Dell info needed please:for or against etc....
 

Hi all. I have narrowed my search for a new pc down to Dell.

Either going for a laptop, an Inspiration 8600 or a desktop Dimension 8300.

Anyone had any dealings with Dell, good or bad or bad before I take the plunge?

Cheers, Brl.

I bought a dektop for my neighbour a few months ago. Very helpful (Indian) sales agent who knocked off a tenner because I agreed to ring back his direct line. Delivered in four days, all there, worked right out of the box.

No problems for me.

L

Until they moved their call centre to India, Dell were great and we bought huge numbers of them.

Since they moved their call centre their service has become total sh1t and we have a permanent embargo on ever buying anything from them ever again.:mad:

Help at all? :}

Timothy

The whole purchase of my Dell laptop was done online from beginning to end; I never spoke to a soul. Delivery was prompt, everything that should have been included was, and I've never had a moment's trouble with it. I'm not qualified to comment on the quality but a friend in the industry says they use all good quality parts.

Watch for their "real" specials; sometimes you can get a stunning deal if you keep your eyes open, especially on laptops. Their current "special" is lower specs than the deal I got nine months ago, which shouldn't happen in this industry.

This has been discussed before in various guises:

The answers you will get:

a) Dell are cr*p - stay away from them like the plague
b) they use sub-standard parts - much better to build your own
c) go for a MAC (duck, Richard!)
d) get a Sony, Tosh, Acer, IBM etc...
e) Dell are still cr*p

My two pennies worth:

I've must have installed close to 800 Dell PCs over the last two years or so, including the models you mention.

- They're both very good and reliable. I have had fewer than five technical problems during my installs - and only two related directly to the tower - the rest were with peripherals supplied by other manufacturers.

- Their customer care dept could be better that's for sure. Their technical dept is very good, once you get through that is. But I find that happens pretty much thoughout the industry. Try calling PC world with a problem on a Packard Bell for instance.

- In terms of config of the 8300 I'd recommend going for the SATA raid option - it makes a huge difference to performance - it really flies like the wind in comparison to other setups.

- The laptop is very good quality in terms of build/equipement etc. The only gripe I have with the 8300 is that the case is a bit flimsy IMHO.

That's all I can thing off just yet.

hth
amofw

Agree - computers are fine but you MUST get the best warranty they offer.

The call centre is utterly dreadful. I cannot understand a word their barely trained people say over their very weak telephone line. Like every company with a re-located call centre, it's lowered the company's image and I wouldn't buy anything from them again for that reason alone!

I'm still waiting for Tech Support to call me back after 3 weeks of failed promises - but at least they're in Ireland(?). The reason - they sent my old computer back broken, then took it back to repair the original fault and fix what they'd broken - then sent it back with a glidepad which didn't work and no case latch. Neither of which were original faults....

STEER CLEAR OF DELL! That's the view of the company I work for as well.......

As an individual purchaser, I've done the Dell route twice - both desktops. The first time, nothing happened after submitting an online order. Weeks and weeks of silence, followed by many attempts to chase up what was going on. The other order (for a refurbished reject through their online "outlet" store) was processed much more efficiently.

But once the machines were delivered, both have worked pretty much perfectly.

Although Dell have not been perfect in their service, my view is that I have been ignored even more efficiently by other places I have tried in the past, like PC World.

Don't

The kit is mostly fine. But then, so is everybody else's these days. If your transaction is absolutely normal and uncomplicated then you might have a smooth ride.

However, if there is the slightest hint of something unusual requiring a personal touch from a "consultant" then the appalling internal comms at Dell will result in the screaming ab-dabs - big time. :{

My client's home - next door to mine - was temporarily uninhabitable. She placed her order in my workshop, on-line, requesting delivery to my address which is one number different to that registered for her American Express Card. Same street, house number one different.

She did this three ways: verbally with her consultant; on-line; and with authority from American Express.

Dell cocked it up and DFS held the laptop for a week in their depot waiting for authority. No complaint against DFS here.

After Client jumped up and down, those nice people at the Dell call centre in India were apologetic and gave her two extra year's warranty plus a free carrying case.

But, guess what? The carrying case was sent to the Client's address and they refused to authorise its delivery to mine.

