answer:So much of the answer to this question is based on one’s personal experience and one’s own ability to diagnose and fix. I’m not sure that there is one answer that is universally applicable. I have an HP desktop – it is now 3.5 years old. I am pretty computer savvy and have upgraded it over the years (disk, add-on IO cards), but the machine has been solid as a rock. The one time I had a need for HP customer support, it was easy and fast, and they gave me the answer that worked. First time. And they spoke English as their first language. My daughter had a Gateway desktop; it too was very solid, and never needed attention. So the quality of customer support never entered into it.