bit-tech.net | bit-tech weekend poll: PC advice to others?

DaveVader 10th June 2008, 16:37

IRL or online (or both)
I dunno to be honest, if it's replying to threads then quite a few, but IRL not many people know of my "geekiness"

steveo_mcg 10th June 2008, 16:38

Not so many of late, I've already ~~bullied~~ advised most folk i know on purchasing computers, so most are less than 3 years old which tbh is more than enough for most of the population.

badders 10th June 2008, 16:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by steveo_mcg
Not so many of late, I've already ~~bullied~~ advised most folk i know on purchasing computers, so most are less than 3 years old which tbh is more than enough for most of the population.

+1 To be honest, most people I know are mid-upgrade cycle at the moment.

oasked 10th June 2008, 16:56

1 here, I even went through and chose all the options on Dell's site for them. :)

badders 10th June 2008, 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by oasked
1 here, I even went through and chose all the options on Dell's site for them. :)

He said Advised, not sabotaged!!

Jokes...Dell aren't bad for normal office stuff/websurfing

oasked 10th June 2008, 17:48

It was a laptop.... :)

Journeyer 10th June 2008, 17:52

20+ actually - I'm well known as being the office/neighbourhood geek. :D

UncertainGod 10th June 2008, 17:59

I think I've built/bought around 5 systems in that time and probably advised on quite a few more when down the pub.

VictorianBloke 10th June 2008, 18:00

I've never advised anyone to buy, I have built for people though that have asked for advice and will be again soonish. I nearly got burned at uni by a company that went into receivership the day after I took delivery of a faulty base unit. Since then I've trusted myself. If I count that as advice then one in the last 6 months, upgrades...lots

Squadexodus 10th June 2008, 18:11

7 Of them, 5 Followed through. One of them is better than my comp, Unfortunatley...

The_Beast 10th June 2008, 20:09

I've helped people pick out parts, does that count???

if so I'd say 5-10

LeMaltor 10th June 2008, 20:25

Everyone that has posted so far needs to buy a PC or laptop, that's 12 people I have advised then :D

Delphium 11th June 2008, 09:06

Advised on some upgrade bits for a couple of friends online, and assisted a RL mate with picking the parts and building it for him.

BioSniper 11th June 2008, 09:12

Advised parts builds mostly as I seem to be the only one that keeps with with the "bang-for-buck" stuff out of people I know.
Most just say I have £xxx spec me something that you think is good for the money, and they usually buy it.

Oreon_237 11th June 2008, 09:28

Told my sister what laptop to get, i specced out something for my friend (cost way more than i could ever spend), and specced my cousins rig up too. plus all the upgrades that ive done

Geektechnica 11th June 2008, 11:47

20+ Easily. I'm a SysAdmin for a medium sized company, I get people walking into my office all the time asking for recommendations for a new PC, or a new laptop for the wifey or their kid that is going off to college.

Shadow_101 11th June 2008, 14:00

grand total of about 2.

sotu1 11th June 2008, 14:54

loads, but the conversation usually goes like this:

me: what do you want a new pc for?
them: my one runs slow. i use it for msn and facebook and myspace.
me: reboot your pc. a 10 year old pc will do the job fine.

and when someone really does want a new pc and ask me what to get i make recomendations on exactly what to get. then they buy any old ill suited crap off dell.

idiots.

ppl on bit-tech are cool tho. you guys listen

mctigger 11th June 2008, 15:28

probably 3-5 to IRL, but the number of times people have asked me at the pub and which i have "forgot" about, so it could be more

iggy2k 11th June 2008, 16:47

i walk up to people on trains and tell them all about the wonders of pcs. they all run away though.

danmec 11th June 2008, 19:18

Just the one. They didn't listen though

Lord_A 29th June 2008, 17:40

About a dozen, mixture of laptops, desktops, and a couple servers.
And then another dozen or so upgrades, both laptop & deskop machines.

SanDmaN 29th June 2008, 22:56

erm..... I do it for a living so i'd say about 500+ :D hahahaha

Peter187 30th June 2008, 12:39

Buy a Dell they always have a deal going lol.. unless you want somthing for gaming.

