Why hate Dell?

[Mik3y]

I dont particularly like Dell, but since we have soooo many people who are perfect and hate dell, like me, in this forum, lets hear some of the reasons. i'll explain my reasons later, but right now, it's dinner time!

 

[us3rnotfound]

they suck

 

[SneakyStuff]

I own 3 of them, but my main rig, you guessed it, I made it myself. Why? I don't like specialized motherboards, with specialized fan connectors, which specialize with annoying people. I don't like the dinky power supply, no option to overclock, and the POOR ventilation. For a casual gaming PC, or all-around PC, the Dimension 4000 series are alright, but everything below that :brokenheart::thumbsdown:

 

[StrangerGuy]

Originally posted by: shminu
they suck

Winnar!

 

[Budman]

2 words.

proprietary parts

 

[thirdlegstump]

They feel slower than they should be and the obvious proprietary parts and crap ass bios.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Budman
2 words.

proprietary parts

 

[MDE]

I hate talking to Indians to find get something replaced. (Never again will I buy ANYTHING made by Netgear...)

 

[mechBgon]

No AMD options either.

Want choices? At Dell, we make the choices* for you!




*kindly do not attempt to remove the Intel® thought-control helmet.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Budman
2 words.

proprietary parts

yeah, didn't bother ordering their floppy when I bought my 4600 for $400 on sale. Figured I'd use one of my old ones. Nope. The only other option is a USB floppy, which are two or three times as expensive as just buying a special Dell floppy. Ack!

Other than that I like them. They are reliable, quiet little boxes, at least the ones I've owned. The cases come apart pretty easily. They're cheap. They work. They have a warranty. I still prefer building my own, but for a basic box, they do the job great.

 

[RaymondY]

I love my Dell Poweredge 400SC with a P4 3.0ghz processer, ATi Radeon 9800 Pro, Audigy and Plextor 708A burner. It is my primary system and is fast and stable and mad quiet

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
No AMD options either.

Want choices? At Dell, we make the choices* for you!




*kindly do not attempt to remove the Intel® thought-control helmet.

Right on ! Where did you get that (I didn't see it above)

 

[Robor]

Pros:

1. Their standard desktops are cheap.

Cons:

1. Their desktop CPU and PS fans start making noise soon after they're turned on.
2. Their tech support is often outsourced overseas and you wind up speaking to an Indian dude that you can't understand.
3. Their laptops are absolute garbage.
4. HD failures (laptops) one after another and well before MTBF.
5. Their website sucks. Try using their search feature to track down a problem. I found I was better off using Google.
6. BS certification program. Answering how much RAM a particular Dell system has doesn't prove you know how to work on computers.
7. Clock for clock against other systems they're slower than they should be.
8. They will sell a system with 128MB of RAM and WinXP. That's just stupid.

 

[stevty2889]

I use to think Dell was alright, until I knew somebody that had one. They had a Pentium 3 based dell that was still under warantee. It stopped working, and wouldn't boot up. They shipped it back to Dell to get it fixed. Dell couldn't fix it, and they no longer had P3 based systems, so they gave them a Pentium 4 system as a replacement. You may think they got a good deal out of it, but WRONG. At the time, the 533mhz FSB P4's were out. What they got was a 1.7ghz williamette, with 128Mb of pc2100 DDR, and Windows XP. One of the WORST machines I have ever seen. It is by far slower than the P3 they had. With 128Mb of memory, it is very starved. Just sitting idle, windows is using all of the memory, and it takes anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes from the time you try to start a program until it actualy starts up. The cheap plastic clamp they use to hold the PCI cards in place, doesn't stay clamped, and the sound card falls out on a regular basis. I added a 256MB stick of memory to it, and it improved but was still slow. I then reformatted it, and re-installed windows, figuring it would speed it up some, but it didn't help any. All I can say is after seeing that system, I wouldn't recomend a Dell to my worst enemy. I mean Compaq's are horrible, but at least the PCI cards don't fall out on a regular basis.

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
No AMD options either.

Want choices? At Dell, we make the choices* for you!




*kindly do not attempt to remove the Intel® thought-control helmet.

:thumbsup:

 

[SilentRunning]

Dell, the company that hired an pothead to do their commercials and then acted surprised when he got busted with marijuana and fired him, that Dell?




edit: rrrrrrrrrrrr.....

 

[Dennis Travis]

I think Dells are fine for the average user out there that does not do really demanding stuff. The reason most here don't really like dells is most real Anandtechers are real computer nuts and want the best. For people like most of us Dell just does not cut it.

