How did your last dell die ? How long did it last ?

As is well known, dells have been bashed fr their supposed poor build quality (I dont agree).
I've been looking at thinkpads recently, adn its surprising how many serious failures they get, backlight failures, motherboards getting fried, fan erros, sodimm slots not working etc.

So I'm wondering, whats the typical way a dell dies ? And when does it die ?
How long do you expect a dell to last ?

 

Mobo - overheated/poor ventilation design - inspiron 4150 lasted 2.2 years with 1 mobo replacement.

 

my Latitude D600 is still functional, had a hard drive replacement under warranty (btw, Dell gave me a bigger and faster drive as a replacement, and mailed it overnight). However, both screen hinges are completely gone, so I have to brace it on something to actually use it.

considering I bought it in May 2003 and it survived all 4 years of undergrad (and then some), and considering it was cheaper then than most other laptops with the same specs, I'm not complaining. In fact, strongly considering buying the XPS M1330 when the delays are gone.

 

None of my Dells have died

 

My 5100 inspiron, going on 4 years old, is still going strong. The keyboard is missing some kids (don't blame Dell though, blame my kids) so we use a usb keyboard. I'm hoping the 1720 is as good.

 

The one Latitude d810 I own is going strong after 2.5 years. A little hinge wobble but still very solid in all other regards. The Latitude 600 I got from work is older by at least another half year and is in even better condition.

 

none died yet, the oldest is 6-7 years, the newest is 2 month.

 

I've had a Dell Dimension from 2001 which runs 24/7 like a champ. The earlier poster was correct, they usually die from MOBO failure probably from overheating, but take it with a grain of salt. Dell has always catered to the technologically challenged. As such, most customers have no idea that heat is a problem, or maybe those GIANT dust balls hanging around the back of the CPU should be cleaned. I've seen people stick their towers inside a cabinet; I mean its disasters waiting to happen, and then they blame the manufacturer.

Dell isn't great, I mean it's not stackin Asus or Epox MOBOs, but it sure as hell is better than Acer or God forbid eMachines(now these things SUCK).

If you're a regular in these forums, you'll also notice that laptops need to be cleaned out with an air duster every few months, since heat is much worse in laptops. Ask people if their grandma, grandpa, father, mother is comfortable unscrewing/tinkering with this laptopamerbobber and cleaning it out. Most people don't even know something called the command prompt exists.

 

stolen!!! 1 year old inspiron 6400

 

Inspiron 8200

I got it brand new in 01 and it worked great for a couple years till the one of the mouse buttons broke. That may have been for the best because then i had no choice but to get used to the touchpad.

Its currently my little brothers notebook and it survived freshman year at siu.

 

I'm using a Dimension 4400 from May 5, 2002 right now (just checked Dell for ship date). The only thing I've done to it is added RAM, because it only came with 256MB now it's at 768MB.

I shoved it in the corner about a year and a half ago because I built another desktop, but I sold that so here I am, still pimpin' on this beast waiting on my 1520.

 

5100 died after about 2 years, would turn itself off right after turning on. Out of warranty. Scrapped for parts.

Replaced by 700m still going strong after about 2 years.

Just purchased a new ThinkPad T61p. We'll see how Dell and IBM stand up to eachother.

 

I had the Dell Inspiron 8100, ordered when they first came out, like 5 years ago.
Right before the 3 year warranty was up the screen went out and Dell replaced it very quickly. To this day Laptop still works great. The battery is dead but the laptop is in tip top shape and for 2-3 of those years I was playing FFXI or Everquest 24/7 on it so it got it's use.
That was my original reason for ordering the Dell 1520 although even I have re-thought the purchase with all the jibber jabber on this forum.
I decied in the end I'd give Dell the benefit of the doubt and wait till I at least get it and make my own decisions before giving in to the "It sucks" threads around here.
Although if my order gets delayed I might go ahead and go with my other choice the Asus G1S.
Dell has 2 days to get my order shipped!

