Dude, I am tired of Dell

[Andy Sjostrom]

I recently <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11928">had a hard drive crash</a>, which I told you guys about. Brand new Dell laptop. A week after I got the new hard drive, the battery died.<br /><br />And now... And now... And now, the freakin' hard drive crashes again. Fortunately, my data is backed up but I will have to spend a week waiting for a replacement and then a couple of days to get back on track again. If possible, I'll try to switch back to a Compaq instead.<br /><br />I have two words for ya: Dell sucks :evil:

[Kati Compton]

What kind of laptop do you have? I've heard the Lattitudes are much better than the Inspirons...

[P0k3y]

I hear users are having trouble with Axims as well. Any truth to that?

[Mike Temporale]

Sorry to hear that you are still having problems with that Dell. Steer clear of the Dell laptops and you should have much better luck. :way to go:

[Ed Hansberry]

What kind of laptop do you have? I've heard the Lattitudes are much better than the Inspirons...
Exactly. As the owner of one Inspiron and 4 Latitudes (plus a few dozen others coworkers use, you couldn't PAY me to take another Inspiron and you couldn't pry my latitude from my cold dead fingers. 0X

[Kati Compton]

Exactly. As the owner of one Inspiron and 4 Latitudes (plus a few dozen others coworkers use, you couldn't PAY me to take another Inspiron and you couldn't pry my latitude from my cold dead fingers. 0X

Yeah - I think you were the one I heard it from. ;)

[Bigedmachine]

Hey - what brand is Dell buying that is so unreliable - perhaps they can drop that supplier - and still have the most value vs price computer. Dell don't manufacture jack.

Ed

[Andy Sjostrom]

Hey - what brand is Dell buying that is so unreliable - perhaps they can drop that supplier - and still have the most value vs price computer. Dell don't manufacture jack.

Ed

The hard drive brand is Hitachi. I know Dell doesn't manufacture jack. They just sell it. And it stinks.

[Andy Sjostrom]

What kind of laptop do you have? I've heard the Lattitudes are much better than the Inspirons...

I have a Latitude C640. Poor Inspiron owners...

[James Fee]

What kind of laptop do you have? I've heard the Lattitudes are much better than the Inspirons...

I have a Latitude C640. Poor Inspiron owners...

And I have a C640 that I've had not trouble with and loads of Compaq laptops that are crap. I'm sure the same company that makes the Dell laptops makes the Compaq/HP laptops too....

[JonMisurda]

I hear users are having trouble with Axims as well. Any truth to that?

After taking my Axim out of my pocket (in its Dell Case), when i went to open it up the next day, I found two parallel cracks in the screen, radiating from the D-Pad. (If you can understand that sentence, you are now more capable than Dell Tech Support.) So after spending about 2 hours on the phone, i finally reached who i could talk to... who "accidentally" hung up on me. Two days later when my urge to kill had faded, I called back (to the direct number I had now: 1-877-459-7298 x33732 to save you some time) and spoke to someone who spoke to their manager for 30 minutes, and said they'd replace it, "just this once" like it was some personal favor to me.

I had my Axim for only a month at most, and it was a PXA-255... the new one they sent me is a PXA-250 stepping B1 refurbished model. I decided to cut my losses and never buy anything from Dell again.

I use Toshiba laptops... I hear people have problems with them a lot too, but I've been happy with them so far (*knocks on wood*).

Jon

[GO-TRIBE]

Hey,

That's just how Dell makes money. They don't spend any money on R&D, they buy the absolute cheapest components possible (like LG brand CD and DVD drives), then the slap the parts together with no testing and call it a DELL. If you look closely at the components in their commercial PCs, they change week to week, and don't even ask about consumer PCs.

Dell is a really nothing but a great-big white-box PC maker. :!:

[cajler]

Well, @ work we use all Dell equipment which means I get a Latitude c640. I have had my share of problems, none of which have been major - but all have been a pain. The main source of problems has been the hard-drive.

On the other hand, my wife has a several year old IBM 570 ThinkPad Pentium II and it has NEVER had a single problem since day one; including several drops from > table top height (Once from the second to the first floor!). My other laptop, an apple iBook, has also been error free since its purchase.

[GO-TRIBE]

I'm sure the same company that makes the Dell laptops makes the Compaq/HP laptops too....
Hey Compaq/HP actually make their own commercial laptops based on their own designs and development. (BTW: not the home stuff, it sucks) Compaq/HP actually do R&D and testing, they build their own designs (like the iPaq project which was called itsy). Compaq/HP operate in a much different way than Dell (when talking about commercial PCs, laptops, PPCs, and servers).

[Nellwaskilled]

What does this news has anything to do with "pocketpcthoughts"? just curious. this seems to be the mother of all Off topic headline.

okay so, Dell dish out bad laptop, you had a bad day, so sorry, my condolesence. wish it would be better.


Obligatory "mod sounding off" soon after this post:
"You can go to other site if you don't like it here"
"We post what we like, we are not going to supress news"
"I am watching you"

.....okay, moderator can 'kill' this account again now. Hey what's new. It's pretty routine things to do around here.

[klinux]

Get an iBook, once you go Mac, you won't go back! :)

My desktops are still Windows (2000 and XP) and but laptop is an iBook and it is much better in everyway than the Sony VAIO I had before it.

[Andy Sjostrom]

What does this news has anything to do with "pocketpcthoughts"? just curious. this seems to be the mother of all Off topic headline.

okay so, Dell dish out bad laptop, you had a bad day, so sorry, my condolesence. wish it would be better.


Obligatory "mod sounding off" soon after this post:
"You can go to other site if you don't like it here"
"We post what we like, we are not going to supress news"
"I am watching you"

.....okay, moderator can 'kill' this account again now. Hey what's new. It's pretty routine things to do around here.

I hear you. Thanks for your sympathies. :wink: You have a valid point. I was hesitant to posting about this, my second hard drive crash, but decided to anyway. First, I will be more or less offline for a week or so, and I want people on this board to know. Second, hardware issues seem to interest quite a few and discussions tend to become quite interesting.

That said. Point taken.

[dazz]

Wow. You throw a better tantrum than my three year old!!

dazz

[rtrueman]

I buy all 9 of our consultants the Latitudes after having multiple problems with the Inspirons. They seem much more stable except for the hard drive! What is it with these disks? They're all IBM TravelStar drives. From what I hear on this board is that many of you also had hard drive errors. What gives?

Also, the motherboards of the Latitudes and Inspirons are identical. I had a motherboard replaced on my Lat c810 (the old one was fine, don't ask! :D ) and the first powerup reported I was using an Insprion 8100. A quick flash and it was a c810 again.

I also echo the information about the Thinkpads. My partner has always used a TP and has NEVER had a problem with it. In fact, he just bought a new one this week after using his last for 4 years without a problem.

Okay, I've vented...

[Andy Sjostrom]

Wow. You throw a better tantrum than my three year old!!

dazz

I have learned a thing or two, having two kids of my own! 8)

[gliscameria]

Heh, God forbid someone go off topic in a forum that already has little to do with the site. Speaking of which, anyone else see the new Matrix movie. j/k =)

[kdross]

I'm a lurker here... I rarely post... but, I had to jump in on this one.

