Just my thoughts on Dell Computers...
Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 44

Thread: Just my thoughts on Dell Computers...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    hephzibah, georgia
    Posts
    473

    Just my thoughts on Dell Computers...

    I REALLY thought that Dell had something going a few years ago with their computers! Well... after working on several from my friends over the past year or so... YUCK! You could not pay me to have one! The most recent is an older friend who ordered from Dell a $700.00 media center. From the FIRST day he started logging b.s.o.d.'s, freezes, and crashes. He logged more than 145 b.s.o.d.'s in 6 weeks! Not to mention the other problems mentioned! He had bad memory too! I sent him several memory test files, Failed ALL of them! Dell's answer (from India of course!) was to restore, try this, try that, but NOTHING fixed it! He did some searching around on the hard drive, found that it was a "Media Center Software Upgrade" from about 5 months earlier! Also the "media center" picture reader hardware that goes where the floppy disk is normally installed... isn't even there! Nowhere to be found in or on the machine! He does have a black floppy drive there instead!!! They finally admitted after nearly 6 weeks of this that he has a re-furbished machine! He found a different person's account and music and other personal files on the hard drive! Dell did not EVEN format the machine before selling it to him! They wanted to REPAIR NOT REPLACE it!
    Now, from my own personal experience, several friends have the dell dimension 4400. The dell's will NOT accept windows xp service pack 2! Any possible way of doing this simply will not work! A clean install of xp sp2 just loops and reboots the machines! They all will take either pro or home any combination of xp, both non service pack and service pack 1 and 1a! But ALL of them crash and loop, (reboot eternally) EVERY single time sp2 is put on them! Dell does not address this at all on their website anywhere that I can find! Two other friends with dell dimension 4400's have the exact same 2 problems! Wav files and mp3's and music, sound, etc... is a hyper speed! It sounds like a tape or record being played at high speed! Anyway, I guess you get the point! I needed to vent!

    stanton, ke4pkb

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Dallas, Texas, USA
    Posts
    1,413
    Stanton,

    In the 90's, I recommended Dell because of their superior tech support and their superior Dell engineering. In 2002, I bought a top of the line desktop and laptop spending just under $8,000. Both purchase prices includes $500 for their premium "Next Business Day" support.

    Six months after buying my OptiPlex GX400 workstation, I started to get BSODs, where my computer would randomly reboot itself. I spent 2 months trouble-shooting it myself before I called Dell. Boy, was that a shock, when I learned that "Next Business Day" does not mean next business day. Dell said that my W2K OS was corrupt and probably needed to be re-installed. I was hesitant to do that because I didn't want to lose all of my data files on the C:\ partition. Dell would not provide any assistance.

    I went to the Microsoft website and it said that the cause of the error code generated (95% of the time) by my BSOD was probably malfunctioning hardware. After 6 months, I finally paid a technical support person to trouble shooot the problem and he determined that it was caused by a software application. However, because a BSOD can be caused by hardware, drivers, OS or software applications, my tech support person started by checking and double-checking the hardware components.

    I was particularly concerned since this was a new computer, which was still under warranty.

    Stanton, Dell obviously abuses their individual customers no matter how much they pay for a computer. I don't know how they treat their big corporate clients, who can demand that no junkware be put on their computers and they have the muscle to negotiate components, price, etc. They may get a better deal. I know some companies that are building all of their own computers with the same configuration for consistency and trouble-shooting efficiency.

    Not only do I not recommend Dell computers any more, I would not buy one. In June 2003, a non-profit that I am associated with wanted me to get quotes for a new server, which I did but it turned out that this server was priced at $3,500 and it only had a workstation motherboard, not a server motherboard. We bought a top of the line server for $1,500 with 2 SATA 72 GB hard drives. The Dell price also did NOT include SATA hard drives.

    When you add to this all of the junkware that they are paid to put on their customer's computer and their non-existent support, I do not know why anyone would buy a Dell. Dell is becoming the new Gateway.

