Dell computers

[Drunken Monkey]

Someone can confirm this for me maybe: Dell computers like Dell spare parts.

The use of proprietary components was common for Dell, IBM, Compaq, Hp, etc... back in the day, but most parts are now generic these days. Remaining proprietary components tend to be with the case and PSU. Most name brand PCs will take generic RAM, CPUs, etc... these days, but definately consult the manual and/or the support site before attempting to substitute with a non-OEM component!

[MOTOXXX]

hell NO!!

ive worked with some of the dell techs for a couple weeks. the laptops are absolute shite. hardware repairs all the time. the cables to the mother boards are flimsy as and have a fold over thing to keep them in place. they always broke down. ethernet ports die, keyboards dont work.

desktops....well lets just say that ive been to some places that have hundreds of them and have had a 30% failure rate strait out of the box.
there thrown together too cheaply. there was one particular modle that would always get swollen capaciters on the mboard.



they are tempting. no one can match there prices.

imo i would spend a little extra and get something made or get something different.

[idb]

I'm on a Dell now....how does it look from your end?

[Pathos]

I personally wouldn't touch a dell. cheap junk.

My university is getting all its motherboards replaced.

the one I use at work has a brand new dell cdrom drive that ... doesn't work.

saying that I'm sure theres plenty of people who own dells and are very happy.

As for the specs I went through the purchase process and added a couple of things optical mouse, DVD writer, floppy drive, better speakers, better graphics card (which are well worth it) and added a couple of hundred bucks on the price. It was around $2200 including gst.

I'm sure you could make a higher quality machine for that much money but keep in mind it has one or two goodies such as the 19inch lcd, Sata drive and a reasonable processor.

[skelstar]

www.pricespy.co.nz
www.pp.co.nz
www.ascent.co.nz

Just to start with anyway.

[MOTOXXX]

I personally wouldn't touch a dell. cheap junk.

My university is getting all its motherboards replaced.

the one I use at work has a brand new dell cdrom drive that ... doesn't work.

saying that I'm sure theres plenty of people who own dells and are very happy.

As for the specs I went through the purchase process and added a couple of things optical mouse, DVD writer, floppy drive, better speakers, better graphics card (which are well worth it) and added a couple of hundred bucks on the price. It was around $2200 including gst.

I'm sure you could make a higher quality machine for that much money but keep in mind it has one or two goodies such as the 19inch lcd, Sata drive and a reasonable processor.

did a heap at a uni down wellington too

[geoffm]

Ever heard of Dell Hell? If not, you soon will if you buy one and something goes wrong...
Let me tell you about my Dell Inspiron 5150 laptop, which I got Feb last year. It took 7 weeks to arrive, and I had to go to the courier office to collect it so I could get it in time before I left for Christchurch the next day. Under warrenty, it has had a new motherboard (twice), new DVD drive, power supply, keyboard, case top and probalby other things I have forgotten. Now, a couple of months ago, the DVD drive has died again, coming up with errors writing DVD drives over 85% full. Of course, it is out of warrenty, so a replacement is priced like it is made of gold. Naturally, the Consumer Guarentees Act should apply, but I would have to take a day off work to take it to the Disputes Tribunal and more time to get my paperwork together- assuming I can find a local address in which to serve the summons. Which brings me to Dell Hell...
The so called hell, er help desk is in India. Got a problem, put aside a couple of hours (no joking) to call them. They haven't a clue, but no matter what the problem, they only have one process. Not that it matters, since the english language skills are ... poor anyway.
Got a problem ("like where is my machine? I was supposed to have it 7 weeks ago") or something that is not in the script, they are buggered. Don't believe any promises about calling you back or returning emails. There is no local office you can go and bang on the desk. The companies office lists the address as a lawyers office in Akl.
Dell are ok as long as everything keeps going, but in that case you may as well buy from the local assembler, and actually save money, get a better machine and have some local support when it dies. PBTech are quite good, although there are cheaper for the more technically inclined. AVOID SueprCheapPC.
It would be a cold day in hell before I buy another Dell PC.
Geoff

[MOTOXXX]

yea the helpdesk is in asia somewhere. then it gets passed to melborne, then sydney then auckland then to the dell service team in your area.

its a lot of mucking around :lol

[danb]

Please be aware people - Laptops and Desktops are a total kettle of fish.
Desktops will always be more reliable than laptops because of the fact that laptops are moved around alot more and parts do/will come loose. I.e. screws etc. For the servicing of laptops especially when they are nearer the end of the warranty, parts will become scarce in all brands to save on costs, not to mention Desktops parts is more "standard" than laptops. I think comparison between Laptops and Desktops can’t be judged to well.

