon printers and cameras. Ever since my i450, I've been sold on their print quality.

[Emancipated]

Apple products: until I bought one and actually had hands on experience. Still overpriced for what you get but people are still driving BMWs and Mercs in droves.

Maxtor: same story as above. Bought one which died only a few months into it, then the replacement also died. Gave up and vowed never to buy them again.

MDG: No one has anything nice to say about them. Inlaw had a computer from them; I tried fixing it once and ended up in a family feud that lasted to this day. True story.

[MasterXan]

1) Sony - when comparing LCDs with other top Japanese makes, Sony is usually more expensive but similarly equiped

2) Apple - prebuild computers suck

3) Dell - same reason as Apple

4) Electronic Arts - the games they develop usually suck (with the exception to C&C 3)

5) Volkswagen - AKA. FAKE German.

6) Toyota - good quality, bland designs, expensive when comparing same classes with other makes and includes less standard features

[brunes]

Here's my opinion on Kodak digital cameras, and I think it is a sound one since I, my mother, my sister, my mother in law, and brother in law, all have them. They are great. The software on the camera is very simple and easy to use, you don't have to fuss with it, it just works. Same with the software on the PC. I had a Minolta before my Kodak and to switch to video mode I had to go through three different menus with this stupid D-PAD. This is not something you want to be doing when you are seeing that "perfect shot". All Kodaks have the nice mode jog dial at the top. The optics are all pretty good. Battery life is not stellar, but since they all take common AA batteries instead of some custom battery pack it is not an issue.

My current one is a 7.1 MP that I got on sale at Dell.ca for $149. It can take 640x480 full motion video with no time limit (other than memory card space). This video look stellar on any TV, or even scaled up to full screen on my 1600x1200 monitor. In fact the video this thing takes looks better than some friends' older camcorders does.

The only thing that could be seen as bad about Kodak cameras is they have next to no adjustments. Other than the pre-canned "Sport", "Night", etc modes, there are no adjustments on the camera at all for exposure, etc. But unless you are a photo junkie you shouldn't care about that anyway - when you are running to get your camera to take a pic of the family dog who has time to screw around with the exposure? This is why I never really pay any second notice to reviews on camera sites - all these reviews are written by camera junkies who have too much time on their hands and/or are concerned about different things than the average consumer when it comes to a camera.

Kodaks are great. I look at them the same as an iPod in the MP3 player world. Sure it may not have all the features you can get in other devices - but it is simple, reliable, does what it does very well, and it JUST WORKS.

[S_G]

ECS: Used to have a bad reputation, and despite recent better reviews, I am reluctant to purchase their mobos.
It's a board-by-board basis. You have to do some research. For example, I had this M810LMR board from back in 2000 with PC100 RAM and a Duron 800. It was by PCChips, but they're the same company. Anyhow, that extremely-low-end board overclocked by RAM to 166MHz and my CPU to 1GHz (which would later be replaced by an Athlon 1200 at 1333MHz).

I just do all my research on everything, though I still do have some prejudices. For example, I will rarely look at Sony audio products, as they are terribly overpriced (though the odd one is actually of good quality).

My main prejudice, though, would have to be with displays. To this day, I do not own a single LCD monitor, with the exception of my laptop display -- which I don't even use! I have a 22" CRT hooked up to my laptop, and a 100lb 24" widescreen CRT (FW900, baby) that I use for watching movies and TV, in high definition, of course. I just hate the fact that LCDs have fixed pixels (looks like crap in anything other than its native resolution) and they suffer from various quality issues (color banding, gamut, reproduction, backlight, black levels, etc.), while at the same time, I secretly relent that my CRTs aren't as pixel-sharp as LCDs at their native resolution.


2) Apple - prebuild computers suck

4) Electronic Arts - the games they develop usually suck (with the exception to C&C 3)
Not an Apple fan, but their hardware is quality. The MacBook Pro is one of the fastest laptops available. I generally avoid prebuilt computers as well, unless I know each of the parts and I am comfortable with them (ie. a good motherboard, most importantly).

