Dell's basic support is just that - basic. Outsourced, priority is lowest cost, insists on every diagnostic over the phone possible before suggesting any type of repair, and their repair choices are to their benefit. Unless you pay for the higher end warranties. You aren't #1 in the computer industry with a 9% profit margin without cutting corners...
I meant it's not true they will connect you with someone who will help you. In fact, they often hang up on you. You can easily spend 2-3 hours waiting in a queue if you call, and then sometimes the call will be "dropped". In addition if you spend too much time trying to make one customer rep understand your problem, and/or insist on talking to the manager, you may be dropped after they put you "on hold to speak to the manager". This is not bullshit, it happened to me several times and I've heard the same from other people.
What fbrdphreak says about higher level support is true (business/Gold level). However, you cannot upgrade support on all their machines to a higher level, at least through the home office/personal section of the site. In addition upgrading to these levels wipes out the price advantage, so you're left with overpriced support and a machine which might not have been the best choice otherwise.
Hardware-wise, Dells have improved across the board. Service-wise, Dell has tanked for the home consumer.
What fbrdphreak says about higher level support is true (business/Gold level). However, you cannot upgrade support on all their machines to a higher level, at least through the home office/personal section of the site. In addition upgrading to these levels wipes out the price advantage, so you're left with overpriced support and a machine which might not have been the best choice otherwise.
Hardware-wise, Dells have improved across the board. Service-wise, Dell has tanked for the home consumer.
I have had many similar problems that you describe with Dell with Charter Communications. Every other month I have a service call (literally, whenever I call in, I make the rep read off all the service calls I've made since January) because my connection goes away and stays gone for a few hours. Happens whenever it rains. But what you described sounds almost exactly like all my interactions with Charter.
I guess the point is I don't think this is just a Dell issue. I see this stuff with Charter, my cell-phone carrier, etc. Try giving best-buy a call and asking for a certain department. You will stay on hold for a bit, transferred back to the operator, sent back to the department, someone walking by will answer, put you on hold while they find somebody else to help you instead of helping you themselves, etc. Fbrdphreak is right. They are cutting costs somewhere. Just like Charter is and Best Buy and AT&T etc. etc. etc. I have tried to call Toshiba in the past regarding my broken system and they were poor-average with support/service.
In any event, I do agree with you 100% that Dell offers suck service. Fortunately for me, I don't require their help for much but I also realize that certain things require a service call. My dad has a Dell Desktop and he's been lucky, I guess. But I also agree with you 100% that Lenovo Business Class is the answer here.
I guess the point is I don't think this is just a Dell issue. I see this stuff with Charter, my cell-phone carrier, etc. Try giving best-buy a call and asking for a certain department. You will stay on hold for a bit, transferred back to the operator, sent back to the department, someone walking by will answer, put you on hold while they find somebody else to help you instead of helping you themselves, etc. Fbrdphreak is right. They are cutting costs somewhere. Just like Charter is and Best Buy and AT&T etc. etc. etc. I have tried to call Toshiba in the past regarding my broken system and they were poor-average with support/service.
In any event, I do agree with you 100% that Dell offers suck service. Fortunately for me, I don't require their help for much but I also realize that certain things require a service call. My dad has a Dell Desktop and he's been lucky, I guess. But I also agree with you 100% that Lenovo Business Class is the answer here.
i have the HP dv2000t. it is a 14" so it may be smaller than what your father-in-law wants, but i'm satisfied by the build quality and everything about it. i have nothing to say about the quality of the support but i really think you should focus more on what you pay for than the amount the company can support you. you can check out the dv6000t if you want the 15.4" widescreen version. with a Core2Duo T5500, upgraded screen, 7400Go gpu, Upgraded imprint finish/microphone/webcam, 1gb ram, 60gb hdd, DVD-rw, and 12-cell battery comes to $1052, before a $50 rebate, directly from HP. if he wants a better CPU, he can always cut back on the video card, webcam/microphone, and even drop down to a CD-RW/DVD player. he'll save around $120 doing that. btw, a dv2000t configured similarly (with a 14" screen and integrated GMA950 video) it comes to $993 before a $50 rebate.
currently the thinkpad T60 can be had for $900. at $1100-1200, you certainly do get a pretty well-spec'ed T60. if your father-in-law is willing to consider dell, i would recommend him towards Small Business. the D620 is a fine laptop. and a plus....it has business class support
currently the thinkpad T60 can be had for $900. at $1100-1200, you certainly do get a pretty well-spec'ed T60. if your father-in-law is willing to consider dell, i would recommend him towards Small Business. the D620 is a fine laptop. and a plus....it has business class support
You get what you pay for, in the end. My gf has owned numerous HP laptops. She had a very old ze4300 Athlon XP-M machine that still functioned fine after several years, but the power jack was very loose, the screen was wobbling a lot (her mother had same laptop, screen wouldn't stay up anymore), sometimes the mouse buttons didn't work, and the audio jack didn't work right. Nothing major, pretty good for what at the time was a budget laptop. A dv1000 replaced that - the only issues that developed with it (besides the machine running very hot from the start and having a poor viewing angle on the LCD, which the ze4300 had as well) were the screen becoming wobbly and power connector loose. Mind you this is with her babying both machines.
