Advent Computers ok?

Stewy18

hi,
thiking about buying this advent desktop computer,
looks ok..,
wondering if people have got advent stuff and how relaible are they?,
thanks

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1083425221.1232969789@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccfadegflifheecflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=187067&category_oid=

Cuddlesworth

All pcs essentially use the same parts and are effective to more or less the same degree. The real question is, do you want to rely on PCworld to fix any problems that might crop up in the first year.

To that question I would say get a Dell with premium support.

art

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

All pcs essentially use the same parts and are effective to more or less the same degree. .

Yes, close the entire forum down, it's pointless ...

Cuddlesworth

art wrote: »

Yes, close the entire forum down, it's pointless ...

Instead of the sarcastic comment would you care to explain your reasons for disagreeing with my comment. Problems will occur with every machine, failure rates are a fact of life. But they would be the same across the board as all the manufacturers use the same parts(motherboard, ram, gfx, cpu, hard-drives etc.)

And I have heard some horrific storys about pc world support, way worse then Dell/HP/IBM. Dell support is quite good if you are willing to pay for it.

higster

Have had an advent T9302 (P4) for last 3 years. Worked grand for first 2 years. Then had cooling fan on video card go (dust) followed by hard drive crash.

Personally think both problems were where the pc was stored (little ventilation). I'd bet it would happen with any pc.

Would I recommend...for the price I paid at the time yes I would.

C.D.

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Instead of the sarcastic comment would you care to explain your reasons for disagreeing with my comment. Problems will occur with every machine, failure rates are a fact of life. But they would be the same across the board as all the manufacturers use the same parts(motherboard, ram, gfx, cpu, hard-drives etc.)

And I have heard some horrific storys about pc world support, way worse then Dell/HP/IBM. Dell support is quite good if you are willing to pay for it.

For CPU/GPU etc that is true. However, manufacturers generally sell components that have stricter quality control guidelines (tolerances etc) at a premium- it is more costly to manufacture to a higher specification. As a result, bargain bin PC's do tend to have bargain bin PSU's and CD/DVD drives which have higher failure rates. The HDD's also thed to be lower end models that are a few generations old. The reality is much more complicated and I'm not saying Advent is better than Dell, but to assume failure rates are constant for all PC's irrespective of brand is unrealistic.

The comments about support however are bang on.

Cuddlesworth

Irrespective of brand assuming they are on a similar cheap price range.

You generally get what you pay for.

art

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Instead of the sarcastic comment would you care to explain your reasons for disagreeing with my comment. Problems will occur with every machine, failure rates are a fact of life. But they would be the same across the board as all the manufacturers use the same parts(motherboard, ram, gfx, cpu, hard-drives etc.)

And I have heard some horrific storys about pc world support, way worse then Dell/HP/IBM. Dell support is quite good if you are willing to pay for it.

By that logic, all cars are made of wheels, a thing to hold petrol and some seats to sit in. They're all the same, you might as well just buy a Kia something or other cause it has a seven year guarantee.

The quality of components used in PCs is not the same "across the board". Nor is the quality of casing, wiring, PSU, installation or configuration. Or installed software and it's sometimes attendant "bloat". It would be more useful to the OP to have people that have used Advent PCs comment (as one person has done) rather than making blithe and inaccurate generalisations as you have done.

Cuddlesworth

art wrote: »

By that logic, all cars are made of wheels, a thing to hold petrol and some seats to sit in. They're all the same, you might as well just buy a Kia something or other cause it has a seven year guarantee.

A car is a complex piece of machinery and engineering with a complex combination of power, weight distribution, wearable moving parts and relies on the maintenance of those parts for future use. It is also exposed to extreme and unpredictable forces outside of the control of the designers.

I would happily buy a car with a seven year warranty over what would appear to be a better model.

A pc is not comparable in the same way, the parts are pre-made and in wide scale use. The outside conditions are negligible and the ability to be able to prepare for them easy in comparison.

art wrote: »

The quality of components used in PCs is not the same "across the board". Nor is the quality of casing, wiring, PSU, installation or configuration. Or installed software and it's sometimes attendant "bloat". It would be more useful to the OP to have people that have used Advent PCs comment (as one person has done) rather than making blithe and inaccurate generalisations as you have done.

