i learned to day- never to by Dell

[shud]

I think this thread features more misuse of there, their, and they're than I have ever seen.

 

[Silversierra]

The dell's your dealing with must be old. My dell is basically standard. The psu was atx, and nothing had to be modded to replace it. The mobo was standard matx, so easily replaceable. The hd was a standard wd ide drive. The cd drive was a lite on. The back panel i/o shield is replaceable. The mobo standoffs on mine are removeable metal studs, so they can be removed/arranged. The ONLY proprietary thing I found was the front usb ports had a strange connector, but that isn't major. This is a dell 2300 btw.

 

[Budmantom]

"i learned to day- never to by Dell"
Yet you still have so much to learn, today is one word and it's buy not by.


You can buy a new Dell for around $250.





Tom

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: 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

This woudn't be my first choice but for most people that want an e-mail/internet machine it's perfect plus it also comes with 6 months of internet for "free".


Tom

 

[thirdlegstump]

Originally posted by: 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.

Ok but just how many workstations does that company have? I can't imagine how many dead custom home-built computers you'll have if there are 2000 workstations at a company...

 

[JDCentral]

I'll never buy a dell because the one my parents bought required me to almost re-build the thing, myself.

The DVD/CD-ROM drives weren't even hooked up!! Not to mention configured in Winblows.

 

[furballi]

There appears to be a cult-culture with DELL PCs. Same with those who shop at Wal Mart. Both provide low to mid quality products at a fair price. Experienced shoppers can do much better shopping at other locations.

It's very difficult to compete against DELL at the entry level PC. These units are designed to run 2 to 3 years...long enough for the extended warranty to expire. Power/heavy users should avoid most DELL products. The OS comes preloaded with so much craps!

E-machine would get my vote.

 

[bigal40]

Originally posted by: 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

You dislike dell because they have special ink cartirdges and special motherboards? Everyone knows that dells use non-statnard mobo's and if you really can't afford to buy and ink cartridge from dell then buy a refill kit.

 

[Ringthane]

I've purchased 7 Dell's over the past 5 years for friends and family... the only problem I've ever had was a bad PSU, which I replaced with a non-Dell unit.

One of the machines I bought for my father-in-law has since been replaced, and now sits in my basement as my Linux backup and FTP server. It's been running for the last 10 months whisper quiet.

Perspective.

Their computers, they're rich, there you have it.

 

[furballi]

DELL PCs...use it and throw it out the windows. With the exception of RAM and hard drive, don't attempt to repair/replace a DELL!

Stabilty and memory load is also subpar, right out out of the box. Why? Cause there are so many crapware running in the background. This is good for DELL, cause it allow them an opportunity to sell OVERPRICED RAM to NOOBS.

I had a chance to setup a DELL 8400 this year. Came with 1GB RAM. Right out of the box, the system was already pulling 208MB of RAM after a clean reboot. The owner returned the product and asked me to build him a new PC. This PC now uses 102MB with McAfee 8.0i and Zone Alarm Pro 4.5 in the background.

 

[brown3]

Dell's tech support is a nightmare. But Gateway beats them!













What's you Internet speed?

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: 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).

THeir notebooks suck, Get a ThinkPAd.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Originally posted by: WackyDan

Originally posted by: 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).

THeir notebooks suck, Get a ThinkPAd.

Their notebooks are a great bang for your buck for home users. Of course if you're using a notebook for business, Thinkpads are the best choice. However, they're pretty expensive for the specs you get, but great for portability and security. The average home user probably doesn't need that, so a Dell should be fine.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I bought a Dimension 4550 2 years ago...... It was niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice lol.

got a great PSU. Its 250w of sheer awsome power!!!!
got a CD burner. Turns out it wasn't even made any more and Samsung doen't carry the driver for it.
got a 19" Flat Screen CRT monitor. Was made back in 2000 (bought in 2003). It had fingerprints INSIDE the glass. the monitor is blurry. I mean REALLY blurry. At 1024x768 you can't see anything on it. On top of that although they said it was a flat screen, its like they laid a flat piece of glass over a curved monitor.

I feel like I've been ripped off with this one. Which makes me wonder why so many people reccommend them.

EDIT: I just remembered the worst part of all. There are 2 fans in the whole system. One for the power supply. And then one for everything else. There's this huge heatsink (should at least be a heatpipe) sitting on my processor. And the a green funnel that leads to a 120mm fan that has such a large center area that the fan blades have hardly any lenth at all.