There are 2 cyberpower systems running in my parent's house. There's one in my appartment (my roommate's; I half-built my current rig), two of my friends have them, and 2 or 3 people who I've worked with over the past two years have them.
Common problems I've seen:
Power Supply Failure, and I can tell you that they have
not changed brands.
Otherwise, solid machines for a great price. Most of the machines have had a few trivial problems during their lifetime, mostly within the first couple months.
The customer support is sorta.. so-so. My dealings 3 or 4 years ago with the customer service company that they use was pretty decent, but I've heard more recent reports of less than stellar customer service (not that I've heard anything good from dell or HP, heh). I heard from one guy that when a PSU fried his motherboard he had to RMA it through the motherboard manufacturer, it wasn't a bad experience it said; but buyer beware.
Knowing how to use computers, beyond a "Make this an Icon for me, will you?" level of complexity (my folks
), I'd say, is somewhat of a requirement.
The machine will, quite honestly, work for you as good as any dell or HP; if not better. But go into it with the understand that if a problem occurs, you'll have to spend some time dealing with it, though I doubt it will cost you more or less time than you would if it were to be done by Dell or HP customer support. The only thing I needed to do for my Socket A machine was replace a power supply, anyone with half a brain can do that. My brother's 2 year old machine has had a few minor heat problems, but that was his fault; and my friend's machine which is about 10 months old has had no problems at all.