And yes, EA sucks. Hard.

[optimum]

RCA: Below average quality
Lexmark: Below average quality
Nexxtech: Below average quality
GE Phones: Below average quality
Sony: overpriced

American vehicules are only good for rentals except Cadillacs, Trucks, Corvettes and Hummers

[TenzoR]

I'm not prejudices to any brand nor am I loyal to any brand either. I buy whatever works for me the best at the purchase time.

[fitbrit]

Here's my opinion on Kodak digital cameras, and I think it is a sound one since I, my mother, my sister, my mother in law, and brother in law, all have them. They are great. The software on the camera is very simple and easy to use, you don't have to fuss with it, it just works. Same with the software on the PC. I had a Minolta before my Kodak and to switch to video mode I had to go through three different menus with this stupid D-PAD. This is not something you want to be doing when you are seeing that "perfect shot". All Kodaks have the nice mode jog dial at the top. The optics are all pretty good. Battery life is not stellar, but since they all take common AA batteries instead of some custom battery pack it is not an issue.

My current one is a 7.1 MP that I got on sale at Dell.ca for $149. It can take 640x480 full motion video with no time limit (other than memory card space). This video look stellar on any TV, or even scaled up to full screen on my 1600x1200 monitor. In fact the video this thing takes looks better than some friends' older camcorders does.

The only thing that could be seen as bad about Kodak cameras is they have next to no adjustments. Other than the pre-canned "Sport", "Night", etc modes, there are no adjustments on the camera at all for exposure, etc. But unless you are a photo junkie you shouldn't care about that anyway - when you are running to get your camera to take a pic of the family dog who has time to screw around with the exposure? This is why I never really pay any second notice to reviews on camera sites - all these reviews are written by camera junkies who have too much time on their hands and/or are concerned about different things than the average consumer when it comes to a camera.

Kodaks are great. I look at them the same as an iPod in the MP3 player world. Sure it may not have all the features you can get in other devices - but it is simple, reliable, does what it does very well, and it JUST WORKS.


Thanks for this awesome opinion piece. great to see some people standing by their (less than popular) choice! :)

[fitbrit]

I'm not prejudices to any brand nor am I loyal to any brand either. I buy whatever works for me the best at the purchase time.

When I started the thread, I was mainly stating "gut feelings" I had. Choices I'd avoid given equal features on paper etc. I too try to keep an open mind on most things. I think MDG is an exception, even though I have no personal experience with them. However, people quickly turned this into a "So-and-so is crap because I said so" thread. They seemed to have forgotten that it's a "prejudice", not "I believe this is fact".

[cereal83]

For me;

Apple - Just never liked them. Overpriced and well, PC is better
Asus - Crappiest mobo's on the planet IMO Everyime you reboot "Overclock failed, press F2 to continue"
ATI - First video card was a 9250se, Just for my PC to turn on, I sometimes had to turn the power switch on and off up to 10 times, take the video card out and it would work everytime


There is alot more that I wouldn't buy but I don't have the time to list them.

[Tjalfe]

Still not liking Goldstar, or Lucky Goldstar (LG) .. they used to produce some utter crap back in the days.. I know recent products are supposed to be good, I just still have the name Goldstar in the back of my head when seeing them.

[Fahrenheit]

Asus motherboards are a must!
LG: Still crap, at least their cellphones are
Maxtor HDDs: stay far far away!
Nvidia video cards are preferably to AMD/ATI
Plextor Burners: best if you are willing to fork over lots of $
Samsung: great display devices



EA: sucks, avoid if possible
Apple: alright, if you are looking for something different
Dell: get notebook if your only objective is to save $
Gateway: Stay far far away, more crap than Dell & HP
HP: samething as Dell
Microsoft: Love or Hate, can't stay away!
Sony: Looks great, works great usually, but overpriced, avoid if possible

[Oversized Rooster]

--> I don't like to buy Seagate hard drives despite their 5 year warranty because about 3 years ago, a 160GB 7200.7 SATA drive died on my real bad causing me to lose some very important data. Since then I only buy WD drives and I backup things three times. Apple is garbage in my books as long as I live.

