Whats so bad about having a Dell?

I tell people about my new SXPS16 and the first thing out of most people is "your first mistake was buying a dell" or any number of variations of that point

so what gives?

 

Dell's non existent support. They have numerous pending lawsuits over the problem.

 

Each manufacturer has its issues. I am a Dell fan due to their extended warranty options. When you pay a bit extra, their policy covers you more and it equals a better experience. I own a couple Dell desktops and fixed/broken my fair share of Dell computers. The one thing that I have to commend Dell on is their online driver database. I have yet to find a manufacturer with such a comprehensive site. I was fixing an old P3 just a couple weeks back...looked up the number and got the drivers I needed without issue. In my opinion, Dell is one of the better mainstream retailers. Patience and understanding are key to working with them, but I have not had a horror story experience. There are those floating around. Do a quick search.

 

It's just stereotype; nothing you can really change. As mentioned, every manufacturer has their supporters and detractors.

When people mention they've bought an Apple, the first thing out of my mouth is "your first mistake was buying an Apple", or any number of variations of that point. When people mention they've bought a copy of Vista, the first out of my mouth is "your first mistake was buying Vista", or any number of variations of that point. When people mention they've bought an Acer, the first thing out of my mouth is "your first mistake was buying an Acer", or any number of variations of that point. And so on and so forth.

 

Depends on who's saying it. If it's a Mac person, ignore them.

 

Well, they have bad customer and tech support.

The XPS 16 can easily be beat out in specs and price by another computer. The GPU could be much better.

 

There is nothing wrong with owning a Dell.

It's ones own personal choice to go with what brand/model they choose.

This is going to be a *never-ending* conversation regarding Dell. And, it goes the same with all other laptop brands.

People are feeders (that means you, me, and everyone included)...We all *feed* off of each others emotions and what others are saying. It is your own choice to make a decision in the end.

I like Dell, I like all the products I have purchased. The only qualm I have, is that they could improve on their Customer Service a bit. They need to train their Rep's a bit better in learning to be more considerate of the *customer*.

Go with what you want in your decision process on a notebook. Research other brands at the same time. In the end you will know the right choice!

Cin

 

The quality of support depends mostly on the type of warranty you have/purchased. However, from my recent Dell purchases at the business outlet store, I have received nothing but professional and helpful customer service despite opting for the minimum warranty option. I can not speak for Dell Home support, but if they perform anywhere near what the business support does, I wouldn't hesitate recommending Dell in general.

 

I have first hand experience with Dell's business support. I probably called them more in the last year than I did 3 years before that (because of my clients' problems). They are always professional. Other companies I've dealt with don't even follow up. Dell does so by E-mail and, at times, telephone. I really enjoy multi-tasking while chatting with reps using their online support page. Since I'm a business customer, returns couldn't be easier. Even when I ordered the wrong product, the shipping back to them for replacement was free.

My personal laptop's manufacturer, however, seems to be on the cheaper side. Yes, I received 3 years of hardware support, but they don't even try to help me with Windows problems. I've had to pay for items that are supposed to be covered, even after confirmations that the problem was not my fault.

At least with Dell, I know they'll be around to honor my warranty. Also, 90% of my companies I visit use Dell products. That tells me Dell is respectable.

 

The problem with owning a Dell is the problem with shopping at Wallmart: you're supporting a perceived cruel juggernaut. And it is just perception. At the end of the day, Dell makes pretty good products at low cost to the user, especially if you're in the market for a lower end-speced machine.

 

Heh...ain't that the truth. It's all about Branding. They need to have more of those commercials like the one with the M1330. Now that is better branding.

 

Everything is bad having a Dell !!!
I've purchased the XPS M1330, and so far I have nothing but problems since after the first 2 weeks. I have wireless issues at first, which I ignored because I thought it was my school's wireless having problems, but it can't be when my buddy's $400 8" Aspire could connect and my 2k system can't. Second. My XPS keeps going into the blue screen saying something like System Memory Dump or something relevant to that and I am usually only running Winamp and Microsoft Word for crying out loud. It's been happening more and more frequent lately. By the way, the XPS was purchased online last October.
I've called about 5 times about this problem, the first 2 times told me the same thing, the last 3 times I called was exactly tonight. Which I find suspicious that they don't want to give me any customer service. They asked for my service tag 6-8 times then tell me to give them my express service code about 3 times then tells me the XPS is not the system. The first tech hung up on me, I didn't know why. I was just telling him my situation and I am very disappointed in the system, and he hung up on me. So I cussed off the next Customer service rep that gave me attitude and asked for my service tag 6 times over the phone. Guess what he did? He hung up on me. Then I called again when I was calmer, and ask to speak to a tech. She made me repeat it even more times like they are f**king around with me.
This has got to be my most disappointed experience with dell. I have only got the XPS because my uncle told me Dell was a good company and they make good computers.
After this experiences, I recommend new laptop owners not to choose Dell.
Crappy computers, Crappy Tech Support, gives you a REALLY Crappy Day.