In defense of Dell, as a software developer, I need stability and reliability. At work, I have a Dell Precision 340 desktop PC, and it is by far the most trustworthy desktop I have ever used (and I've been using PCs since the original IBM PC came out... and various home computers before that).

The business where I work uses Dell servers exclusively, and almost never have any failure. And when they do, they advance parts next-day. And if the failure is severe, they send factory techs out to help.

I'm extremely impressed with Dell's desktops and servers. I've never had experience with their laptops, so I can't vouch for that.

[Jason Dunn]

.....okay, moderator can 'kill' this account again now. Hey what's new. It's pretty routine things to do around here.

Actually, we'll just leave your post and account up, since you're just SO darn entertaining. :lol:

(there's no need to be a jerk though, even if you do have a valid point you want to express)

[Andy Sjostrom]

I'm a lurker here... I rarely post... but, I had to jump in on this one.

In defense of Dell, as a software developer, I need stability and reliability. At work, I have a Dell Precision 340 desktop PC, and it is by far the most trustworthy desktop I have ever used (and I've been using PCs since the original IBM PC came out... and various home computers before that).

The business where I work uses Dell servers exclusively, and almost never have any failure. And when they do, they advance parts next-day. And if the failure is severe, they send factory techs out to help.

I'm extremely impressed with Dell's desktops and servers. I've never had experience with their laptops, so I can't vouch for that.

I hear you. We have Dell servers at work too. I have Dell PC at home. They work great. Dell just sells really crappy laptops.

[blueshirt80]

I have an Inspiron 4100 that I bought about 1 1/2 yrs ago and I didn't have one problem with it except for a hard drive failure about 6 months ago when i tried to install xp. Two weeks and tewo hard drives later i was running again. I love :ppclove: my Inspiron and wouldn't buy any other computer besides a Dell. All manufacturers have problems with their products. On my IBM Thinkpad the trackpoint and usb ports stopped working. On my friends Sony Viao the power plug on the laptop will not charge the it. No matter what brand or from who you buy something there is a risk of some type of failure.

My other thought is when my harddrive crashed and they sent me a new one they were all IBM Travelstar hard drives. So if Dell is just a big white box computer maker, how can they be responsible for the quality of outsider parts. If they buy cheap parts then they should be held responsible. But these were IBM TRAVELSTAR HARDRIVES. This sounds to me like an IBM PROBLEM. What do you think? :?: I'm not saying I'm right (according to my GF, I am never right) but it is a likely possibility.

[Christho]

Whaqt do u guys think about Sony laptops? Are they any better than Dell's?

[TopDog]

I hear users are having trouble with Axims as well. Any truth to that?
I 've never had any problems with my Axim, as the matter of fact, it's the most stable and good PPC I've ever had... But the original accesories are of the cheapest kind!

[Jhokur2k]

If you want the fancy look and spiffiness, get a Sony. If you want aftermarket stuff, like external drives and things, to work the first time, look elsewhere. I've had to work on more than a few Vaios, and for some unknown reason, the OS that was loaded (98, ME, or XP) was not exactly correct (i.e. folders in different places, inf files changed, etc), and two I know were bone stock out of sealed boxes...

Personally, I have an Inspiron 8100 - the only thing I have wrong with it is due to my agression: one of the eraser "mouse" buttons (not the touchpad ones) is loose. Count myself lucky.

[lurch]

I hear users are having trouble with Axims as well. Any truth to that?
I 've never had any problems with my Axim, as the matter of fact, it's the most stable and good PPC I've ever had... But the original accesories are of the cheapest kind!
You're blessed then... my friend from work (who also posts here occasionally) is on his 3rd Axim? Something like that anyway.. and right now he's using his old iPaq since he got tired of sending the Axim's in for repair all the time.

[tccox]

I hear users are having trouble with Axims as well. Any truth to that?
I 've never had any problems with my Axim, as the matter of fact, it's the most stable and good PPC I've ever had... But the original accesories are of the cheapest kind!
You're blessed then... my friend from work (who also posts here occasionally) is on his 3rd Axim? Something like that anyway.. and right now he's using his old iPaq since he got tired of sending the Axim's in for repair all the time.


Visor Deluxe
HP Jornada 540
HP Jornada 568
Ipaq 3835
Axim X5 400

My Axim has by far been the best most trouble free of the bunch

[rubberdemon]

I'm in sympathy - I have only owned Dell desktops, but have known many other Dell buyers (everyone seems to get one at some point, it seems), and a common theme (which I'm thinking of turning into a law of nature) is that there's always at least one thing wrong with a Dell. My first one, the screensaver never worked, it would just keep the monitor on no matter what I did with the settings. The newest one, my wife's, will not hibernate, nor does it keep correct time. But these are minor - I have friends who've had controller problems, hard drive crashes, etc. I don't know anyone with a problem-free Dell.

I have only bought Toshiba laptops for the last few years for my own work, and I have never had a hardware problem with them - not a single one.

[bdegroodt]

Andy sorry to hear about your laptop. I have a Latitude C400 now and it's the best laptop I've ever owned. It kind of makes me sad to see you having the issues with Dell. I consider Dell to be the only Wintel retailer with a loyal following ala Apple. I've owned just about every major company's machine at one time or another and I can say my Dells have been the best machines I've ever owned.

To Dell's defense, the hard drives they use are the same any other company can/does use, so it's clearly a QA problem (Or you're abusing your drives and not telling us 8O ) with the drive manufacturers.

Oh and to counter your front page post- Dell Rules! :D

[Kati Compton]

I'm in sympathy - I have only owned Dell desktops, but have known many other Dell buyers (everyone seems to get one at some point, it seems), and a common theme (which I'm thinking of turning into a law of nature) is that there's always at least one thing wrong with a Dell. My first one, the screensaver never worked, it would just keep the monitor on no matter what I did with the settings. The newest one, my wife's, will not hibernate, nor does it keep correct time. But these are minor - I have friends who've had controller problems, hard drive crashes, etc. I don't know anyone with a problem-free Dell.

My Dell desktop (and new 18" FP) do not have any problems whatsoever.

Darn - I shouldn't have said that "out loud"... Now it's going to die.... ;)

[Chris Spera]

I also have a Dell laptop (CPx H500GT) that runs XP Pro (20GB HDD, 512MB RAM, CD and LS Super Drive, Floppy Drive and spiffy Dell Case). I will be selling it soon on eBay, but with Win2k, not XP Pro. (if anyone cares to make an offer before the auction goes up, you can drop me a line at [email protected]).

I bought a new laptop (actually 2.. I hate when cross bidding goes your way twice... I'll also have a C600 750mHz, 20GB, 256MB, CD, W98SE, that I will be selling...interested parties can drop me a line at [email protected].). The REAL new laptop is also a Dell Latitude C600 (1.1GHZ, 512MB, DVD/CD-RW, 40GB, XP Pro). Its quick, quiet and has enough room to last me well over 2 years.

My last job was with a DOT-Bomb. When they cut me in late 2001, I walked away with 4 months severence, a 17" Flat Screen Dell Trinitron Monitor, the H500GT, and a Dell C-Dock. My intent is to stick with Dell models that can use the C-Dock as long as possible. I'll probably try to pick up the version that supports desktop PCI cards and a full sized hard drive and add some additional storage to the whole thing.

