I’m not really interested in a discussion about all the different computers, and what you’d get if you could or what you have now. I’m really only interested in hearing about Dell computers by those who actually own or use one. I don’t know much about them and I’m wondering if they’re basically good computers or if they have problems.
Bottom line: If you own or use one, do you like it or would you get rid of it if you could?
Susan
I don’t own a Dell myself, but I’ve worked on a LOT of them, and I would like to make the point that their customer service is HORRIBLE.
If you ever plan on calling customer service for anything, I would not get a Dell. I have had and heard about a dozen instances where their customer service has been consistently below-par.
Just something to consider.
I’m obliged to use one at the office. I like them not, for a number of reasons, but chiefly because of their proprietary attitude. Software supplied (purchased, let’s face it) will only run on a Dell… because it checks internalised serial numbers on boards and components. Customer service is pants. I had an older Dell desktop machine here, and wanted to upgrade the operating system. It wouldn’t let me, because the OS hadn’t been supplied by Dell…and BIOS demanded a ‘motherboard password’ which no-one knew anything about when I tried.
I wouldn’t have one as a personal machine.
Having said all that, the only hardware failure I’ve had on Dell’s has been cooling fans on Latitude notebooks. The IT department simply binned the entire machines and bought new ones - they were out of warranty and it was cheaper than trying to get service from Dell. Note that the machines in a corporate environment do get hammered a fair bit more than a home machine might.
I still wouldn’t have one as a personal machine though.
My opinion, for what it’s worth!
I’ve bought three Dells so far; two desktops there were on special (400SC) and one laptop for my wife. One of the desktops had a power supply go out a few weeks after buying it and I had no problem getting it replaced by Dell.
I used to build my own from components but you really don’t save much money doing that anymore. When I was in the market I scanned http://techbargains.com and http://slickdeals.net to look for specials. If you don’t by on the bleeding edge you can get a nice desktop for $300-$350 from Dell if you’re willing to wait.
In the interest of full disclosure:
My mom had a Dell laptop (I’ve forgotten what kind) that had a hard drive controller go bad. I’ve never heard of that happening before, but I thought I’d share.
I own two Dells at my home and we have two or three at the office and my daughter uses a Dell at college. I’ve found them to be solid and relatively trouble-free. Happily, I’ve not had to call customer service often but the last time I did, they had ported it all over to India and the guy worked hard to solve my problem but wasn’t able to. I’m sorry to say that in spite of his very HELPFUL attitude, we had trouble communicating because of his very thickly accented (and otherwise excellent) English. (I also have heavily accented English, as it turns out). He authorized a replacement computer. At the time, mine was only a week or two old. I appreciated the willingness to ship a replacement, but having spent a lot of time getting the new computer ready and software and data transferred to it, I wasn’t crazy about starting over. Ultimately, as I almost always do now, I found the answer to my problem by doing a google search of key terms to describe the problem I was having. I found a forum some place where one guy described a similar problem and another guy (both consumers) had found the answer. As I say, almost all my hardware and software problems get solved by searching the Internet. Of course, you have to have access to a working computer and Internet to make that happen!
In any case, I’ve been a pretty loyal Dell customer.
Dale
This has always appealed to me and I recently researched the possibility of doing this by buying a “barebones” system and adding the various components. I like the idea of doing it but, you’re right, you can’t really get the price down below the Dell specials.
Dale
I’ve owned 2 Dells (including my current home PC which I bought this spring). It was easy to set up, and I’ve never had a problem. My current PC came with free 2 year service plan, although I’ve yet to call for technical assistance.
I’m not very technical, so I had a techno-geek friend of mine help in selection of the PC. He told me to make sure the chip was a “regular” Intel chip, as opposed to a Celeron or AMD. Plus he told me to get the 8000 series or higher. I forget the specific rationale (reliability? horsepower?), but I followed his advice.