    If you want to read about more Dell misdeeds, go to http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/ and click on Dell in the right hand column.

    Cheers,

    Linda

  3. #3
    JPnyc is offline Virtual PC Specialist!!!
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    7,877
    I have to agree. I bought one 9 yrs ago and they were great, in fact the machine lasted 8yrs with no problems at all. And they had great tech support. The 2nd one I bought, 8yrs later, was a nightmare to purchase. I never got ANYONE who spoke english as a 1st language, and no 2 people gave me the same information. They won't be seeing me again.
    There is nothing to fear, but life itself.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    Friern Barnet, London, England
    Posts
    46,565
    I wouldn't buy a ready made PC from any manufacturer. They are all as bad as each other when it comes to customer service IMO. Build your own, then you know exactly what components have gone into it, you know exactly how it was put together, and you only install the software that you want.

    And then with the knowledge you gain from building your own and Virtual Dr, you never have to worry about their so-called tech support ever again.
    Nick.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 1999
    Location
    Largo, Fl.
    Posts
    22,322
    I've used dozens upon dozens of Dells and have never had a problem I'll be buying four for the office soon.
    If you're happy and you know it......it's your meds.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Dallas, Texas, USA
    Posts
    1,413
    One of the hidden benefits of building your own with the identical same components is that the consumer (user) saves money. If it is a top of the line, then it may be as much as $1,000 plus.

    When I get ready to purchase new computers, I am planning to build my own. Dwight Silverman of the Houston Chronicle maintains excellent up-to-date specs on the Houston Chronicle Technology page at http://www.chron.com/.

    Cheers,

    Linda
    Last edited by LindaHewitt; July 9th, 2006 at 12:53 PM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Wine country N.Y.
    Posts
    1,602
    I have had the pleasure of building a few systems for unhappy X Dell owners. One died right out of the box, it was the psu. The Dell folks showed up 3 days later and replaced the psu. Then a week later the HD ***** the bed, a few days later the Dell folks showed up to replace the 80 gig drive with a 40 gig drive because he did not have an 80 gig drive with him. Not to mention the MS office they purchased with the system for some rediculous price that they never got. It went back to Dell post haste. And I built them a 64bit AMD based system with a Cannon printer that smoked that Dell for 250.00 less. I wouldn't buy a Dell for my 6 year old, I care for him to much to do that to him. I built him a 2800 Barton core based system with an Antec case&psu a gig of Kinston ram, My old TI4200, Liteon DVDRW, floppy, and a Gigabyte mainboard for him. I built all the systems in this house a 1700+ up to my 3700+ and a bunch in between. I have not had any problems with any of them!

    and you only install the software that you want.
    I agree I don't want nor do need a 30 day trial of this and that. In the end if it does come with any decent software your going to end up buying it if you want to continue using it.
    Last edited by rbc1100; July 9th, 2006 at 10:52 PM.
    Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money, Ride like you've never crashed, and dance like no one's watching!!!!!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2000
    Location
    N. Virginia--Wash DC area
    Posts
    10,685
    Build your own....I repeat (this will not be repeated).....build your own. Why go through a company whose tech support is obviously outsourced and half the time cannot give you a straight answer?

    Dell Laptop Bursts into Flames

    *Rinnnnnng!*

    "Hello...this is the Support line....my name is Sudhish.....er....Steve....yes...Steve...how may I help you today?"

    "My *&^%* LAPTOP JUST EXPLODED AND CAUGHT FIRE! WHAT THE *&^%$ iS THIS??"

    "That is very interesting, kind Sir....I am sorry to hear of your troubles and..."

    "YOU'RE *&^&*(% RIGHT I HAVE TROUBLES!....somebody get the *&^&* fire extinguisher!....WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD MY LAPTOP EXPLODE?? IT'S BRAND NEW AND..."

    "If you would be please to calm down sir, I will attempt to help you. (shuffling index que cards). Now....you will please look on the bottom of the laptop and give me the model and serial number...."

