A reliable computer?

My last two computers have been from Dell.
The oldest one ran on Windows XP and has always been quite reliable, but
could no longer cope with the latest software.
The latest one, using Windows 7 has been unreliable from day one, with
frequent crashes and failures to re-boot at the first attempt.
I don't know if it is the hardware or Windows 7, which from my
experience is considerably less robust than XP.
Now it has crashed again and seems to have serious problems which
prevent it from re-booting, even in "safe" mode.
Has anyone had a new computer over the last 12 months which has
been very reliable, which they can recommend?

Thanks Doc,

I must admit that I had considered a Mac, because everyone says they are better, but from experience I know that it isn't always as simple as people say.

In the end I decided to stick with what I knew. Maybe next time!

I was going to try that, but in the end, I ran some Dell diagnostics which are on the hard drive and it seems to have sorted itself out, and is working again.

The problem was, I was getting as far as a blue screen with white "vapour trails" and it was apparently stopping there, with no apparent messages, so I assumed it had
frozen up, so I kept turning it off.

However on the last try, I didn't look at the computer for a while and eventually a message appeared saying that it couldn't boot and did I want to run some tests.
I ran the tests and got a lot of hard drive errors and at the end of it, it said couldn't repair the system, but when I re-booted the computer it worked.
As usual, I still haven't a clue what was wrong and how it was fixed. It seems to be working o.k. although some programmes, e.g. Registax take forever to load and run.

All of this has reminded me that I must back up my important files more often, although ironically I suspect that the problem may have arisen from the attachment of a 3.5 inch
portable hard-drive, which is the only thing I have done recently before the crash.

I don't know what I would have done without my old XP computer because without it, I wouldn't have been able to get on line, which would have been a disaster.

Thanks for your suggestion anyway.

How are your temps? Can you see if there is any dust in the machine?

Also I work part-time in a computer-shop and we have a number of dells in. Apple is a good alternative but for some a cost can be an issue but can be balanced by not having to purchase a new machine every 12 months.

No one here has mentioned Linux? In the past people would avoid it due to the skills needed but the latest version of ubuntu can make for a decent machine on a low spec computer.

Thanks Luke,
I don't know about temperatures but the diagnostic programme I ran didn't detect anything and the fans seem to be working.
I suppose there could be some dust and a good clean was one of the things I intended to do if it hadn't booted up.
I probably should do that anyway, but I am now reluctant to turn the machine off as I may not get it started again.

I had assumed that most hard drives were made in China these days.
Certainly the 500gb Buffalo Mini Station I bought recently for under £50 was.
Still I need another one for a t.v. recorder and a 1tb for my computer, so I may buy now, just in case.

Doc, when you say "no problems with viruses", do you mean that you don't need anti-virus software, or just that you haven't had any infections?

Interesting.
I found this while searching on the subject.
It's a bit out of date and not conclusive.
Despite the fact that I just renewed my McAffee in March, I keep getting offers to renew again now,
for 2 years, at a "generous" discount.
They seem desparate.
It really is a pain and I bet if I did renew now, I would be getting offers in less than a year to renew again.

I haven't any experience of Norton.
I am using ZoneAlarm on my older computer which seems to work reasonably well, but has had conflict problems.
That reminds me, I have to re-start my new computer to install McAfee updates, so the computer may be out of action for a while.