Elv13 2nd July 2008, 02:19

11-20 IRL, 3 or 4 time that online only

Timmy_the_tortoise 4th July 2008, 15:01

I'd love to advise on purchsing PCs, but I'm never asked...

I don't have any friends who buy their own PCs.. since I'm only 19.. and my older brother often gets all of the questions from my family.. Although, he has moved to london now.. so my parents are starting to direct more of the technical questions to me.. I advised on the purchase of our new TV, which ended up being a Panasonic Viera LDZ-80.. I think... I got it from past experience, since my mate has the model below, which is a cracking TV.

I have had the of what graphics card to buy... and I said not to bother because he didn't even have AGP, nevermind PCIe..

.... He got an AGP card... And then a SATA DVD Drive without a SATA motherboard...

p3n 4th July 2008, 15:21

Laptop .. Dell or Apple

Machine - custom baby! (or iMac for appleheads :p)

will. 4th July 2008, 15:21

I got fed up and started just suggesting people get dells...

Timmy_the_tortoise 4th July 2008, 15:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by will.
I got fed up and started just suggesting people get dells...

You're a HORRIBLE person.

KayinBlack 4th July 2008, 15:24

Do 20+ every day at work. I work at Office Depot, trying to prevent bad purchases.

xion 4th July 2008, 15:40

i've tried to give up all input to this type of question for one simple reason, you instantly become 24-7 support, for any problem no matter how tenuously linked it may be. In fact i had a call last week from someone i built a rig for 7 years ago, apparrently it was running slow and could i take a look...

avoid helping people, yup, may not be firendly, but it saves you wanting to rip their heads off in frustration years later! :P

pistol_pete 4th July 2008, 15:45

I almost convinced my dad to get an 8800GT... but Scan didn't have the specific model I'd showed him so he got an Evga 9600GT instead. Good stuff.

[USRF]Obiwan 4th July 2008, 15:50

well i was selecting parts and reading reviews all over for my system upgrade in march 2008, then in about 4 weeks time 3 friends had the same idea and asked for advice, so i recomended my system upgrade. And all are happy gaming, video editing, and audio edting since then on their new upgraded systems. But the bad thing is... I still have not upgraded and still working on a 3 years old machine (with a gt8800 I bought in may)

:(

DougEdey 4th July 2008, 15:55

I always tell people to buy Dells now, why the hell should I bother trying to help people that don't know what they're doing and resolve their problems when they just need to contact their on site dell support.

shaffaaf27 4th July 2008, 16:01

nto on bit tech, but on the OcUK fourms i mostly just spec PCs for everyone at different pricepoints, via the OcUK shop.

kenco_uk 4th July 2008, 16:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by SanDmaN
erm..... I do it for a living so i'd say about 500+ :D hahahaha

Self-employed?

BigD79 4th July 2008, 16:18

4 i reckon, all laptops, which i don't know much about but i'm the family goto for geekiness. 1 Dell, 2 PCWorld (sorry) and a Macbook. I end up sorting their wireless config too.
I have become IS support ("Turn it off, now back on." see, its true!), but tend to get them to ring the helplines if its too taxing. I started with "yeah you could build a cool one", but it should be obvious that if they've got to ask for so much guidance a pre-fab is the best option, they just need a helping hand deciding ("whats your budget, what do want it for, well this one fits the bill but this one will be "faster" and is only £30 more" etc etc)

crompers 4th July 2008, 16:26

amongst people i know that are into tech i usually get asked. i advise family and they ignore me.

i once had a friend who asked me for advice on a new hard drive and told him scan was usually cheapest. he went and bought a sata hdd for an ide board and then claimed i told him that anything from scan would do the job. and this guy is a doctor!

idiot.

