Are dell computers any good?

[OdHill]

It is a good computer, but remember it's your boss. Don't forget to make sure he gets the three year on-site, quick response time. Cover your backside.

 

[Pocatello]

Stay away from Gateway. My office has several brand new Gateway PCs with AMD processors, all of them have stability problems. Dell is a better way to go.

 

[Doggiedog]

I second Pocatello's assessment of Gateway.

I guess since someone brought it up I might as well rant.

I bought their 1Ghz Athlon Classic the first week the 1Ghz came out (yeah I know, but I hadn't bought a computer in 3 years so it was about time). When I got it, I installed my Plextor 8x SCSI CD-R from my old computer only to have it not work. I call up Gateway about this and they tell me that Promise SCSI cards have problems with their Athlons and don't work. I tell them I don't have a Promise but an Adaptec. They then tell me since it wasn't purchased through them they won't help me. I told them if there is a known problem with SCSI cards and their MBs shouldn't they help since it isn't a problem with my SCSI card. They said nope and basically told me to get lost. I was kinda POed but I live with it. Then a week later my power supply goes. They give me a hard time with it. I told them it just died which they don't believe. I kept calling until I find someone who sounded sympathetic. After about the 3rd or 4th time someone finally lets me get a new one. Then 2 weeks later my SB Live conks out. Only the rear speakers work. I had an even tougher time with this. They don't believe that the issue is with my card but with my software. I knew this wasn't the case since I took my old SB Live out of my old PC and tried it out on the Gateway only to have it work perfectly. I then tried it out the other way and still had same problems. I finally got someone to help me return the card and was told to wait a week or two for the new one. I wait 2 weeks, nothing. I call back and was told I never called. I get the CS person to send me out a new one which works.

By this point, I was so POed at Gateway after being treated like crap even though I bought their most expensive PC, that I decided to go out and buy a Via based Abit KA7 MB so I could use my CD-R which I had paid $350 for several months earlier. I had a heck of a time setting up the machine because none of the light connectors in the Gateway case were standard. I decided to forgo the lights but the machine wouldn't power up. I thought I had a defective MB so I sent it back and got a new one. After this too didn't work, I finally realized that the PS and case were proprietary and had to buy a new case and power supply.

The final whammy was when I thought I had everything set up correctly and tried to install the Win98SE OS from Gateway. Nope, it was proprietary too and wouldn't work on the new MB so I had to use an old version of 98 (non SE).

This nightmare took about 3 months to finish and probably another $500 more. PC is still flaky but I guess I'll have to live with my mistake of going with Gateway.

 

[Sunner]

Seems to me like service differs from country to country.
Ive heard many people from other countries say that Compaq's support sucks, but me, Ive had nothing but pleasant experiences with them, the few times Ive had problems.
Their techs are nice, the time it takes them to send spare parts etc is very short, and they havent given me any BS whatsoever, I just state the serial # of the box in question, the problem, and my customer number and name, and thats it.
Wouldnt buy one for a home sys though, homebuilt rocks 🙂

 

[Tyros]

I just talked to a Dell rep. about a Dimension XPS B series PIII 1000 Mhz processor also included is the 64mb DDR Nvida GF2 GTS w/ MDK2 128mb of RDram and the soundblaster live sound card. One issue I have heard alot about from various sources is to have a minimum of 250 watt power unit 300 watt is most favorable. I hear alot of ppl say Dell is good and I heard this too before coming to this forum. The problem is the rep tells me this system and all the home systems come with 200watt power units. I dont understand why they would put in such a low end power supply in such a beefed up machine unless they want it fail in the long run.

I still want to go with Dell but if they cant come up with a good answer for my questions in this area Ill go else where! Can anyone post a url for Micron?

 

[PCAddict]

Doggiedog,

Any OEM version of Win98 SE purchased with a Dell, Gateway, Micron, Compaq, or whatever will ONLY install on a machine (i.e. motherboard that it came with. Microsoft's new OEM licensing requires them to put some sort of CODE in the BIOS that the install program checks for. This is part of Microsoft's new anti-piracy efforts along with putting the Windows 98 product key on a sticker which is affixed to the tower.

 

[LXi]

obeseotron: I dont think Dell is *that* much better than HP. True they're very loyal to Intel, and thats not a good thing. You get Intel CPUs only, with Intel mobos only. With HP, you have a choice between P3 and Athlon, plus they use Asus motherboards, no those non-overclockable Intels.

In my opinion Dell is one of the best direct sales OEM, along with Micron and Gateway, but not many liked Gateway because of various issues. And HP, I'd have to say, they're the best retail OEM, they're a million times better than Compaq.

 

[jpprod]

What's up with that Dell 1GHz system, 128MB RAM for a high-end desktop is just not viable.

 

[Sunner]

128 MB of RDRAM at that, get 512 megs of PC133 instead 🙂

 

[Warrenton]

for cad/cam go with this:

KT7 With T-Bird 1Ghz
768MB PC133 2-2-2 (3X256MB)
Elsa Quadro II 64MB


It will run you: $2350 for just that. A good modeling workstation will run 5-7 thousand dollars.

 

[robisc]

Everyone has opinions, but most here agree that Dell is probably the best OEM, the HW is not as proprietary as most, I build my own at home but at work we run Dell exclsuively, the thing that has impressed me is their service, I got a Poweredge server last year and had a couple minor problems with setting it up and their tech support over the phone was super good not just some people with a PCs for Dummies handbook in front of them. Also had a couple small pieces of HW go bad at different times like keyboards and mice and they fedexed replacements next day, can't beat that IMO.

 

[rahvin]

rover,

Most of these people have no idea what strucad is, I haven't heard of the package but I'm assuming it's a STADD competitor. Dell is a good route to go for a business, get more memory though, you will thank yourself later for the shorter time the runs will take.

BTW what do you design, bridges or buildings?