What do you guys think about Dell computers?

I personally like to build my own...yes im a nerdass..LOL. But my friend is looking for a computer and wants a dell.

I know they only use Intel chips and make thier own mobos as well as Powersupply.

anyone have any reliability issues with them?

 

theres a thread on here about dell starting to use amd sometime...

i built mine. you should convince your friend to let you build him one (if you want to, that is). its cheaper and more fun IMO. plus, you know everything thats in it, and you dont have to deal with all the lame software that comes preinstalled.

 

I'm the same as you.. I like to know every intimate detail about my system.. and build my own. Although Dell is impossible to beat in price, unless you go with illegal software. Over the years I've had 3 Dells...

The first was a P3-866 that my aunt got for me... I guess that was 5-6 years ago? Nothing really ever went wrong with it. At one point I thought I was having cd-rom issues, the disc would become very, very warm. I mentioned it to dell, and they sent me a new rom drive. So in short, nothing has gone wrong with it.

The second was a Smartstep 250N laptop... I had it for about 6 months with no issues. Then I had notorious problems with it over heating and shutting down every 5 minutes. I complained to Dell, they had me send it in for repairs. They did nothing. This happened about 5 times, until finally I started complaining higher up. After about 5 months, they sent me a brand new laptop, which I am still using. Oddly enough, about 2 weeks before they agreed to send my my new laptop my harddrive died. They sent me a new one, no hassles other then the Phone Support talking to me as I was an idiout and doing their job wrong. Anyway.. On to the new laptop, the Inspiron 5100. I have had a couple issues here.. overheating, cd-rw would produce nothing but coasters. Asked for a new burner, and I received one in 2 days. As for the overheating I simply blew the dust out, but before my warranty ended I requested a new cpu fan & heatsink, to which dell agreed.

So, over the 6 years of owning Dells I really haven't had that many issues, and their warranty is the best around. And I think they make a very solid laptop. Now, also speaking to you as a Dell service technician (about a year), the only things I've seen a consistant failure in is the powersupply and cd-rom drives... also, I have seen quite a few shattered cd as a result of these drives. Everything else in there is of name brand. (lower end of that brand name, but a name brand none-the-less)

Hope this helps.


*edit*
as for dell starting to use amd's.. they've been using the a64's for nearly a year now in the servers.. (least they were a year ago, haven't checked recently). Only, the link is VERY hard to find on their site... they went out of their way to hide it. For good reason too, Intel owns a big chunk of Dell.

 

[wow thanks guys.

Yea...Dell just started to "use" AMD, and i dont think they have put it in any systems yet

I wanted her to have the AMD 64 3800+. for starters

 

honestly I think that chip is a bit of a waste of money.. if you go with a s939 A64 3200+, you can overclock it faster then a 3800. I believe for half the cost? If you look at that new computer thread I had, the scores I got with that system rivaled similar spec'd systems (for all other parts but cpu) that were running 4800+ cpu's

 

I dont want to mess with overclocking. Id rather pay the extra $$$ and get a chip and leave it alone. I may just go with the 64 3000+ s939

 

true..basically i talked her out of getting an ibook. So im trying ot make sure she has a PC that will do all the Adobe features w/o any problem.

I know that PC isnt > mac and mac isnt > pc

 

with adobe, the main thing you need to have is memory... shoot for 768 - 1gb.. then no matter what she's working with it will never crash.

 

yea im getting 2-512s so she alwys has the opportunity to upgrade

 

Back in the day I always would build my own. I was the IT department back then, so I wanted to know exactly what was in each machine, gotta be name brand parts, etc, etc. But, as baseline parts from the assemblers improved to the point of good reliability, I've gotten away from building. The prebuilt machines have gotten so cheap, that IMO it's worth it to buy them as is and then IF something goes, you can replace with name brand stuff then.

I currently have two Dells and will be adding one more probably next spring. My first one was customized by me - beefed up with memory, big HDD, upgraded graphics, CDRW (this was pre-DVDRW) and was purchased directly from Dell. My second was purchase NIB on eBay. I've had good luck with Dell stuff on eBay (NIB stuff only). 1 computer and 3 FP monitors (17, 19, 24) from various vendors.

Now with the AMD machines coming, I don't think you can go wrong...

 

Bump for Dell.

It's hard to beat them for an easy out-of-the-box experience.

Keep an eye on Got Apex? for deals.

 

My old Dell lasted about 5 years before the HDD died. It was the only thing that ever went wrong with it. I just put in another HDD and it still works fine.

 

I bought my Dell Dimension 8300. Its been an awesome pc. Recently I purchased an Alienware and gave the Dell to my 7 year old son Damon. He hasnt killed it yet... That says a lot hes brutal on everything. Like me....