231–240 of 252 posts
My dell 5567 (2017) had its battery swollen. And now, even though its fans works all the time very loudly and CPU doesn't cool down properly and get throttled, making the laptop usable.
Does not recommend dell laptops to anyone.
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Starlabs too, plenty of Linux laptops out there. Arguably a little over-priced but can you really put a dollar value on removing dystopian tech like Intel ME? Old Thinkpads support Coreboot reliably if you feel like a DIY approach as well.
I don't think they are overpriced, I think that they price their product realistically . They're competing in a niche market and the ethos of that niche means that their target customers categorically will not accept the bloat that comes with consumer laptops from the big manufacturers, who subsidise the lower margins on these models with bloatware. Cost to serve consumers is likely a lot higher than business as busi…
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As someone with a ThinkPad from 2018, I consider general-purpose compute a problem that was solved by Intel 8th gen i5 (and higher). Bumped the RAM and SSD after I got it. Got my battery replaced a few months ago, and I'll happily replace it again if needed. There's virtually no good reason for me personally to replace this laptop. It would be like buying a new phone because 'scroll performance is sluggish' after 6 y…
Oh trust me, I know where you're coming from. I'm one of "those guys" who was really hyped up about netbooks in the 2010s. But its performance-per-watt that people want today, which leads to smaller batteries and longer laptop-time per charge. You can't just buy low-power chips from 5 years ago and hope to keep up with today's technology, the process advantage from smaller transistors is just too powerful to keep up…
And tomorrow's laptops will be even better at that compute-battery ratio! Cycling an Intel 8th gen i5 for a 12th/13th gen i5 is meaningless if 8th gen satisfies your needs.
EDIT: I suppose I should mention I use Linux, so I've already accepted performance over battery-life since power management on Linux sucks no matter what shiny new chip comes along.
I had pretty bad experience with HP Envy where battery and charging were inconsistent but Dell just works.
You can pretty much tell bad things about any laptop brand.
I know Huawei is kind of taboo in the US, but for the price I paid (900$), I got a 16", 3:2, 2,5k, glass screen (not "anti-flare", which in compunter screen business, is a marketing code name for "plastic"), ryzen 7 5800H, 16gb, 512gb, usb-c & usb-a, hdmi, ceramic body, precision touch and large hyper-responsible trackpad.
1. laptop switches on every night at 4:28 despite contrary BIOS settings. It took me 1 month of remote service and messages to get to some undocumented reset instructions
2. In high performance profile the laptop overheats. Service finally approved after I took video. Service changes the mainboard but forgets to insert the 2nd 16GB RAM stick!
3. Had to open/photograph the laptop to prove. Forgotten 16GB RAM gets delivered but doesn't work with the device - BSOD's on boot. Clear faul of the stick as it works with only the original RAM
4. Device gets picked up yet again (unannounced), UPS tracking says delivered and -- is lost since then.
5. Refund request issued (Sept 9) but denied.
Since early August I'm trying to get a refund or replacement - for several months now with endless chat messages and some phone calls where nobody helps but waits for the "internal team". The standard apology text snippet was issued dozens of times, I've heard at least 3 times "please give us another chance" - I should wait another 24,48 or 72h but no update.
Just off a phone call with them again today I am left with an infuriating customer support when something goes wrong on their side and no laptop I paid for. I hear from other that going after them with lawyers also takes many months.
edit: formatting
DELL wanted me to do an insurance claim with the shipper. The shipper wanted me to do the insurance claim with DELL. Took two months to figure out. In the meantime, I just went to a brick-and-mortar place and bought a monitor.
In the end DELL credited me the money for the missing monitor and would not provide a cash refund. I ended up selling the DELL credits to the next person who had an equally horrible experience with them.
Don't buy DELL
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Oh trust me, I know where you're coming from. I'm one of "those guys" who was really hyped up about netbooks in the 2010s. But its performance-per-watt that people want today, which leads to smaller batteries and longer laptop-time per charge. You can't just buy low-power chips from 5 years ago and hope to keep up with today's technology, the process advantage from smaller transistors is just too powerful to keep up…
> The fact is, today's laptops get you both. And tomorrow's laptops will be even better at that compute-battery ratio! Cycling an Intel 8th gen i5 for a 12th/13th gen i5 is meaningless if 8th gen satisfies your needs. EDIT: I suppose I should mention I use Linux, so I've already accepted performance over battery-life since power management on Linux sucks no matter what shiny new chip comes along.
So there's no cost-advantage to using Linux, and Windows furthermore just has better sleep behavior + GPU integration than Linux. If I need Linux, I either spin up a VM somewhere for me to VPN / SSH into, or use VMs inside of the laptop, or even use Ubuntu on Windows (which is "good enough" for many commmand-line tasks in my experience. Ex: Shift-right click to open the advanced commands for a directory, select "Open in Ubuntu Terminal" and go from there).
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…
I'm sympathetic to the idea that the consumer line has less support and extras than a business-class device backed by an enterprise support agreement. I'm not sympathetic to someone dropping $1,400 USD on a new laptop, and gets written off because "consumer _anything_ is hit or miss". Like, half of the complaints come from devices like the XPS 13, which isn't some $300 cheap-o WallMart special, that's supposed to be…
Or my friend who went to 3 different Apple stores to ask about her issues using Final Cut and all of them telling her she needed a new laptop to the point that she bought a brand new 16" MacBook Pro she couldn't afford... when all she needed was a USB-C external SSD and to work on her larger projects from there. Luckily I talked to her about it and loaned her mine before she'd opened the new laptop so she returned it.
I had charging problems since the beginning, the infamous coil wine issues, then my screen started showing bubble!
Don't buy dell!