My CPx has been a tank. Nothing has really stopped it. The hard drive has crashed a few times, but that's been due to a mucked up registry from all of the software evals that I do. The only reason why I'm getting rid of it is to pay for the C600 that I am keeping. Its been a great laptop!

I really don't like the Inspiron model at all. I know a Dell Sales Rep. We both bought houses in the same development and he lives behind me. His advice to me was to stick with the Latitude no matter what. The Inspirons may have a lot of newer technology, but they have serious quality issues.

Kind Regards,


Christopher Spera

[leeraud]

I had a Dell Inspiron 8000 which lasted for 3 years and now has been passed on to my son-in law in England. DVD Drive went out but otherwise it was about bulletproof. Sorry your having trouble with yours. From experience about a month ago I can tell you don't replace it with a vpr matrix laptop!!!
Lee :|

[snazzy]

I think if you sell as many laptops as dell does, you are sure to get your percentage of duds.

probabilities.. :mrgreen:

[Janak Parekh]

I hear you. We have Dell servers at work too. I have Dell PC at home. They work great. Dell just sells really crappy laptops.
A way to reconcile the opinions: maybe just Swedish Dell laptops suck? :lol:

--janak

[drop]

I LOVE my Axim. Never have a single problem with it. I read about others who had problems. But the majority are happy with it.

I purchased Dell servers and workstations both for home and for work and have had very few incidents with them.

I have no experience with Dell laptops. I am actually considering one since I got my home wireless network set up and want to go "mobile" in my own backyard.

[dma1965]

When I first got into computers my first computer was a Dell 233mhz and it was a champ (it still works!). My next computer was a Dell 450mhz, which is my current domain controller, and it has always and still does work flawlessly. I then went on to buy an Inspiron 8000, and it has a design flaw where the screen touches the keyboard when it is closed, and makes small keyboard shaped scratches on the screen. They replaced the screen once, and it happened again, and Dell tech support said the second time was because, get this, I am closing it too hard! I told him that my $3300 laptop is only used by me and I do not close it too hard, but they insisted that I am, and also told me that I should have kept the foam insert that came with the laptop when it was new, to protect the screen from the keyboard, and they could not help me! I then had the USB ports die on me, and they had to replace the motherboard (make sure you ALWAYS pay the extra $125 or so dollars for the extended warranty or you will be sorry). In any event, when I first started using Dells, they had the best support out there, bar none. Now it takes a minimum of 2-4 hours to get support (one time I had to take my entire day off to get support), and when you do get support it usually stinks. I have purchased literally hundreds of Dells as a consultant and IT professional, and that was because of the quality and support. After my last incident with the keyboard/screen issue, I will never buy a Dell again, EVER. I do not like being treated like an idiot. My boss just got a MAC G4 laptop, and he runs Virtual PC on it, and can simultaneously run OSX, OS9, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 without it even skipping a beat. He lives about 5 minutes from work, and when he goes home at night he just closes the lid so it hibernates, and plugs it in when he gets home, and everything is still running. In any event, he has not rebooted his laptop in 2 weeks, and it runs Windows applications MUCH faster than my 900mhz Inspiron. I am DEFINITELY buying a MAC next time I get a laptop. I can do that and not have to worry about transitioning, and I can run as many OS's as my disk space and memory will allow, and faster than a PC, and believe me I have badmouted MAC users for years, and am prepared to eat crow!

[Cypher]

There are two ways to deal with the fact that electronics sometimes fail. IBM deals with this with serious quality control tests before the sale, including buying componenets from companies that take QC as seriously. You pay for that before the sale carefulness. Dell deals with faults by contracting at the lowest prices and gladly exchanging components when they fail. Dell's prices reflect this lack of overhead.

Knowing how Dell low-balled the contract for the Axim, I'm amazed that they seem to be relatively fault-free.

[bjornkeizers]

I've heard from a lot of people who say Dell's laptops sucks. I hear their desktops are OK, but laptops..

I haven't owned a Dell myself, but I've owned quite a few others. A Toshiba, Compaq, and now a really sweet Packard Bell Easy One Silver. Very nice machine, except for the lack of a decent graphics card.

The only one to have a problem was the Compaq, which developed a mysterious crack on one of the hinges of the screen. Snapped the screen clean off...

That toshiba though, also a great machine. I once poured half a coffee in it, didn't so much as blink. Battery died and two keys on the keyboard, but after replacement, still hanging in there :D

[bdegroodt]

I've heard from a lot of people who say Dell's laptops sucks. I hear their desktops are OK, but laptops..

I haven't owned a Dell myself, but I've owned quite a few others. A Toshiba, Compaq, and now a really sweet Packard Bell Easy One Silver. Very nice machine, except for the lack of a decent graphics card.



Wow! I had no idea you could still get a PB. I just went to their web site, and it explains why. You can't click on North America, so I assume their distribution is only in those countries you can select on their home page.

Are they still guilty of the proprietary components scheme?

[bikeman]

Sorry for your problems. Perhaps Dell laptops are going downhill? We have four Dells in the family. PII desktop, 5 years old, replaced the power supply in year 1, perfect since. P4 desktop, almost 1 year old, perfect. Two PIII Inspiron notebooks - one 3 years old, one two years old, both used by kids at college (there's stress testing!), both perfect. At work people use Compaq, Winbook, and VAIO notebooks - many problems. Go figure.

[karen]

Hey,

That's just how Dell makes money. They don't spend any money on R&D, they buy the absolute cheapest components possible (like LG brand CD and DVD drives), then the slap the parts together with no testing and call it a DELL. If you look closely at the components in their commercial PCs, they change week to week, and don't even ask about consumer PCs.

Dell is a really nothing but a great-big white-box PC maker. :!:

Actually, they make money on the financing, not the products they sell. Since they have just in time inventory (or very close to it), the return they get on their float is their real business.

K

[Howard2k]

I hear users are having trouble with Axims as well. Any truth to that?

After taking my Axim out of my pocket (in its Dell Case), when i went to open it up the next day, I found two parallel cracks in the screen, radiating from the D-Pad. (If you can understand that sentence, you are now more capable than Dell Tech Support.) So after spending about 2 hours on the phone, i finally reached who i could talk to... who "accidentally" hung up on me. Two days later when my urge to kill had faded, I called back (to the direct number I had now: 1-877-459-7298 x33732 to save you some time) and spoke to someone who spoke to their manager for 30 minutes, and said they'd replace it, "just this once" like it was some personal favor to me.

I had my Axim for only a month at most, and it was a PXA-255... the new one they sent me is a PXA-250 stepping B1 refurbished model. I decided to cut my losses and never buy anything from Dell again.

I use Toshiba laptops... I hear people have problems with them a lot too, but I've been happy with them so far (*knocks on wood*).

Jon

Errm.. If I buy a new car and crash it will they replace it for me?

I don't see too much difference between you breaking the screen and me breaking my car. Except that I'm more likely to get injured.. :)

[Hyperluminal]

OK, I really hate Dell.
I had an Inspiron 5000e that developed a very annoying problem, where it'd randomly (it seemed to vary between happening about 30%-70% of the time) die when coming out of standby and hibernation. Dell, however, didn't seem to plan on fixing it. It actually took 10 months to get it resolved. Most Dell reps seemed to have a hard time accepting that it wasn't Windows XP's fault, since I upgraded from 98. To prove it to them, I ended up reinstalling XP twice and 98 twice, the latter two times from the Dell restore disc that brought it completely back to the factory settings. Of course that didn't stop the Dell reps from telling me tp reinstall Win98 again, but at that point I pretty much just refused. And the fact that I restored my PC to the factory config twice wasn't enough to convince the Dell reps that it wasn't an SW issue.

