How long has your Dell laptop lasted without repair?

Bought my Inspiron 9300 in 2005, it has lasted for over seven years, surviving everything from a deployment to Iraq to heavy use while I was in college. Rarely had a problem with it, and it never needed a single repair. Only thing I've ever had to replace on it was the battery.

 

I got my Dell Inspiron e1705/9400 in 2006. It's still going, and I just recently upgraded to Windows 8.

Only problems I've had so far: graphics card died, battery failed, and CD/DVD drive stopped working.

Got the card and CD/DVD drive replaced while under warranty.

Original 120 GB HDD still works. Now it's an external, swapped out for a 1 TB HDD.

Dan

 

I wonder why it seems half the people have had bad luck with Dells and the other half had bad experiences. Like, what did the 53 under a year people do differently?

 

Bought E6400 Latitude, now it's 4th year , but I had to change TIM under CPU and changed thermalpad under chipset (igpu). It lasts and is reliable, but just because it is 25W CPU + 10W chipset - and nothing more (no discrete GPU). Sadly I'm almost 90% sure that those new 45W CPUs wont last that long.

 

I've had about 30 Dell laptops pass thru me and they almost always get a good 3 years without trouble. I have my first Inspiron from 2005 I think, gorgeous matte 1080p screen in a 15" laptop. Runs XP like a champ though I've moved on of course.

Here's the thing with Dell, it's cheap! No, not the highest quality, but for the money, a very good value. Knowing how to work the sales, coupons, sales channels, outlet, etc can save you hundreds that you can instead put towards a new laptop sooner rather than later. Figure 3 years. maybe more. The battery usually dies and the power connector can get weird. At some point you have to address that or just spend money on something new. Again, get the best deal you can, don't overpay for Dell (or anything else really).

 

With the consumer grade Dells (i.e. Inspiron) I seen some failing within the year that needed warranty work, from faulty power jacks to GPU failures. While the reliability was left to be desired the warranty process was actually very good from experience. But since switching over to the Business grade Dell's (Vostro, Latitude, Precision) I haven't come across any issues at all, now I tend to shortlist business grade Dell's on future purchases for friends and family.

 

My bought-in-2009 Dell Studio 1747 is still going strong and I'm still loving it! Has hardly skipped a beat in nearly 4 years - can count on fingers of one hand the number of times it's BSOD'd and - so far touch wood - it's always started up again with no drama. Nothing major has failed - I added a second hard drive a couple of years back but no other mod's since then. The only thing that's stopped working is the light on the end of the power supply lead that say's it's powered on, but it still works fine.

It's finally come up short in capabilities in not playing 3D blu-rays to my connected TV - not in my the original spec in 2009! - so I'm about to embark on a major - and far from certain - upgrade in trying to get an eGPU working to address this. Kudos to Dell it has an expressport and generous helping of mini PCIe ports to make the atttempt feasible, if not certain. So we'll see if the old warhorse can clear this next hurdle - wish me luck! And thanks to Dell for an excellent product that has certainly lived up to my expectations.

 

My XPS 15 has not needed any repair since its purchase (about 1 year ago).

 

I currently own a Dell Inspiron M5030, it was a great little laptop for about a year and a half. Went to power it on the next day and I got the dreaded "7 beeps" error, indicative of CPU failure. Did a little research and it is a huge issue with this exact model. Went back and forth with dell trying to get it fixed out of warranty, and finally got annoyed with them. Their tone changed quite a bit after going above them to the Austin, TX Better Business Bureau. Got it fixed for free even after it was 7 months past the one year warranty. It runs great, but there's always that little thought in my mind that it'll fail again. It really is an awesome laptop, dual core amd, 4gb ram, 320gb hdd, windows 7 64 bit. Only cost me $380 new.

In contrast, my dad is still hanging onto his Dell Inspiron 6000 (circa 2004), that thing has yet to die lol.