    "HOW IN THE &^%$* CAN I GIVE YOU THAT?? THE BOTTOM IS FUSED TO THE TABLE!!"

    "Ahhhh....that does present a problem for us...does it not, sir? (more shuffling of index cue cards) I am afraid we will have to wait for it to stop melting then, for I cannot help you without knowing the model or serial number. If you wish I could redirect your call to our customer service headquarters in the city of TriIgushelahdufopooperahjah....uh....er...."Seattle"....yes....."Seattle", then I'm sure they can help....hold please!"

    "NO!! WAIT!! I NEED HELP NOW!! CAN'T YOU.....?"

    "*click!*....Hello! Welcome to Customer Service! My name is Bhavya...uh....er....Sally....yes....that's it...."Sally"...."
    Last edited by bistro; July 10th, 2006 at 11:10 AM.
    Desktop: Intel i7 960 CPU @ 4.0GHz, EVGA Classified 4-Way SLI mobo, 12GB Corsair Dominator-GT 2000 DDR3 RAM, Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB Solid State Drive, Two WD 2TB SATA drives, 2x EVGA GTX 570 Superclocked graphics cards in SLI, Coolermaster HAF X full tower case, OCZ ZX 1250w PSU, Corsair H100 CPU Cooler
    Laptop: MSI GT60-004US, 2x Seagate Momentus XT 750GB SSD Hybrid drives in RAID 0, 16GB DDR3 1600 RAM, GeForce 670M 3GB graphics card, Networks 'Killer' N-1103 WLAN card

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Norfolk VA
    Posts
    585
    Dell's deal is that they have become a great marketing company and a poor computer manufacturer. Everywhere you look, it's Dell Dell Dell. Almost all Gov't contracts, especially education, are infused with Dell products. Commercials every minute on TV (who can forget that pothead kid saying "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell"), and a mailbox full of their flyers each week. They've got the marketing scheme down...ask any Joe off the street this question - "Name the first computer manufacturer that comes to mind"...I'll bet next years pay they don't blink before saying "Dell".
    They've also let their marketing department run their manufacturing too...remember when they would sell computers (and maybe still do) with XP and 128MB ram for $300-400? Useless. Name any one of us here who builds computers that would allow themself to sell that kind of setup to anyone. Businesses and homes I went into that had fallen into that trap immediately either replaced those or bought a stick of 512MB, and amazingly it solved 95% of what I was called to fix.

    *Whew* OK, done with the "rant". And no, I don't believe that every Dell computer is garbage, I've seen many that work fine...but this explains a lot of the headaches.
    Latest Toy: Toshiba M400 Tablet PC, 2.0 Duo, 1024MB 80GB

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 1999
    Location
    PacNW, up & to the left.
    Posts
    1,820
    Yeah, back in the day Dell was great and I would recommend ... still have one of the first 1000mhz machines from them still running. Although I still have a Gateway 200mhz Pentium Pro, overdriven to 333mhz, that continues to breeze along too..... Just good with making machines run I guess!
    Back to Dell though ... I build machines for a very "select" clientele.... and for the rest I recommend Dell, some folks just need a Dell if you know what I mean.
    Windows 10 on: ~Asus P5B-E ~Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3GHz ~G. Skill (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400 ~EVGA 7900GTX ~Kingston SSD (for the OS) ~Western Digital 650GB Hard Drive (Data), Turtle Beach Santa Cruz w/Klipsh 2.1 Pro Media Speakers ~ Twin BenQ FP202W 20.1" LCD's

