Would you buy a computer from Dell

[ramon]

Prices seem good.

Anybody have feedback about buying a laptop from Dell

[ENtiTY]

Not sure about a laptop but I use a Dell Desktop everyday at work. Nice machine, good price.

When I buy my next puter I think I'm gonna get a Dell

[Jesus On Peyote]

I dont own a Dell, but iv heard that once u buy a PC from them, you can only upgrade it though them, like use special Dell components for Dell only Pcs or something like that. could be wrong

If your not looking to upgrade and tinker with it, then their pcs can be good from the ones iv used.

[ENtiTY]

Same as with Compact and HP etc.

Dells far better that any of those flashy factory turds

[Ace]

They arent as good as acers though are they? We have acers at work - all the dells have been replaced. Not sure why, but afaik, they arent quite as good. But they could be cheaper and better value, I dont reallly know...

[XipeTotec]

yeah, computers like that are really basic, no real upgrade... you are much better off getting one built by a hobiest etc.

[ENtiTY]

They arent as good as acers though are they? We have acers at work - all the dells have been replaced. Not sure why, but afaik, they arent quite as good. But they could be cheaper and better value, I dont reallly know...

I have an acer laptop. Have had the DL DVD burner replaced under warrenty and now it has F'd up again outa warrenty. Thats a pioneer component though. Strange pioneer is usually a quality name.

Other than that its been flawless Does ALOT of work!

Used to build my own computers when I was younger, couldn't be bothered now. Dell has impressed me.

[simon_marklar]

imho dell is way overpriced. you can get one made for you from almost any online pc store cheaper. the finance is even worse, adding an extra 1000 and a bit to the price (depending on the option you take)

and you can upgrade dells, they use standard pc parts.

[Torsten]

have had two dells and have NEVER had a problem with either of them. they have been amazingly reliable, with not a single loss of data in nearly 10 years. My first dell is still being used reliably, for old software. The extra couple hundred bucks you pay for a dell compared to other companies is a small price to pay. The couple of minor software issues we had were sorted out by Dell customer service in a matter of hours.

Daniel has built his own computer and has had quite a few problems with it, but he likes to tinker.

I've also purchased 2 Acers and they have been absolute nightmares. Sudden soundcard death, 2 HD crashes [total loss - new HD needed], windows back up disc didn't work, one monitor ageing very quickly, 2 USB ports dead, etc. Would NEVER buy an Acer again. Customer service sucks too.

[paradox]

a friend of mine who is pretty cluey with puta's reckons acer's are dodge.

[chilli]

I've got an Inspiron 6000 from a couple of years back... great machine, it was basically the best spec'd laptop for the price back then... agree with Torsten about customer service, it is excellent... may seem more expensive than some of the cheaper laptops around but this is one area where you get what you pay for. Acer are generally crap, ask any tech and they'll tell you that a large percentage of their repairs are Acers, never heard anyone whinge about a Dell. Mind you, Acer have picked up their game a bit in the last year or so. Upgradding Dell's can be a little more difficult, as they will often use custom bezels etc, but once you have chosen a laptop over a desktop PC you're basically limiting yourself in this regard anyway.

The laptop's been great, but in hindsight I would've probably bought a new desktop or upgraded my old one... much more power for less cost and turns out I've never been as mobile as I had imagined I would be... I basically bought a laptop and some audio hardware for a moble DAW, and I spend all my time sitting at my desk using it.

[Jesus On Peyote]

Ild say to go into a small computer shop and tell em what kind of PC u want and thell put it together for ya, or if u cant be botherd or are too busy then yea, prolly go with dell, looks like theve been doing well lately,must be a reason

ah just relised u where looking for a lappy,getting a laptop customized would be more expensive then a desktop.

Edited April 20, 2007 by Jesus On Peyote

[devance]

I went into Radio Shack to get a protective screen for a new LCD monitor and the guy after looking at at me if was was a Jabberwock says that computers are changing too fast to stock parts, mentioned Dell which no longer carried.

[Agamemnon]

Ive bought 3 desktops and one laptop from Dell, and they have all run extremely well and reliably.

Had a graphics card that burnt out on a desk top and the dell technician travelled two hours drive into the country next day to replace it. You see the BIG advantage with Dell is their comprehensive 3 year warranty on every part of your PC. They have 1300 assistance too, but sometimes the the Bangalore telephone operator is a bit hard to understand.

Another option with dell is to purchase your laptop from their "Dell outlet" store

http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/default.as...=dfo&~ck=bt

These are units that have been ordered and preconfigured by customers but never paid for, for whatever reason. Still factory sealed, new in the box, but much cheaper. Only come with 1 year warranty though. they list them with the amount of RAM, CPU type etc, and the stock is changing all the time. Worth a look.

[gomaos]

had a dell for over 2 years now... bought it 2nd hand for 200 bucks... excellent buy, excellent machine.. I always think: It's gonna break down sometime, better buy a new one... but the thought of re-installing the modem and all the other crap puts me off... now I'm resigned to keep using it until it breaks down... whenever that may be... no hurry...

better than Compaq and whatever...

[Guest Øskorei]

There have been questions raised as to the Dell corporation's labour standards, in that both they and their suppliers use forced or child workers to manufacture components in Asia. They are not alone, as other major competitors were also under investigation (Hewlett Packard & IBM).

At one point, when Dell opened their mega-call-centre facility in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada), they hired 500 staff on the condition that the three-week training was to be unpaid. This is slavery in the western world.

However to justify a level of morality-driven PC purchases, it might be considered that ALL PC, whether branded or put together by a local shop, contain many parts that are made in sweatshops. So it would be unfair to single the Dell corporation out as being alone in this mistreatment. Hypocritical even - if one wearing chinese-made clothes or has never walked into the Oxfam shop for their products.