--> I hate anything that has to do with Apple, especially their iPood player. A large part of this hate is fueled by the disgusting attitude which Apple owners display towards anything non-Apple.

--> I try to stay away from Logitech devices now a days too. About 1-2 years ago, I bought their top-of-the-line input devices. I had the G7 mouse and G15 keyboard. The mouse started double-clicking by the 3rd month. The keyboard keys wore out in a matter of 2 months. I was denied warranty despite the mouse problem at least being a perfectly legitimate problem. Also, I had to wait about 3 months for a replacement to my Z-5500 set.

--> I am now quite wary of purchasing any more OCZ products. I once tried their GameXstream 700W PSU, but it's "silent" 120mm fan was quite loud. I sold that PSU the same day. Also, I had 3 sets of their 2GB OCZ SLI Edition DDR2-1066 RAM die one me, plus a 1GB set of Platinum DDR2-800.

--> I used to purchase Creative speaker systems in the past. My last purchase was their GigaWorks 500W system which came with a defective subwoofer and center channel. Never bought another Creative speaker system again.

--> I avoid Thermaltake cases at all costs. While some people like their designs, and the materials are high quality most of the time, the build/assembly is often terrible.

--> I try to stay away from anything that's Sony because their lately their products use entirely proprietary parts which cost in times more to fix.

--> Out of the popular laptop brands, HP/Compaq are the crappiest in my books. It was their laptops that started this whole g.a.y. glossy screen madness. And around the year 2000, my sister owned a Compaq laptop whose chassis basically unglued itself on all sides. The laptop was being held together by hockey tape for a few months. Then the LCD screen ribbon cable got fooked up and the screen would just go white every 5 seconds. No more of this garbage!

--> I absolutely loathe Honda vehicles. Specifically their Civic variants and Accord. Why? Because on the street I keep on seeing those models with fartcans attached, 3 spoilers at once, cheap chrome tail-lights, terrible glaring HID retrofits, ugly wheels, home-made purple bubbly tint and a "homie" / "gangsta" driving his "hoe". Then the best part is how they always seem to think they're driving a Ferrari or something despite usually making about half the horsepower of the car they race.

--> I have a similar hate for the Mazda Protege and Mazda3 (its replacement). You don't see as much terrible "modding" as with the Hondas, but you still get bad-boy racecar drivers trying to push a $hitty 4-cylinder car around like it's a Porsche.

--> I hate all American car brands because they continue to make crudely-assembled garbage. I think their only chance of leaving the bottom spot is if Chinese auto makers start importing cars here. Especially, why do people buy all these General Motors garbage vehicles? They're not even significantly cheaper than the competition, but you do get a lot of additional garbage for free. At least buy a Ford if you're gonna buy American.

--> On the cell phone side, Nokia is my least-favorite brand because despite their phones' great specs, I've always found their designs plainly ugly.

[Fahrenheit]

Oops, double post...

[life_isgood]

--> I don't like to buy Seagate hard drives despite their 5 year warranty because about 3 years ago, a 160GB 7200.7 SATA drive died on my real bad causing me to lose some very important data. Since then I only buy WD drives and I backup things three times. Apple is garbage in my books as long as I live.

--> I hate anything that has to do with Apple, especially their iPood player. A large part of this hate is fueled by the disgusting attitude which Apple owners display towards anything non-Apple.

--> I try to stay away from Logitech devices now a days too. About 1-2 years ago, I bought their top-of-the-line input devices. I had the G7 mouse and G15 keyboard. The mouse started double-clicking by the 3rd month. The keyboard keys wore out in a matter of 2 months. I was denied warranty despite the mouse problem at least being a perfectly legitimate problem. Also, I had to wait about 3 months for a replacement to my Z-5500 set.