I would second the movement to NOT get a celeron, but AMD is just as good a chip as Intel. It’s just different, and so you have to do a bit of work to figure what’s good from AMD and what’s not. It’s always safe to go with a regular Intel chip, though.
Dell at home and at work.
At home 2 desktops (1 active + 1 retired), 1 laptop & 2 pdas. We’ve had few problems and while the tech support from India has been a little more difficult because of language issues, we’ve always made it to the solution after a few calls.
A few illustrations. A few years ago I reformatted the hard drive of a desk top (I’d messed it up with bad software (not Dell)), while getting directions over the phone. It took a couple of hours. Don’t try this without professional guidance.
On 2 occasions they sent someone to replace parts. They showed up in 24 hrs at the time they said they would and were in and out in minutes.
They replaced a pda with a rebuilt one.
We’re going to replace my wife’s 4 yr old desktop with a laptop soon. I’d guess that after I do weeks of obsessive research I’ll end up with Dell again.
Good luck
It can be fun (and frustrating) and you can learn a lot in the process. Plus you get exactly what you need. So I would recommend it just for the ‘fun’ aspect. But if you’re looking strictly at the price you can’t beat economies of scale.
A record of my experience with Dell, from March 2004:
In preparation for moving overseas, I purchased a Dell Inspiron 300m notebook earlier this month. It was going to be partially funded by selling my existing desktop system, which I still had at the time.
The laptop itself was very nice but it had the rather undesireable side effect of toasting the SD media card for my camera. See, the laptop has a dedicated slot for SD cards, which makes transferring pictures much easier. But after removing my card from the laptop, the card was no longer readable by the camera or by either of my two computer systems.
I call up Dell. Ring, ring. Ring, ring ring ring ring…on hold for quite some time. Eventually after talking with 5 people I find someone who actually knows what an SD memory card is. No, I didn’t buy it from Dell, I say. Dell does sell them, though. And the reader which broke it is obviously from Dell.
My friendly support tech, Joe in Austin, has definitely had sensitivity training. When I first call up, he’s going on and on about how he will stick with this problem till the end, and assist me in resolving it to my satisfaction. Big words, Joey. He seemed to forget about customer satisfaction by the end.
The option Joe and his manager come up with is for me to buy a second SD card, and if the machine nukes it, they will replace the machine and pay for the card. Ummm…wouldn’t I have TWO busted cards at that point? I ask. Yes, says Joe, but you’ll have only paid for one so you wouldn’t be out any more money. Um… I’m not convinced. So I decide to call Sandisk, tha maker of the SD card.
No problem, says Sandisk. Where did you buy it? (an online store) When did you buy it? What’s the code on the back of the card? OK, got it. We will email you a prepaid return mailing label today and ship you a new card in a few weeks. You’ll be visiting family at that time? OK, we can ship it there.
I get off the phone with Sandisk in a total of about 15 minutes, head reeling.
Dell’s support hours are closed, so the weekend passes and I call Joey back on Monday. I tell him about Sandisk’s support but he’s unfazed.
Well, says Joe, since we haven’t established that the computer is at fault, we can’t replace it for you. But you can do a return-and-reorder. That will take only a few weeks.
I don’t have a few weeks, I say. I am moving, I have to sell my desktop machine (and transfer the data) and I need a replacement by April 8th. What else have you got for me?
Nothing, apparently. My annoyance is mounting, and so I finally decide to just return the thing and be done with it.
Another 20 minutes on hold, and eventually I get transferred to returns. I can tell that the return guy has been chatting with my mate Joey there, as he’s got a somewhat skewed version of what’s been going on. Yes, I’m getting a new card from Sandisk. No, I don’t have it YET. No, I’m not about to go buy another card just so I can break it again - the bottom line is I don’t trust your hardware! (quickly escalating to Dell in general)
Well, says Mr. I-forget-your-name, since we haven’t established that there is a technical issue (my jaw hangs open), you will be liable for the return shipping. Multiple arguments go nowhere, he’s got his script in which the customer must accept financial loss to continue in the process, and he’s sticking to it. All right, I concede. I want to be done with this before the 30 day return period is over, so I give in and he triumphantly gives me my return code.