 

I'm typing this on my Inspiron 8100 new in October 2001. I replaced the keyboard under warranty in 2004, the left half quit working. I've replaced the HD twice once due to failure and once for more capacity. THe keyboard fails intermittantly now, the touchpad sometimes causes the pointer to shoot down to the lower left or upper right corner and stick there. I either have to reboot or use the "eraser" to hover the pointer over my login to open the password box and hit return until the box gets focus. The case at the front right is missing a screw so it comes up. I think I have a loose cable for the display so usually there are wavy lines and static on screen. Good luck looking at pictures of my goats! Friday the lower right corner of the screen bezel popped as I was folding it up so now it's loose.
Am I happy with Dell quality? Look at my sig. I paid about $2200.00 in "01". I'm paying about 1888.00 for the new, far more powerful laptop. My computer is used all day every day to run my business. I wore off all the texture on my keyboards.
I'm buying Dell again!

 

Dell 8200 - born 2001 died 2006 -- resurrected via E-Bay (new screen inverter and a new CCL bulb) in 2007.
Dell - m600 still going strong - except fire wire port is dead (connector issue)
Dell m90 -- born 2006 died 2007 -- CPU board is fried (literally) -- an arc from a customers projector system.

I cannot say my dells are problem free, but they do take the abuse of being on the road 50% of the time. Which means handling by TSA airport inspectors and lots of office and hotel abuse.

 

Dell 810 - still going strong as a desktop replacement after 2.5 years.
Dell 800 (daughter's) - used daily at college and sees a lot of mobile use; bought through Dell Outlet and it works great after 2 years and she loves it.

 

I had Dimension desktop, the model number I can't remember, about 10 years ago. Constant problems, very bad service, but it didn't die as such. A few years later I got an Optiplex SX270, which died 3 times in two and half years. The technicians had to replace the motherboard each time. The last technician told me that Dells weren't designed to last, and in my case it was to do with surges blowing out one of the components. He also said that a surge protector wouldn't have helped. I got great technical support on the Optiplex as I was registered as a business customer, but it still involved 40mins to 1 hour on hold trying to get through to the right person, phonecalls never returned / being cut off after being on hold, that kind of malarky.

 

Dell Inspiron 6000, bought October of 2005. Still going strong, although I probably should clean the vents sometime <_<; Thankfully, the hard drive hasn't died on me yet considering how many times I've reformatted the comp with a Windows XP Pro/Ubuntu dual boot. Of course, I do have a 500 GB external hard drive just for backups...

 

I have an Inspiron 2500 and she is now 6yrs old! Has worked like a charm all these years until last week the monitor started to act up and is going on and off at whim...I hope my 1720 gets here soon!
I have only had 1 problem with my Dell in 6yrs and that was about 6 months ago I had to replace the key board. Dell sent me a new board for $30 bucks over night and I installed it myself with a bit of help from Dell.

My Inspiron is the reason I am ordering another....I have never seen a lappy last so long!

 

Inspiron 9300. 18 months, still going strong. Been cross country, and to the very sandy middle east (twice). Power brick went out during brownouts in area. Replacement part came in 2 days later.

 

Nice. I have the same backlight issue, but I've told replacing the CCLB is extremely difficult (in that its very delicate).
Did you have prior soldering experience ?

 

I haven't had experience with laptops before, but I've had 2 dell desktops. The first one I gave away and had no problems with it before hand. The second one is my current PC and I've had it since 2000 or 2001 - I did have to get a new hard drive for it last year. I've been very pleased with my dell desktops, and I hope I get the same experience out of my laptop.

 

None - I've had a Dimension 8300 since 8th grade, and I just graduated high school, and its still running fine. Notebook,s just got my first Dell the other day.

 

D600 my company gave me in February 2005. Until last year, I had it on 24/7. Took the keyboard off last week to get to the fan assembly and clean it (brush/compressed air spray) - it was starting to get really dirty in there.

It certainly feels dated, but that thing hasn't crashed on me since the first year of ownership, which apparently was a driver issue.

 

My Inspiron 3700 screen right attachment got broken beginning of 2006. I bought the laptop in 1999. But it's still working, I just have to hold the case firmly when opening/closing the screen.

My ultraportable has touchpad problem now. Bought in 2001 or so. Still fully functionnal otherwise.

So far no big problem, especially as those laptops were really brought everywhere and didn't really have a comfortable life sitting on a desk.