I have a few friends of mine who use Dell machines from the red shed and they are working fine.

Personally I would not buy anything else but Toshiba for Notebooks and Dell for Desktops/Servers though I do build all of my new desktops up myself.

[Deviant Esq]

Dell = poor man's computer.

Don't do it to yourself. Almost all of their available machines use old technology manufactured cheaply or bought cheaply in bulk because it's old. They still commonly use the Intel P4 2.8 GHz chip with 512kb cache. Granted, it's not a shabby chip, but there are better on the market given it's been around a couple of years... but that's just the processor.

Anyway. You wouldn't catch me near a Dell unless I was armed with a good bludgeoning weapon.

[Angry Puppy]

I've got a Dell myself and have not had any problems yet. At the end of the day no service desks are going to be as fast or efficient as we'd like, so don't assume any one brand is going to offer better service than the next. Sure the guy in the highstreet are immeadiately available, but when you need support don't assume they'll be able to resolve the issue completely or any issue.

THink about it, if your hard disk dies, Dell won't bother fixing it. They'll just chuck it away and fit a new one. The guy up the street will have to return it to Seegate or Maxor or whoever and wait for it to be fixed/replaced.

6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

In terms of what we think of the spec of the box you are looking at at Dell, it looks OK although the memory is a bit on the light side. I wouldn't buy anything with less than 512 MB (but looks like they're chucking in an upgrade to 512 anyway).

If you do decide to go clone my one peice of advice would be don't skimp on the monitor. a cheap TFT will give you a headache in no time at all. Your better off buying a 2nd hand Compaq TFT off of Trademe than a cheap new one.

FB

[raster]

I have been through the repair process several times with Dell Hell, the only way we could get any repairs done on one of the machines was to take it to a large corperation that runs them and get them to fix it. Dell would not give us anywhere to take it. Ended up there were 2 faults in the machine.

They look after the Corporations not Jo Bloggs.

We custom built machine using intel branded motherboards, CPU's, Legend Ram is often used but we do use others, Seagate HDD's in a Foxcon Case, BTC DVD writers are good, keep away from BENQ. Don't use the slim HDD's or anything with Maxtor writen on it.

We used to use other brands of motherboards and sometimes AMD chips, our warrenty repair costs (we cover all our machines for 3 years) went from $3000/month now down to about $200/month, covering the same No. of machines now using intel motherboards, speaks for itself I think.
Now we go into panic mode when a machine comes in.

You can PM me if you want a price.

http://www.computerwareplus.co.nz

[raster]

One word of caution, onsite warranties may only cover major centres, check first.

The 19" monitors are still quite expensive, we have trouble matching their price on those, tend to try and stick to Philips or Viewsonic as they have 3 year onsite(major centres) no bright pixel warranty. I have only heard of 4 in the last 2 years fail.
We have dropped back to CMV or Hyundai for the cheap ones and have had a higher failure rate on these, they only have one year rtb warranty.

Don't use more than 60hz refresh rate on LCD's as they can over heat, some can cut out till cooled down then startup again, can get annoying.

[Eurodave]

Ive got a Dell from the Red Shed & am completely happy with it & have had nil problems in the year or so that its been weighing down my computer desk

[Marmoot]

I'm with Antalica. Go custom to get more power for the best bang of bucks.

If you want to go one step better, get one of your Chinese mate that knows a thing or two about computer and ask him to help you shop around at Chinese comp shops.
You'll be surprised at the bargain that you can get.

I got twice the power for the same bucks that get me a mere celeron with bond&bond, and I don't even speak Chinese.