You couldn't make it up, could you? I've bought six Dells; they haven't always been made of the best kit - particularly the tape drives I had were a cheap job lot and all three failed early; hard drives were unreliable and the early flat screens were the industry's throw-aways. But the latest flat screens have a better specification.

I'm impressed by AMOFW's stats. On the face of it, he is informed opinion. But manufacturers will always give better level of service to corporate clients with big orders/wallets and be less attentive to the little men. Sony are the same.

The market's awash with good, reliable kit. Get yourself a good reliable supplier. With Service like this, it won't be long before Dell goes to the wall - at least in Europe.

I say again, Don't.

At the risk of repeating what has been said... IMHO they are good until something goes wrong. Then they're not so good. :mad: However, to be fair that can be said of a lot of other companies...

My view would be that they are good if

(a) you're looking to buy something that's fairly cheap and reasonably well-specified for the money

and

(b) you are happy to fix most problems yourself

If you like the security of having help if something goes wrong then go elsewhere - but remember that the support is factored into the asking price, so that 'bargain' deal may come at the expense of useless tech-support later on.

The thing is you haven't got much alternative to Dell in terms of choice, price and reliability

Packard Bell are definitely rubbish as is anything PC-World connected.

IBM are good but they're really corporate-orientated and the choice is limited.

HP/Compaq are probably ok from my limited experience but I don't know about support.

Fujitsu - I only see broken ones being fixed under warranty. I get the suspicion that they have implemented a cost-cutting exercise which means they are very reluctant to send anyone out until the situation gets desperate, by which the cust has been on the phone for hours.

Mesh - I have heard good things about them and their site shows some impressive kit - but I don't anything about their support

Simply - build quality leaves to be desired from the handfull I have seen - monitors surprisingly good quality - support so so but I only spoke to them once or twice

Tiny/Time and the other cheapos :yuk:

Sony - 50/50 for laptops from what I have heard - not sure about support

Mac I know nothing about 'xcept from the comments on this forum - not sure re support

Toshiba I like their range and the kit is good quality - haven't tried their support yet.

Acer - I know nothing about

So it's Dell - Mesh - MAC triangle.

I know, build your own!

Sorted, next question ? :)

Cheers
amofw

Further to my and AMOFW's posts:

Mesh, HP/Compaq, Toshiba are the ones I'd look at as well as Sony.

But then I'm a Sony "nut". Love the design philosophy of their products. Must have had more than 30 of them in recent years.

Have recently bought four laptops with/for clients as well as for myself and now know that the drivers out of the box are also out of the Ark. Get straight on-line for the updates.

Service is so-so. I needed a bit of springy plastic to keep the letter "d" in place on the keyboard and the suggestion was that I part with the laptop for a month and pay £200 for the repair. The support person said they do not supply parts to the general public. Ignored the problem and the key top is still in place for No 3 son at Uni.

I'd still look at Sony as long as the spec was what I needed.

Just about to initiate the purchase of a Vaio PCG Z1XSP.CEK for client who gives educational presentations. £1999 VAT inc !
:ugh:

L

I had my Dell for over 2 years now and very pleased with it. I have not had reason to try their Technical Support line though.

Some friends and family have bought from MESH and they have also been very pleased with the equipment bought.

chc

I must say that I am delighted with my no-name clone. Huge bright 17" screen, works perfectly loads of connectivity (everything you can think of), DVD RW, 512MB, 40GB all for £1200.

I did have a problem which turned out to be the memory supplied by the shop, not the manufacturers, and the service and repair service couldn't be faulted.

I can get the manufacturer's name if you are interested.

Timothy

BRL,

If you are going to go with a Dell Notebook or any of the other major computer maker's Notebook you are fine. Notebooks are expected to be all proprietary.

If you are going to go with a Desktop, either build it yourself or go with someone like Mesh that uses all Name Brand parts and does not make Proprietary (a.k.a. Dead End) Computers.

Dell, Packard Bell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, IBM, Sony, etc. are all the same. They all make it so if you want to upgrade one of their desktops, you have to go though them and their price to upgrade is so close to the price of a new computer, they get you to buy a new computer. Then they own you.

My best customers for my computers are people that have already owned a Dell, Packard Bell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, IBM, Sony, etc., since they know how bad Dead End Computers are.

Take Care,

Richard

I've had no problems upgrading Compaq, Dell and Packard Bell computers. Admittedly I didn't care about warranty, so I just bought whatever parts (disks, CPUs, RAM, CDs, cards etc.) that I needed and bunged them in.

No problems, no issues.

Of course, that was for home use, not work. People are much more pernickety in corporate environments ;)

I'm using an Evesham PC, which is OK. My father and brother have both had a couple of Dell PCs and are quite staisfied. My brother-in-law has a Dell and had a problem that I helped to fix - I was favourably impressed with Dell's support website. Only Compaq's (HP) is better IMHO.

And don't forget to look at Dell's outlet store (good deals to be had).

Cheers mate

SD

Evesham Micro
 

I have only ever heard good things about Evesham Technology but have never used them myself as I prefer to build my own. Their website can be found here. Might be worth a look.

Saab Dastard,

I have found inside Dead End Comps, nonstandard:

• Cases
• Motherboards
• Power Supplies
• Hard Drives
• Modems
• Sound Cards

Then I have also found Stripped Down OEM:

• Motherboards
• Video Cards
• Sound Cards
• Modems

In the end you are paying for the High Mhz CPU and usually surrounded by stripped down OEM junk. If you want quality and performance you go with Name Brand Hardware.

Take Care,

Richard

Our experience of Evesham, though limited to four or five PCs (DT and LT), is so far very good.

Timothy

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. Seems like a toss of the coin situation, lots of 'for' and as many 'against'.. :{ I hate decisions like this...... :(

I demand a recount!

Timothy

Ok, ok, you know what I mean..!!!! Some have positive things to say and some don't...!!! :D

The nation anxiously awaits the result of your deliberation...

:p

SD

For what it's worth...... have a mate who picked up his dell laptop with one hand when the cd bay wasn't occupied and it snapped! Ok I know you could say that the design isn't meant to be at it's strongest when there's a piece missing but there we go..... I don't think it would put me off buying a laptop from them in fact I know it wouldn't!

However -

Another oppo has a DELL desktop and I put some new RAM in it for him and was surprised to see so much plastic. Seems to me lots of corner cutting. :hmm:

Checkboard has a Dell Inspiron 8000. Tough laptop although, more of a desk top replacement. Good screen, quite user friendly and hasn't given a hint of a problem. Couple years old now.

The company I worked for in Australia used Dell laptops in a very harsh environment. (High humidity salt air) They were fine. Great support too. (late 90's though)

Toss of the coin says it is the lappy, Inspiron 8600 it is then. Thanks for the advice. :) :ok:

Don't come whining here about after sales support...you were warned :}

Timothy

Don't want to set the cat amongst the pidgeons again or hijack your thread Big "L" but after searching for a bargain for months now (including the states)I just picked up a Fujitsu Siemens with 2.4 sticks of celery in it from Dabs for £575 incl VAT....... Might be worth a look especially since it comes with grace of payment until march 2005!!!

Anyone care to comment on the Fujitsu Siemens jobbies?? :}

BRL,

So a Notebook it is. Let us know when you get it and what you think of it. ;)

Take Care,

Richard

If it's not too late for my tuppence worth ...

Desktop - Dell are good machines/value, but repuation for support is poor these days. Alternative (our policy) is good local supplier who will charge a touch more -also builds to your spec - but jump in the van and come round and fix it if it goes wrong - assuming you can't do without your machine for a week or so.

Laptop - try AJP, we've used them for years - lots of bang per buck - reasonable support (particularly if you are London based) www.ajp.co.uk

Brgds

Tim

(edited for cr*p typing - twice)

I only see broken Fujitsus so can't comment on quality etc - I'm not sure if they do on-site warranty work for notebooks/laptops as I only get jobs for towers (Dell do on-sites for notebooks and towers).

Fujitsu's technical support is superb - but then again the number I dial gets me to the front of the Q. everytime :ok: .

By the way of all the responses on this thread no-one has really offered a good replacements for Dell - i.e. where the choices/prices/performance are matched and supplemented by the holly grail of excellent and promp technical support - apart from Mesh maybe... (their 64bit machines are tempting, very tempting - when I have 3K spare....mmmmm).

amofw

amanoffewwords,

If you want to talk alternatives for Notebooks, I have one from a very unlikely source. eMachines, yes I know, but believe it or not eMachines!!!

eMachines M6807

• Mobile AMD Athlon™ 64 3000+ Processor
• 512 MB DDR SODIMM (PC 2700)
• 60 GB HDD
• DVD +/- RW Drive
• ATI® RADEON™ 9600
• 56K* ITU V.92 Fax/Modem
• Integrated 802.11g Wireless LAN
• 15.4" Widescreen TFT LCD WXGA
• 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 IEEE 1394, 1 VGA External Connector, 1 S-Video Out, Microphone In, Headphone/Audio Out, 1 PCMCIA Slot
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

All this and you can find it in the U.S. for $1,450.00 ($100.00 less thatn the eMachines Website which I linked.) which is a great price for a notebook of this class.

Take Care,

Richard

Here is what happened. Toss of the coin 1, yes or no to a Dell........Heads it is then, gonna buy a Dell. Now, what one, laptop or desktop...... Toss no'2 heads again, so it is the laptop. (Also like the look of the widescreen on it.....)

Many thanks for all the advice again, lets hope I don't have to come whining back here soon..... :D

Very, very busy in April so I will buy it in May.

Just a wee note about the widescreen - the resolution you get with it means the screen fonts are extremely small - and if you tweak the settings the whole thing looks weird - so you're stuck with the initial settings basically. Web pages also tend to be stuck in the left hand-corner as they are generally unable to cope.

But I only see them for a short period of time so there may be a magic setting I am not aware, though I doubt it.

amofw

nb: thanks Richard, but is their support the dog's doodles?

Aahhh, thanks amofw. I just knew there would be something like this to make me think twice about it.

Does anyone have any more info about this please? Anything will do, thanks.... :ugh:

My laptop has a 17" 1440x900 widescreen and I am delighted with it and don't suffer any of the problems amanoffewwords mentions.

Timothy

Thanks Timothy - glad I put my little get-out clause in my previous post :) though the laptop BRL mentions has a different screen size/resolution than yours:

15.4" WXGA (1280 x 800) UltraSharp Wide - Aspect Screen
15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) UltraSharp Wide - Aspect Screen
15.4" WUXGA (1920 x 1200) UltraSharp Wide - Aspect Screen
15.4" WUXGA (1920 x 1200) UltraSharp Wide - Aspect Screen

The ones I have seen are of the 1920x1200 flavour and the "problem" (read working-as-designed-feature) was apparent on them.

But according to a reviewer of the 8500 the font issue can be fixed so maybe this is a non-issue - I'll check next time I see one.

amofw

Pheeeew.....!!!!!!! :D :D

amanoffewwords,

The 15.4' WXGA is 1280 x 800 on the M6807.

Now that eMachines is a division by Gateway, support is much better.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. It is about the best bang for the buck on the market, and if you can get to the U.S. it is well worth the look.

Bleedin' 'eck. How are you supposed to be able to read that!?!?! Do they supply a free electron microscope with every one purchased? :p

Timothy

More Dell woes......

After waiting to be called back and getting fed up with answer machines, I finally got through to someone at the end of March to discuss their failure to repair my laptop. Profuce apologies, then another of those wretched conversations with someone in Bangalore. They agreed to collect it and repair it and picked it up on 1 Apr. Yesterday there was anote saying that it was waiting for me at the local DHL depot....

Went to DHL, picked up laptop. But it hadn't been fixed - in fact it now doesn't work AT ALL. Switch it on and it just says 'Operating system not found'. So - another phone call to my helpful chap at Dell who told me again that he was very sorry, but I would have to ring Bangalore AGAIN to get another 'DPS' number. This took about half an hour of arguing with someone who seemed incapable of understanding that all the problems of the last 6-7 weeks had been down to Dell. Eventually he agreed to issue a new 'DPS' number; so I rang my chap again and told him. "Right" he said, "I'll track this personally as I'm as dubious about these people as you are!". So yet again my laptop will be enjoying a trip with DHL on Wednesday in further attempt for Dell to service it. This has now been going on for over 4 months......

In all honesty, I cannot recommend Dell! Their laptops are very nice, but their customer service is utterly dreadful. Many companies are learning that these Indian low-cost call-centres are alienating their customers; I know of no other company who expect customers to accept such appalling service!