Like others here have already said, I dont like the propertery motherboards/trays so you are stuck with what you get. They at least their desktops feel slower than any home or Mom & Pop rig that i have used with the same basic specs, But even my friends Dell Laptops seem slower for some reason. I prefer IBM Thinkpads for PC Laptops. They are very reliable and rugged. My old 233 Thinkpad 770 keeps on going after all the abuse I have given it. I have seen dells fall apart under way less abuse and this thinkpad has been hit and thrown and dropped too!
Dell's are fine for average people though who don't want to build their own and want a lot of support.


Forgot one other point, I really look down on Dell for not offering their users a choice of the AMD 64 in their home systems and the Opteron in their servers as they are such a powerfull option to Intel for less $$$. Let the customer have a choice.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
No AMD options either.

Want choices? At Dell, we make the choices* for you!




*kindly do not attempt to remove the Intel® thought-control helmet.

:laugh:

Mainly because I enjoy building & upgrading to exactly what I need and tinkering with my system. It would be like telling a mechanic with a beautiful, powerful, and lovingly maintained car that Accords are better because they're more reliable and easier

Also, while their budget systems are very economical, their "higher end" systems cost more than it would run to build one. The rest (build quality, etc) fall under my first reason. I personally don't need to pay extra for tech support.

They have their uses for sure; businesses seeking large numbers of the same setup for a very low price, and, until recently, as a recommendation to friends & family members for whom I didn't want to or couldn't provide tech support - but their customer service rating has taken a nosedive recently. I've experienced it firsthand, as I recently had to despywareize and (ugh forgive me...) reinstall a botched install of AOL 9.0 optimized ( :barf; ) for a family friend when Dell basically told them to F off

Edit: oh, and on price - figure their shipping into it and see if their prices still look appealing. Last I checked they were asking ridiculous amounts of money for S&H, unless they're offering some kind of deal on it.

 

[rbV5]

I like Dell, I'd never get a PC from them...but I've got several good deals from them on other parts.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I used to despise Dell, but I don't anymore.

Of course a 2001FP will do that (yeah yeah Benq makes it really, but they don't sell theirs for under $700). I've had no problems with them.

I just wish they'd adopt AMD and then I'd like them a lot more. Also, make their components not quite so proprietary (wouldn't it cost less if the original manufacturers didn't have to modify their products to be used in a Dell?).

Although Dell certainly does have its problems, I have to say I've never encountered one when dealing with them (thank whoever you worship as your almighty being that I've never had to deal with customer support other than semi-local or through e-mail).

 

[natto fire]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Everything that was said above, plus the fact that if I bought a computer from them I would have to live with the fact that I helped put one of their stupid commercials on TV, radio, etc. I don't think I could sleep at night.

 

[jrphoenix]

Read what Sudhian.com says about the sucky Dell model: Dell Sucks.

It's dead on with what Dell does with their lowball minimum requirements.

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

Originally posted by: Dennis Travis
Forgot one other point, I really look down on Dell for not offering their users a choice of the AMD 64 in their home systems and the Opteron in their servers as they are such a powerfull option to Intel for less $$$. Let the customer have a choice.

that's cause intel pays dell not to...I think they are great for non computer nerds which means nobody on anandtech will like them

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer

Originally posted by: Dennis Travis
Forgot one other point, I really look down on Dell for not offering their users a choice of the AMD 64 in their home systems and the Opteron in their servers as they are such a powerfull option to Intel for less $$$. Let the customer have a choice.

that's cause intel pays dell not to...I think they are great for non computer nerds which means nobody on anandtech will like them

Non computer nerds need tech support that doesn't cost extra and that's intelligible (ie. not outsourced). Dell used to provide this, but it's gone way downhill recently.

 

[jrphoenix]

Originally posted by: Gurck

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer

Originally posted by: Dennis Travis
Forgot one other point, I really look down on Dell for not offering their users a choice of the AMD 64 in their home systems and the Opteron in their servers as they are such a powerfull option to Intel for less $$$. Let the customer have a choice.

that's cause intel pays dell not to...I think they are great for non computer nerds which means nobody on anandtech will like them

Non computer nerds need tech support that doesn't cost extra and that's intelligible (ie. not outsourced). Dell used to provide this, but it's gone way downhill recently.

My uncle upgraded his intergrated "extreme" graphics on his Dell to a sucky FX 5200 for Far Cry based on Dell's recommendation! Ughh... Not only that, when he was on the phone with Dell, he knew the guy was an idiot because he was telling him to press harder to try and force an AGP card into a PCI slot!!!! LOL, thank God he called me!