 

I have been using my Vostro 1400 on a daily base for 5.5 years. It runs 10+hr per day and is still running strong without any issue. I have upgraded the HDD 4 times, top of memory, replaced the optical drive with a better one, upgraded the wifi interface and added internal bluetooth. I also clean off the dust in the vent and cooling path from time to time. I bought it with one 6-cell and 9-cell battery. The 6-cell battery die after 2 years. The 9-cell battery is still working fine with around 3hr running time at full charge. It should run even a little bit longer since I upgraded it to SSD. I really can't complain.

 

I'm quoting myself cause I think this is funny, I saw the thread and seen that I posted here, I had to find my post and when I did I had a laugh. It's been about 1.5 years since that post and the 2 8600's are still alive and ticking. As long as they are not unplugged for long periods over 30 min they still work.

I also have a inspiron E1705 that I'm typing on now that has to be at least 6 yrs old from now..... still works great. Little slow opening stuff but still works.

 

From now on ( 02/15/2013) I will keep away from Dell and other China name ( lenovo, Asus, acer, gateway...)
Never and never touch them again !

 

Good luck buying a computer not made in China.

 

Well I received my new Inspiron 17 R 5720 and within a few hours it's locked into 'Boot Mode' and after doing a Diagnostics it is displaying Error Code: 2000 - 0332.

What ever it relates to it will have to be replaced as I am not going to accept repair on a new unit.

However, despite having UK “Next day in Home Services with Premium Phone Support” which should be available from “8am – 8pm Monday – Saturday" when you phone today on a Saturday to get it sorted you get cut off after telling you that Technical does not work on a Sat or Sun.

So I guess I have had about 2 to 3 hrs before it broke down!!!!!!!!!!

Great product and service!

 

My Dell was assembled in Malaysia. Sony's Z series is assembled in Japan. There are boutique and small-scale makers who assemble them in pretty much any country. I know Dell used to make XPS's in the USA, but that might not be true anymore. There are several manufacturers in Taiwan, and I'm sure at least some of their laptops are made there, if it's political and the Republic of China is okay.

But buying a computer without any components made in China? Yeah, good luck with that. Might be possible to get the major components all manufactured somewhere else (HDD in Thailand, CPU in Ireland, etc.), but it'd probably be difficult to get a motherboard without anything made in China.

My Dell is over 5.5 years old and still happily computing. I've upgraded a couple components, but always for performance, not because they broke.

 

I bought my Inspiron 6400 in July 2006, and I had to do only one repair: changing the light bulb of the LCD, in early 2011. Also the optical drive doesn't work perfectly anymore. Apart from that, I did the usual upgrades, RAM & HDD, and this laptop is still my primary computer. Quite happy with it in the long run.

 

Had a Vostro 1500 couldn't kill it lol only thing I had to do was the cleaning of the heat pipes

 

I still have my Dell Inspiron E1705....going on 7+ years!

I purchased their extended warranty for 4 years and at the 3.5 year point the battery would not charge (purchased a new one) and the power cable got pretty abused. Dell came out within 36 hours and the tech replaced the mobo, did some spruce up (tightening, replacing the worn rubber pads, etc). About 4 months later the HDD literally died on me. Dell sent out a new one with a bit larger capacity.

Since those incidents, the laptop still is running but it is on it's last legs. 2 months ago the optical drive wouldn't open without the use of a knife to pry it out, one of the fans is pretty much dead.....however, this puppy is still running and will be relegated to the workshop.

Overall, I can say I am pretty pleased but thankful that I did get the warranty as I traveled the world with it.

Currently looking for a replacement but am looking at Lenovo and Dell business lines (thinkpad/precision).