I'd had more than a few Dell reps "fix" the problem by having me disable hibernation, and tell me not to put my PC in standby any more. Once I sent it in to Dell, and the only thing they did besides flashing the BIOS (even though I already had the latest version!) was to get dirt all over my screen. And when I finally did get a helpful Dell rep, Dell's contact (i.e. voicemail) system is so messed up that the way I finally got back to the rep was by sheer dumb luck, in that I called Dell and she picked up! She said she didn't get my voicemail message!

More than once, a rep would tell me an obviously incorrect solution, and after I told him that I didn't want to do that, he'd proceed to give me instructions on that solution anyway! Once I had an unrelated problem, where gently pressing on the back of the screen panel would cause the screen to become red. The first Dell rep insisted that it was XP's fault. They seriously love to blame everything on XP.

Anyway, I fianlly decided to just call them and tell them I wanted a system exchange. It didn't work the first few times. Eventually I got a guy who told me that I can send in my PC, and they'll investigate the issue. The box never came. So I called again, and they said they'd arrange a new shipment. The box never came! So I called a few more times, and said they had to give me a sys exchange, considering all that I had gone through. Finally, I got a woman who said she'd give me an exchange. So they gave me a top of the line (P4 2.0GHz, 512 MB RAM, 15" UXGA, 64 MB VRAM) Insprion 8200. I finally got the problem resolved, 10 months later.

I actually got so fed up with Dell that I bought an iBook. Then I decided that I didn't like it (screen too small, don't like Mac OS) so I gave it back.

Anyway, my point is that I do not plan on buying another Dell any time soon... ;)

[heliod]

I am really sorry to hear about your experience. I have been using different models of the Lattitude for the last six years. Besides the fact that I always had to update the BIOS when I first get the computer to stabilize it (before I do anything), I have never had trouble with any of the 3 notebooks I have had.

By the way, I also love my Axim]

[tonyv]

My sister had the powerbrick for her Sony laptop die, and Sony absolutely refused to ship or sell her another until she contacted the VP for SONY USA!!!! This is absolutely true, I swear. Apparently Sony views laptops as disposable consumer electronics, rather than vital business assests. There is absolutely no way I would use a Sony, even if I were given one.

[JI3ird]

Why does this "Off Topic" merrit space on the main web page. Isn't 5 pages of bad mouthing Dell enough for Andy. I feel for him in his flustration, but I don't think he should loose sight of why people visit the site. I am sure it has something to do about what's in the name-- POCKET PC Thoughts. I find this sight to post really good things until it goes off topic and post things like this and Cloudmark's Spam software discount that do not exist.

Just my humble opinion. Please carry on.

[GoldKey]

I am going to give away a little secret for getting good customer service from a company after multiple reps don't help you out. Once you know what scheme they use for their e-mail addresses, find out the name of the president of the company and send them an e-mail using the same scheme. Ie [email protected] . I spent two months trying to get a billing problem corrected on my Axim purchase. Sales reps never came through with their promises to fix. Sent an e-mail to that address and the problem was fixed in a few days. I've used this method with many different companies AFTER trying to resolve matter through the normal channels. Again use this as a last resort.

[GoldKey]

Why does this "Off Topic" merrit space on the main web page. Isn't 5 pages of bad mouthing Dell enough for Andy. I feel for him in his flustration, but I don't think he should loose sight of why people visit the site. I am sure it has something to do about what's in the name-- POCKET PC Thoughts. I find this sight to post really good things until it goes off topic and post things like this and Cloudmark's Spam software discount that do not exist.

Just my humble opinion. Please carry on.

I think a discussion of quality control and customer service at major computer makers is completely relevant. Also, given the number of responses in the spirit of the original post, I think they are right on with the reason people visit this site.

[JonnoB]

I think a discussion of quality control and customer service at major computer makers is completely relevant. Also, given the number of responses in the spirit of the original post, I think they are right on with the reason people visit this site.

Not to mention that Dell is a maker and supporter of the Axim and the way they deal with the laptop may be an indication of possible support for the Pocket PC.

[Jason Dunn]

Well, for what it's worth, my Fujitsu laptop is two years old and still kicks ass in every way. :mrgreen:

[yodacai]

When I was in the market for a new notebook 2 years back, I bought a Dell 3100 series Inspiron. To make a long story short, within the first 3 days I ended up reinstalling the OS 2 times and spending a total of 6 hours on the phone with Dell TS. All just to get my IR port functioning! I finally had enough (the plastic case/keyboard felt real flimsy too) and told them I wanted to send it back. Well, after numerous tries to disuade me (they even offered to refund me a couple hundred dollars or send me free hardware), they finally relented and sent me a box to return it. It then took over a month to get my money back.

I then bought a Sony VAIO which has been nearly rock solid. It feels so much more solid than the Dell. The only problem was that the HDD went out on it about a year and a half ago. Sony replaced it with no hassles. It has also gone through a hassle free upgrade from ME to XP Home.

Incidently, I am in the market for a new notebook and I WAS looking at the Dell's again. But, after reading this thread, my skepticism for their products is renewed. Sooner or later I'll find something... maybe a Mac... 8O

[Duncan]

Why does this "Off Topic" merrit space on the main web page.

Go to the front page. Click on the link that says 'Filter frontpage topics'. Select everything except 'Off-topic'. Like magic your precious seconds will never again be wasted reading off-topic headlines. Nor will you feel that compelling obligation to read and post in the related thread.

See how easy that is?

[AKBishop]

I hear users are having trouble with Axims as well. Any truth to that?
I 've never had any problems with my Axim, as the matter of fact, it's the most stable and good PPC I've ever had... But the original accesories are of the cheapest kind!
You're blessed then... my friend from work (who also posts here occasionally) is on his 3rd Axim? Something like that anyway.. and right now he's using his old iPaq since he got tired of sending the Axim's in for repair all the time.

I think a lot of this happens with any new PPC company. I went through 5 iPAQ 36xx 's between Sept 2000 and Jan 02. I got good use out of my CarePAQ. However, my 38xx has not been replaced once since Feb 02. Although I wish it would break so I could justify a new PPC 03 (when they come out). My wife just wouldn't believe it if I told her it jumped out of the car and threw itself off the freeway overpass on its own.

[JI3ird]

I agree that a discussion about quality control and customer service is important, but it took 10 post to even bring up the topic. As you can see below I wasn't the first to bring up the relivance of the topic. Even Andy hesitated about putting up the topic. I question wheather Andy would feel the topic is relivant for the front page after waiting a couple of days to cool down. Like Andy said hardware discussions always brings a heated topic, but I've heard more venting than anything.

I would have to say my dealing with Dell have been very good. I have an Inspiron 8200 and and Axim 400 MHz with no problem. I guess I am a lucky one.

I have been told that with anything electronic, if it is going to fail it wiil be with in the first 3 months. I would be intrested to know in what time frame has the problem occured.

