Dell computers

Another vote for Dell. We bought our Inspiron laptop four years ago and it has never given any bother. If we needed another computer, I'd plump for another Dell. And besides, it's the patriotic thing to do (for me)!

 

Dell must be pretty good value for business as my stingy employers use them (except for high end laptops for the business owners who can have $ony).
Bought stuff from the Dell outlet for my brother with no problems and that was upgradable - just do some homework and decide what to spend and you can nab a bargain.
Also you can check out some shopping sites to see the recent offer codes to put in at the website and save more on new units...
Good luck
LL
________
Universal health warehouse

 

Ironically we quite often recommend Dell servers for small/medium business clients even though we get IBM hardware as disti prices.

Again though, as you would probably expect, Dell servers are at times difficult to upgrade.

Eg. we bought a 2-way 3.0Ghz Xeon, but initially with one CPU. When we came to look for a second one...

a) the step code was specific to Dell so to buy new had to be through Dell - and of course v pricey compared to a boxed 3.0Ghz Xeon.
b) if you bought one used Dell refused to sell the matching cooler separately.

Now I can appreciate they have to make a profit, and it makes lots of sense to blend loss leaders with other clever lucrative lines. I think their configuration designers must be genii. If everyone bought the base spec Dell would probably go bust within a month

However, just take care to understand what your buying and whether there are likely to be any future upgrades you will find costly or impossible. This is no big thing though, there are plenty of similar issues with other brands too.

 

On my Dell desktops I've upgraded pretty much everything with standard (non-Dell) parts except for the mobo and PSU. The PSUs use non-standard connectors but you can easily get Dell to standard ATX converters if you wanted to swap the PSU.

Michael.

 

My personal experience of dell boils down to this:

a) Very easy to work on from an IT support point of view, re installing or replacing parts.

b) A bleeding pain to setup at the begining because of all the useless "demo" software they install on the machines. Having to spend 30 mins on a machine getting rid of a load of "entertainment" software demos that have been installed on a "business" machine is no joke when you've got over 50 to roll out !!


GTM

 

Yours must be different to ours GTM, theres no crappy demo software on ours.

 

You could create the software build you're after on one of your machines, then use Sysprep to prepare the machine for disk imaging. Create a clone using something like Norton Ghost, then use the multicast feature to pump the image out to however many machines you are licensed for.

 

It seems you have all had rather better experiences with Dell than me. My advice, should you choose to buy a Dell, is to purchase the extended warranty.

My Inspiron screen failed exactly one year and three weeks from purchase. The response from Dell was basically "tough, you should have got our extended warranty". This is very clearly contrary to the UK sale of goods act.

To cut a long story short, I vowed never to buy another Dell, and to make sure that none of my companies ever buy another Dell.

 

You should set up a RIS server on a seperate network, then do a scripted build from there. Of course thats assuming the PC's you are building are PXE compliant, which most relativly new ones are.

 

You should have took them to court. As you say, its against the sale of goods act.

 

What makes you say its against the sale of goods act ?

http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/salegoodsact.htm

 

Well if you've read the link you posted you'll see exactly why!

Dell are banking on the fact that customers won't persue them through the courts because they're so big, and I suspect that they are generally correct.

In my specific case there was plenty of evidence on their own support forum that there was an inherent problem with the reliability of the screen on Inspiron 8000 series laptops.

Funnily enough, Dell wanted to charge me for a new motherboard; work that one out!

 

You didn't mention "inherent problem with the reliability of the screen on Inspiron 8000" thats why I asked.

 

Also a laptop screen should be expected to last for longer than 1 year 3 weeks. You could have taken out a damages claim subject to the following.

 

Didnt Dell close that very forum due to it being referenced in situations like this?

The key point:
"the onus is on all purchasers to prove the goods did not conform to contract"

One needs to start with defining what is the contract. If a product is covered by a 12month warranty, that 12 month warranty is, arguably, THE contract.

I'm in a somewhat similar position with my all singing all dancing no water heating boiler. It's only two years old, but has had a catalogue of faults during that period. I think it's sensible to suggest a boiler should work correctly for considerably longer than two years, assuming it is serviced annually. The life of a laptop is harder to define IMO.

 

Yea dell closed their support forum.

Mind you the Apple one is pretty poor, if a bunch of people complain about the same thing on the same thread it gets locked.
Their approach seems to be divide and conquer haha

 

I'm not defending Dell or anything (heaven forbid even the thought) but do you mean the 8000 in particular, or the 8100 or something more recent? Also, what size & resolutions?

I'm asking as I bought the 8000 with the 1600x1200 15.1" screen in April 2001, and sold it in October 2004 to a friend. The screen was superb - certainly better than on my 1st gen PB12/867MHz. He has since upgraded and passed the machine on to his wife, and yet the beastie soldiers on with complete reliability. I wonder if I was lucky!

 

Unfortunately it's not quite that simple. Dell sourced their screens from two or three different manufacturers, even for the same model (mine was an 8100 btw, 15" I think.).

I eventually got a replacement from ebay for £85 and fitted it myself, which has worked for the last three years, but it was the attitude of Dell that really got to me. I know I could have got something by using the small claims system, but life's too short!

 

They probably felt the fault lay with the input controller for the screen (which is part of the laptops motherboard, and is 'driven' by the graphics chip), rather than the panel itself...may or may not have been the case, but for laptops such a procedure isn't as weird as it may sound!

 

Hi Will,

You're absolutely correct.

However, there was plenty of evidence on their own support forum to point to the screen as the likely failure, and, perhaps more importantly they wanted to charge me £500 for the motherboard regardless of it fixing the problem or not, and then charge me a further £350 for a new screen if the motherboard didn't work. All of this being 3 weeks after my warranty expired.

As I said, Dell will never receive another penny of my money.