Why do you think Dell has the "ewww" effect?

This is a different question. I messed up the poll in the first post and learned nothing.

Here's my question: Why do you think other people perceive Dell's poorly?

Oh and, the "Walmart Effect" is basically this: if you have a big company, it gets a lot of hate simply because its big. Microsoft is in that category too, but Walmart especially.

Why, please, can't you add html tags in your title? Hmm?

 

I don't think the general perception of Dell's machines is poor. OTOH, I think too many folks (myself included) intensely dislike having to deal with Dell's service personnel.

 

The Inspiron's just don't match up with the competition. They desperately need a face-lift, and have flimsy build quality. However I like the latitude line quite a bit (I have two of them right now) and the XPS line, while overpriced on the high end, are excellent gaming machines.

Edit: What about people who dislike dell because it's worse than the competition? What option do they choose?

 

its probably because dell has so many systems its hard to choose from and to deal with thier personal service its much easier to by a low qaulity one from walmart

 

I think Dell has the EWW effect because a user on notebookreview.com keeps posting threads claiming that they indeed possess the "EWW effect"

 

I think it's telling that only "techie" people detest Dell. Most computer users with average or below average knowledge have no problems with Dell (which is why Dell still holds such a large market share). Is it because the average computer user takes better care of his computer than more advanced users? Or has to contact tech support less?

Maybe it's because techie people need to feel superior to the average Dell-purchasing masses.

 

I remember when my girlfriend went to order a Dell Inspiron a few months back...she quickly decided to avoid that series because they were offered so cheap...she figured it was a sure sign of how crappy they could be .

She ended up buying a Latitude.

 

Not sure that logic makes sense. I once bought a "leftover" (previous year, new, unsold) Honda Civic which ended up with an "out-the-door" price lower than the original MSRP, which was already pretty damn inexpensive. A Civic is probably not among the world's finest cars D ), but I'm glad I didn't walk away from that deal because it was so cheap!

 

Cars are not laptops...

 

Ok, now that's logical. lol

 

but BMW's are cars?

haha, i know that made no sense.

 

This poll is even worse that the previous one because it assumes that a majority of the people think Dell would be "ewww". Just because of the word "ewww", it makes me think this poll is created by a 14 year old. Maybe you should define "ewww" better. Is it "detest" that you mean?

I don't know anyone that really dislikes Dell in general. The most heard negative thing about Dell is that it doesn't have the looks. Those people usually are refering to the Inspiron line. But not liking the looks doesn't mean you detest Dell all of the sudden.

 

OK now this is getting really stupid.
i thought it was made pretty clear why your co-worker, an Apple fruity, extruded the word " Ewwwe" out his pansy mouth.

Now, of course this guy's name could be "Biff McKillyaquickly", and he might be able to bench press one fat chick on each hand while causing them to scream out as they orgasm, but obviously by posting this second thread you're not getting the very real effect stereotyping has on successful product lines.
Macs are historically associated with snooty, progressive elitists. It most likely stems from Mac going through extraordinary efforts to maintain a homogeneous OS, seemingly purposely made to be as proprietary as possible.
As lacking as it may have been, Mac users always seemed to insist it was self sufficient and they could provide for themselves just fine.
-Like North Korea.

Then you have Dell, where historic association has included a creepy guy in his 20s playing the role of a high school drop-out stoner who found his calling, not having to actually work for a living and just sort of hanging out, letting everyone know they're " ...gettin' a Dell, dude!"

Now take a look at Dell's product line. Look how many models they've made in laptops alone, and compare that to the number of Apples models. Apple has basically made variations of the same very well built notebook for years, while Dell has designed dozens. Unfortunately out of any "dozens" of different models, your bound to get recalls. Very public recalls.

Gateway started making seriously well built bricks years ago. I still have one that runs fine, and not a broken bit on her. But back then this technology was new, and laptop manufacturers didn't realize how fast the industry would be moving ahead. Laptops were built to last.
Now they're built as well as they need to be in order to last as long as it takes for the technology to become outdated.
-Disposable laptops. Planned obsolescence? Maybe.
But what's everyone think of Gateway now?