Arkanrais 4th July 2008, 16:28

I've advised noone in the last 6 months though I've had a few people ask me about upgrading parts of their PC's. aside from that, I've been telling people not to buy from department stores (especially one named harvey norman) as some sell low end machines for top end or midrange prices (2.2GHz sempron, 2GB ram, 160GB HDD, 8400GS graphics, HD DVD burner, 19" or 22" monitor for $2200 at harvey norman or a pc with a Core 2 Duo E8200, 2GB RAM, 640GB HDD, 20xDVD-Writer, Dual nVidia 9600GT 512MB in SLI and no monitor for $1720.00 at an online retailer).
I've given advice for getting a new PC to some people, but I don't know if they've gone a got a new computer from said advice as they've mostly been people I only see once a week for half an hour at a meeting or people I don't see for long periods of time.

phuzz 4th July 2008, 16:34

Just built one today, only thing is it's for an Italian and I only have English install disks for XP, anyone know where I can pick up an Italian one? (understanding what's going on isn't much of a problem, I've installed XP so many times now I don't even read the english)

Hg80 4th July 2008, 16:39

4 family and friends

LeMaltor 4th July 2008, 16:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by phuzz
Just built one today, only thing is it's for an Italian and I only have English install disks for XP, anyone know where I can pick up an Italian one? (understanding what's going on isn't much of a problem, I've installed XP so many times now I don't even read the english)

Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options -> set it to Italian?

sleepyhollow 4th July 2008, 17:16

helped 2 to buy,advised 3. The best was spending £750 of somebody else's money. That was fun. The 2 that bought both wanted laptops.

liratheal 4th July 2008, 17:41

I voted 6-10, but it really depends for me. Some months I can feel like people never stop asking me questions, and others, I wonder if my phone is broken.

DarkLord7854 4th July 2008, 18:46

Does Upgrade advice count, for parts for desktops/servers?

Otherwise it's about 3 to 5

Bluephoenix 4th July 2008, 19:02

20+

I work the IT office at uni for spare cash, and (for better or worse) usually get requested by name by people looking for upgrade advice or general help.

rhuitron 4th July 2008, 19:25

Tis my job, Dear friends!

Repair, upgrade, Advise, Purchasing, Networking. Whatever.

StephenK 4th July 2008, 19:46

Wow! Interesting question, having done a quick count, I'm currently at 16 people in the last 6 months...

500mph 4th July 2008, 20:11

I've built 2 sub-$500 computers for friends

teamtd11 4th July 2008, 20:11

a whole pc? i regualy get asked should i buy part X or will part Y help my fps on CS:S

Ghys 4th July 2008, 20:30

I do (or used to) it for a job so ... lots

Ninja_182 4th July 2008, 20:42

A sister and a friend from uni.

Sisters was a laptop, she got a model up from what I suggested, gave me a budget, then when she had a play with the next one, she paid a little more.

Guy from uni was after a gaming pc. Ended up getting similar spec pre-built.

Veles 4th July 2008, 20:57

None, everyone I know either knows enough stuff or sticks with clapped out bangers.

Shadowed_fury 4th July 2008, 23:04

3-5.
I'm the resident tech-geek ;)

PHILIP1193 4th July 2008, 23:34

its my job to tell people what to buy, been in IT sales i'd of checked the 100-200 mark if i could if done :op

More realistically and for friends and family its more like 6-10

Phil

C0nKer 5th July 2008, 03:44

Can't recall that much. Probably less than 10.

HourBeforeDawn 5th July 2008, 05:12

hmm I would say Im in the 20+ as I am a computer consultant so I am always telling people what to buy lol

mr_carl 5th July 2008, 07:43

300+
do it as a living, then I probably just build about 10% of them.
I build the ones with the new fun hardware :)

Brooxy 5th July 2008, 11:39

20+

It's fairly easy for me - I'm a technical support analyst at work, and we do get people phoning up, asking what laptop / pda / kitchen sink to buy, and also, I'm ususally doing tech support for my mates when I need it...

vampalan 5th July 2008, 12:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by xion
i've tried to give up all input to this type of question for one simple reason, you instantly become 24-7 support, for any problem no matter how tenuously linked it may be. In fact i had a call last week from someone i built a rig for 7 years ago, apparrently it was running slow and could i take a look...

avoid helping people, yup, may not be firendly, but it saves you wanting to rip their heads off in frustration years later! :P

Same here, if any one asks me what to buy, I say get an Apple, anyone can use one of those and they should have a great support help line, or if they want a cheap PC go to PC World and pick one or get one from Dell as they have support lines too.

