Desktops forum: About Dell Computers

I am truly pleased with my 2 Dell Desktops. One was purchased in 1999, not a single problem. Second one purchased in 2000, great performance and durability. I'm a IT Consultant and recommend DELL Desktops/Laptops to all of my clients. They also do a very good job in terms of RESTORE. If you ever need to re-install Windows, it is a very simplified process. I would recommend to get the 3 year support vs. the 1 year support. They will come to your home or business the very next business day if you have any hardware failure. If you want additional info, please feel free to contact.

djgeter

Dell is very convenient if you have a lot of money and know very little of computer hardware and software. But realize that they take advantage of people who don't know about the computer market by overcharging their merchandise. This isn't always the case, but more often than not it is. But I will admit that their warranty is very reliable. Another thing about Dell I think is critical is their lack of selection. Dell has literally sold its soul to the intel processor builders. While this reduces the price they pay for their CPU's, it really doesnt effect your price at all. But the worse part of this is that you cannot buy CPUs from intel's major competitor; AMD. While my name suggests I'm a fan of the company, I assure you that my rating AMD processors over intel is entirely non-Biased. So as far as your decision goes; if you don't know jack about computer pricing or fixing leave it to dell. With all due respect, I beleive the motto for Dell should be "We charge you for your ignorance".

Now if you know some things about the pricing and fixing of computers, than you might want to consider buying from a separate custom builder who will offer a more limited warranty but a much cheaper price. At the same time, you will have a wider selection of parts for your computer. The worst thing that can happen if you know your way around computers is some part burning out or yadda yadda. Most custom builders offer a warranty covering that. However, their warranties do not cover "breaking your computer by accident" or stuff like that. That's a Dell thing. Basically, Dell covers you for stupidity and charges you plenty for it. So if you don't need this kind of coverage and know enough about computers, go with a custom builder. I personally used X-Technology (www.xtechnology.com). When I compared the price of the PC I bought from X-Tech. to an equivalent from Dell (my CPU Athlon 64 3400 vs. Dell CPU Pentuim 4 3.2gh) it was no surprise to me that I had saved over $500. All I have to do is make sure I never drop my 25 pound computer (which is so hard to carry.....lol), then I have earned that $500.

I ordered three Dell computers for the office. On mine, I had Win98 as the OS because it was stable and the peripherals I was using ran excellently on that it. That computer is still over the top in performance and along with Norton, never had a crash or virus problem. It is still in excellent condition at three, almost four years old.

I have had a Dell desktop computer for over 2 years running windows XP home and have had no problems with it at all. I do all the recommended maitenence on it weekly and run a firewall and virus checker. I have not installed service pack 2 as yet but do have service pack 1. I would recommend a Dell to anyone interested.

It's like Fords and Chevys, some people like one brand over the others. The bottom line is that just about all the major brands are putting out pretty good stuff. We use Dell exclusivly at my office (only about 75 PC's and 4 Servers). We have several different models ,Dimension's, OPTIplex's, Inspirions', and PowerEdge's. In three years I've only had minor problems and was able to get them resolved by the next business day. I have two Dimensions at home that I bought from Dell's Outlet (refurbished,returns, etc) for over a year and haven't had any problems at all and they run 24/7. I'd compare, Warrantee, Service and Price vs. Componants to help in your decision. Good Luck.

I would not take a Dell even if you purchased it for me. The laptop (inspiron 500) is working just fine. If down the road you have a problem with it, watch how bad things go from there. All India's staff will talk with you, but, you can't understand them or they try to pass the buck. I bought the laptop last christmas and still they hound me for a second laptop they say I have, yet I have the receipt showing a return. I returned the laptop for the upgrades, I got the new dell and it works great, but till this day they say I owe them 1 laptop, which is wrong. I purchased a HP laptop from Refurbished.com and it works great and the people there speak english. Never again will I ever purchase a Dell. I tell everyone to stay away from Dell, this is not an opinion this is the facts.

