What do you guys think about dell?

I starting this thread because dell well isn't just dell anymore.
Thier quality is going downhill.
So what do you guys think about them?

 

There's already a recent thread about this...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=350397

 

i think it depends on which line you go to. The inspirons and studios are pretty cheaply built, but they are cheap to purchase. The latitude line and precision line are pretty solid, but they come with a price premium.

 

Almost all manufacturers have gone down in terms of quality; assembly in China, cheaper plastics, smaller heatsinks to save copper, cheaper heat paste, etc, less use of materials per unit, etc. These are all sacrifices that manufacturers have made in order to remain competitive. Stating that one manufacturer is poorer than another is based merely on personal experience and thus is not representative of the whole situation. From my experience, I can say the same things about Toshiba, HP, and Acer. The only possible exception I know of is IBM (not Lenovo), although they don't make notebooks any more.

 

Exactly right, they are going downhill. Not only in thier computers, but thier Technical and Customer Support as well. And thier prices can usually be beat. personally, I wouldnt buy one. I dont recommend you buying one either.

If inerested, look at my customer support issue: HERE.

 

Bingo! Right on.

 

It's funny...I hear people complain about Dell *over and over*, but yet...they still continually order from Dell????

I have complained about Dell. But so far, I am happy with my Netbook, my 1530, and all the accessories I have purchased from Dell.

When I have encountered problems, I have done what I can to try and communicate with Dell to get things in a positive manner. Sometimes, it's quick, sometimes it takes longer.

It's a given that Dell needs to improve on their Customer Service, and communicating with consumers such as you and I, on about what types of features we would like to see in future notebooks, etc.

It's also unfortunate that peep's on the business side do get much better support/service than on the consumer side. When, it should be that way for *everyone*.

Yes, I will continue to purchase from Dell, and I'm sure complain when I'm not happy with something that happened with Dell. That, is human nature.


Cin

 

I think they are fine, but I tend to take care of my notebooks.

 

I really miss my IBM thinkpad quality, T42 had no issue for entire 5 years. on the other hand, I can see quality changes on my T60 and X61t. I have sent to repair center 3 times already for each of these two laptops.

 

My hp dv6000 is still up and running after 3.5 years old. She still pretty fast.

 

Isn't this a thread about Dell..and how you feel about Dell?




Cin

 

DELL price is much cheaper than Thinkpad, considering same service life..
I think my next laptop will be XPS.

 

It's not that I think Dell's so great really... their quality is probably about average... but my Dells have been reliable (luck? I don't know...), prices aren't bad, their designs are usually not as tacky-looking as some other mfrs IMO, and I know my way around their website to find drivers etc., and they still give out an unbloated Windows disc for reinstalling the OS, while other OEMs are charging $20 for a restore disc with bloatware.

 

I find nothing wrong with dell...I even think the Studio line is pretty well built considering it's a piece of plastic in the consumer line. Their laptops designs have been slowly better as well, just look at the new Latitudes compared to the D class, and then the Studio line to the older Inspiron 1520s/1420s. I'm a little disappointed with the whole Studio XPS line, I figured they'd have a separate design refresh for that. Oh well.

 

I owned several Dell Latitude C600s, about a decade back, and every single one of them developed within months warped screens, palmrests, and keyboards thanks to both the soft plastic used and flawed styling (two convex curves meeting at a point on the chassis where there needs to be strength instead of thin plastic.) Considering that these were rather high end business laptops, there is no reason why dell should have allowed these to fail so consistently.

I moved on to thinkpads after this experience, and I haven't been disappointed. That said, current Latitudes are very very well built, though still not as thoughtfully designed as Thinkpads.

Has quality really gone down? Among business class models, I don't think so.

 

On Dells consumers line they have weak speaker systems and getting a nice display can be a real hit and miss. In my experience, I had two 1420's that had the worst looking displays.. one a sec with the worst viewing angles I have ever seen and the other an AUO that was very grainy/vasoline smeared looking screen. The first also had a crack in the hinge assembly. The speakers IMO were not even decent enough to use for short periods of time. In contrast, my HP has a beautiful LG screen and much nicer sounding Altec Lansing built in speakers. I also question Dells MOBO designs and they seem to suffer more from design flaws eg.. poor thermal cooling, static noises from SC's etc.. I'm not saying all dells are equally bad. If you want one just buy online and you have 21 days to return it. The only thing that is guaranteed that will be crap is the speakers. If you demand speakers that are a step above then just forget dell. Toshiba and HP do a better job. As far as cheap laptops go I think you have a better chance getting "a good one" from HP. HP has better hardware. Dell used to have good support but from the sounds of it that has gone south on their consumer lines.

Back in O7 Dell had more market share in the North American market but since then HP has taken that over as well as global sales. HP has to be doing something right to outright grab market share from Dell and to maintain that market share. Much of that can be attributed to lower then average support and systemic hardware issues. Many of which were nvidia's fault but were aggravated by the poor thermal designs like in the m1330.

 

I am the I.T manager for a medium size business and Dell is our main supplier of all our I.T needs. We have 2 servers, 3 M6400's, 4 Vostro 1310's, 3 E6400's and 6 Latitude XT Tablets. I have only had one problem with all these machines and it was trivial. One E6400 back lit keyboard was DOA, dell sent out a new keyboard over night without asking ANY questions. I personally use an XT at my home and love every thing about it. I enjoy working with Dell.

 

Honestily I <3 Dell. Sure there are some mishaps now and then, but theres always a way around it. I guess you gotta be a good speaker to get what you want from them. Word of advice, make it seem like it is there fault. I've gotten so many replacements from Dell its insane! Maybe its because I have XPS support which is probably a bit better then the normal one, but all you need to do is speak to the manager and if you are convincing you'll get what you want. Over time I got to know some of the managers there, so if anyone needs any help getting what they want from Dell, I'll give you some info that'll get ya to the big dawgs!

 

My experience with Dell has been mixed. My laptop currently is the first laptop I've ever owned. The only experiences I've had with laptops before were my uncle's old IBM Thinkpads, so I think I might have been spoiled before that.

I'm actually on my second one because the Nvidia GPU died on me. However, Dell completely replaced the system for me after motherboard replacements didn't resolve the problem for whatever reason. I am happy about that.

However, the first Inspiron I had used an LG screen. My current one uses a Samsung. The difference is huge. In retrospect, I should have taken the LCD from my old when I was given my replacement. The Samsung panel has markedly poorer viewing angles than the LG panel. The Panel Lottery is definitely a Dell practice that I am not happy with.

However, the build quality on my laptop is rock solid. I can't say the same for some other Dell notebooks, but the Inspiron 1420 is tough as nails. Other than the GPU, I've had almost no problems with the laptop. I take it to class every day on my bike 2 miles a day rocking around in my backpack. No problems at all with any components breaking or case cracking.

 

Well when they throw in unwanted goodies like headphones with your order then hold the whole thing up at the carrier warehouse becasue they have run out of headphones has made me bloody annoyed today