What does this news has anything to do with "pocketpcthoughts"? just curious. this seems to be the mother of all Off topic headline.

okay so, Dell dish out bad laptop, you had a bad day, so sorry, my condolesence. wish it would be better.


Obligatory "mod sounding off" soon after this post:
"You can go to other site if you don't like it here"
"We post what we like, we are not going to supress news"
"I am watching you"

.....okay, moderator can 'kill' this account again now. Hey what's new. It's pretty routine things to do around here.

[JI3ird]

Why does this "Off Topic" merrit space on the main web page.

Go to the front page. Click on the link that says 'Filter frontpage topics'. Select everything except 'Off-topic'. Like magic your precious seconds will never again be wasted reading off-topic headlines. Nor will you feel that compelling obligation to read and post in the related thread.

See how easy that is?

I will be sure to do that next time. Thanks for the info:)

[dartman]

I'll just chime in and say my Inspiron 8000 is nearly 3 years old and I had to replace the DVD drive in January. Other than that it's been fine and I cart it around the country a lot. I also use it all day long every day as my main computer in the office. Best laptop I've ever had. Had trouble with Toshiba, Compaq.

Dart

[bdeli]

Whaqt do u guys think about Sony laptops? Are they any better than Dell's?

Never get one! I had a VAIO which I took to service for three times, once for a MB failure, twice for a HD failure and now after it's warranty expired the MB went bonkers again. Sony were so helpful that they offered me $100 (CAD$) to give them the laptop and get a new one. (This sucker costed me $2,500 - so do the math)

Still stuck with my Gateway Solo for the past three yrs. The only problem I had was a HD crash after two weeks.

[HTK]

As we are talking about Dell on a Off-Topic topic, let me ask you guys one thing:
Those 18.1" LCD´s from Dell selling at Ebay for $350-$400 worth something? I´m thinking of buying this, but seems too good to be true :roll:

[shindullin]

I am typing this on my 3 year old Dell Inspiron 5000. The extended warranty is now over but I did replace the keyboard 2 times when it was under warranty w/no problems. It was just wear. No QC problems. The laptop refuses to go to sleep/hibernation mode, seems like a QC problem but it's now a moot point as the warranty is over. I also have a 2 yr old Dell desktop w/no problems whatsoever. I was told by a buddy who worked for HP for a long time (until another company lured him away 2 yes ago) that HP, Compaq, Dell are all built/assembled by the same manufactures out of Taiwan/China. The components are also largely the same and they all ship the machines wo a lot of testing if any at all. He said that IBM has the best QC because they build the laptops themselves and then do extensive testing prior to shipping them out. I was also told by a former (laid off this year) IBM hardrive (now Hitachi) employee that IBM harddrive quality has gone down a lot over the last three years. Hence their loss of marketshare and ultimate sale of the unit to Hitachi this year. Sounds to me like there are plenty of QC issues to go around. Given that, it's not surprising that plenty of people have had problems but then, plenty haven't either. Given the volume of products we're talking about, unless you pay more for an IBM it's all luck of the draw.

[Kati Compton]

My Sony Vaio was an interesting experience. It came with ME, since I had a unopened Win2K box ready and waiting for it already. But Sony was very anti-helpful in upgrading it and refused for about a year to provide Win2K drivers for my laptop, and said it woudn't work. They had an almost identical model that shipped with Win2K, so I'm not sure what the problem was.

Of course, installing the new OS meant that I couldn't use any of the bundled software, but I don't think that's just Sony.

Anyway - my advice is to only get a Vaio if you like everything about it as-is, never want to change ANYTHING, never lose any parts, never want to replace the battery (my model's was $200), etc. And I don't like memory stick.

The only actual "bad" thing about it is that a month or two ago my PCMCIA port got flaky and about every 5 minutes would act like I unplugged the thing I plugged in. Which is not good for using a wireless card, or a CF-converter to copy big files....

Oh - and though this might be because it's an old one - the battery life is poor and boy does it run HOT.

My advice is to make sure that whatever laptop you get the vent is on the SIDE, not on the bottom where it'll get blocked by legs, blankets, etc. Did you read the news story about the guy that got a terrible burn on his.... body.... from a too-hot laptop?

[brian728s]

I've had fairly good experiences with dell. At least better than the experiences with that Aptiva... *shudder*

The only problems with my dimension 4100 (replacing it this summer). Have been things I have done to it.

The Inspiron has had 2 things happen, one was a corrupted windows file (I doubt it was dells fault), and the second was when the tv-out port stopped working after the upgrade to windows xp pro.

[cmchavez]

So sorry about the hardware crash. I was at a local Government Trade show on Wednesday; Dell was there and was pimping their systems hard.

[Craig Horlacher]

We started with Inspirons and had lots of problems, hard drives, displays, keyboards, memory, motherboard, etc. We switched to Latitudes because they're "business grade" laptops. Yeah, whatever. They've been as bad as the Inspirons. I'll never buy a dell laptop unless dell makes some drastic changes to their quality control. We're switching to thinkpads. Some people say thinkpads look ugly...I just want something that works and they have the best track record I've seen.

[pschultz]

How the the IBM laptops compare to the Dell laptops? Any personal opinions?

[JonMisurda]

Errm.. If I buy a new car and crash it will they replace it for me?

I don't see too much difference between you breaking the screen and me breaking my car. Except that I'm more likely to get injured.. :)

well, here's what i thought of that... i broke the screen on my Jornada 548 once.. i heard the crack, and looked at the screen and saw the typical spiderweb pattern of broken glass. My fault entirely.

I did nothing to this one, never heard a sound, and the fractures were coming from a point under the case... right where the d-pad was. I think i know what happened... i played too many NES games and it caused a stress fracture.

My "new" one's button is a lot different in feel... I have the vague suspicion that they overtightened something or it was a design flaw.

But don't feel bad for me if you don't want to. :wink:

Jon

[Jonathon Watkins]

Hmmm, some people have been taking the grumpy pills tonight. :wink:
This kind of conversation is one of the things that keeps PPCT interesting and fresh. It’s a fair off-topic post to make. I'm sorry you have had so much hassle Andy - and hope your next system is more stable. Third time lucky eh! :?

Personally my Axim is holding up very nicely. 8)

The Latitude CPi I had for while was very solid, no problems. I've bought Dell systems for people (so they can handle the support) and I've had very few problems with them. OK - upgrading is a pain, which is why I tend not to recommend them for desktops these days. But I do rate their laptops – the Latitudes at least.

[etalianstallion]

It really comes down to the luck of the draw. At work I first started with an IBM Thinkpad, which was reliable. My manager had a similar IBM Thinkpad which probably spent more time in repairs than anything else.

So, my manager then gets a Dell, which again spends a good amount of time in repairs (both software and hardware). After 6 months he says "screw this" and get another Thinkpad, which so far has been holding up well.

Needless to say I inherited his old Dell CPx, which for the most part now works fine for me. Of course, I have had my share of issues with it--bad hard drive, bad LCD, bad keyboard, bad motherboard. So, after all the repairs, I basically have had all the parts swapped out and replaced on my Dell.

My girlfriend has a Sony and it's working fine for her. No problems whatsoever, although I warned her about Sony products and how they seem to "break" just after the warranty expires.

I feel for those who seem to get what seem to be a grade b product. I am fortunate that my company laptop is well covered so I get next day service on it.