 

That stinks, have you tried posting your blue screen/wireless problems in the Windows Forum here? Usually there are folks there that can help out with that sort of thing.

I must echo the others and say that business machine support has been excellent to me, XPS support has been OK, a bit annoying at times but fine I guess.

I do think that Dell has a bad stigma from when it really started cutting corners in support and product design a few years back around 2005 and it came back to bite them... hard:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_41/b3954102.htm


Now, even with the new emphasis on design and support that started with the Inspiron and XPS redesign in the summer of 2007 ( http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2007/tc20070626_124817.htm) people still remember their past experiences with Dell.

 

my family has purchased dell computers with no problems since 1999 when we got our first. even that ol' girl is stull chuggin' along running windows 98 and working fine to this day. I have had significant problems with my M1330's graphics chip since i bought the system about a year ago but that's nvidia's fault not dell's so despite the bad experience it hasn't swayed me from buying another dell system. what HAS swayed me from buying another dell are the specs and look of those new macbooks!

 

Usually, the express service code prevents this, but service tag numbers are sometimes hard to read off of the sticker. You can double check the service tag in the BIOS by pressing F2 at the Dell screen, or install the Dell System Profiler to double check, located at http://support.dell.com

PM me if you need more information on this.

 

I'm interested in this.
What would you believe would be the alternatives then?
I am in the market for a 16" HD screen with Blu ray (preferably writer, but only Sony seem to do this) and a 400-500 Gb hard drive.
not a gamer, more for watching movies, pictures etc and general computing. Weight not an issue.

 

Sorry, but the Studio XPS 16 is a better value than, for instance, the Sony.

For the Sony, I priced out a machine that was somewhat (but not totally) equivalent to the one I ordered. It has:

4GB DDR2 RAM
128GB SSD
Intel T9550 CPU
Blu-Ray
X-Brite Full HD

This came out to 2199.99 before tax and such

My XPS 1640 has

T9550 CPU
4GB DDR3
256GB SSD
RGBLED display
Bu-Ray

Mine came up to a touch over 2000 including taxes.

The Sony GPU is the 3650 and the Dell is the 3670.

 

^ I agree that Dell has better value than Sony. I just purchased my e6400 and I couldnt find anything comparable to price.

 

As an addendum, I could not configure an HP comparably, and the same with Lenovo.

To configure a Mac comparably cost a princely 3249. I like Macs but that is too much of a "mac premium".

 

^ yes, Apple would take a fair share of the market if they dropped prices.

 

It's hard to tell.

Apple's issue is that companies like Dell are rapidly catching up to them in the form factor department (witness the new Studio and XPS laptops for example). These same companies typically offered better hardware anyway, so Apple is being progressively reduced to just having the "cool" factor and OSX as differentiators.

The problem there is that those factors are not worth the $1000+ pricing difference.

 

Don't forget the build quality factor though. Those new unibody macbooks are amazing in their build.

 

That's the thing. The Dell XPS, Lenovo's and company are also catching them in build quality. Add in Apple's appalling design error of no removable battery (which is a big turnoff to road warriors) and the value proposition becomes even more problematic.

 

A few of my relatives bought Dells, no real issues apart from the usual Windows + moderately incompetent user problems (viruses, spyware etc).

The hardware is 'ok' never had to use support. They are cheap machines, but they do their job well. Most problems my relatives came into were a result of windows and spyware/viruses.

After a few years of supporting them, I do tell the relatives buy macs now though. Less phonecalls from relatives complaining about strange behaviour.
That's not the fault of the Dell, just windows + noobs.

re: the difference factor between dell and apple. There is a very large build difference in the machines I have seen, and OS X is a HUGE difference to windows. Windows 7 will be a big bonus in the Dell column if the full release stays as fast as the early previews

 

Here is one problem with Dell - How come when my friend got his Acer Aspire 5335 today, first thing that came on screen was something that asked him to make backup copies of his restore partition, in case something went wrong with the HD??? Why cant Dell do something like this with their systems?? I will never buy another Dell again....I have had nothing but problems (especially with my Bluetooth module) since I put their windows vista upgrade CD in and it messed up my restore partiton.....and that was in early 2007 - I have since then downgraded back to XP.

 

Because Dell packages all their computers with recovery disks that do the exact same thing as the restore partition. If the hard drive fails or you replace it entirely, the disks work perfectly.

Sorry to hear that. I've used Dell's recovery disks on multiple desktop and laptop systems, and I've never had an issue like that.

 

Heh, this sounds like an issue that could have been avoided. No offense, but I think if you can't handle upgrading XP to Vista, then you don't need Vista or any Microsoft OS.

 

The new XPS1330 is starting to show heat related problems due to its new design which retains heat. I'm guessing the fan inlet and outlets are located in a bad location. Was your laptop on a bed or anywhere that blocks the vents? Bestbuy.com has countless examples of customers having the same problems. Look for the reviews of the laptop. A lot of them ended up returning it to Bestbuy and I remember one person saying Bestbuy admitted the XPS1330 had a lot of returns and recommended another system. The new XPS16 does not have any problems as of yet, just the 1330.

