i learned to day- never to by Dell

[BriGy86]

sure my parents dell has run GREAT since the day they bought it BUT

what IF something goes wrong?

-earlier this week i learned that dell printers take special cartrages...(they are made by lexmark but tweaked just enough to where you HAVE to order from dell) i don't know off hand how much they actually are, but im guessing there expensive

-mother boards: i had a customer come intoday because the mother board went out on his dell, dell uses special clip like connectors to mount it to the back plate they have (also that back plate has no screw holes incase your mobo goes out and you want to replace it... dell was also going to charge the customers 200 dollars for a new mother board.

the connections on the mother board: the mother board i was shown did not use the typical pin set up that most if not all other manufacturers use, theres looked almost like an ATA connector on the board but just smaller, so there is not compatability with other cases or mother board there.

/rant

just letting future computer buyers know what to expect

EDIT: sorry for spelling mistakes, im sure there is some

 

[erikistired]

yeah this is stuff that every tech knows, but for someone who is going to be difficult to support i'd send them to dell any day.

 

[eXx08]

Yea I have a Dell runs great but dont buy from manufaturers they will upgrade proof it so you will not be able to upgrade it. Only upgrade I did on mine was a video card and there customer service isnt the best either. They tryed to help me but I cannot understand Chinease.

 

[sniperruff]

i don't think they do it anymore. at least with the PSU. still, $249 for a celeron-D with cd burner and windows XP can't be beat.

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: fisher
yeah this is stuff that every tech knows, but for someone who is going to be difficult to support i'd send them to dell any day.

 

[BriGy86]

yeah my parents dell has worked great, but in general if something goes wrong i think they seem to rape you... thats all

 

[suicidalpigeon]

i only like dell if they got teh right coupons.

 

[thirdlegstump]

On another note I rarely see Dells with failed power supplies or motherboards, which are the only real proprietary parts they use. They're all quite reliable I must admit. Most of the time it's the optical or hard drives that go kaput and they can be easily replaced.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

opticals and hard drives does alot more moving than any other components. they are bound to crap out before any other parts if the whole system was to live up to it's estimated life time.

 

[Sforsyth]

I worked on a few dell's and that was enough for me after the first one

 

[dszd0g]

I just bought a Dell laptop with one of the $750 off coupons. It was missing a driver and I was having a hard time finding it on their Web site. I called them up for tech support as I purchased the 1-year Technical Support. They wanted to charge me $50 because drivers are a software issue and technical support only covers hardware! Not that it says that anywhere when you buy it! I am still pissed off with them. The laptop was less than 24 hours old and they wanted to charge for support.

 

[Insomniak]

Yes, they use proprietary equipment....

This is why they are so rich...

 

[suicidalpigeon]

dell does everything they can to make money, even best buy. those sob's are so loaded with rebates. plus they both give false information to me all the time, for crying out loud im asian, i cant possibly see how they not get that already.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Dell notebooks aren't bad. Especially the the Inspiron 6000. $999 will get you a Pentium M 730 (1.6 ghz I think, 533mhz FSB, 2MB L2 cache), 60GB hard drive, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, dual-layer dual-format DVD burner, 15.4" scree, integrated GMA 900 graphics, and a 9-cell Li-Ion battery with ~6 hours battery life. Really nice for the money. Of course, their desktops are crap (except for those really cheap ones that include WinXP and a monitor for like $300).

 

[suicidalpigeon]

it was $250 last time without the crappy-ass printer.

 

[zephyrprime]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
On another note I rarely see Dells with failed power supplies or motherboards, which are the only real proprietary parts they use. They're all quite reliable I must admit. Most of the time it's the optical or hard drives that go kaput and they can be easily replaced.

What about the sx270? A ton of those had MBs that went bad.

 

[Pabster]

Actually, you can buy generic (or third-party) cartridges for Dell printers. I've been using them for my AIO 942 and 962's and they work great. You don't save as much as with others (like generic Epson carts) but the savings add up.

Dell can't be beat IF you get a good deal. Just have to keep your eyes open

 

[thirdlegstump]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime

Originally posted by: deathkoba
On another note I rarely see Dells with failed power supplies or motherboards, which are the only real proprietary parts they use. They're all quite reliable I must admit. Most of the time it's the optical or hard drives that go kaput and they can be easily replaced.

What about the sx270? A ton of those had MBs that went bad.

Ok there are exceptions : )

 

[cryptonomicon]

Originally posted by: BriGy86

-earlier this week i learned that dell printers take special cartrages...(they are made by lexmark but tweaked just enough to where you HAVE to order from dell) i don't know off hand how much they actually are, but im guessing there expensive

ink injection refill kit

$10, office depot.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
i don't think they do it anymore. at least with the PSU. still, $249 for a celeron-D with cd burner and windows XP can't be beat.

I don't think it qualifies as a full-featured computer, though.

• 90-day warranty if you don't mess with the insides. Riiiiiiiiiight, this compares great to a nice Asus/Crucial/AMD/Seagate/Antec setup with the 3/lifetime/3/5/3-year warranties that don't go *poof* if you change video cards. Not. :roll:
• 256MB of RAM
• The RAM is shared with the onboard video
• The RAM's bandwidth is shared with the onboard video
• The RAM is single-channel, meaning any respectable-looking AnandTech benchies you've seen for a CelD on a dual-channel platform with discreet graphics are not applicable to the Dell here.
• No option to add an AGP or PCIe card...
• ...and that's probably a good thing when you look at what the PSU and case ventilation could handle

< / rant! >

I wouldn't want such a limited "computer." I wouldn't feel good about urging someone else to get one either. Sorry for the rant

edit: to put some perspective on it, click the 1st-time system builder guide in my signature. Out of a fleet of about 85 systems that I maintain 8-to-5 every day, about 36 of them are similar to that one. If they weren't stable & reliable, I'd be the first to know

 

[n7]

I feel sorry for anyone with a Lexmark printer...& i feel even more sorry for people with Dell's rebadged Lexmark printers.

Pure Sh!t.

And btw, cryptonomicon, refill kits don't work very well with Lexmarks aka Dells since the printhead is built onto the cartridge & is designed to last only for the duration of the ink inside. IOW, they rarely last much longer, unlike Epson/Canon who use heads built onto the printer.

 

[imported_g33k]

Lexmarks are sh!tty printers. The few dollars you save with a lexmark, is not worth it. Lexmarks are very slow and their print quality sucks. Pay a little more and get an hp/cannon/epson and save yourself some grief.

 

[grrl]

Originally posted by: g33k
Lexmarks are sh!tty printers. The few dollars you save with a lexmark, is not worth it. Lexmarks are very slow and their print quality sucks. Pay a little more and get an hp/cannon/epson and save yourself some grief.

That's why friends don't let friends buy Lexmark.

 

[Ike0069]

I don't get the complaints with Dell. They are for people who don't want to upgrade parts of their computer, or fix it when it breaks. They're made for people who just want a working computer and that's it.
If you bought one and then get pissed because it's not upgradable, that's just stupid.
If you want an upgradable computer, build your own. Don't have someone else do it and then complain because you don't like they way they built it.

 

[imported_Pressure]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
On another note I rarely see Dells with failed power supplies or motherboards, which are the only real proprietary parts they use. They're all quite reliable I must admit. Most of the time it's the optical or hard drives that go kaput and they can be easily replaced.

Funny, I work in a company that uses Dell Optiplexes and I get about 5 a week with dead PSUs or Mobos.