I no longer repair or upgrade other people's PC's due to the same reasons. Like if their PC broke about 2 years later after I upgraded it, its my fault.... wtf? No playing that game again.

B3CK 5th July 2008, 19:27

I work in a computer repair shop, and as the leading laptop technician, I usually offer advise 3-6 times a day.

As to people coming back with more questions all the time,, sure that's repeat business or growing the customer base as that person will tell their friends how helpful we are. As to bringing back an old computer, we have a cut-off of repair at windows 2k, xp, vista, or *Nix. Besides, I do still charge family for actual repair time or parts. Keeps them from bothering me too much.

Tyr 5th July 2008, 20:17

Too many people should be an answer. I wish I got paid for it...

Neoki 5th July 2008, 23:45

Too many to count work as a PC Tech and manager of Forum Computers we got the PC Retail award for best tech support in the UK.

~Craig

PhenomRed 6th July 2008, 06:12

20+. my old job was in an electronics store, so we sold computers and laptops.

i am also the go-to guy for nearly everyone i know about support

DriftCarl 6th July 2008, 09:42

If they arn't afraid to use a computer then I would give them some advice on a decent purchase, however if they look scared and confused when i mention any sort of technical wording then I would probably just tell them to get a dell. I dont consider telling someone to get a dell advice.
Thankfully I have just got a job in a building full of IT staff and will no longer be desktop support so I am hoping no one will ask me anymore :)

Xtreme_Machine 6th July 2008, 20:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by vampalan
Same here, if any one asks me what to buy, I say get an Apple, anyone can use one of those and they should have a great support help line, or if they want a cheap PC go to PC World and pick one or get one from Dell as they have support lines too.

I no longer repair or upgrade other people's PC's due to the same reasons. Like if their PC broke about 2 years later after I upgraded it, its my fault.... wtf? No playing that game again.

I'm with you. If you fix a pc for some friend(s), suddenly everybody seems to know where to find you and need your help!
And of course me being dutch, everybody wants you to do it for free.

So i'm making a habbit of NOT fixing anything for anybody anymore. Well.... except for some of the ladies maybe ;)

supertoad 6th July 2008, 21:19

6-10 IRL. way more if you count all my posts in various forums.

PhenomRed 7th July 2008, 06:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriftCarl
If they arn't afraid to use a computer then I would give them some advice on a decent purchase, however if they look scared and confused when i mention any sort of technical wording then I would probably just tell them to get a dell. I dont consider telling someone to get a dell advice.
Thankfully I have just got a job in a building full of IT staff and will no longer be desktop support so I am hoping no one will ask me anymore :)

trying to explain the difference between a dual core and a single core to clueless people... a lot of fun...

it usually ended up with making comparisons to 2 brains on a plate...

SlickGnome 7th July 2008, 13:32

I work at a big box retailer part time as a tech, so constantly advising people on what to get and when to upgrade. Some days I sell more computers then the Sales people do (I started there on the sales floor and have worked there 8 years where most of their staff is less than a year and don't give a crap about anything other than a paycheck). At my full time job I'm a network admin at a place of about 200 employees, and alot of them know I work at a big retailer and always ask me questions and advice. I'd say in a 6mo period I sell/advise several hundred people. Same with upgrading an existing unit.

Hiren 8th July 2008, 14:03

Poll now closed, thanks for voting ;)

webarchitect 10th July 2008, 06:34

Not many..around 2 people. Two notebooks. One for my friend, the other for my aunt.

Ending Credits 14th July 2008, 21:38

I've just helped my friend choose some system components for his gaming PC and I'll be putting it together on Wednesday.

kesa20 31st July 2008, 13:39

just the IT department, but actually they didn't advice me, they just presented me a new one. also cool.

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