POLL: Dude, you're getting a Dell?

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Well, this is just a little poll to find out what people think about Dell Computers. The reason I want to know is because I just got a Dell laptop and so far it's been great, but I've found a few low points in the company...for example, having to wait 27 minutes on hold for technical support.

What about you?

Poll Information
This poll contains 3 question(s). 38 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Dude, you're getting a Dell? (38 votes.)

How would you rate their computers? (Looks, functionality, or price) (Choose 1)
* Great, awsome, the best. - 11% (4)
* Good, above average. - 45% (17)
* Average - 21% (8)
* Poor, below average - 16% (6)
* Horrible, pathetic, the worst. - 3% (1)
* Just the results for me. - 5% (2)

How would you rate the other aspects of the company? (Tech support, other) (Choose 1)
* Great, awsome, the best. - 0% (0)
* Good, above average. - 18% (7)
* Average - 29% (11)
* Poor, below average - 21% (8)
* Horrible, pathetic, the worst. - 8% (3)
* Just the results for me. - 24% (9)

How would you rate Dell as a whole? (Choose 1)
* Great, awsome, the best. - 3% (1)
* Good, above average. - 34% (13)
* Average - 37% (14)
* Poor, below average - 16% (6)
* Horrible, pathetic, the worst. - 3% (1)
* Just the results for me. - 8% (3)

 

My first computer was a Dell. Great system, never had a problem with it. Their service does take a while to answer but their people are good. They have (or at least last time I researched 2 years ago) one of the lowest breakdown rates of any computer company out there. I can't speak for their Laptops, as I've never owned one. But overall I think they're a great company. Their popularity also allows them to offer lower prices and tons of specials, which is also good. I can't really rate them as "the best," because frankly I don't know if they are. I'm sure they're up there.

Oh yeah - congrats on the new puter!

 

I can't speak from direct experience. However, the company we use for computer consulting (a well-respected international company (no, not Dell)) recently started using Dell for servers and workstations. They say reliability is excellent, as is tech support. Pricing is, of course, very competitive.

 

My first desktop was a Dell. It was my best friend before it got crushed when we moved house. I played around with the insides and it worked for about five minutes - but the hard drive was dead... it was time to move on

 

Our school is filling up with Dell stuff, so it must be good.

 

I think there is only one downside to Dell computers: you don't know what you'll get. For example; you can order a Dell with a 128MB GeForce FX 5200 Graphics Card, but that is all you can specify. There is great difference between brands of video cards, even though they have the same chip set, and with Dell, you'll never know what they are putting in your machine. You also don't know if you paid the right price for it. They probably determine an average price of the selected video card, but if they happen to put a lesser one in your computer, you may be paying more for it, than you would pay for it in a store. This is not only the case with video cards, but of course also with every other part in your machine.

 

I swear by Dell computers (and by that I don't mean "this ****ing Dell is a piece of ****"). They're reliable, well specified, well assembled and very competitively priced. The one time that I had to use it, I found their support to be very good indeed. Even if you do have to wait for a while when calling technical support these days, it's not as though you have to do it very often. Having said all this, I've no experience of Dell laptops. However, I do not think they're the best - they're rather ugly and not so competitively priced.

 

I bought a Dell about 6 months ago...I'm pretty happy with it. It doesn everything I need it to. Good speed, good graphics, no crashes...I am happy!

 

Mesmero,
Dell tends to use the nVidia reference boards. You won't get one of those marketed brands.

I've found Dells to be fine PCs. The prices tend to be quite impressive, and they are more reliable and more trustworthy than other brands. On another upside, they're one of the few brands that doesn't use proprietary parts, making upgrades easier.

My understanding is that their tech support is among the best in the business, but I don't use tech support so I don't know for sure.

 

Personally, I prefer to put together my own computer by purchasing individual components, however as far as purchased complete systems go the Dell systems that my friends have purchased tend to be quite stable and reliable. The prices seem quite reasonable to me and I had no problems with Dell's sales website when I last checked it out in order to help a friend make his purchase.

My office tends to use Compaqs - mostly laptops but our receptionists have compaq desktops. When I have used these desktops, they have behaved themselves very well in terms of both performance and stability. It is almost a shame that the receptionists do so little with them.

Of course, Compaqs cost more than Dells so there is always a cost benefit trade-off. Also, I have never had to crack open the Compaq desktops' cases so I have no idea as to whether or not they are using proprietary parts.

As far as laptops are concerned, the few Dell laptops that I have come across have left me quite unimpressed. I would say that sticking with Compaq, Toshiba or IBM is the way to go.

 

I have to say 'average.' I would never buy a "brand" comp due of several reasons:

1) They cost more than clone PC's.
2) I don't need technical support; I could be the one who supports.
3) They come with a lot of useless riff-raff, like shareware programs (licensed to use for next two weeks )
4) Most of the parts are rather poor when considering the price. There are even some brands that cost more than 1,000€ and still have *Celeron.*

And Dell belongs to this group.