 

Just saw the thread and would like to yield my tid bit of info. I bought a dell e1505 something like 4-5 years ago. Aside from the battery dieing and never being replaced (it is primarily for internet/movie use in bed where I am a lot because it is the only place in my apt to put up my feet) and the well known hinge defect, it has yet to break down. I replaced the screws in the hinges myself and I also upgraded the cpu, gpu, hard drive, and WIFI to get a few more years of use from it and because the part are dirt cheap these days. I actually have yet to have a laptop die on me. I currently use a toshiba 1805 (celeron 1000) as a torrent downloader, and I had a toshiba 1745 I think it was but ended up throwing it out because it had an old dual scan screen and to low a spec to be of use in anyways, but it still ran fine. I guess I treat my stuff well. Out of all my gadgets, my only failures really have been a 15 year old sony receiver, and my creative zen vision died after its second year.

 

Since my Dell Inspiron 1564 (sig) Is turning 3 today I guess I'm gonna report in again on it's health. I never actually replaced anything that broke except for the keyboard which was user error, someone tried to vacuum clean it
Besides that all replacements were speed related, motherboard to get dGPU, 430m I got for very cheap, 6300wifi, ssd..
Then there's still the Crappy BIOS that Dell refuses to fix.. But besides that it's still a great machine. I might drop in a FHD screen and an 840qm because I can and because there's currently no laptop out there I'd like to buy to replace this one (Darn you ASUS, the new N550 came so close to perfect for me).

FYI some user reported on the Dell community forums that a 840qm works but the FHD will be a first I guess. Actually to add to this, I saw a 1564 in the wild today! First I've ever seen besides my own. And here I was thinking all 1564 were lemons/parted out/trashed/RMA'd/forgotten..
~Aeny

 

E6500 at 2 years old, one of the rubber bumpers on the keyboard surround fell off, so they had to replace the whole palmrest/keyboard surround...the bumper itself was not a replaceable one :-(. At year 3, the 120GB 7200rpm HD failed (don't know what brand). Other than that, everything's cool ;-).

 

Been using Latitude for 3+ years. And have passed on quite a few units of Latitudes and Precisions, so far no issue at all. The only time that I had to claim anything from Dell under warranty is when I purchased a used unit that came with a vertical line on screen. Dell replaced that under warranty. Up to ivy series processors Latitudes have been great. I am not sure about newer Latitudes though. Somehow them newer builds dont feel as good as the 6000 series Latitudes. Despite all them figures from benchmarks I fell there is that slight lag on machines with haswells. I still recommend them older ivy to those looking for laptops. Even used they offer better value I think.

 

3 years, and had the board with the usb/esata combo board on it replaced.

 

The Precisions are generally pretty tank-like.

 

My Dell Alienware 11x ...3 months replaced... with another defective unit (lasted 1 month).
My Dell XPS 15z ... still working (so far so good)

 

I have a Dell Inspiron 4000, 4100, 8500, XPS M1330 laptops. They all work though I can't use the 8500 because I lost the power supply. The Inspiron 4000 and 4100 were bought around 2000 or 2001. The XPS M1330 was purchased in 2008 and it works fine. I replaced the HDD with an SSD for a bit of a speedup.

I have a 2014 Retina MacBook Pro today and am using that for just about everything. The XPS M1330 is a backup system.

 

Have an Inspiron N411z - had the battery replaced right before the 1-yr support ended. Now it's just about 3 yr old but been living with a broken display hinge for the last yr or so.

 

My studio 1749 is now coming up for five years old (september time I think).

Recently I had to change the motherboard as due to my idiocy it overheated and frazzled the GPU. £65 off ebay for the part and it was back up again.

I'm also taking it apart again soon to replace the lower case (cracked) and the internal power cord (connector has gone). Have added RAM to take it up to 6GB.

Keyboard is starting to wear on some keys, left mouse button is developing a shallow "crater" in it from use and the palm rest has wear marks.

Other than that, it's taken a huge amount of abuse, been thrashed with games and MATLAB processing and it just keeps going.

 

Bought the 'consumer' stuff (ie: Inspiron, Vostro, XPS) to do business workloads (ie: college use, etc.) perhaps?