It costs $14 to return it by UPS (Dell’s quoted shipping cost is $50, by the way) and a month after the return I still haven’t had the purchase recredited onto my card, so I contact my credit card issuer and explain the situation. Within a few days of them being involved, Dell finally returns my money, as they were legally obligated to do (somewhat sooner than they really did).
Take from that what you will, but I make sure that they knew that I would never buy a Dell product again and would share my story with everyone considering a purchase.
I am a strong advocate of building your own system (my last desktop was self-customised), but unfortunately they don’t have build-your-own-laptop systems available yet…
As Dell customer service has been panned in a couple posts, I’d be curious to know: Is it bad relative to other manufacturers, or are customer service difficulties the nature of the beast when it comes to pc’s?
I have had wonderful experiences with some other computer manufacturers. Dell’s customer service (in my mind) stands out as uncommonly unhelpful among the many companies.
I suspect that Dell made a decision at some point to cut their customer support costs and that’s one of the things that allows them to sell good computers cheap. I’m not sure it was the right decision.
My company buys and issues Dell laptops, so I’ve been through two of them. Biggest problems were the modem went out and a trashed (cola infected ) keyboard. We buy the gold level service and extended warranty, so a Dell guy met me at a McDonald’s and fixed them right there in the booth.
One nice thing about Dell is that their customer service is still in the United States, or at least it was when I had the above referenced problem.
We recently got rid of a Compaq and got a Dell desktop on the company disacount plan. The Dell has been head and shoulders above the Compaq.
yep, i got a dell too, great machine, does all it should. doesn’t make coffee though, or make my bed. otherwise: a very good buy. 
Now I don’t know what to do. I suppose I’d have gotten these types of responses no matter which brand I asked about…I’m sure there are good and bad stories about all of them. What’s funny is that the computer I’ve had for so many years, with never a problem, is some store brand from R.C. Willey furniture (where I’ll never shop again - don’t even get me started on THEIR customer service-about other things, not computers).
Like shopping for a car, I suppose…everybody’s got their favorite. Thanks for the responses. I’ll have to do some serious thinking about this, in spite of the fact that music clips are piling up…
Susan
check out this fancy beast, STATE OF THE ART!!!
damn, those guys know their stuff!!
I used to work with Dells.
We once had a hard drive fail on a new machine within 24 hours of receipt. I don’t blame Dell for this. This happens all the time to people no matter where they get machines from, or if they build it themselves.
What I blame Dell for is their crappy customer service about it. We bought everything with a warranty so in the case of something like this, we could return it. Instead, I got to spend probably two hours on the phone before being connected to a call-center monkey who obviously was reading from a script and didn’t really know anything about fixing computers.
So, after spending an afternoon explaining why I couldn’t perform the diagnostics checks (“You can’t run ScanDisc?” “No, the machine will not boot when the drive is hooked up”) and faxing them that same information for their tech support department. After that, their call center was closed so I had to call the guy back the next day, and he started back on the same brainless script. I finally got frustrated and escalated it to a supervisor (who’s supposed to be smarter about fixing machines). I finally had to explain to him that I’d been fixing computers longer than he’d been out of puberty, and held the phone up to the hard drive which was making a sick grinding noise.
Finally they admitted there was a problem, though it ultimately took two days, and they issued me an RMA for the drive, though they warned me that they’d check it when it came in, and if it really wasn’t dead, they’d send it back and charge me for the new one too. :roll: I was eventually vindicated by their hardware techs a couple of weeks later, but geeze, the aggravation! I really feel for those poor saps who have computer problems and don’t already know what the issue is.
At home, I just build my own. Cheaper that way