You get what you want, for your own reasons, and tell everyone else to piss off.

 

This is true, tho. I'm kind of slow.

 

Like i said in the other thread, i personally resent them because they never offer any decent sales/deals in canada. Its actually cheaper to go to bestbuy or futureshop and pick up a HP, Acer, Toshiba, etc... with the same specs as the alternative dell... plus, since its at a brick and mortar store, you can easily return it if there is ANYTHING you dont like about it.(Dead pixels, weak hinge, feels cheap, etc....) without worrying about a re-stocking fee and the cost to ship it back.

Dell does not even try to court the canadian buyer. The only reason i am interested in them right now, is because as far as i can tell, they are going to be the first to release a santa rosa laptop in the canadian market.(right now the ONLY santa rosa laptop available to canadians, is the D6/830. No other companies have an offering)

Its pretty damn irritating, when its painfully clear all the laptops for the canadian market are being held in the same warehouses as the american ones. There does not seem to be any reason for them not to sell to canucks, other then trying to clear out their old stock at higher prices.(Why sell the e1505 to americans at 20% off because of the competition, when you can sell it as a 9400 at full retail, since no other laptop companies even try to compete tech/price wise.)

 

Asus has already released many of it's Santa Rosa offerings in North America, including Canada.

 

"Asus has already released many of it's Santa Rosa offerings in North America, including Canada."

They would be the exception then... plus, what places stock asus in canada? Last place i remember seeing one, was in 'the source'(radioshack/circuitcity), which a year ago.(the white one with the rotating camera. I think its the same case the M1210 uses)

 

Very few brick and mortar places in North America stock Asus products, however MileStonePC.com, a canadian reseller, has a very nice stock of Asus models.

 

See Cam, now that's a valid and argument.

It's much better than the other one on the other thread you made about Dell's support sucking.

 

Well, that was one of many problems i know of with dell. I personally have never used support from... well... anyone. Its just easier in my opinion, to fix the thing myself. Provided i dont need to solder anything, and the cost of fixing or replacing it is less then shipping(which was the case with the last thing that broke of mine, an epson all in one CX5400).

I do think its a valid argument to bring up dells poor customer support though. They certainly are doing worse then most other computer companies when it comes to that. Cant speak from experience though.

 

How do you know, if you aren't speaking from experience?

Granted, any single persons experience is not representative of the companies overall support; still, you work with what you got. But if you don't have any experience...?

 

Reseller ratings

Even if i DID have experience, its not like it would be fair to judge them based off it, since it could just be bad luck that i get a bad rep. You dont need to look hard to see plenty of horror stories though. Even from reputable places(Forgot the site, i think it was tomshardware, who ordered the med. level XPS and gave dell a horrible rating for their support. Could just be a fluke, but their is a lot of other testimonials that back them on their review.)

I also know most people only make a point to comment if they are un-satisfied... and with being the #2 seller in the world, their are bound to be quite a few dis-satisfied people. I cant think of another way of judging them over it though.

 

Dell's support is top notch compared to Toshiba.

The only company that has better ALL AROUND support is APPLE.

 

People who have problems with their computers look for ways to vent. People who are happy with their computers ... simply ... shut up.

I hope you see where I'm getting at.

 

I had a bad experience with Toshiba. I bought a laptop from a reseller (this is like 2 years ago). It came broken, and Toshiba refused to fix it or take it back.

Long story short, they took it back and payed me a full refund, even the shipping costs. I refuse to even look at Toshibas now, tho.

 

Hence......

I'm not here to argue over this either. It was just an off the cuff remark i made, that i attributed to their poor rating from tech-literate people. I'm sure their business and XPS lines do have better support service. Their consumer line though, is constantly getting trashed.

I don't think i ever claimed the opposite. Hell, as i said before, i have never bothered seeking out support on the stuff i buy... and even if i did, i would sooner go deal with the place i bought my laptop(Futureshop) rather then a Toshiba rep.

