use dell laptop for recreation and dell desktops for and work. no problems with them.
people always gripe about them, but that's normal.. you never really hear people go the extra mile to praise a company as opposed to going the extra mile to complain about a company. human nature, i guess.

 

I have a dell inspiron notebook, and a dell 4500 desktop and have had no problems with either. Have had the desktop for about a year and haven't had to call them once on it. Very good computers. Would highly recommend.

 

We are on our third set of Dell Business computers. 9 machines have only had two problems in 5-6 years. The parts that were faulty were overnighted including a 19" Sony Trinitron monitor (not their fault).

Sometimes you have to go through their lengthy problem check session with a nice gentleman from India, but overall they always get it done. Highly recommended.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by brantshali

 

I've found the Dell desktops to be good systems. They are very nice for the price and work well. Here at work, all four of my machines are Dells, and they've never given me any problems. Customer support pretty much sucks throughout the computer industry, so that's unavoidable. Buy based on what you get for the price, not support. You can almost always diagnose computer problems yourself, which is usually easier than dealing with support anyway.

Several of my friends have had the Dell laptops, and almost all of them have had fan failures. Not sure if that's a common issue with them. To Dell's credit, however, these failures were all covered under warranty. But if it weren't under warranty, then it would suck, because laptop fans cost a grip.

Btw ttb, you've got PM...

 

You'll get what you pay for.

Dell's are ok cheap computers, good cost/performance, but not top performance. We use them at the university I work for (I work for the IT department). They're no worse than any other "big box" brand of computer, but not any better.

If you just want a computer, and are mostly concerned about price rather than performance, a dell is ok.

Computers are a commodity, like buying a pound of flour. It really does not matter what brand of flour one buys. White flour is white flour.

What is important is not the brand of the computer, but the brand of the chipset inside the computer. Very few brand names actually make any of the parts inside the computer. They just assemble the parts. Be wary of great deals on computers, unless you know why the computer is a great deal. Be wary of computers that use integrated parts, unless the functionality of those parts is not important to you.

 

Preface; I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

The company that I work for currently is really big into Dell and so far my experience with Dell has been positive. On the occasions that I've had to call support, hold times have been short, people have been pleasant, and I've got replacement parts quickly. It does seem though lately that there has been an usually high amount of hard drives crashing and they all were IBM hard drives. Go figure.

I do find if funny that "Apple" people always feel the need to defend their choices. Wonder why that is. The only Apple product I would ever consider buying is the iPod because it actually has substance behind the style unlike the rest of the Apple line.

 

HP has always had my vote. When it comes to purchasing a PC, the best thing is to build one on your own. If you cant and want to buy one in the stores, you can really get anything now a days. Just DO NOT get a E-Machine, Gateway or Sony. Alien Ware makes a great PC also http://alienware.com/
I think my next laptop will be from them.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ubetit

 

for Dell

Worked with or on many a Dell over the past few years, aside from a few small gripes with some older lines, quality machines. The new case designs are very nice to work on, the older ones not as much.

Alienware is great, but they shoot more for the gamer or higher end PC users. And the price usually reflects it.

I wouldn't touch HP or Comcrap with a ten foot pole. Garbage in and out. Granted, HP CD burners and printers I have nothing bad to say about, but keep away from their PCs.

Otherwise, building your own is the way to go if you know what you're doing. If you don't, forget it, you might end up getting yourself into more trouble than what it's worth.