--> I am now quite wary of purchasing any more OCZ products. I once tried their GameXstream 700W PSU, but it's "silent" 120mm fan was quite loud. I sold that PSU the same day. Also, I had 3 sets of their 2GB OCZ SLI Edition DDR2-1066 RAM die one me, plus a 1GB set of Platinum DDR2-800.

--> I used to purchase Creative speaker systems in the past. My last purchase was their GigaWorks 500W system which came with a defective subwoofer and center channel. Never bought another Creative speaker system again.

--> I avoid Thermaltake cases at all costs. While some people like their designs, and the materials are high quality most of the time, the build/assembly is often terrible.

--> I try to stay away from anything that's Sony because their lately their products use entirely proprietary parts which cost in times more to fix.

--> Out of the popular laptop brands, HP/Compaq are the crappiest in my books. It was their laptops that started this whole g.a.y. glossy screen madness. And around the year 2000, my sister owned a Compaq laptop whose chassis basically unglued itself on all sides. The laptop was being held together by hockey tape for a few months. Then the LCD screen ribbon cable got fooked up and the screen would just go white every 5 seconds. No more of this garbage!

--> I absolutely loathe Honda vehicles. Specifically their Civic variants and Accord. Why? Because on the street I keep on seeing those models with fartcans attached, 3 spoilers at once, cheap chrome tail-lights, terrible glaring HID retrofits, ugly wheels, home-made purple bubbly tint and a "homie" / "gangsta" driving his "hoe". Then the best part is how they always seem to think they're driving a Ferrari or something despite usually making about half the horsepower of the car they race.

--> I have a similar hate for the Mazda Protege and Mazda3 (its replacement). You don't see as much terrible "modding" as with the Hondas, but you still get bad-boy racecar drivers trying to push a $hitty 4-cylinder car around like it's a Porsche.

--> I hate all American car brands because they continue to make crudely-assembled garbage. I think their only chance of leaving the bottom spot is if Chinese auto makers start importing cars here. Especially, why do people buy all these General Motors garbage vehicles? They're not even significantly cheaper than the competition, but you do get a lot of additional garbage for free. At least buy a Ford if you're gonna buy American.

--> On the cell phone side, Nokia is my least-favorite brand because despite their phones' great specs, I've always found their designs plainly ugly.

I have to disagree with almost all of your reviews except for the ocz, and thermaltake, since I haven't owned either.

[Topher]

Every Western Digital hard drive I've ever had has died. Even the replacement drives they sent died. I won't buy another WD drive because of that.

I used to sell Bose, and while I liked the commission on them, I would never buy their overpriced stuff. There's a reason they market it as the "Lifestyle". They want you to think you're upper class by having this trendy-looking unit that has very limited functionality and connections and even more limited upgrade paths. They master their own demo cds, and the music is chosen very carefully (and well), and then mastered even more carefully to show off the system. Very well done for what it is, but it's still overpriced.

I prefer AMD, only because I like the underdog. I have no aversions to Intel, though, so I don't have any further explanation there.

[Firestorm ZERO]

- Seagate - got one of their hard drive and had major issues that I lost some data and so I always stick with WD now. I still have old WD HDs in use and still going strong.
- Apple - anyone who buys an ipod is a sucker IMO. There are way better players out there.
- OCZ - the horrible rebate experience I had which took months to fix. Poor CS. Only had my attention when I made a BBB report.
- Firefox - I will always love this browser. Hate IE with a passion. I tried Opera. It is nice but never got used to it.
- APC - had some issues with their UPS but I say good CS as they upgraded my UPS for the hassle for free.
- uTorrent - always will be torrent program :)
- nVidia - because I hate the Catalyst Control Center
- Plextor - overpriced crap
- Maxtor - will never touch one
- MDG - same reason as above
- Samsung - love their LCD monitors
- Windows Vista - will not touch it till years later

[Happy13178]

Maxtor. Never again, had bad experiences and won't go near them now.
Anything sold by MDG, branded or otherwise.
Asidtech...never had any good product by them.

