On 10/12/2014 08:49, Martin Brown wrote:

Clueless brandname snobbery is a great way to ensure that you get ripped
off at every turn. Dell are an overpriced US vendor to corporate types
whose main aim originally was to be slightly cheaper than IBM.

Compaq was another player in the dim and distant past and theirs were
faster. It was interesting to note that COCOM rules were such that IBM
could sell into Russia but Compaq PC and Acorn's BBC Micro could not.
(Compaq was 8MHz vs IBMs 4.7MHz and Acorns graphics were "too good")

Compaq are still going under the HP name.

There are plenty of reputable makers or even secondhand PC models
available that would be perfectly adequate for an ordinary home user.
This lot for instance (although they are not as good as they were)

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/

I'm generally impressed with the corporate Dell and HP hardware,
including servers, desktops and laptops - it's solid, reliable, well put
together and nice to work on.

For a home user, an old corporate dell or HP desktop is often an
excellent and cheap choice.