I recall DELL sending a technician to my door to replace a faulty hard drive at no extra charge. To be fair that was twenty or so years ago so they may or may not have that policy anymore. The technician further inspired me (no pun intended) to start building my own PCs because at that point I was already adding RAM, ROMs, and hard drives to computers myself, but the DELL was under warranty so I played it by the book. Simply by watching how he dealt with the more proprietary aspects of the hardware affirmed what I already knew to be true: I could do this myself. From that day forward I began building my own PCs and servicing PCs for others. One thing led to another. Before I knew it I was building PCs for other people.
Having a background in electrical likely helps, but once one learns how ridiculously easy it is to put together a desktop I'm surprised that more people don't do it. I still have nostalgic memories of my VAIO but messing about with IDE ribbon cables was definitely not one of my favorites. SATA was a real game changer. I built my first laptop from 4 different Acer laptops nobody wanted. I ordered the replacement keyboard from China. That same laptop is serving one of my daughters today and I fear that one day I might have to pry it from her fingers before she will agree to let me replace it. I was hoping that getting her a tablet might persuade her to let go of the old Acer but that plan backfired.
I can no longer speak to modern hardware. I've heard that DELL still maintains reliable support and I hope it is true. Some folks have said HP is an acronym for "horrible parts" and based on how many HP desktops I've serviced I can't say that is altogether untrue. One thing I have noticed about HP cases is that they are built like tanks. Solid frames and thicker metal. At least the older ones are like this. HP probably made the most robust proprietary desktop cases for domestic use. Today, it would seem that much has changed. PCs are hardly manufactured to last. Companies seem to be much more committed to pleasing their share holders than providing customers with reliable product and services. Given my years and experience I'm content to spend the rest of my days just servicing older hardware and keeping it up and running. I've never really been a big fan of laptops but I understand the necessity. In fact, I'm currently having a bit of a challenge with a laptop of my own that I may have to return. But that's another story...
