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DontBuyDell.com

dontbuydell.com

131–140 of 252 posts

Re: DontBuyDell.com

#131

I worked in one of Dell's outsourcing partners' call centres (admittedly I left almost 15 years ago), and back then it was the same people manning both consumer and business support lines. Towards the end of 2007 Dell started separating the two segments and that's where the problems started (edit: not sure about the exact date -- processes like that tend to take a while to plan) : * Dell European consumer division wa…

Unfortunately the credibility of your testimony is diminushed by the fact you are using a throwaway.

Re: DontBuyDell.com

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is same for other manufacturers too. HP: Pavilions are bad, Pro/Elite/Z series are awesome. Servers are good too. Lenovo: Ideapads are eh, Thinkpads and servers, completely different. The only company which builds all their hardware with comparable quality to other manufacturers' pro lines is Apple.

> This is same for other manufacturers too. So true. Consumer laptops are really meh, but the only way to satisfy the demand for laptops is to have a designed-for-price laptop. In a way, the market demands cheap laptops whatever sacrifices in quality will attain.

Definitely, not “in a way”. It is easy enough to see. Most people who need a laptop just need a cheap plastic shell, maybe with some middle tier gaming GPU, and some modicum of durability. I am off the Apple laptops since they went ARM and the OS left be wanting, but their hardware quality is still the best. Their prices reflect that (plus the Apple tax).

Re: DontBuyDell.com

#133
post #21

On the contrary I've had great experiences with Dell's business line (Latitude, Precision models). Likewise the business warranty is excellent - log into TechDirect and I can submit a ticket for any one of the machines in my fleet. Dell will either send a technician out to service it in the field, or they'll mail me an empty box so I can send the unit in for repair. Consumer _anything_ is going to be hit or miss. Thi…

Wholeheartedly agree. I only buy dell, and of them, I only buy latitudes. My favorite of all time was my e6440 with an socket CPU. I bought my wife one a couple of years ago, threw a quad core in there, maxed the ram and it's still working well. I had one just like it for myself but after years of my dog knocking it off the coffee table, it eventually stopped displaying. You can put three hard drives in these guys, o…

I have a latitude from 2013 that I bought 2nd handed in 2015 or 16. I still run it on holidays (convenient 12.5 inches for travelling) and it still has 4+ hours of battery and works pretty well. I switched from Ubuntu 14 to Lubuntu and it feels like new :) Lacks a bit of RAM (4Go) for some tasks but still does ok.

Probably its replacement when it dies will be a used thinkpad though, will see.

Re: DontBuyDell.com

#134
Yeah. Dell support sucks. I've been a customer of theirs for almost 30 years. Rarely have I ever been satisfied. Most always they trigger my rant mode. For a while I tried other vendors like HP but they were even worse! Now I have seven wonderful older laptops. I Know which older generation laptops were built well and buy them from eBay. Granted none of them are light. They are all 17" top of the line beasts costing well over $5k when they were new. Usually going on ebay for 10% of their original price. The disks, ram, fans, CPUs, GPUs, and most everything but the cases and screen are replaceable by the user. No need to talk with idiots that trigger me. I'm thinking the current seven laptops will last me 20 to 30 years by simply replacing components as they go bad.

Re: DontBuyDell.com

#135

I worked in one of Dell's outsourcing partners' call centres (admittedly I left almost 15 years ago), and back then it was the same people manning both consumer and business support lines. Towards the end of 2007 Dell started separating the two segments and that's where the problems started (edit: not sure about the exact date -- processes like that tend to take a while to plan) : * Dell European consumer division wa…

Unfortunately the credibility of your testimony is diminushed by the fact you are using a throwaway.

I am an account from 2017, I have a bridge to sell to you.

Re: DontBuyDell.com

#136
> For example: it was impossible to open the screen on the XPS without using two hands. One hand was needed to hold down the base and the other to pry open the screen. Clearly nobody tested this before it went into production.

I am sorry for the actual 1-handed users but this limitation was a blessing for me, toddlers wouldn't be able to open it in the disastrous case when they could reach it.

Re: DontBuyDell.com

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is same for other manufacturers too. So true. Consumer laptops are really meh, but the only way to satisfy the demand for laptops is to have a designed-for-price laptop. In a way, the market demands cheap laptops whatever sacrifices in quality will attain.

Definitely, not “in a way”. It is easy enough to see. Most people who need a laptop just need a cheap plastic shell, maybe with some middle tier gaming GPU, and some modicum of durability. I am off the Apple laptops since they went ARM and the OS left be wanting, but their hardware quality is still the best. Their prices reflect that (plus the Apple tax).

When you compare the prices of an Apple MacBook to a comparable higher end machine, the prices are not really that different.

Re: DontBuyDell.com

#139
post #13

I have been using the same Dell XPS 13 for about 6 years now, and I cannot say agree with most of that article. The Dell XPS line was my goto recommendation for people when they ask what laptop they should get. Dell XPS support is also fantastic, if you go though the business channel and pay for support. That said, Dell XPS is no longer my recommendation as the "New" line is a serious downgrade. They removed the head…

In June I got a new XPS13 (without the touchbar), preloaded with linux. Upon arrival, the camera and fingerprint reader did not work. The battery lasted about 2 hours and the screen literally fell out. After 2 days of frustrating tech support calls, they finally agreed to ship me a replacement. 1 month later, no replacement arrived. Many calls to support yielded no answers. I finally got them to refund my order and c…

Interestingly, your comment is now in the article itself.

Re: DontBuyDell.com

#140
Dells are like Toyotas. You can take one to almost any repair shop because components are replaceable/upgradeable, and the service manuals are available online.

Apple by comparison is like a Tesla. Nothing is upgrade-able and they do their best to prevent you from serving it anywhere other than their own service centers.

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