Questions when buying from dell?

[krazyq]

or for people who are too lazy to research or who dont care about money.

 

[veg1992]

Like I said before, Dells are for grandparents.

thats still funny no matter how many times u say it :0

 

[krazyq]

their laptops are alright.
But desktops always a ripoff.

 

[veedubfreak]

If you are looking for a prebuilt machine, check out cyberpowerpc.com. They're prices are really hard to beat for a prebuilt machine with 3 year warranty. Also, heres a tip for anyone who ever has to call dell tech support, when you call and the system puts you on hold to transfer to a rep, if its really crappy classical music, hang up, you just got transferred to india. I worked for a school district for about 3.5 years and all they had were dells. The good news was we got lots of new toys because dell paid us 50 bucks a pop for warranty repairs we did.

 

[krazyq]

thanks for that website.
I use to check it out back in the day, totally forgot about it.
Thanks

 

[CitizenCain]

I work in a datacenter and office environment that's about 80-90% Dell (and quite large), and can say this - their laptops and servers are very good... durable and reliable with very long shelf lives - we have dozens and dozens of DELL laptops and servers that are in perfect working order, just sitting in storage after 4 or 5 years of continuous use, because they got hideously obsolete before they broke. I use a Dell Latitude that was purchased in 2001 and used continuously to monitor any pages from hardware failures in our data center. Still works like the day it was purchased... but with a 500 Mhz processor, it's not good for much other than sitting on my desk, waiting to receive an alarm about some hard drive failure.

Their "workstations" (basically super high end desktops) are decent too, but their desktops... meh, not so much. I can't recommend Dell for a desktop, but then again, I can't recommend any of the big brands either. Bottom line is that if you buy an OEM desktop, you're getting ripped off. At least Dell offers long warranties on their products, and covers all components on their machines, which is a big plus. Of course, single consumer support kind of sucks (expect 4-6 weeks sort of thing, unless you pay extra for next business day service, which costs a good chunk), but at least you'll get a free replacement if something goes bad. Eventually.

Best option is still to build your own - even if you have to buy half now and half later (if they don't approve enough credit for you). That's what happened my first NewEgg purchase - bought the case, PSU, and monitor first, then after I'd paid that off a month later, I bought the internals.

My first desktop was a Dell years ago when they were a half decent company. Ever since they moved their manufacturing to India I refuse to do any business with them. Not only do they produce an inferior and overpriced product, but they do it while taking jobs away from Americans. I have nothing good to say about Dell.

How is that "taking jobs away from Americans?"

Like you'd be able to find an American willing to work an assembly line job for 10 grand a year. But you offer that same job to India, and the line to apply is around the block. Because in India, the average yearly wage is about $5000. (or was last time I checked). Everyone wins. Some Indian lands a much better job that he/she could ever had dreamed of otherwise, Dell saves money and American consumers get cheaper products. Not to mention the boost American investors get from Dell stock.

Not to mention that all the support and management for that lowly assembly line job is back here, in America, as are the sales jobs. We do a lot of business with Dell where I work, and I've yet to see, talk to, or even exchange emails with any Dell employee who wasn't an American.

And, by the way, just "Being American" isn't a free ride to be middle class with no education or real work skills (manufacturing jobs).

I'd honestly much rather support a well educated, hard working Indian guy than some fat assed American who feels entitled to a good career just because of where he was born and isn't willing to seek out higher education to move up in the corporate world.

 

[veg1992]

I work in a datacenter and office environment that's about 80-90% Dell (and quite large), and can say this - their laptops and servers are very good... durable and reliable with very long shelf lives - we have dozens and dozens of DELL laptops and servers that are in perfect working order, just sitting in storage after 4 or 5 years of continuous use, because they got hideously obsolete before they broke. I use a Dell Latitude that was purchased in 2001 and used continuously to monitor any pages from hardware failures in our data center. Still works like the day it was purchased... but with a 500 Mhz processor, it's not good for much other than sitting on my desk, waiting to receive an alarm about some hard drive failure.

Their "workstations" (basically super high end desktops) are decent too, but their desktops... meh, not so much. I can't recommend Dell for a desktop, but then again, I can't recommend any of the big brands either. Bottom line is that if you buy an OEM desktop, you're getting ripped off. At least Dell offers long warranties on their products, and covers all components on their machines, which is a big plus. Of course, single consumer support kind of sucks (expect 4-6 weeks sort of thing, unless you pay extra for next business day service, which costs a good chunk), but at least you'll get a free replacement if something goes bad. Eventually.

Best option is still to build your own - even if you have to buy half now and half later (if they don't approve enough credit for you). That's what happened my first NewEgg purchase - bought the case, PSU, and monitor first, then after I'd paid that off a month later, I bought the internals.



How is that "taking jobs away from Americans?"

Like you'd be able to find an American willing to work an assembly line job for 10 grand a year. But you offer that same job to India, and the line to apply is around the block. Because in India, the average yearly wage is about $5000. (or was last time I checked). Everyone wins. Some Indian lands a much better job that he/she could ever had dreamed of otherwise, Dell saves money and American consumers get cheaper products. Not to mention the boost American investors get from Dell stock.

Not to mention that all the support and management for that lowly assembly line job is back here, in America, as are the sales jobs. We do a lot of business with Dell where I work, and I've yet to see, talk to, or even exchange emails with any Dell employee who wasn't an American.

And, by the way, just "Being American" isn't a free ride to be middle class with no education or real work skills (manufacturing jobs).

I'd honestly much rather support a well educated, hard working Indian guy than some fat assed American who feels entitled to a good career just because of where he was born and isn't willing to seek out higher education to move up in the corporate world.

seriously... also too many ppl can't migrate here because its called brain drain (the movement of smart and talented people resulting in less smarter ppl from the migrators native homeland)

 

[Pdawg]

Very well put CitizenCain. The sales jobs and high end jobs are typically reserved for Americans and yes Dell pays very well and has some great benefits. They are also worked very hard for it too. Like I said, my sister works there, I know. The type of work they outsource is stuff your 16 year olds would do....but won't. Since when was this an entitlement culture? Noone owes you a thing.

 

[zmatt]

thats a major problem with society. middle class kids think that they deserve to get a good job and a nice car etc etc just because of where they came from. Of course that is complete bogus and in today's world economy the most qualified individuals get the job no matter where they are. but I digress

One of my first pcs was a Dell and it served me very well. Still have it too. Its sitting in my basement acting as a simple file server. But the quality of the pcs in general has fallen over the years. but truly this can be expected from, any company that gets big. Small restaurants server better tasting food than Macdonald's. Small car companies make better cars than the big ones. Its the never ending war of quality versus quantity. I think its obvious where we here at TF stand as far as computers are considered.

 

[OnlyCurious]

Dell laptops are good, had mine for 2 years now and still going strong. Dell desktops WERE good back in the late 90's, not so sure about them now. Dell charges way too much for their products.

Build your own desktop, it's easy. Just remember to put the CPU cooler on the correct way so that the wire wraps around it and plugs into the CPU fan plug. I had to take mine out and reapply the thermal paste... but it all worked out and my new rig is awesome!! lol