On a cheerier note, as a corporation (in Australia at least) the pre & after service is exceptional. When I bit the bullet and bought one (moral objections conveniently justified to myself using the above logic), I was surprised to receive a confirmation phone call of my online order within 2 hours, then a call from their dispatch centre the day later to book a time (with a window of 2 hours - nice) and a call two days afterwards to confirm that I was at the nominated premises, as they would be there in an hour. They were.

Performance of my basic model desktop is exceptional, and I often push the limits with very large .RAW files (ie I might open 30 at once with Photoshop CS, bad I know), I also use studio software (SoundForge, Wavelab) to render songs and create backing tracks (FL Studio) which other P4 PC's simply cannot process at the rate my Dell does. SHit, sometimes Im doing all this AT ONCE, such is my impatience. Never frozen on me, never crashed during these heavy working sessions. All for a measly thousand bucks, including the 19" flat panel. Good deal, hell yes !

My only gripes are the fact that they provided the dumbarse microsoft 'works' instead of MS Office Suite - and also the huge amounts of software that is pre-installed, like pop up reminders to visit Dell, Network Analysis shyte, and other stuff.

All that stated, would I buy from Dell again ? Absolutely - I have even recommended them to friends & family.

[simon_marklar]

The extra couple hundred bucks you pay for a dell compared to other companies is a small price to pay. The couple of minor software issues we had were sorted out by Dell customer service in a matter of hours.

i just used a sysmtem builder at scorptec to build my own system, similar to dells dimension 9200. it came up 600$ cheaper, and thats with a more powerful video card, twice as much ram and support package. scorptec are one of the more expensive vendors, so it could go even cheaper. so its not just a couple hundred $ saved which, for someone like me, on an extremely tight budget, is quite a saving. but if money doesnt matter, and you'd rather things are convenient, then dell's straight to your door service could be seen as a plus. myself, I just cannot justify paying extra for the same parts.

what i did to find out which parts i should buy is type in something like "gaming system pc review" and then got a list of parts that i cross referenced and made sure the games i wanted to play worked well under them. this might be a little advanced for some people, but the info is all there, it just takes time and note taking skills. I personally find it harder to get and understand info on growing plants than to get and understand info on pcs

I guess what it comes down to is : if your pc fails, do you want to try and fix it yourself? if no, then dells support would be the deciding factor

I've also purchased 2 Acers and they have been absolute nightmares. Sudden soundcard death, 2 HD crashes [total loss - new HD needed], windows back up disc didn't work, one monitor ageing very quickly, 2 USB ports dead, etc. Would NEVER buy an Acer again. Customer service sucks too.

acer is the devil selling computers, i have never heard of a good report from an acer user. only horror stories...

[Torsten]

simon, I think the important thing about dell is not the customer service. The customer service is actually only available from them because they know that their system hardly ever fuck up. So, it is actually the reliability of the system which is really important. I just don't know anyone who has bought a dell and has had any components fail. And if they do, the excellent customer service means that you have no expense and no down time.

I am not saying dell is the ultimate choice, but for someone who doesn't know how to tinker and for someone who needs reliability and uptime, Dell just can't be beat.

[stonewolf]

Nah, cant say i would. Its a good deal cheaper to built your own and far more rewarding. I built my desktop myself and 6 years later it can still handle games that have been released as little as a year ago. On the other hand my only experience with computers built by a multinational was a acer laptop i bought last year. I've already had to have parts replaced, twice.

[Darklight]

Anybody have feedback about buying a laptop from Dell

Hey Ramon

I've had my Dell desktop since 02 and had no problems with it at all- until last year.

Maxtor hard drive collapsed totally and without warning and scrambled the disk we were using as backup.

Fortunately we found a new local computer guru and he said this was a common problem with Maxtor H/D's. Our last PC had died in 2001 from the same brand of H/D. I was pretty pissed off about Dell using such a shonky piece of shit but I should have checked the component list when I purchased it.

Apparrantly Seagate drives are currently the ducks nuts.

Aside from that, can't fault it. Am not especially demanding of the thing, but I need reliability and stability and aside from the H/D it has been that

[Guest Øskorei]

Someone mentioned the inability to 'tinker' or add hardware on Dells unless it's a Dell after-market product ? Has anyone else experienced this ? I'm wanting to pop in a second video card for dual monitor set-up, and also in the market soon for a high quality audio card for recording instruments directly into my pee-cee........

Ive heard (however accurate, I dont know) that Acers are/were notorious for being non-upgradable at all.

[WitchDoctor]

Someone mentioned the inability to 'tinker' or add hardware on Dells unless it's a Dell after-market product ? Has anyone else experienced this ? I'm wanting to pop in a second video card for dual monitor set-up, and also in the market soon for a high quality audio card for recording instruments directly into my pee-cee........

Ive heard (however accurate, I dont know) that Acers are/were notorious for being non-upgradable at all.

The biggest problem you will find will not be with the particular brand of PC, but the parts that are in it. For instance if you want a dual monitor setup, you'd be best to get a new videocard with dual outputs to replace your current card however depending on the connectors you have available on your motherboard ie. AGP instead of PCI-e might limit your upgradability. I'd recommend that you go to a local computer store, one that sells parts and pc's rather than one that just sells pc's and 'upgrades'. My local stores will build your computer for an extra $10 and i'd never had a single hardware problem with any pc i've had built there or built myself. However i've had a couple of Dell's and Hp's that i've been given and quite frankly they are horrible, the upgradability is there but it is limited by giant plastic things and stupid case designs. If you want a high end soundcard look at the external m-audio cards, it's what i use for all my recording.