WOW I hate to even get into this thread as this is the most thread crap I've seen in what should be a serious thread. I've stated before and I'll state it again: I work with a ton of Dell PCs and laptops. I've also worked with every other major manufacturer there is. I would call it about even if you look at the whole picture. I have as many problems out of the Dell computers as I do with any other brand you want to toss out there (yes including IBM and Sony... and yes I've worked on both).
While I do like a quality made product I understand why lighter materials are used. Now more then ever people want the lightest notebook they can find. Well metal only gets so light while still be able to hold up to day to day use. An inspirons casing is mainly composed of plastic but so are a lot of other notebooks. Does this make the notebook less durable then one made out of iron...absolutely? Will I slap the crap out of any user I see dropping one of my machines off the counter to see if the active whatever is functioning.... absolutely?
Nine times out of ten the problem was caused by something the user did and not a problem with the way the machine was manufactured anyway (at least in my experience). I also think its funny when people blame a notebook manufacturer for a hard drive going bad within three months... Don't get mad at them...get mad at WD, Maxtor, Seagate, or whoever made the drive. All Dell did was pop it in the cradle and attach the cables (By the way its one screw to remove the drive from the notebook and four more to take it out of the cradle... that?s for whoever said you would have to pay $300 to have a HD replaced in a DELL). Now if there is a massive amount of drives failing and the manufacturer fails to change vendors and get replacements out ASAP then that is there fault and they should be blamed.
I've worked with Dell the most recently so I'll explain how there build process works:
They use what?s called the "just in time" method. They keep no inventory and everything is built to order. They only ever have about 4 hours of parts in the factory at any given time. Literally the parts come in the door and straight to the build line where the box starts getting put together. Once the machine has made it through the build stage it hits an image rack where an image of your OS / Software is blown down onto the machine. From there to packaging. From packaging it is staged until your whole order is ready and then straight on the truck (its actually kind of funny to see UPS and FedEx trucks sitting there waiting on that many computers.
A note on Dells customer service...
I am my company?s main contact for Dell when it comes to anything having to do with maintence or repair of any of our servers, workstations, or notebooks. Most of the time I'm to lazy to look up our express number so I call the normal tech support line. While I find there menu option annoying I have yet to get someone from India. Maybe its the time of day I call (usually between 8-5 EST), my good luck, or some other reason I'm unaware of but I always get a clear English speaking individual to answer my call. Are all of them great at there job? No... not even close. Some are pretty good though (server guys are by far better then desktop guys).
One last note:
I was recently shopping for a notebook my self. Hp had a pretty good deal on something I liked so I open an Hpshopping account and ordered away. I'm not going in to the whole story but they pissed me off so bad that I let the notebook clear customs from China, sit at FedEx for three delivery attempts, and then get routed back to HP for refund. There customer services with regards to me cost them about an $1800 sale if I remember correctly. This is just my personal experience but I will not buy anything from them again solely based on there customer service.
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