 

Too soon to say regarding the XPS 16. If you open the screen past the 90 degree angle it will block the rear exhaust air vents. Not good.

 

Dosen't cover it. It redirects the airflow upwards due to the little gap

 

I have been very happy with my Dell systems. I currently have 5 of them in my house. I also have a HP Pavilion laptop. It is going back to HP this week for the 3rd motherboard replacement. That is due to a Nvidia motherboard defect causing the wireless to fail. Needless to say I won't buy any more HP. I am sure that if I had the same issues with one of Dells I may feel the same, but I have not.

 

LOVE my dell, think their customer service is good once u get someone who speaks english as their FIRST lanuage

 

Well few weeks into my new Dell and i have to say im really not super impressed.

SXPS16 - runs insanely hot, i cant even touch the left side for more than 2 seconds!

and i often find myself doing random every day tasks, i notice some lagging so i pop open task manager, and its at 100% CPU usage!

my Vostro1000 with some crappy processor handles al of my work fine, now i get on this $1,400 laptop with an upgraded processor, ram, and OS, and im capped??

I do play windowed WoW and i can understand that it runs sluggish during game play, but just a few firefox windows, and some other small apps slow me down!

 

Do you keep your display at a 90 deg angle? It's been said that any angle past 90 deg will block some of the rear vents. Also when you bring up task manager which task is pulling high CPU usage?

 

believe it or not, firefox is a huge culprit lol. how can such a basic application run down my entire system?

 

firefox is reported to have some serious memory leaks. Though i've only heard of it and not experienced it myself, i thought that would've been solved though.

 

Yeah, Firefox does have a reputation for that. Try Google Chrome; it supposedly manages memory use much better.

 

But i paid all this money for a laptop that i hoped can eat these everyday apps for breakfast lol

if i didnt mind a little sluggish running, i woulda just stuck with my Vostro1000 which was running the same way.

 

Very true indeed. Firefox has gotten worse since FF2. It's not uncommon for it to slow to crawl or lockup on my system. Opera seems to play nicer than FF. If it weren't for the fact i'm so use to the FF interface i'd be using another browser.

 

speaking as a former customer service rep for dell.. let me address your concern.
by saying this......dell paid me $7.25 and hour to "serve" you.

the next time you call dell, remember they were paying their reps what they could make at mcdonalds.

of course that was still too much money to pay me and so they moved the operations to india and pay them even less!

Welcome to dell would you like fries with that?

With that said i purchased a dell desktop for my sister a few years back and she's happy with it.

 

Yeah, that about describes my experience with Dell over the years. They make excellent computers at reasonable prices, because of all the money they save on good customer service.

 

I actually just had a great CS experience! Luck of the draw I figure.

 

Glad to hear that worked out for ya. What sort of experience?

 

Had to use online chat regarding my memory problem-turns out that they have to take back the entire computer and replace both the memory and the Motherboard. In any case, the person on the other end quickly deduced what was wrong from an picture I took from the Dell Diagnostics test I ran earlier. Didn't have to follow any scripted stuff like reseat the memory modules, do a system restore first, etc. before that so that was pretty cool. 15 min. later, I'm told to expect a flat-pack box to show up at my mail box and to remove my Hard Drive (very thoughtful) even if the instructions contained in the box said otherwise. I was connected to a agent in less than a minute, very nice.

My other experience involved a pretty infamous 9-cell battery issue where the battery tends to lose max capacity much too early. One Online chat later and they crossshipped the battery to me.

I believe that business support treats people pretty well.

 

Haha, that explains it all.

Unfortunately, the support for home-use systems is not quite as good. For the most part, I've managed to get done what I needed to get done with them, but it often takes several chats and phone calls and redirects, regurgitating standard procedures from a manual, and being told there must not be a problem and it's all in my head. >_<

 

Well, for one thing, I guess I would be grateful that at least you had a job and weren't paid anything less then the standard minimum wage.

Just because you don't/didn't get paid as much as everybody else, doesn't mean a Customer Service Rep has any right to treat anyone like a piece of crap.

Also, I said the word *considerate*, that is to have a regard for another's needs or feelings..now is that really hard??

And, please don't talk to me about Customer Service, or if I would like *fries with my Dell*. I work, and deal in Customer Service on a daily basis. And, I would never treat my Customers less than how I would want to be treated, and that is with the utmost respect. If I didnt, I should be looking for another job, and I wouldn't have a job ~ period.

As said before...I still like Dell!


Cin.

 

I've had my Dell for nearly 3 years. I've only had to call them to get a replacement Media Direct disc.

Other than that, my Dell has been chuggin' along smoothly. I hope to upgrade to a new tablet pc soon. The Dell Latitude XT2 looks very promising.

 

Gotta say I've had excellent support for my Vostro 1400. Small Business support FTW.

 

dell is a great brand. i never had a problem with my dell vostro 1700.