All board manufacturers design generic pcb layouts for use in home and office pc's. They use that basic blue print as a template for both the budget boards and high spec boards. The parts used are the same for all but the extreme high end of the market and even then the differences are minor, such as solid capacitors instead of oil filled ones. The extras added to the board, better cooling and more onboard functions are where the added cost come in. The generic cooling is up to the standard laid down by the chip manufacturers.

All power supply's have to meet the safety standards of the EU, are made in the same factory's and use the same parts.

The hard drives all come from the same big company's, have similar enough failure rates and are close enough in performance to be laughable.

Cables are all digital, the quality and production is minimal in terms of breakage apart from initial contact which is tested right after assembly.

All basic pcs use the same layout practises for cable management, the introduction of Sata as a current standard has minimized the role that cables can have over airflow.

Bloat ware is a necessity as most users are not tech savvy enough to be able to get their own anti virus etc or nessicary programs for basic tasks like adobe or a unzip application, its better to be provided at initial boot.


With the combination of parts in a pc, failure rates are something every pc manufacturer takes into account. Its in their business interest to keep them low. But when a part does break I would prefer a company with a great support system.

I work with over 3,000 desktops and laptops from three different manufacturers. Advent might not be one of them, but I fail to see how asking any owners would outright help the op. Most people who feel compelled to tell their story on a comp/tech forum will generally have a bad one to tell as they ended up here for a reason.

art

That's simply not true. Standard wattage varies on PSUs, affecting upgrade potential, quality of cable connectors can vary, hard drives do not all offer the same performance, layouts can vary considerably - given you recommended Dell you should know that, ports offered on graphics vary, heat management varies and so on. And "Bloat" is not, in my opinion, necessary at all - think your attitude is remarkably condescending in that regard.

Advent users may be able to tell us whether, like a typical small Dell PC, upgrades are difficult or expensive. Whether the build quality on the PC was good. Whether the software supplied was good and so on and so on. It's all kind of obvious really.

ITDept

Advent computers are ok in terms of reliability and performance. Sometimes they can be a little over-priced though. If you make a note of the main specs of the pc concerned and compare it to other brands available you may find something of a similar quality / speed for less. Try www.komplett.ie or www.dabs.ie maybe?

hobochris

art wrote: »

That's simply not true. Standard wattage varies on PSUs, affecting upgrade potential, quality of cable connectors can vary, hard drives do not all offer the same performance, layouts can vary considerably - given you recommended Dell you should know that, ports offered on graphics vary, heat management varies and so on. And "Bloat" is not, in my opinion, necessary at all - think your attitude is remarkably condescending in that regard.

Advent users may be able to tell us whether, like a typical small Dell PC, upgrades are difficult or expensive. Whether the build quality on the PC was good. Whether the software supplied was good and so on and so on. It's all kind of obvious really.

I disagree completely. Cuddlesworth is right here. Also their is no such thing as standard wattage, the Psu is decided upon based on two factors, the current power requirements and upgrade potential of the system.

you're right ports do change with new standards being introduced, nothing to do with a specific vender though. while I agree that bloat is not necessary or at least it shouldn't be, it is still an evil in demand by most users who don't know any better then the anti-malware options spoon fed to them by some sales drone in pc world.


Parts used are not vender specific regardless of the name on the front of the case.
They vary depending on the spec not the vender. The idea that a porsche is a higher end car then a fiat is well and good for the car industry where cars are built using vender specific parts but this idea simply cannot be converted for the computer industry, parts are simply not vender specific.

for example the machine I'm on now is a hp machine, it has an nvidia motherboard and samsung hard drives..

@op: advent are as good as any other vender, you get what you pay for.

Cuddlesworth

art wrote: »

And "Bloat" is not, in my opinion, necessary at all - think your attitude is remarkably condescending in that regard.

Condescending? If you really think that packaged anti-virus/firewall, apps designed for firmware and software update notification and other useful tools to somebody who doesn't know they need them are not necessary then you clearly know nothing about the Joe Soap computer user.

If you had your way the whole internet would just be one big giant botnet spamming itself?

si makhlouf

Hi ,

I would advise you to stay away form advent laptops,they have a common and well documented on the web regarding a specific issue: heating up !
I bought an ert2250 from Currys, I started having pbs with just after a couple of months!!it took me more than a year to get a replacement voucher...