One bad experience and everybody you know will hear about it. One good experience and maybe 25% of the people you know will hear about it. I used to think that Dell prides themselves in their customer service, but after reading all these posts and also my own experience with Dell for getting a replacement for my Axim, my thoughts have changed.

[derosnec]

I recently received one of the neww Lattitude D800 laptops.. a sweet sweet machine. But.... the power supply makes a really annowing hissing sound constantly. Right now I am just happy to take the good with the bad (for now...)

At work we have just switched from using HP rackmounts to Dell rackmounts. The dell rackmounts are soooo much better then the HP ones- we havn't had a single dell failure (yet), as opposed to one in 10 or so for the HPs.

[Mobile Bob]

How the the IBM laptops compare to the Dell laptops? Any personal opinions?

I've got a Dell Inspiron 8100. I've used it heavily for the last 15 months, and have never had any problems with it. The IBM ThinkPad that I've had for five years is of much better quality, however.

The next laptop will either be a Fujitsu or another ThinkPad.

[Ed Hansberry]

What kind of laptop do you have? I've heard the Lattitudes are much better than the Inspirons...

I have a Latitude C640. Poor Inspiron owners...
Demand a different HD. My C610 is currently 1 year old and absolutely bulletproof. You just got a bad supply. Complain loud to get the next larger size which will definitely be a different model if not a different supplier.

[Phoenix]

Dell does stink. I've owned two of their laptops and I'll never buy another one again. They're big, thick, clunky, and fall apart easily.

The first one I had has had hardware and chassis troubles non-stop. They're just not durable.



I still own a Gateway Solo, and it's been a good laptop for me. But the painted/coated finish keeps peeling off like a bad sunburn from the heat the laptop generates. So I'll never buy a Gateway ever again, simply because of that.



Toshiba builds very good laptops, though. I never cared for them in the past, but they have some of most durable, feature rich laptops around. Toshiba will be what I will purchase next.


And once again, as far as Dell is concerned?... Word to the Wise: Buyer Beware! Each to his own, but based on my experience with Dell's products and what I found to be totally incompetent tech support, I could never recommend them to anyone.

[ctmagnus]

I have to wonder... What percentage of component failures have been on systems that the dealer/manufacturer recommends (ie, go to wherever.com, click on the first system you see and order it without changing anything) vs systems that are custom built (pick a system and change every single component they let you)?

fwiw, out of the systems I use, the Seanix that I've abused every single day for the last five-and-a-half years has never had a problem except for an OS crash after two weeks that required an fdisk-format-reinstall, the dell 4300 desktop has had no problems, the Voodoo had a harddrive (data, not OS and the OS drive had enough space to copy everything to in time) die to the point that it was unreadable but covered by warranty and the iPaq got the extended warranty with it.

[ctmagnus]

More than once, a rep would tell me an obviously incorrect solution, and after I told him that I didn't want to do that, he'd proceed to give me instructions on that solution anyway!

That happened to me with Compaq. If I had followed the tech's instructions, my iPaq would have been completely useless.

[davea]

Love the Axim 400 PPC and my 1 year old Inspiron 8200 (zero problems).
I just bought a new Dimesion 4550 Desktop. (Ordered it on Saturday and
it arrived on Tuesday!! I think DELL has got it RIGHT. I am retired from
IBM and was involved with numerous IBM PS-2 Desktop and PC Convertible
(original IBM Laptop at 12.8 pounds).

I've worked for manufacturer who assembled HP Business Desktops, and
have seen both IBM and HP use the same HDD and other commodities that
are used everywhere. DELL support has been there when I needed them,
and the price is right for their products.

[Kati Compton]

Dell does stink. I've owned two of their laptops and I'll never buy another one again. They're big, thick, clunky, and fall apart easily.

My husband is using Dell Lattitude X200's for something he's working on now, and they're anything but big thick or clunky. Quite nice, actually.

Could this be another Inspiron vs. Lattitude issue?

[Mike Temporale]

How the the IBM laptops compare to the Dell laptops? Any personal opinions?


I have 2 ThinkPads. One is 5 years old, and the other is about 6 months old. I haven't had a single problem with either machine. (except the battery died on the older machine after 4 years)

I think Dell has great desktops, but I would never buy one of thier laptops.

This is a recent story about Dell having a recall for bad motherboards, http://news.com.com/2100-1044_3-999555.html?tag=fd_top It also talks about some of the past recalls Dell has had to do. Now that's quality. :wink:

[GQ19]

But Dell Pricing is so TEMPTING! ;-( What brands DO you guys suggest then? Win OS ONLY!

[Kati Compton]

But Dell Pricing is so TEMPTING! ;-( What brands DO you guys suggest then? Win OS ONLY!

Laptops or desktops?

For desktops I still say Dell, though I'm sure some here disagree.

For laptops, most people seem to like IBM, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Sony (but I'm biased against it), Dell Latitude (with some exceptions as per this thread... ;)), or Compaq Evo. Both The Latitude and the Evo are "business-grade".

My husband has an Evo and it made a BIG difference in customer service vs. the other Compaq laptops - there's even a separate phone number. He had something wrong with a battery - 2 day replacement. Something wrong with the AC adapter (it was weird before, but then a cat chewed on it and made it worse) - replaced within 2 days no problem.

[PetiteFlower]

I love my Axim and my Dimension 8250. Both had minor issues but the replacements were timely so it wasn't so bad. My Axim had a bad D-pad and my desktop had a DOA CD burner. 2nd Axim is great though and I just got my new CD burner today--swapping the drives was a snap and the new one works like a charm.

HOWEVER--I do think their service has gone downhill recently. There is always a long wait to talk to a rep and the tech support people are MORONS. Plus, the majority of the tech support people seem to be working out of the office in India and their English isn't the best; I can usually understand them but they don't seem to be able to understand me, plus it's obvious that they are NOT computer experts but people reading out of a troubleshooting manual. So calls to them always take longer then they should.

But, since the bottom line is I still get what I need, the fact that it takes some time and persistence won't keep me from buying from them. I wouldn't buy a desktop from anyone else at this point; I still believe I got a high quality system for an amazing price and that's the most important thing for me.

[ctmagnus]

I feel I should toss this in:

After having done some Dell warranty work, I really think that a lot of problems that people and companies are having today boil down to lack of common sense and just plain laziness, coupled with support people being pulled in off the street. Not to mention the fact that so many companies feel the need to cover their posteriors financially. Society as a whole would really benefit to worship something other than the almighty dollar.

[sgdluu]

I've had my share of computers, both desktops and laptops over the last 15 years. I'll have to say my experience with Dell "laptops" are not great. For some unknown reason the harddrive was close to failure after a year and the motherboard shorted soon before.

My best experiences are with Toshiba's and IBMs. Thumbs down for Dells, Compaqs, and Sonys.

My two cents.

[kwerner]

My Dell P3 6??MHz desktop system from 3 years ago worked great.

I got a latitude P3 1GHz notebook 6 months ago:
-power supply died
-hard drive died - replaced - re-install all my tools weeks after doing this the first time
-hard drive died again - replaced - re-install all my tools a third time

I don't trust using it for much of anything now.

Then I got a new P4 desktop 3 months ago:
-floppy drive went bad
-cdrom went bad

I won't be buying a Dell with my own money. I just bought an iBook used to give Apple/Mac a try for the first time ever.

