Best computer brand

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There are well known-brands, but honestly, not really "best" brands, of the major ones you find in stores (Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo). Having worked selling computers for 5 years in retail, I will tell you the simple reality of the matter: Quality is often a function of price. I would digress with one brand mentioned in the thread- Toshiba is crap. The company has gone pretty far downhill in recent years, and it's one of the reasons they've withdrawn from so many markets in things like laptops.

Anyhow, back on the price thing, using an example: Asus is very well thought of, for instance. However, I would not touch a $300 model of theirs - they're absolutely horrid, among the worst I know of. If you're spending like, $500-$1000...
"Best" is and always will be subjective. There are many highly reputable brands out there as Ubrales has mentioned. The important thing is that you know your budget, what you're looking for in terms of performance, and your uses for it. Given those considerations, it should help to narrow down your options so that an informed choice can be made.

I, too, would prefer to build my own. It might be a little more cost intensive seeing you're having to buy everything separately, but it's worth it because you won't have bloatware on your HD and you'll be able to pick and choose exactly what goes into it. Best of luck in whichever option you choose.
 
There are well known-brands, but honestly, not really "best" brands, of the major ones you find in stores (Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo). Having worked selling computers for 5 years in retail, I will tell you the simple reality of the matter: Quality is often a function of price. I would digress with one brand mentioned in the thread- Toshiba is crap. The company has gone pretty far downhill in recent years, and it's one of the reasons they've withdrawn from so many markets in things like laptops.

Anyhow, back on the price thing, using an example: Asus is very well thought of, for instance. However, I would not touch a $300 model of theirs - they're absolutely horrid, among the worst I know of. If you're spending like, $500-$1000 though, ASUS is a really solid bet. This is true of almost all the major brands though - people cheap out on the computer, and they are simply not all made equal. The cheap units are cheap for a reason - and often times appallingly so.

So yea - looking at the major brands is a good idea, but consider what you're paying for what you want and what you expect. The simple fact is that it is very hard to find a genuinely good computer at that low-end $300-$400 mark (Canadian Dollar).
 
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