The gap in overall build ruggedness isn't that much anymore (IMHO, Apple has done wonders by pushing the PC industry to upgrade their consumer-focussed offerings to be competitive), but in the past, it used to be pretty significant.

 

I treat my Latitude E6410 pretty roughly and it leads a hard life but it's 5 years old currently and it seems likely it will continue to do so. Upgraded HDD, RAM and CPU. One good thing is that replacement parts aren't ruionously expensive so depending on what does eventually break, it may well be economically viable to repair it,

 

using dell 7720, nothing happened, but serviced by myself, changing the thermal paste

 

Purchased on the 4th November - Dell XPS 13.
Died completely on 20th November.
Tech Support said an Engineer will arrive on Monday to replace the Motherboard - followed by another email saying they do not have a Motherboard yet.
So - to answer your question 16 DAYS.

 

Sorry to hear about your laptop! Must have been a lemon, that's certainly not normal. I'm on a 2yr old XPS 12 still rocking solid and really amazing. My business regularly purchases XPS 13 for heavy use and we've had a great experience with them. Keep pushing Dell, hopefully they'll make it right. Good luck to you.

FYI, this thread is really moot... any computer manuf. will be all over the place in life span. And threads like this tend to attract those with problems looking for help or similar experiences.

 

Hi Dan 76
Thanks for your response - and I get it.
On a similar theme - Bought new XPS AIO desktop 2 years ago - I purchased at the time; a 3 year full warranty.
It failed a few months ago - Engineer replaced with 2 Motherboards - and each time failed a week later.
Computer was collected and sent to Germany for repairs - another Mother board - 3 days later failed again.
Dell sent me a new machine - been about 5 weeks now and so far the replacement is working well............
Dell support is excellent - just a shame I have to keep using them.

 

We have four in the family.
Latitude D505 vintage 2005 still works but is in a box somewhere and needs to be sold or donated.
Latitude D620 vintage 2006, bought refurb from the dell outlet. Still works and I might sell or it might be my next small linux system if I can sort out fan control.
Inspiron N7010 still in use, HDD upgraded with a 250GB SSD (super easy) RAM upgraded to 8GB
Inspiron N5110 still in use, HDD upgraded to a 250GB SSD (which was a chore to install).

I really cannot complain (as I type on my mac book pro) but I'm shopping for a family member for another one and am considering another Dell.

 

Been using my XPS 17 L702 since Dec 2011. Only thing is battery is running out of juice. Not that I needed it but it seemed to be the only issue.

 

My precision has been pretty much problem free for two years since I got it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

You have the right to demand a full refund. Also you will have a NBD warranty on that XPS 13. It's disgraceful that they don't have spare parts. It's as bad that they use refurbished parts for warranty repairs.

 

Dell Inspiron 9400, purchased December 2006. used it daily for three years, then gave it to my gf. never needed a repair.

as of last year the 9400 still ran fine, besides a noisy fan. only reason it's not still running is my gf finally upgraded.

 

My Precision M6300 had been my workhorse for almost 10 years now without fail. I replaced a Blu Ray on my M6500 so I can watch HD movies on the go, otherwise no electronics issues an that machine is 5 years old. Only thing was a large drop onto a concrete stoop which dented the casing very badly. I actually bought a Covet shell and spent 4 hours swapping parts out. And it booted on the first try! Also upgraded to a SSD and Win10 with no problems. Guess I'm lucky....

 

Putting up a poll isn't really a good way to do this. Because my answer would be the same for any computer product I ever bought, from any manufacturer, in my entire life.

I've owned laptops that die in 3 months. I've owned laptops that still function 5 years later.
I've owned computer hard drives that die in 3 months. I've owned hard drives that still function 5 years later.
I've owned video cards that die in 3 months. I've owned video cards that still function 5 years later.
I've owned laptops from Dell that die in 3 months. I've owned laptops from Dell that still function 5 years later.
... etc

For any product you buy, ever, there is a chance that it dies on day 1, or a chance that it still functions after 5 years. So asking people how long their Dell laptop has lasted isn't really a good way to determine whether your laptop will die in 3 months, or if it will last for 5 years.