[quidproquo]

The best laptop out there as far as quality and durability is the IBM Thinkpad. I have a T-23 that I use for work and it is a rugged little machine. Not the smallest by any means but still fit and trim.

IBM Thinkpad has my vote! :!:

[[email protected]]

I recently had a hard drive crash (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11928), which I told you guys about. Brand new Dell laptop. A week after I got the new hard drive, the battery died.

And now... And now... And now, the freakin' hard drive crashes again. Fortunately, my data is backed up but I will have to spend a week waiting for a replacement and then a couple of days to get back on track again. If possible, I'll try to switch back to a Compaq instead.

I have two words for ya: Dell sucks :evil:

I have another word for you, Dell laptops may suck but the desktops are quite ok, so skip the (expensive) laptops and go for a nice desktop instead, and save yourself a great bundle of money.

[ExtremeSIMS]

Powerbook for your laptop. Build your desktop. :)

Heck, I see Alienware sells the new case-based gaming PCs at Best Buy. Nice schwag.

[bjornkeizers]

Wow! I had no idea you could still get a PB. I just went to their web site, and it explains why. You can't click on North America, so I assume their distribution is only in those countries you can select on their home page.

Are they still guilty of the proprietary components scheme?

I wouldn't know about the US, but over here you can definately still buy Packard Bell's. This is definately the best one I've owned to date.

It's a Easy One Silver, 7521N. 1.2 ghz Intel Celeron, 256 mb ram, [I think, I don't have no complaints so far for lack of ram :D ] 20 gb hard drive, a DVD-drive and runs Windows XP Home.

The only thing I don't like about it is the crappy SiS 630/730 graphics chip. It doesn't support Open GL, so I can't play any decent games on it. It's good for playing Flight Sim and The Sims, but nothing fancy.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I wouldn't know about the US, but over here you can definately still buy Packard Bell's. This is definately the best one I've owned to date.


Sorry Bjornkeizers, but I would not touch a PB with a barge pole - too many problems, issues & bad experiences. Each to thier own eh! :lol:

I am currently setting up a Acer Travelmate 800 for someone. 1.3Ghz Centreno with 512Mb RAM and a 40Gb HD. I'm impresses with the build quality, speed & though that has gone into it so far.

[yschang]

Wow! I had no idea you could still get a PB. I just went to their web site, and it explains why. You can't click on North America, so I assume their distribution is only in those countries you can select on their home page.

Are they still guilty of the proprietary components scheme?

I wouldn't know about the US, but over here you can definately still buy Packard Bell's. This is definately the best one I've owned to date.

It's a Easy One Silver, 7521N. 1.2 ghz Intel Celeron, 256 mb ram, [I think, I don't have no complaints so far for lack of ram :D ] 20 gb hard drive, a DVD-drive and runs Windows XP Home.

The only thing I don't like about it is the crappy SiS 630/730 graphics chip. It doesn't support Open GL, so I can't play any decent games on it. It's good for playing Flight Sim and The Sims, but nothing fancy.

In US, Packard Bell is NEC. Packard Bell laptops (don't know about desktops) are NEC laptops in Europe. I bought a Easy Note VX couple years ago when I was working at PC World in UK and it's still going strong. Just had the main board changed because of oxidation... but apart from that 2.5 years of hard work. Great!

[yschang]

... I was also told by a former (laid off this year) IBM hardrive (now Hitachi) employee that IBM harddrive quality has gone down a lot over the last three years. Hence their loss of marketshare and ultimate sale of the unit to Hitachi this year. Sounds to me like there are plenty of QC issues to go around. Given that, it's not surprising that plenty of people have had problems but then, plenty haven't either. Given the volume of products we're talking about, unless you pay more for an IBM it's all luck of the draw.

Indeed, I was a loyal IBM HDD customer because back in the days of building PCs for my friends and myself, none had failed me. The best of the crop I should say. But now, after so many unfortunate tales, I start to doubt their QC... But I still take my chances at the moment, because IBM/Hitachi is the cheapest!!! I upgraded my laptop with an IBM 20GB HDD a few months ago and after seriously testing the drive, no prob (touch wood!). I just bought a 120GB one for my desktop and currently testing it to the limit at the moment and will be for the next few days, hope everything will be ok. 0X

[heliod]

This isn´t taking us very far.

We all knew when we first bought that the ability of Dell to give us better prices is based on saving in some departments of the company, and QC is one of them. And this means that there will be statistically more problems with Dell computers than with others.

But statistically again, comparing to the numbers of computers sold, the amount of problems is very small.

The company I work for buys only Dell Notebooks. We have around 120 Lattitudes, among C640 and L400. The absolute majority (around 95% of them) running already for 2 years (we have 3-year leasing contracts) with no failure at all. That´s not a bad rate at all.

By the way, I suggest to the guy in this thread that complained about the size of the notebooks to take a look at the Lattitude L400 or its following model. It is a nice, small, light notebook which is easy to take everywhere.

[PetiteFlower]

My last computer(bought in 1997) was a Packard Bell. What a piece of CRAP! Horrid horrid thing, avoid them at all costs!

[ptolemyx]

I got a Dell Inspiron 8500 a few weeks ago. After reading this thread I'm glad I opted for the three-year complete warranty... but it's a great machine so far -- the GeForce 4200 really makes it :)

Ben

[onemanband]

Oh my God!

here I am, writing to this thread on a newly purchased Dell Inspiron 1100 - the very "bottom of th barrel"..

Oh, woe is me, and here i actually liked the design - yes, a bit clunky compared to an i book... :oops:

but at roughly 50% of the cost, not even considering software and firewire peripherals - I thought I actually got a good deal - :roll:

a p4 2.o ghz laptop with a cd writer, 256 ram, 20 gigs and a free 1.3 mpxl camera!!!!!!for 700 beanos - 8O

call me an idiot though - you guys must certainly be right!!

OMB

[ctmagnus]

call me an idiot though - you guys must certainly be right!!

Only time will tell. It's possible you'll get 3+ years out of it with nary a hiccup.

The posts are (by my feeble estimate) roughly 50/50 for problems/no problems, regardless of manufacturer. It all depends on the batch of [insert component name here] they get from their supplier, whether a particular compoinent will fail during it's expected lifetime.

[Kati Compton]

Oh my God!

here I am, writing to this thread on a newly purchased Dell Inspiron 1100 - the very "bottom of th barrel"..

I wouldn't worry about it yet. It's not like it's guaranteed to fail. Most likely you'll be fine. The problem is for frequent computer buyers. The more frequently you make a purchase, the more likely you are to run into a "bad" one. Ah, the joys of probability. But seriously - don't feel bad. Like I said - you'll probably be fine.

[Kati Compton]

The posts are (by my feeble estimate) roughly 50/50 for problems/no problems, regardless of manufacturer. It all depends on the batch of [insert component name here] they get from their supplier, whether a particular compoinent will fail during it's expected lifetime.

And keep in mind that it's those who have had problems that are likely to be the most vocal, which always skews the results of an opinion poll like this.