I own a Dell Dimension XPS 550 (PIII 550MHz) that is over 5 years old. I changed the floppy drive under warranty. Dell offered to send a tech to swap the drive, but I told them it was not necessary. I changed the drive myself the next day in about 5 minutes. Other than the floppy drive, I have not had any other problems.

At work I have purchased over 50 new Dell desktops and laptops in the last 12 months. In addition, I manage another 30 Dell desktop, laptop, and server computers. Their service is awesome! Dell has never given me a reason to even LOOK at any of their competitors. The only thing I will not buy from Dell is printers. Dell's printers are nothing but rebranded Lexmarks, and I would not wish a Lexmark printer on even my worst enemy. Go HP for scanners and printers, Dell for EVERYTHING else.

Responding to your question on Dell desktop computers. I have two--one for the kids and one for my work. I've managed to crash both of them (no fault of Dells) and they walked me through rebuilding both computers. I would not hesitate to buy another one. I've not had any problems with their tech support--my last computer I signed up for their priority tech support which puts you through faster.

Dell is mass-produced mediocrity. They USED to be very good for a mass-produced machine. Now their products are only average. Tech support (unless you pay an insulting premium) is now handled by foreigners (no problem) who you can't understand frequently (big problem) and who do not do technical support, they simply read answers given to them off a computer screen - they DON'T ACTUALLY DO TECHNICAL SUPPORT anymore.

If something is wrong, they send a tech to you to swap out parts who doesn't care about saving your data. How can they? The tech's company bids on doing support for Dell in a geographic area, and the company with the lowest bid obviously wins. They get a flat fee for each support call, so the tech sent to your home/office gets the same $40. or so wether he is there for 10 minutes or 10 hours. To add insult to injury, after they replace a hard drive (for instance), they tell you:
1. "Don't worry, we'll wipe off all of your personal data off this hard drive before we dispose of the drive." - not very reassuring to me...
2. After they start the restore process, they line up the disks and tell you to replace them yourself, and then they jet. I PERSONALLY WITNESSED THIS WORKING WITH MY CUSTOMERS.

I prefer custom-made machines with less "trial software" and "sign up Now" icons on the screen. I prefer dealing with companies that actually try to resolve problems with saving my data being a higher priority than company profit margins.

With mass prodcued machines, I prefer Apple or IBM...

Good luck to all you Dell owners...
http://www.illwillpress.com/tech.html

Let's start with the fact that I do not work for Dell. I'll even say that I'm not allowed to sell Dell products directly. Now as for your guestion.

Whenever I have a client who does not know much about computers and who shows that he will need at lot of hand holding, Ill advise him or her to buy a Dell computer.

They might not be the fastest or cheapest computer on the market, but they are reliable. As for the quality of service after the "sell", it's true that it's not as good as before. But then, I'm there for those who I influence in buying there product. I'll call directly Dell and get them moving. Up to now, it hasn't been a major problem. And I am crossing my fingers in the hope that it will continue so.

Seriously, the proprietary hardware hp uses and the annoying embeddes software for typical OEMs really pisses me off. They are only marginally better than compaq.
I have been using high end dell computers for years. Their customer service is not good, but neither is it really that bad in comparison to the top 10 computer makers. I'd rank em 5th or 6th.

TechWiz:

This is a pretty big thread. A lot of comments both pro & con. Are you STILL deciding, or have you made up your mind as to what your gonna do? Let me add my/our story to the mix.

We got our 1st Dell a couple of years ago. We have 3 now. I've been around computers for a long time, however, most of the usage was on specific programs & I didn't have much time for playing with em (although I DID play some games). We've run the gambit with NAME BRAND machines. I liked Acer, but they got to big, to fast. I HATED Gateway.

When we got the 1st Dell, a Dimension 8400, I was so impressed with it right out of the box. It was so well built IMO. Components "SNAPPED" in, everything was so neat & pretty inside that I wanted to leave it open, with it's "GUT'S" exposed for the world to see. Ah, but looks can be decieving.