I'm sure there are more, those are just off the top of my head.

[weedb0y]

BTW, I'm VERY impressed with the 24" Westinghouse LCD I got this weekend. That company is improving its products rapidly.

Very satisfied with my 27" Westinghouse as well. Except the remote.

[fitbrit]

Very satisfied with my 27" Westinghouse as well. Except the remote.

I tend not to even look at remotes due to my faithful Harmony 880.

[sleepyguy]

Well, i pretty much do this as a career so here we go...

The Good,
HP entry level servers
Dell desktops
HP mid range lasers
Lenovo laptops, the high end ones are pretty awesome
Any MS OS that has not been out for more then 3yrs
Seagate HD, great quiet HD and great warranty coverage
ECS boards (i stopped building pcs for quite some time though), my K7S is still running strong as a file/media server.
Gonna probably get flamed but Alienware laptops... buddy has one and paid big bucks but it's pretty sweet.
iPod hardware, great hardware i must admit.

The Bad
HP/Compaq laptops... yes all of them even the damn $3000 ones!
desktop HP laser printers, the drivers STINK!
Anything Lexmark
entry level IBM servers
Any DLink product
WD HD, so many have died on me it's not funny
Anything Adaptec (they got bought out though i think), I can't stand their stuff...
Any MSI mother board... too many deaths
Sony laptops... all style... all crap
ipod software, I hate iTunes with passion!



I could go on forever!

[life_isgood]

Well, i pretty much do this as a career so here we go...

The Good,
HP entry level servers
Dell desktops
HP mid range lasers
Lenovo laptops, the high end ones are pretty awesome
Any MS OS that has not been out for more then 3yrs
Seagate HD, great quiet HD and great warranty coverage
ECS boards (i stopped building pcs for quite some time though), my K7S is still running strong as a file/media server.
Gonna probably get flamed but Alienware laptops... buddy has one and paid big bucks but it's pretty sweet.
iPod hardware, great hardware i must admit.

The Bad
HP/Compaq laptops... yes all of them even the damn $3000 ones!
desktop HP laser printers, the drivers STINK!
Anything Lexmark
entry level IBM servers
Any DLink product
WD HD, so many have died on me it's not funny
Anything Adaptec (they got bought out though i think), I can't stand their stuff...
Any MSI mother board... too many deaths
Sony laptops... all style... all crap
ipod software, I hate iTunes with passion!





I could go on forever!

keep em coming!

[toalan]

Sony: Over Priced, they spend more money on marketing than product development.

Apple: Same as sony, except they think their sh*t do not smell.

Dell: Pre ~2005, they sucked ass. Now they are #1 in my books.

IBM: They only made good laptops, after they sold it off they became irrelevant to me.

Phillips: Up until a year ago I thought they did not do anything relevant for the past decade, actually they make good products but their products are usually components of a much bigger system built by someone else so you never see their logo on anything.

Texas Instruments: Same as phillips.

Atmel: Great products, perfect execution.

Cypress: Great great products, but execution is not that great.

Nokia: Did not think much of them until I bought the N770 internet tablet, now I know this company is capable creating groundbreaking products at reasonable prices.

The biggest changes to my prejudices is DELL, pre 2005 I had horrible experiences with their quality and design, now all that has changed. Not only do they make great products they are often the best place to find "Hot Deals".

[Zertz]

- nVidia - because I hate the Catalyst Control Center

I think you misdirect your hate.

Back on topic; I ate computer hardware.

[fitbrit]

Going over the thread quickly, it seems some people love certain companies, while others hate them. I bet that if I plotted positive versus negative reviews for each, it'd be pretty close to neutral for most companies.

Except MDG, of course! ;)