 

Cam, sorry I skipped that part. I see you said the same thing now.


edit:

and yes you did claim the opposite:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2061134&postcount=8

This statement came across as "Toshiba's are stronger build, better looking, and better supported notebooks"

 

Dell = worst residual/resale value in the business!

 

notebooks in general have bad residual value

 

no they dont. Dell is by far the worst

 

Are you talking about depreciation?

 

Asus has a far larger selection of notebooks yet it is a well respected brand.

 

yup, you can call it depreciation, resale, residual (buy-back wholesale), cost to value, retention costs etc.... whatever you want to call it its poor with almost all Dells. Far worst than with other manufacturers

 

I don't understand how it can have worse RESIDUAL VALUE. But it's ok, I gotta go back to work.

 

Thats taking quite a lot of liberty with my quote. I mention 4 specific brands and 3 specific issues, and you narrow it down to one specific brand, and one specific issue.

 

Dells does it on their own. They seem to be really successful with screwing their own product.
Market residual and resale fluctuations can occur predicated on hardware progression but Dell further depreciates their product line by ongoing rebates and discounts. Unless youve worked for a company that has purchased 50-100 units with expected residuals over a short determined period you will may not understand/know what im talking about.

 

From the layman's perspective (mine), isn't that a good thing for the average buyer?

So you're basically saying Dell's are bad if you plan to resell them in bulk. I've never

so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I understand what you're saying... That isn't a bad thing though. Its like Hyundai or Kia vehicles. The up front price is lower then any other brand, and the re-sale value is exponentially lower then any other brand, because they are constantly under-cutting them selves. Differences is, a vehicles a much bigger investment, and does not age NEARLY as quickly as a laptop. A 3 year old vehicle is still just as capable as a brand new one. A 3 year old laptop on the other hand isn't.

Its the price you pay for putting your money into such a fast moving industry. If you cant stomach the fact that your 3k laptop today will be worth less then 800$ in 3 years, its prob. best for you to stick with desktop computers, or stop looking at it as something you'll be able to make money off of in the future. Or buy an Apple laptop and keep it in pristine condition... But even they are dropping more quickly, now that they get revisions every 6-9 months(before they moved to intel, it would prob. avg. out to every 18 months)

 

Yes it can be a good thing but its up to you (the buyer) at how you value the product youre buying. Two things come to my mind when a manufacturer markets the way Dell does... residual and product profile
First of all, residual value has no bearing if your own trade cycle doesnt happen until your purchased products break down. Thou this is much the case with lower end/cost computer parts and systems.
But some may not wait until that time and im one of them.
As far as product profiles concerned its no doubt that the constant discounting over time does more than give buyers a good deal. It also discounts the company as a whole. You may not think so but marketing trends scream it loud and clear.
This is part and partial to the 'ewww' youre getting now when asked about Dell

Well, ive witnessed the wholesale buying and selling of Dells within a large life insurance company. We would buy 200 Dells, 200 IBMs all at an exact price point of $1200 each and in 6mths time when its due to return the notebooks to our wholesaler to exchange for newer models the Dells will fetch much much less than the IBMs.

A prime example of 2 companies who are doing a good job at retaining their product value is Apple and Sony. Thou they dont do a lot of fleeting of their notebooks the ones that they do they control their residual by not using 3rd party wholesalers (more so Apple than Sony) and controlling their re-distribution back into the market.

You can spend $1200 on a Sony or $1200 on a Dell all with simular specs and in a yrs time the Sony will retain much more value $$ than the Dell.
And yes im aware thats its quite possible that the $1200 you spent on the Dell may have originally been $1500 or a lil bit more etc but Dells constant discounting and cut-out coupons just muddys the waters to what should be a solid market value of any used product.

Again, a prime example is how apple refurbishes and resells their used and off-lease notebooks.