 

I totally agree with you on that. When I ordered my laptop I requested that they only install the operating system and NOTHING else...When I got it, it had everything installed! I was pissed off so much, that the first peice of busneiness was to format the hard drive.

 

Vote me up on another dis-satisfied Dell ex-consumer. Maybe disgruntled is the more accurate term.

If you do buy a Dell, what everything boils down to is that you have a disposable computer. You can cannabilize the hard disk and the dvdrom reader. After that, it's 50/50. You wait too long on video cards, and the new ones draw too much power for the PSU to handle it. Those PSU's are calculated right down to the bare essentials. The monitors are usually pretty good, but monitors are getting ready to swing over to LCD/Plasma fullscale. The refreshes are already sub-20ns. The cases are really flimsy, so no drilling holes to fit your new mainboard. And since the psu has a proprietary connector, no cannibalizing the psu.

I don't know how many times I've just added in parts or swapped them out, without even bothering to check if my system "supports" them. Also, having some actual control over your bios is a nice thing. Firmware updates are quick; you don't have to wait for Dell to "release" their version of firmware updates (so they don't lose that nifty Dell logo on the screen).

Dell's are good if you don't have even the slightly inclination to build your own computer. If you don't have problems with using a screwdriver and isopropyl alcohol, building your own system is definately the way to go. Not only in terms of cash-money, but performance and compatibility.

 

You shouldn't drink isopropyl alcohol just to save cash-money.

Seriously, what is the alcohol for EJ?

 

For normal workstation computers (and servers too) I would recommend buying the hardware yourself and put the puter together yourself (or get someone, who knows about it, to it).

Advantages:

1) You can get top notch stuff for cheap money if you do your research first (hardware reviews, like Tom's Hardware)

2) You can expand like you want to do without breaking the warranty (downside is that there's no warranty, but no tech support or having to wait for someone to repair it!)

3) If it doesn't work, you should have a slight idea what's wrong since you built it! (Get help from a computer whiz if not)

4) A little bonus. You can tell your friends that you made it yourself and be proud that you saved some bucks too

Disadvantages:

1) No warranty.

2) No tech support. I have never in my life called a tech support though so I wouldn't know the importance of it.

3) You won't get a neat looking design puter, but hey, you can casemod your own and make it very unique and to your liking!

The only reason I would buy from Dell or something is if it was a laptop. I would take some other company though.

 

I cant complain I now have the XPS and I'm having fun. I wish i had the New Alien Ware modle.

 

Not entirely true, on components produced by known companies (everything that has a mark) you get warranty on the individual components. The nice thing about this is that if one component (say your vid-card) isn't working you just have to return the component and can still continue with the rest of your comp (if you have a spare component, which you should have if your upgrading or replacing your previous comp). You don't get warranty on components you buy without mark (saves lots of bucks but doesn't have warranty so I usually don't take the risk).

 

I dont really like them, but then, I prefer to make my own computers, which breakdown less than the last dell i had(scrap pieces now)

WooHOO new gem!

 

aaron, you should have gotten an emachine. I work for the notebook support so you could possibly get me if you called in. I can tell you we have the best customer support anywhere. PC World magazine rated emachines as the best in a recent article. Although, if you call in you can expect to wait a whopping 16 seconds.

 

For the most part, I'm satisified with my new Dell computer (bought last spring), but I only know the bare essentials of upgrading. I hope that I can use my computer as a base and upgrade from there. But after reading some posts here I'll probably run into some incompatibility here or there. Grrr.

I am a little upset that I had to pay quite a bit more for 256 RAM and what was at the time, an astronomical amount (in my standards) for 512 RAM, and I look at my latest PC game purchase (KOTOR) and it "recommends" 512, and my brand new 256 RAM is only minimum requirement for that game. Yeah I know I can upgrade, but already? Grrr.

But my biggest beef is my DVD drive which has gone dead over the past few weeks. Tech support was OK, but it's hard to understand the guy with an Indian accent, and vice versa. They didn't help the problem really, and I dare not try to call again on the weekends, unless I really want to wait. I've tried updating my drivers, even drivers tech support reccommended, but no go. The drive will not read DVD's or CD-ROM's anymore. It's completely shot. I've tried different CD's and DVD's. I've cleaned them, I've used the special cleaning CD's, I've opened up my tower and used compressed air. I've run diagnostics, and my computer tells me the drive is working just fine (yeah right). I've uninstalled and reinstalled the drive. I've used system restore to revert back to when it worked. And on and on. No such luck. But I'm not so mad at Dell as I am Samsung, because that's the DVD drive manufacturer. Dell was just the middleman.

Oh well, that's my latest computer woes. Oh, and I can't play my brand new KOTOR. It's time like these, that I start re-evaluating using consoles for gaming instead of PC's.