A testament to Dells quality and assistance - 4 years on

I purchased a Dell Dimension 3100c in early 2006 at a very low price.
I know it is not a laptop but that goes without saying its still a computer.
the only issue I've ever had with the dimension was a corrupt hard drive, I contacted Dell support and my issue was fixed within no time.

The machine still runs like the day it came out of the box and I still use it as my main workhorse, albeit with a RAM upgrade (512mb to 2GB)

I have to say, you can't really go wrong with Dell.

 

The thing with desktops, though, is that it's not that difficult to make one that will last a long time. My parents have been running the same HP desktop for 6.5+ years with no hardware problems, and good service from HP the one time they had to contact them for OS support. Our older Sony desktop is 11 years old without any hardware problems at all. Desktops usually just sit in one place - laptops are moved about a lot, and the mechanical stress is much higher.

 

Having said that, my msdos 3.3 antique is still working

 

Heh, I have a Dimension 9100 (of 2005) which has only had 1 problem (albeit a major one) in its first year involving the motherboard. None the less, a technician was dispatched in fixed it relatively quickly. Now my old 9 year old Gateway on the other hand had quite a chain of issues (which luckily ended right before the warranty expired ) not to mention poor customer service.

My only complaint regarding Dell has been the use of proprietary motherboards (though I'm not sure if they changed this in recent years) which make it a pain to perform certain upgrades.

 

I'm still using my old 2005 E1705 dell laptop almost daily. A very reliable laptop indeed!

In fact, I'm considering a few performance mods... adding 2more gig of ram, faster GPU and a faster/larger HDD Here is a cool website that is "inspiring" me to do this: http://eduncan911.com/blog/why-the-inspiron-is-a-king.aspx

my 2005 e1705 laptop has been one of the most reliable machines I've owned

 

My Latitude D600 from 2004 is still going strong. I did some upgrades about 18 months ago: maxed out RAM, new HDD, better wireless card, etc. for a couple hundred bucks. That was enough to keep it going as the primary (actually only) computer for my financial planning business and all my personal needs.

It's reign is almost over, though, as I'll be getting a new Latitude E-series when the Arrandale refresh comes out in the next several weeks (I hope!). Still, five and a half years as a workhorse laptop is pretty good these days. Go Dell!

 

Yeah, that was in 2006. I bought a Studio 1535 in 2008, which had some disk ejection issues. After several motherboard, optical drive, and media panel replacements, Dell finally decided they couldn't fix it. I ended up getting a Studio 1555 in April of 2009 (the successor to the 1535), and it worked well for a few months, until November of 2009, when Windows started locking up completely, forcing a hard reboot. Reformatting, reinstalling, and replacing the hard drive, memory sticks, and CPU failed to work. Finally, later in November, the laptop stopped booting at all.

Judging from the posts I've seen in my months here on the forums, Dell's stuff pre-2007 was generally good quality. Their newer stuff has been really poor, though, and their customer service has gotten worse if you didn't pay hundreds of dollars extra for "premium" care, a concept I consider laughable at best.

 

You know, I'm going to have to agree with the earlier comment that it isn't too hard to make a desktop last a long time, especially older desktops that don't put out quite as much heat more contemporary machines. My dad's still using a '98 Dimension v333c in his office, and the '99 Dimension XPS 450/400 in my room still probably work as well.

That being said, there is still a D600 running in my family, but it'll probably be replaced soon...

 

My mom still uses my old Inspiron 5100 bought back in 2002 on daily bases for internet,email, very light games (chuzzle,bejeweled etc..).It still and has run 24/7 since the day i bought it ..well a reboot here and there for updates..My sister has my old E1505 and uses it for everything under the sun and pretty much never turns it off.She had to replace the battery

 

Exactly, laptops are the most likely product in the electronics market to get hardware issues due to the moving around, especially the hard drive is sensible for shocks.
If you want your laptop to last long, don't move it. Worked for my acer, running for over 2 years now

 

That entirely defeats the purpose of a laptop - portability. When you buy a notebook computer, it's generally with the expectation that you will be able to transport it from place to place without things breaking off and falling apart inside due to the stress of travel.

 

Before praising Dell's durability, please remember times change and everyone has a different "Dell Experience".

My most recent Dell Experience was just within these last couple months and here is a video to show it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeLKVkdftBo

 

Well thats the problem with cheaper models, they are portable...but not durable. I made the mistake by chosing a lot of hardware for less money (if I went with sony or apple I would have payed a 1000€ more for the same or less specs). In return I got bad cooling, a heavy weight (3kg), although the overal plastic casing isn't so bad.

 

Oddly enough, my recent Dell experiences have been similar. Heck, they even sent me a free pen when I lost the old one to my XT2. Haha.

 

Well my vaio is in repair right now due to dodgey hinges within a couple of months, so basically peoples expierences vary, I agree with Mastershroom that particularly Dell's older stuff works well.