What is wrong with Dell? - Page 3  

Alienware???? I love their UK support.
Oh and i have had one of the old dells(white one) for 5 years and it still works, Pentium 3 and all. it can run Xp and even plays some games(CS1.6)

Yeah, I know what you mean. I also have one of those old white ones.

that comparison with IBM was so uncool. IBMs are just much better built, more reliable systems. My T23 is rock solid, its a pretty old machine (1.133 P3, 1gb ram, cd-rw/dvd, 14.1" xga, 40gb 5400rpm hdd). It takes the abuse and there is no issues. My dad brings his dell latitude from work once in a while and that thing flexes and squeaks as soon as i lay a finger on it, wtf?

Support wise IBM is also great, although I never had to send mine in, nor even call them, my friend who has a T23 had.....several times for different issues (many his fault). The turn-around was less than a week and the problem was solved, even upgraded (he went from XGA to SXGA and got Wifi 802.11b installed)

I love these Dell debates.

i have a dell 2001fp and it works just fine, it took a little longer then iwanted to get but it showed up in working order(no dead pixels, light leakage). i swore id never buy a dell computer but now that im gettng a laptop and no one else makes anything as powerful as the xps with ok battery life i guess ill be getting a dell. plus thy offer nice military discounts

Couple of things to say.

1. EVERYBODY outsources, its not just dell, and there are certain levels of their tech support, like any company that are still located here with american operators.

2. Everytime i called (during the day, 9-5) never had to wait more than 5 minutes. I suggest you use the online chat, its easier, you're not tied up on the phone, and i got my install cds shipped last night in 15 minutes.

3. No one can beat them in price/value, yes other computers have nicer builds, but the 9300 build quality is fine compared to other dells, dont bash it unless you've actually tried one.

Speaking from a guy who has bought and owned over 50 notebooks in my lifetime (im only 21 imagine the costs) I can assure you there is no such thing as a perfect notebook. You name the brand and there will always be an issue with it. Jump into any section of this forum and you will see some weird or horrible issue that afflicts the users of that machine. Of all the laptops Ive used Dell had been my favorite heres why.

1. Price!
Who doesnt understand the value of a good dollar If you compare a any of dells notebooks to there competition they drive a hard bargain which lead them to this high pedastal they stand on today regarding most notebooks sold around the world. Of course this price comes with its drawbacks which I will get into.
2.TechSupport..
There support isnt the best anyone knows that but then again you try supporting over millions of customers daily who have such mind boggling issues like finding the power button or finding the any key (im serious that was a huge issue for Compaq) I dont mind indian techsupport people as long as they get something done and if they dont hang up and try again i get the same kind of BS with any phone company I join and seeing if they can fix a problem is a nightmare. The few who actually have real problems suffer because companies like HP/Dell/Sony have so few high paid tech support reps who CAN fix your problem but were routed to Joe blow with his problem with the internet being slow on dial up. Those who know will complain and with such a small ratio of good reps we all suffer nothing can be done about it.
3.Quality
Dell is no IBM. IBM quality has always been a first where ever you look but IBM wasnt making the dough even with there high prices. Dell draws a very fine line between quality and quantity If the quality was THAT bad why do people still buy from dell? Price is a huge driving force i mean come on why buy 1 IBM notebook when you could potentially buy 3 dells of equal speed? Another thing that boggles my mind is issues regarding parts Dell has NO control over like Cpus, Memory, CDroms, HardDrives it sickens me that a lot of people but not all think dell or any company that makes notebooks should be to blame for this like the light leaking lcds, performance on cdrom drives, the heat generated from hard disks and so on.

Will add mor eto this when I get back from class feel free to comment so far.

LOL at the "any" key issue.. i remember hearding that before.. plz press any key to continue.. then the user is stuck cuz they can't find it...

hearing you say, why would soo many ppl get dell's when their quality sux? well it is just like why would ppl get a p4 when there is an amd-64 for cheaper, faster, less heat produced? both for the same reason.. the marketing, the name.. people just simply don't know better..

bad quality is 1 thing.. but since people replace "computers" or notebooks every 2-3 years... i do believe lower quality notebooks can last that long if used correctly..

i wouldn't say dell has no control over their parts.. what makes the other company have control over their parts then? i am sure IBM known for its quality didn't actually make all their parts.. but they most likely tested it for quality before releasing it out..

i just believe dell is similar to intel.... the average user will most likely go to them... and the budget users will too.. and knowing their business support will fix everything.. this increases a lot of the business users too.. soo that is like at least 75% of the market there..

Well, the people who buy new models as soon as they come out are essentially the beta testers. Like with the whole XPS-2 LCD problems. Dell got it fixed eventually.

If you want the latest technology be ready to have some problems.

You guys have made some very interesting points. Putting my personal experiences aside Im still not a Dell fan. To me electronics are about quality and dell is more involved with quantity. I can understand the business model but I would rather pay more for true quality.

I doubt you will see a bunch of CEOs running around with Dells. In fact in my 10 years in large corporate IT departments I have never seen a high level executive use a Dell.

Of course by it self thats not a big deal but I have worked with alot of computer experts over the years and dell was never the first choice.

Dont get me wrong they are good systems its just that they are never the best. It's like buying an american sedan in the 70's it looked good and ran fine but it just seemed to loss the door handles a little faster and the ceiling sagged a little earlier.

Dell's are pretty much for the masses of people.

To me,

ASUS = solid, high quality, reliable
Acer = good brand, would buy from because they are generally good quality
IBM = expensive, bit ugly, but they WORK!
Dell = cheap.....ugly....don't last as long as any of the above

To me, Dell is the Honda Civic of cars. Sure its not the flashiest, but it gets decent milage and to me, isn't that ugly.

And yes I drove a civic, before my dad got into an accident with it(he was fine, but the car wasn't ), and plan on buying another one in the next year!

First off, use the bbcodes for quotes - it makes it easier to read. Second, why did Dell cancel that contract and redo their aoutsourcing agreement if it wasn't that many people who complained?

I would also point out that eMachines rates higher than Dell for customer satisfaction and support, according to the 2004 PC World Survey. Dell slipped from #1 (just edging out eMachines in 2003) to #4, largely because of the outsourcing fiasco. eMachines were crap when they first began making computers, but starting in 2002, they seriously revamped their processes and suppliers and began making very reliable, solid machines. As a result, their sales figures and customer satifaction ratinga have steadily improved as a result.

Perceived Value Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

Most Dell haters are just selfproclaimed "elitist"

"I am able to own an Asus/Alienware/Acer/Insert Brand Here that is not seen on TV nearly as much and cost a good 20% extra"

Whatever floats their boat. I'm glad my 9300 cost $1600. That is $600 less than the STARTING PRICE for the 7700

Well being 38 I dont think of myself as young but thats not to say im old either.

You can call it elitism or snobbery or what ever you want but the facts are the same.

Dells are good systems but they are never the best rather they tend to be middle of the road. The electronics are good but the welds are just ok, they tend to get wobbly power connectors faster, the monitor pictures are not as crisp, its just cheaper made.

Now companies like Sony, IBM, Acer have always had better quailty. Even companies like HP, Toshiba have lease problems then Dells.

If you want a laptop to sit on your desk somewhere then Dell is good but if you want to have one thats rugged and reliable then I do not recommend Dell.