[Steveb123]

i have had a dell inspiron for over a year now and i have had no problems with it at all! i have added more ram and a new hard drive and everything is fine. of course, good old windows is another story, but the computer itself if fine.

i also have an axim. no trouble at all. i love it. my only complaint: a tad bit too thick.

all in all, dell is good!!!! i wouldn't get another though. i see a new powerbook in my future i think :D

[Andy Sjostrom]

i have had a dell inspiron for over a year now and i have had no problems with it at all! i have added more ram and a new hard drive and everything is fine. of course, good old windows is another story, but the computer itself if fine.

i also have an axim. no trouble at all. i love it. my only complaint: a tad bit too thick.

all in all, dell is good!!!! i wouldn't get another though. i see a new powerbook in my future i think :D

And to set the record straight: My Dell Axim Pocket PC is extremely solid, works like a charm and actually feels more robust (in a a positive sense)than any other Pocket PC I have.

[Jonathon Watkins]

The thing is, if the HD has gone bad, then that's not exactly Dell's fault. OK - they need to replace it and choose reliable manufacturers, but what can they do to stop a HD failing? I would personally be unhappy with the manufacturer of the HDs that keep failing. Perhaps a bad batch? I had a Seagate die on me and I avoid now Seagate. However I am running several Western Digital and IBM drives without any problems so far. Yet some people won’t touch IBM with a bargepole now after the last few lots of unreliable disks. Your mileage may vary…..

Still, I don’t really see it as being Dell’s fault – but the HD maker’s.

Thoughts?

[Andy Sjostrom]

The thing is, if the HD has gone bad, then that's not exactly Dell's fault. OK - they need to replace it and choose reliable manufacturers, but what can they do to stop a HD failing? I would personally be unhappy with the manufacturer of the HDs that keep failing. Perhaps a bad batch? I had a Seagate die on me and I avoid now Seagate. However I am running several Western Digital and IBM drives without any problems so far. Yet some people won’t touch IBM with a bargepole now after the last few lots of unreliable disks. Your mileage may vary…..

Still, I don’t really see it as being Dell’s fault – but the HD maker’s.

Thoughts?

So, if your BMW's gears break twice in a month, you'd blame the manufacturer of the gears and not BMW? I believe you'd return the car to BMW and prefer not to have to deal with the gear manufacturer yourself. They sold you the car and they should be responsible for it.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Slightly different situation, as BMW gets it’s subcontractors to design the gearboxes to their exact specifications & tolerances. With HDs, you get what the manufactures provide. OK – it’s up to Dell to choose a good quality drive, but they do not manufacture the HDs themselves. BMW do manufacture everything themselves – or at least have a BIG part in the design & manufacture of all components.

Only IBM had this level of involvement – and it did not do them much good with the GPX60 series of HDs. :|

I did not suggest dealing with the HD manufacturer directly – obviously it has to go though Dell. It’s just that …. are they really to blame if the HD breaks? Sure they are responsible and have to replace it, but if they have been supplied with a bad batch of HDs, is it their fault? OK, they should have soak tested the HD for 24 hours before shipping it, but if the HD fails because of a component failure, is it Dell’s fault, or the HD manufacturers?

Moot point really as the Data is still gone. :(

I know what it’s like to loose un-backed-up data. :cry: That’s why I’m running on RAID 10 at the moment – with 4 Western Digital 80Gb drives.

We feel for your frustration & loss.

[Andy Sjostrom]

You'd be surprised how little BMW and other car makers actually do make themselves. Technically, one can blame the maker of the actual part that broke. In this case, I blame Dell. They must take full responsibility of the stuff they put together and sell. No one forces them to use really cheap hard drives. Obviously, I chose the wrong company to buy my laptop from as I really don't mind paying a bit more to get quality.

[JJ]

It was scary reading all the complains about dell laptops because I just ordered a new Dell Inspiron 600M last night. It was not scheduled to ship till June 4th. Should I just cancel my order? It will be my first laptop and only after many months of waiting and comparing features and price that I got enough courage and $ to place my order. Now seeing all these posts about how bad Dell's laptops are, I'm having second thoughts again.

[Andy Sjostrom]

It was scary reading all the complains about dell laptops because I just ordered a new Dell Inspiron 600M last night. It was not scheduled to ship till June 4th. Should I just cancel my order? It will be my first laptop and only after many months of waiting and comparing features and price that I got enough courage and $ to place my order. Now seeing all these posts about how bad Dell's laptops are, I'm having second thoughts again.

I think the lesson you can learn from this thread is regardless of what laptop you buy, make sure you have a good service agreement and backup your data at least once every week. (I do it daily since my first hard drive crash). I am not saying: "Don't buy Dell!". As you can see, many have reported they Dell laptops without having had any problems. Personally, I will stay clear from Dell laptops but that is, as you can understand, more based on subjective feelings than objective facts.

So, don't feel you have to cancel your order based on some of what you've read here. Again, just make sure a good service agreement is in place. And backups!

[Ed Hansberry]

I think the lesson you can learn from this thread is regardless of what laptop you buy, make sure you have a good service agreement and backup your data at least once every week. (I do it daily since my first hard drive crash). I am not saying: "Don't buy Dell!". As you can see, many have reported they Dell laptops without having had any problems. Personally, I will stay clear from Dell laptops but that is, as you can understand, more based on subjective feelings than objective facts.

Question: Dell has obviously purchased a defective lot of HD's from Hitachi. Hitachi supplies IBM (in fact, isn't this IBM's old HD unit?) Compaq, Dell and others. Why would you stop buying a laptop from Company X because they got a bad lot of components. For example, my car has had 2 recalls because of defective components. Because the rest of the car has performed so well and overall ratings for the car continue to be high (just as Dell continues to rate high) I'll definintely consider buying another one from the same company when it comes time to repurchase.

It would be one thing if this was a Packard Bell. Horrible reputation and all of their machines are garbage. Dell though didn't get to be #1 by building junk, no matter how good their prices are.

This message typed from a Dell Latitude C610. :D

[Andy Sjostrom]

Question: Dell has obviously purchased a defective lot of HD's from Hitachi. Hitachi supplies IBM (in fact, isn't this IBM's old HD unit?) Compaq, Dell and others. Why would you stop buying a laptop from Company X because they got a bad lot of components. For example, my car has had 2 recalls because of defective components. Because the rest of the car has performed so well and overall ratings for the car continue to be high (just as Dell continues to rate high) I'll definintely consider buying another one from the same company when it comes time to repurchase.

It would be one thing if this was a Packard Bell. Horrible reputation and all of their machines are garbage. Dell though didn't get to be #1 by building junk, no matter how good their prices are.

Answer: From a subjective and emotional point of view, I have lost all confidence in Dell laptops. If your car's engine broke down once and that almost killed you, they replaced the engine and it broke down again -- what would your feelings be towards that car maker?

From an objective point of view, you might be right. Maybe all hard drives come from the same maker. Maybe there's no difference what so ever between a hard drive in a Dell laptop and another hard drive in a laptop from Compaq.

However, could the error might be in the hardware between mother board and hard drive, in the mother board or somewhere else in the Dell laptop? Could it be so that Hitachi makes different 30 GB hard drives with different QA levels at different prices and it so happens that Dell chooses the cheaper product? Could it be.. could it be... could it be...

Really, I believe it boils down to subjective, intangible stuff. I got burned and I would strangely enough react quite differently if my new Compaq would break (the first time) than if my Dell replacement would break (the third time).