Well while you can analyze comparing of an expensive brand to a cheaper brand its still not that simple. Dells still depreciate faster on a "percentage" compared to other no matter what the costing is.

But your 'under-cutting themselves' comment is exactly what they keep doing

Well were not comparing the computer industry to the kitchen appliance industry which is stagnant. But when comparing 2 products in the same industry one seems to accelerate faster than the others. Even thou the hardware is the same.

 

i was going to say, which laptop HAS a higher residual worth? Laptops are meant to be replaced every couple of years so residual worth isn't as important as the growth of the tech industry.

it's like this, ikea sells crappy furniture, everybody knows it, but it's fashionable. do you buy ikea furniture that you can replace every couple of years, or do you go to pottery barn and buy something expensive, which you can keep for a while, but won't be as fashionable in a while?

 

Ive already mentioned 2 of them, Sony and Apple.
And have you looked in the for sale forum of this site lately??? Theres a few Lenovo's/IBMs, Asus's a couple Macs and others. Most of them are less than 2 yrs old.

 

This could have something to do with the "Ew effect"

 

I don't exactly see that happening. jk

 

Maybe, but from personal experience Sony actually sells a lot of its laptops through resellers. When you walk into a CompUSA or a Best Buy you're bound to see a Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, HP, etc. No Dell's, btw. (Yes, I've heard of the whole Walmart thing. But they're still custom built, and anyway its a special case. Doesn't count.)

Apple is just Apple. They do control any reselling of Apple stuff, but they're also a lot more expensive, if you haven't noticed.

This makes no sense to me. Unless you are a boneheaded dork, when you're looking to buy a 2-3 year old laptop, price is most definitely an issue. So if you can buy that same Dell (original cost $1200) for $400 and the Sony for $700... and same specs... I see a lot of boneheadedness in the Sony buyer.

Just saying the "market share makes this clear" won't cut it for me. I appreciate that you have worked in the business (unlike me), but until you can offer up a logical explanation, I won't buy it. Maybe I'm just not getting it, which is also very possible.

IMO, the reason Dell is so "eww" is really a combination of their bad looking, cheaply made, lower end of notebooks and the fact that there are so many of them around.

You get no status out of having a Dell because the bum sleeping in the dumpster has one too. And very few (in the public) realize that an Inspiron bought off the shelf is very different from a Lattitude or a top of the line XPS/Alienware. This is 100% true - I tried telling someone I was waiting for my Lenovo to ship, and that it was delayed, etc. etc. His response was "Dude, just go to Staples and buy a laptop."

I also like it how the poll is pretty even across all responses. Means no one has a clue what the real reason is, or its a combination of all the choices

 

He's talking about selling the notebooks back to a wholesaler, not an individual. Sony's retain more value, so you get more trade-in value. Thus the Sony is more desirable.

 

lol, I know

 

Off topic, but for me, BMW = motorcycle.


@OP: Maybe I missed it in one of your posts, but I don't see you mentioning whether you are, or have been a Dell owner. Have you owned a Dell? If so, did you have problems with your machine? with Dell's service? with people giving you grief for owning such a laptop? LOL

The only machine (not the service connected with ownership) I've owned which deserved an "ewww" factor, was an overpriced m860 from Voodoo. That's a machine I wish I'd never owned! Ugh.

 

The Inspiron design is flat and apparently still won't be getting the face lift it needs. But I would like to add that I think some of the 'ewww' factor in Dell lies in the popularity of Dell (Yes, Dell is not number one now. But in my experience the average person who is less into tech, tends to think of Dell before other brands). It is considered 'cool' by many to bash something based on its popularity whether they have ever owned the product or dealt with the customer service/ technical support.

 

Why are there two of these threads?

 

They are different! Read the first posts carefully!

The first one has a bad poll. All it does is bring out testimonials from people that are Dell fans and shows nothing.

This one has a better poll. Instead of asking you why people don't like Dells, it asks you why people that don't like Dells have that opinion.

Now go vote! 48 votes for the good poll and 119 for the dumb one - unacceptable!