 

Precision M60. I used it for a couple years and then I got run over by a car while riding my bike home from work. The laptop was in my backpack and the corner of the top lid got cracked but otherwise it was fine. A couple days later I spilled tea into the keyboard and THAT fried it. Dell sent me a loaded M90 for a replacement under extended warranty, and that's been going strong for 15 months.

My teenage daughter has had a Inspiron M600 (?) for about 5 years, and it's serving her fine.

I had a Dimension destop that ran nearly 24/7 for about eight or nine years, and finally sold it cheap and replaced it with a Precision T3400. I do like the build quality on the Precison line.

 

What do you guys recommend for the Dell to have a longer life? You think a cooling pad under the laptop would help?

 

Dell is like the Toyota of the computer world. My oldest Dell is an Inspiron 8200 and it's still going strong. Except for the battery of course.

My office has about 2200 employees and we use Dell laptops and desktops. I would say the casualty rate of a computer is about 1 in 30. Usually the hard drive dies. Pretty good overall, imo.

 

I've got an 8 yr old Inspiron 5000 still going strong albeit fairly slow in today's standards.

 

Forever!

 

Seven years and still going, 8200 Insprion. Not Dead Yet! And I have been all in that thing take the entire MB our more than once messing with it. It has never crapped out or broken on me yet.

 

Laptop: Latitude D830 (new 3/2008)... working great so far.

Desktops: Dimension 8400 (new 6/2005)... added RAM, DVD/RW not working properly now. Dimension 4400 (new 3/2002)... working great. Dimension XPS T700r (new 2/2000)... added DVD/RW, added RAM, replaced hard drive, dual boot Win98se/WinXP, still runs pretty much 24/7!

 

Inspiron 1100 -bought while dinosaurs ruled the earth in 2002, still running (slow for todays standards) like a champ, touchpad is now a little erratic.

Vostro 1500 -Stolen after 6 weeks

Inspiron 1720 - bought with the $1599 the insurance company gave me for the $636 dollar Vostro 1500. Have had it for 10 days, dual booted it, no problems, is for sale on ebay it's more laptop than I need.

Vostro 1500 -Just odered, penryn/8600gt/250gb/BT/Webcam -$811 shipped

 

Writing this post on my first laptop, an Inspirion 8600 that I bought in January 2004 with the following specs:

Pentium M 1.5 Ghz, 60 GB 7200 rpm HD, DVD+/- burner, upgraded to 2 GB memory, Radeon Mobile 9600, 1680x1050 WS

Even after 4 years, it does its best to run what I throw at it. Although it is definitely showing its age. I barely got Oblivion to run on it, but the fps got so low that it wasn't worth it. I shelved the game and will reinstall it when the my new 1530 arrives.

However, I plan to keep the i8600 in the rotation as a secondary machine. Only problems I have ever had with this lappy were hinge cracks and bezel cracks (both replaced under warranty) and a malfunctioning trackpad which was also fixed under warranty. Otherwise it has been solid and dependable and exceeded my expectations.

RSN

 

So far so good, been 1 year. *keeping fingers crossed*
I only hope that manufacturers continue building laptops that last, and not throw-aways. Seems we live in the disposable age...

 

None of my 14 or 15 Dells, whether they are laptops, servers or standard desktops (or even printer/PDA) have ever died in the last twelve years that I have used them.

I have good karma?

 

I'm still using my Inspiron 8000 I received in March 2001, LOL. While it was under a 3-year warranty I had to replace the hard drive and the display. After the warranty expired, I had to replace the hard drive again, and the motherboard (did it myself) because the FireWire port died and it's integrated into the motherboard.

It's pretty much been a trooper, but has become pretty painful to use with only 512MB and PIII at 850 MHz. So I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival next week of a new Vostro 1500... woohoo!

 

Bought Dell 6400 two years back but recently my son spilled a glass of water so it died after that...looking for a MBO replacement...anyone know where can I get that....and how much it would cost?

 

eBay is probably your best bet. I just searched for "6400 motherboard", looks like they're running from about $130 to $200+.

 

Turned off my Dimension 8400. Came home, turned it on, didn't turn on. PSU went dead I think. Got a new one