Since I got my T42 and she's seen how I treat it, she's not buying another HP
I abuse the crap out of mine (3 year accidental damage coverage) and it is still kicking. LCD still nice and tight, the power connector IS a bit loose (fixed on later models), and everything works perfectly. I've had ONE problem with it where the display would randomly shut off and system would be unresponsive; 72 hours later I had my repaired machine back in my hands, with zero hassle.Clearly HP is a great value, but that all depends what you value
My brother has a z61 Thinkpad and it is an awesome machine IMO. I personally woundn't want one though (prefer the T series - if they just had integrated DVI and IEEE 1394 I would have bought one), mainly because of its thickness but I may just be a bit spoiled in that regard by my MBP. Qualitywise the z series is most certainly a thinkpad and it has a few thinsgs that I wish my MBP had: The high res 1680x1050 display, the optional docking stations and the ultrabay.
Anyway my brother really likes it and is thankfull that I stopped him buying an Inspiron
Anyway my brother really likes it and is thankfull that I stopped him buying an Inspiron
Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
You get what you pay for, in the end. My gf has owned numerous HP laptops. She had a very old ze4300 Athlon XP-M machine that still functioned fine after several years, but the power jack was very loose, the screen was wobbling a lot (her mother had same laptop, screen wouldn't stay up anymore), sometimes the mouse buttons didn't work, and the audio jack didn't work right. Nothing major, pretty good for what at the time was a budget laptop. A dv1000 replaced that - the only issues that developed with it (besides the machine running very hot from the start and having a poor viewing angle on the LCD, which the ze4300 had as well) were the screen becoming wobbly and power connector loose. Mind you this is with her babying both machines.
Since I got my T42 and she's seen how I treat it, she's not buying another HP
Clearly HP is a great value, but that all depends what you value
i'm not saying anything about thinkpads. i think the non-Thinkpad lenovos are WAAAY overrated but the thinkpads themselves are wonderful. my point is you don't but a laptop for it's service; you buy it for its functionality. yes, you do want something that isn't cheap but at the same time the financial constraints play a huge roll.
i've seen you recommend other brands before (albeit rare) but in this $1000 budget situation, clearly a thinkpad is not the ideal laptop. this is what you get for a $1000 T60:
T5500 (1.66GHz C2D)
15" (1024x768) (and it isn't Wide Screen as the OP requested)
1.5gb ram (1gb+512mb...doubt it's dual channel)
40GB hdd
CD-RW/DVD
Total: $993
what HP's DV6000T offers you:
T5500 (1.66GHz C2D)
15.4" widescreen (1280x800)
1gb ram (2x512mb)
60GB hdd
CD-RW/DVD
Total: $819.
the thinkpad is nearly $200 more expensive and yet it doesn't fulfill the OP's needs. and, according to you, support is extremely important. with the thinkpad, you're stuck with the 1 year depot repair. HP offers 3 years for $200. basically 366 days after you purchase the laptop, you're on your own for the thinkpad while the HP has a good 2 years to go. you tell me which is better: some service or no service at all?
i'm no fanboy of HP, i'm just proving the thinkpad is NOT the best laptop for all situations, especially at this price.
alimoalem,
I like your point. I guess it would be nice to get that 3 years, however he is not always the one to call a support line. He has a worker in his office, and he has to get him in there every day to fix something, either he has lost the network or printer cannot be found. A microsoft alert comes up for no apparent reason. All that weird stuff, my favorite is when plugins are installed, but his computer won't play it.
So I see the prices are dropping quickly for this holiday season, so I am going to have him wait until after thanksgiving then we will do some notebook shopping!!! The nice thing is I get his old one, its nothing to be excited about because its a 1.8 celeron with about 512 of ram, however it still connect via WAN, where my slot broke in my compaq 1800t
I like your point. I guess it would be nice to get that 3 years, however he is not always the one to call a support line. He has a worker in his office, and he has to get him in there every day to fix something, either he has lost the network or printer cannot be found. A microsoft alert comes up for no apparent reason. All that weird stuff, my favorite is when plugins are installed, but his computer won't play it.
So I see the prices are dropping quickly for this holiday season, so I am going to have him wait until after thanksgiving then we will do some notebook shopping!!! The nice thing is I get his old one, its nothing to be excited about because its a 1.8 celeron with about 512 of ram, however it still connect via WAN, where my slot broke in my compaq 1800t
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