The most important thing is to buy a warranty for that laptop, for as long as you need it to function. If you absolutely need this laptop to function for 3 years, then buy a 3-year warranty. If you can risk repairing or replacing the laptop out of your own pocket after 1 year, then just get a 1-year warranty. That's really the only way to protect yourself from potential hardware failure.

 

I have a Dell M6400 which is 7 years old and a M6700 which is three years old, both bought as refurbished units. Zero problems so far.

 

Well, 274 owners might not be a big enough pool to give you an accurate assessment, and I wouldn't use this as a factor in buying, but 77% lasting at least 2 years without repair and almost 50% at least 3 years is not too shabby. I'd still purchase a warranty. I'm very happy with the next day on site service I received with my Precisions M6300 bought in 2005 and M6500 from 2011, and they were issues not related to hardware or quality (blew the keys off with 130psi of compressed air!) I recast my 6500 (in Covet red) only for aesthetic reasons, was still working perfectly despite major dents from a fall onto a concrete stoop.

 

Ok... so I found data that *IS* valid. Consumer Reports Annual Product Reliability Survey. 50,000 data points; randomly selected product owners (and not the self-selecting owner user you'd find on NBR Forums).

Percent of laptops that require repairs in first 3 years of ownership:
Apple: 8%
Asus: 16%
Gateway: 12%
Toshiba: 12%
Samsung, HP, Lenovo, Dell, Sony Acer "fell somewhere in-between [12%-16%]

"The study also delved into extended warranties. These tended to be a bad deal. Only 8 percent of the people who bought extended warranties ended up using them. And 25 percent of those customers who did have extended warranties and needed something fixed actually had to pay for the repairs—shelling out an average of $175. Meanwhile, many laptop owners found that repairs they needed were covered by the standard warranty."​

Source: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...index.htm?loginMethod=auto&copyrightYear=2015

 

Well, it can be difficult to get a true number because different tiers of products usually have different tiers of build quality, and ratios of defects. Also, higher tiered products may likely be bought by those who may take better care of their system, or at least better diagnose or even repair some issues themselves.

Also, business class and workstation class notebooks mostly have higher end components, better customer support and warranties, which likely leads to higher user experience ratings.

Also, in a business or professional environment the machine may be replaced anyway before warranty expiration or where bleeding-edge performance is always needed to remain productive or competitive. For a home or small office non-enthusiast environment there is no IT to maintain systems or diagnose issues.

Finally an extended warranty is not always a bad deal. In a sense we buy extended warranties on ourselves, though we hope to not have to make a claim. Our next of kin may however...

 

The Dell Latitude D630 in my signature went around 40,000 hours running, ~4000 cycles. Finally needed a replacement cooling fan. Hasn't been cracked open yet (except to swap the HDD for a SSD, and to upgrade the RAM and WiFi!)

 

Wow, that is an old system! I always thought of the D830 as one of the best Latitudes ever. Core2duo?

My primary machine is still the almost 2yr old Haswell XPS 12 convertible and is easily the best laptop I've ever owned (over old Dell Inspirons, Latitudes, HP, Lenovo Yoga series, Asus Zenbook, and Macbook air). I've been ruined by excellent keyboards and IPS screens with over 350nits... I could never go backward.

 

I have an old Celeron M Inspiron, 10+ years still pumping strong with the original IDE HDD, only issue is the battery has been dead for years. I recently gave it to a buddy for a project.
I'm a big fan of the business laptops, like my E6410 that is 5 years old and I have only upgraded RAM and HDD. Works great.

 

XPS 17 Core i7 (L702). Bought in Dec 2011. See sig below for specs. Nice laptop except I wish the activity light and NmLk would light up in front instead of on the rear.

 

I still have a dell vostro which was 7+ years ago and it still runs lol. Although it's slow but it's still going. 1st laptop I bought in college