  11. #11
    jenae is offline Virtual PC Specialist!!!
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    2,702
    Hi, gee that Jones boy gets around, using dozens and dozens of Dells must spend a lot of time in internet Cafe's. Only a fool would believe you can build and support quality for the price Dell sell at, worst thing to happen to consumer confidence in this industry for some time, you can be lucky and your Dell will be OK, problem is if it isn't then you have a real problem.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2000
    Location
    N. Virginia--Wash DC area
    Posts
    10,685
    They used Dells at my place of work just before my current one and those suckers were breaking down faster than a speeding megabit....especially the motherboards....capacitors popping so much I thought I was running a theater concession stand.
    Sorry....just don't trust them or the company. Here they were running that "We support you 24/7" ad (with the "interns"), depicting a home-based support staff, while all the while it was outsourced to some other country. Downright deceptive as far as I'm concerned and not worthy of my confidence.
    Desktop: Intel i7 960 CPU @ 4.0GHz, EVGA Classified 4-Way SLI mobo, 12GB Corsair Dominator-GT 2000 DDR3 RAM, Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB Solid State Drive, Two WD 2TB SATA drives, 2x EVGA GTX 570 Superclocked graphics cards in SLI, Coolermaster HAF X full tower case, OCZ ZX 1250w PSU, Corsair H100 CPU Cooler
    Laptop: MSI GT60-004US, 2x Seagate Momentus XT 750GB SSD Hybrid drives in RAID 0, 16GB DDR3 1600 RAM, GeForce 670M 3GB graphics card, Networks 'Killer' N-1103 WLAN card

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    TEXAS
    Posts
    30
    Ok, ya'll can beat me later, but I'll state my experience with Dell. I worked for a company that had upwards 0f 450+ users, all on Dells. The next company I worked for had about the same amount of users, the one I work for now has around 350+. All on Dells, I was deskide support at all the previous companies & at my current position ( where I have ALOT more other duties )
    Overall, I really can't bitch about their products, yes I've seen problems, but none that really stick out in my mind other than right now, where there are a over average amount of power supply failures in the GX260-270 models. Now I'm talking all models of laptops & desktops. The first company I worked at for about 5 years, the second one a year & have been at my current position for about 4 months. Currently I am the one that specs out the systems we order from them. So I feel from THAT standpoint, they ain't that bad with that kind of usage involved. As far as the Tech support, I already know what they're gonna ask so it's a breeze for me Do i prefer homemade? YES. But in real world usuage, there is a reason they're #1. Just my 02 cents
    twixt optomist and pessimist, the difference is droll, the optomist sees the donut, the pessimist the hole

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    632
    As far as the Tech support, I already know what they're gonna ask so it's a breeze for me Do i prefer homemade? YES. But in real world usuage, there is a reason they're #1. Just my 02 cents
    Yes but that is corperate support. they are in the US. Try the home support system and see how good they are.
    common sense isn't all that common

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jul 2000
    Location
    N. Virginia--Wash DC area
    Posts
    10,685
    A little while back Dell also outsourced their corporate support. There was so much screaming about their "techs" who either obviously knew little to nothing on how to help, or else could not understand the caller (and vice-versa), that Dell pushed their corporate support back to being U.S. based VERY quickly.
    I believe it is an Internet myth, but I heard that Dell would play John Wayne movies for their outsource customer support personnel to help them hone their English skills. Anybody else hear something to that effect?

    Riiiinnnnng!

    "Well Hiya....my name is 'Tex' Ryijjana...How can I help you today, Pilgrim?"

    Uh.....er.....five of my office workstations will not boot up properly....I'm not sure what the problem is....

    "Wellllll....I'll tell ya' what....Quick! Round up all the other Dell's in a circle, hide the women and children and..."
    Last edited by bistro; July 14th, 2006 at 08:01 AM.
    Desktop: Intel i7 960 CPU @ 4.0GHz, EVGA Classified 4-Way SLI mobo, 12GB Corsair Dominator-GT 2000 DDR3 RAM, Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB Solid State Drive, Two WD 2TB SATA drives, 2x EVGA GTX 570 Superclocked graphics cards in SLI, Coolermaster HAF X full tower case, OCZ ZX 1250w PSU, Corsair H100 CPU Cooler
    Laptop: MSI GT60-004US, 2x Seagate Momentus XT 750GB SSD Hybrid drives in RAID 0, 16GB DDR3 1600 RAM, GeForce 670M 3GB graphics card, Networks 'Killer' N-1103 WLAN card

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •