Do Not Buy Dell

[Martin Howe]

16 hours ago, inkoalawetrust said:

... Optiplex 760 ...

 

Yeah, +1 for Dell Optiplex 7** models; until we got a donation of 7010s in late 2019 (employer is a charity), we were using 11yo 755s that took everything we threw at them; used some at work, but also sold a few, some of which were donated back when the customer upgraded to something else; some were dusty as hell inside but once cleaned, kept on ticking. Only once ever had a 755 actually die on us :) The local astronomy club has a 740 that's only just been retired, it was so old Noah probably used it :P

[Redneckerz]

18 hours ago, Murdoch said:

 

It was more about the service. Desktops on the whole usually give less grief than laptops also its probably enterprise grade?

It is enterprise grade, yeah. ITs an OEM machine, in metal encasing, so it can withstand some heat.

[smeghammer]

I think I agree with several posts here. I have several Dell LTs in the house - from ancient D610 to an Alienware A51 from a couple of years back. All of them are still going strong - albeit with Ubuntu on the old ones... So the hardware is in my experience pretty robust. 

 

The sales guys also are definitely worth speaking with - when I specced my A51, it came to about £3,000 - and when I spoke to a sales guy, I got the same package for about £2,500.

 

HOWEVER... On the two occasions I have spoken to support, it was a total £^&*ing farce. One was about a machine I had for my business at the time and I wanted clarification on something, and the other was attempting to find out something about support for an out-of-warranty machine. The person both times was condescending, rude and clearly didn't give a shit. I'm with Bio on this one - buy from a local dealer you know and trust.

[Murdoch]

Fill in form to pay for quote. Get forced to give my customer's personal information. Select home user. Business name is a required field.

 

These guys are well into taking the piss territory.

[Caffeine Freak]

Dell PCs should come with a free prescription of Xanax. The sort of bullshit you have to go through if you even try upgrading one without going directly through Dell, what with their garbage power supply systems designed to neuter your upgrade capabilities unless you also upgrade the power supply, not to mention the deliberately restrictive space of the PC cases themselves, which is akin to sticking your hands inside a fucking 'Saw' movie trap if you try to fiddle around in there.

 

In general, I build my own PC when it comes time for a new one. I did buy my current one pre-built, but paid a good chunk of change for it and haven't regretted it so far. 

[Murdoch]

Two notifications from Dell saying parts delivered. Get back to my shop. No sign of parts. Check tracking on DHL site.

 

"Dispatched". Not in transit. And certainly not delivered.

[invictius]

I have a dell pentium 2 laptop from 2001 that still works, even the battery!  It's had some knocks that required putting some masking tapes on the corner but oh well.  It's really heavy, and probably as durable as that gameboy in a museum that survived a bomb blast.

[THEBaratusII]

As somebody who uses a Dell Optiplex 9020 (i7 4790 with a GPU slapped in) daily. Even I'm beginning to dislike using OEM machines due to the use of proprietary components and parts. Currently trying to save up for a better custom built PC.

 

Although they were pretty decent back in the 1990s TO early 2000s. Especially since my first computer (circa 2005) was a Dell Dimension L with a Pentium III. Also, who remembers those Pentium 4, Dell machines that only has just regular PCI slots?

Edited February 18, 2023 by THEBaratusII

[ApprihensivSoul]

You know, if it helps anyone, I have three rules I've developed over the last decade for laptop purchases:

 

- Never buy new or call customer service.

- Only buy Lenovo. Particularly Thinkpads.

- Keep a majority of your machines running Linux.

 

For some reason that seems to work. I usually spend like 150 every two or three years at most now, and never run into any issues I can't solve with a google search. That said, I also don't have access to most of the modern graphics/performance features, which in turn is not something I particularly care about in a laptop, since I'd rather just build a PC if I need one badly enough.

 

Can't say these rules will work for everyone, but if they do, here they are. (I just bought two Thinkpad X1 Carbons from about seven or eight years ago because I had such a good experience with them, and I wanted to add a couple machines to my collection.)

[Nikku4211]

My Dell Inspiron desktop still works after 8 years, and I still use a Dell UltraSharp LCD 1280x1024 monitor as my 2ndary monitor.

 

This DelLCD comes with full rotation and everything.

[Murdoch]

2 hours ago, Nikku4211 said:

My Dell Inspiron desktop still works after 8 years, and I still use a Dell UltraSharp LCD 1280x1024 monitor as my 2ndary monitor.

 

This DelLCD comes with full rotation and everything.

 

The desktops are still decent. Their laptops suck. But their service is aggressively terrible. That's what this post was motivated by.

[Maes]

Well, with computer and motorcycles "reliability" is a big word and always a source of heated debates (unless you buy Honda, of course...), but I still have the same Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop I bought in 2009.

 

The only thing that technically crapped itself before(?) its time was the original Shitgate Momentus 250GB hard drive (click... click... click...) after 4 years. Got replaced with a 500GB WD one, going strong ever since.

 

The only other actual damage done to it was me spilling a protein drink on its keyboard and I had to source a replacement, but other than that it's still going. RAM was eventualy upgrated to 4, then 6 GB from the original 2, and I got a large capacity battery from AliExpress to replace its near-dead OEM one. OSes went Vista (OEM) -> yanked it out for XP right way, then Windows 7 that it keeps to this days, along with Ubuntu.

 

Since 17" laptops seem very hard to source these days, and my gaming needs are limited to Doom, DOSBOX/emulator and pinball games, I'll keep it around as long as I can.

[Grassy chunks]

MY Dell Inspiron laptop right here, bought in 2008. Had worked smoothly until 2020 when a heavy piece of lumber fell on it, had to get it repaired and after that, it still functions excellently to this day(no data other than the battery was destroyed in this accident).

 

My laptop before the incident had windows vista configured. But after the repair, i upgraded it straight to windows 10 as I think around Feb or March of 2020.

 

[THEBaratusII]

On 2/20/2023 at 5:52 AM, Maes said:

The only thing that technically crapped itself before(?) its time was the original Shitgate Momentus 250GB hard drive (click... click... click...) after 4 years. Got replaced with a 500GB WD one, going strong ever since.

 

Even I had a 1TB Seagate Barracuda from a Alienware x51 I used to have crapped out sometime after I got my Optiplex 9020 at around 2018. Been happy with using WD hard drives ever since.

 

As for the laptop talk, I thought about getting another one (maybe after my custom PC is done) but only uses I have would be to use it outside my bedroom or if I ever visit a friend's home (doesn't happen too often) or perhaps if a lengthy power outage occurs.

[leejacksonaudio]

On 2/19/2023 at 10:12 AM, ApprihensivSoul said:

You know, if it helps anyone, I have three rules I've developed over the last decade for laptop purchases:

 

- Never buy new or call customer service.

- Only buy Lenovo. Particularly Thinkpads.

- Keep a majority of your machines running Linux.

 

Can't say I've needed to follow these rules. I'm using a Sager laptop, running an Intel i9-10850K CPU and a crapload of ram. It's a high-end system, intended for possible music production, but used mostly for communications and bookkeeping due to my illnesses. It's also running Windows 11 without nary a complaint - can't explain why.

[InfernalMonsoon]

Reading all these posts and knowing how much of an absolute shite company Dell is, it just reminds me of this video that perfectly encapsulates how hellish it can be dealing with them.

 

 

[Maes]

TBQH most laptops I've dealt with, from any brand, have remained technically functional for quite a long time, I even have a 20 yo Compaq Presario 910EA that still functions. It helps that they are easier to store/take out of storage than a full-fledged desktop. But, oh boy, do they age badly, also considering you can only go so much with regards to upgrades.

[Woolie Wool]

5 hours ago, Maes said:

TBQH most laptops I've dealt with, from any brand, have remained technically functional for quite a long time, I even have a 20 yo Compaq Presario 910EA that still functions. It helps that they are easier to store/take out of storage than a full-fledged desktop. But, oh boy, do they age badly, also considering you can only go so much with regards to upgrades.

 

I guess it depends on what you want to do with it. My Lenovo ThinkPad T520 is 12 or 13 years old and, with a RAM and SSD upgrade, still works great as an internet appliance using Arch Linux/KDE (the P key on the keyboard is going however, and I might have to eventually replace the keyboard if I want to keep using it). Gaming on it, however, is just a non-starter for any game made after around 2001, especially since I disabled the nVidia GPU to extend its miserable battery life and avoid having to deal with nVidia's shitty Linux drivers. As far as "gaming laptops" go, if I wanted to play serious games on a laptop I would just get a Steam Deck or a Nintendo Switch.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Woolie Wool