At 1st, it ran well enough for us to decide to add 2 more machines to the "Home Network". Yeah, there were some problems, but I figured that they were caused by me. Tech support was fast & helpful. They were in the US of A back then. They seemed genuinely knowledgable, not "Book Readers". It was then determined that I needed a new HD. The machine was not even 3 months old then.

Then, I started to get the tech support from India. BTW, when it was determined that I needed a new HD, I had NEVER been told to RE-FORMAT THE HD! Almost the 1st thing this guy from India told me was to re-format the HD. At that time, I was still able to get American Tech support, & they freaked when they heard I had talked to someone in India.

I should have known that the 8400 would be a better built than the lesser machines. We also have a 4400, & a 2300. The 2300's insides are held together by spit & chewing gum. The 4400 was/is a refurb. To us, refurbs shouldn't make a difference. My wife used to work for Sony, & all we ever got from them was refurbs, & we're quite happy with them too. Well, the 4400 is a combo of the 2 other machines.

I also hate to count the # of times I was told to re-format the HD after India took over all of tech support. BTW, the 4400 got a new HD too. Tech support now days is a joke. For one thing, there is a language barrier. I can't understand them, & they me. It seems most of the time on the phone is spent saying "WHAT"! That's from BOTH ends. English is a hard enough language to learn, American is almost impossible.

Knowing what I now know, would I buy another Dell? NO BLOODY WAY! (I wish I could emphasize that more.) Like Acer, they got to big to be any good. What made them good in the past is now inefficent. What would I get? Well, I'm taking the C-Net course on building PC's if that gives you a clue. Hey, like it was already mentioned on this thread, PARTS IS PARTS. It seems that all these computer companies use the same stuff. It's the software & configuration that makes the diff. Good Luck.

Hi,

I do basically agree with your point. If you can build, do so. If you don't or can't build but your not a neophyte, buy elsewhere and save some cash in the process.

But if your a neophyte, or if you need reliability, go with Dell. And at this point I'm talking about the hardware and not the service.

On a statistic basis, Dell's product has proven itself for reliability.

Dell has normal Bios settings, which is good (Better than compaq I also have). The biggest problem with Dell here in Sweden is their support (or lack of it). Many communities and companies have decided to change to other brand names or not to buy no more Dell when they have got too bad service and because the support to companies (as well as for private persons) is not as good as for most other brand names. I can recommend Dell when/if everythin works but you can read other answers to your questions too. It maby works better in other countries.

If you had asked me about DELL computers 3 months ago I would have given very high praise for the equipment and, since there has been little service needed, similar praise for support. And I've been dealing with DELL for 10 years - 4 desktops and 3 laptops plus 2 additional desktops of family members as gifts. However, my brand new latest top of the line desktop 8400 started having problems after about a month after purchase. I contacted DELL Tech support and with 6 chat sessions, 8 emails, 3 very extended voice sessions with Dell techs and much frustration and aggravation over a two-week period I had the video card replaced (twice), along with the memory boards, and the motherboard. Getting new parts and having them installed was efficienct. The problem is that it is difficult to readily understand the outsourced support staff and they are woefully unskilled technically. They are not experienced enough to recognize problems, have to follow the manual too much, do not coordinate responses among themselves (or do not understand), give obvious VERY BAD advice, cause problems with the operating system because of their lack of skill, and a myriad of other faults. It took two weeks to rectify problems that should have been diagnosed almost immediately with all the information available to them. They could have replaced the entire tower instead of trying to do it piecemeal without understanding why they were doing it. (It seems that perhpas the managers or supervisors might be a bit more proficient but the majority of the techs are not!) They seem to be concerned about "fixing" one thing without seeing the big picture just so they can close the case. And when they did replace some parts, they used "refurbished" parts! If their machines were perfect thay would have little need for technical support but since that is unrealistic, they caused me untold anguish.