How is Xi Computers?

Anyone with experience with Xi Computers? Would like info on their
ship date, build quality, post purchase service. Thanks.

 

They took forever to ship my system, I had to keep calling to find out
what was going on, they never took the iniative to contact me about the
delayed status.

The system works great, haven't needed any post purchase service.

 

I got a nice one last year, had a few problems setting it up but I think
it ended up being a network problem. I'd buy another. Never needed any
real post purchase help.

 

I have mixed feelings about my Xi MTower (8/12 build 2.53GHz P4). While
I always take magazine reviews with a grain of salt, I admit that I had
been impressed with consistantly glowing reviews on the Xi machines,
particularly with speed benchmarks. It has performed well for me
(afterall I'm still using it for SolidWorks after 4 years), but I've
had my share of nuisances.

I placed my order on 8/2/02, and the machine shipped ten days later.
Unfortuantely it arrived with a bad network card. Of course this was
replaced by warranty, but it was very discouraging that it passed Xi's
QC since the green light would not even come on when a LAN cable was
plugged in. I also recall that Xi was not willing to pay for overnight
shipping, which was disappointing as they are on the West coast & I am
near the East coast.

Shortly afterwards the computer's cool CPU Thermometer stopped working.
Unfortunately, as it was part of the case, I would have had to ship the
entire computer for repair. I decided to simply ignore the faulty
gauge. This wasn't a big deal, but still discouraging to have a 2nd
hardware problem so soon with a new (and expensive) computer.

A few weeks later, I experienced a sudden reboot while inserting a USB
thumb drive into the case's USB socket. I quickly determined that a
short must have existed as this could be repeated intermittantly when
inserting USB devices. Again, as part of the case, it would require me
to send the entire computer to California. Again, I decided to ignore
the problem by sadly covering the cases's two USB ports with electrical
tape.

Five months later, the case's auxilliary front fan began making a loud,
periodic noise. The case had a "turbo" button, which controlled the
speed of the fan. I pressed the button, but rather than changing the
fan speed, the computer shut off. Surprisingly, the computer would not
restart. I called Tech Support, who explained that the power supply can
build up a surge that needs to be discharged. He gave me a routine to
do so, which thanklfully worked.

Since then I haven't had any more problems with the computer. I
replaced the graphics card last year with no problems. Of course after
4 years, the CPU is old and slower than ideal, but the computer still
handles SolidWorks reasonably well for the most part. There's something
to be said for that. I am now pitching for a new computer, and leaning
against buying from Xi again, but haven't ruled them out. Good luck
with your decision.