Main difference between a DELL and an IBM?

[gizbug]

Trying to decide between these two brands. What steers a user one direction over the other.

 

[phantom309]

You can buy an excellent gaming or "multiuse" computer from either company. But my experience is that IBM notebooks are much better built than Dell.

 

[gizbug]

Thank You

 

[WackyDan]

Dell= Cheap, better gaming at higher end.
IBM/Lenovo = Almost as cheap as Dell, better support, better build quality.

So yeah... bulk ThinkPad line is business centric but with their latest widescreens (specifically the Z60m) they dive a bit deeper into gaming on the consumer side.

So it comes down to if you want to pay for the durability and support.

 

[Hacp]

Dell= aimed for home users, cheap parts
IBM= aimed for buisiness users who will freak out if they lost data. High class parts.

 

[The Linuxator]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Dell= aimed for home users, cheap parts
IBM= aimed for buisiness users who will freak out if they lost data. High class parts.

Allow to me to add to that , IBM focuses in supreme product quality, and it's company that doesn't like to follow market fads and what's the popular style nowadays. It's customers i.e me, have the same ideology in common. IBM customers like me don't like some of what Lenovo is doing like win keys and what not. But as long as we can keep our option to not get those silly extras then I guess we still have some level of satisfaction.

Also, IBMs are the type of laptops that you would feel safe about buying them with just the base 1 year warranty, I would never do such a thing with any other brand IMHO.

 

[trikster2]

Originally posted by: The Linuxator

Originally posted by: Hacp
Dell= aimed for home users, cheap parts
IBM= aimed for buisiness users who will freak out if they lost data. High class parts.

Allow to me to add to that , IBM focuses in supreme product quality, and it's company that doesn't like to follow market fads and what's the popular style nowadays. It's customers i.e me, have the same ideology in common. IBM customers like me don't like some of what Lenovo is doing like win keys and what not. But as long as we can keep our option to not get those silly extras then I guess we still have some level of satisfaction.

Also, IBMs are the type of laptops that you would feel safe about buying them with just the base 1 year warranty, I would never do such a thing with any other brand IMHO.

Recommend 3 years waranty and accident protection. Thinkpads are very suseptible to any water spills, and your waranty won't cover you if the tech sees water stains.

Gosh lots of undeducated posters here. Go over to notebookforums.com or thinkpads.com if you want a lot more responses from actual users (some of which have an actual clue)

"Dell= aimed for home users, cheap parts "

Silly simplification. Dell has a business unit that builds some of the best laptops around and provides great U.S. based support.

Regarding the OP's question regarding the "main difference". I would characterize the highest end thinkpads as optimized for portability while dells highest end business laptops (precision series) are optimized for performance/solid build with secondary consideration for portability.

Outside of the actual product, dell has a build to order business model while lenovno is mainly a pre-built operation with set configurations (they do have some customization options).

Both companies have some fine laptops. Personally I like my Dell Precision M70 a lot more than my T43, but if I was backpacking around the world would probably take the T43 based on weight.

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: trikster2

Originally posted by: The Linuxator

Originally posted by: Hacp
Dell= aimed for home users, cheap parts
IBM= aimed for buisiness users who will freak out if they lost data. High class parts.

Allow to me to add to that , IBM focuses in supreme product quality, and it's company that doesn't like to follow market fads and what's the popular style nowadays. It's customers i.e me, have the same ideology in common. IBM customers like me don't like some of what Lenovo is doing like win keys and what not. But as long as we can keep our option to not get those silly extras then I guess we still have some level of satisfaction.

Also, IBMs are the type of laptops that you would feel safe about buying them with just the base 1 year warranty, I would never do such a thing with any other brand IMHO.

Recommend 3 years waranty and accident protection. Thinkpads are very suseptible to any water spills, and your waranty won't cover you if the tech sees water stains.

Gosh lots of undeducated posters here. Go over to notebookforums.com or thinkpads.com if you want a lot more responses from actual users (some of which have an actual clue)

"Dell= aimed for home users, cheap parts "

Silly simplification. Dell has a business unit that builds some of the best laptops around and provides great U.S. based support.

Regarding the OP's question regarding the "main difference". I would characterize the highest end thinkpads as optimized for portability while dells highest end business laptops (precision series) are optimized for performance/solid build with secondary consideration for portability.

Outside of the actual product, dell has a build to order business model while lenovno is mainly a pre-built operation with set configurations (they do have some customization options).

Both companies have some fine laptops. Personally I like my Dell Precision M70 a lot more than my T43, but if I was backpacking around the world would probably take the T43 based on weight.

Perhaps you should get a clue instead of flaming here.

There's a couple of us here including myself that work in the industry, and have specific experience, and I might add up to date experience with both Dell and IBM/Lenovo.

For starters... ThinkPads are not very suseptible to spills, in fact are less so than a dell, hp, etc... They have sealed keyboards, and will survive the average spill from just about any user. ANY water damage to ANY notebook can potentially void warranty. How exactly is Dell LESS suseptible to spills than ThinkPad as in your comment you make it seem so? I've personally killed a late model Dell this way, yet turned around and poured water in one of our ThinkPads just to prove a point.

secondly.... Dell moves near 25% of their product throught the reseller channel. That's a little known fact most people don't realize. Lenovo and HP Move more throught channel sales/partners but also move a boatload through direct.

Nobody in the business has the perfect direct model, but nobody has seriously trumped the other in that either... If we were looking back 3 years... your statement would potentially be true. Generally... People have some romantic notion of Dell and their direct sales, assuming that's the only way they sell their product. Though not popular within the reseller channel, resellers and dell will go that route when forced to by the customer.

And in regard to support. Most people here and I might add in the other forums may be users, (I'm on those forums too) but that is mostly what they are. Many aren't in IT. They may buy the laptop for themselves, and that's where they'll have fun calling Dell support. Unless you buy Dell's in numbers don't expect your tier 1 support to be US based.... be surprised. At least Lenovo's Tier 1 is US based.