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Buying a computer - Is a Dell really that bad?

That's interesting Lukasha. Here in Australia, HPs are much more expensive than Dells. Plus, you can't seem to configure them online, which sucks. 🙁
 
mad jew said:
That's interesting Lukasha. Here in Australia, HPs are much more expensive than Dells. Plus, you can't seem to configure them online, which sucks. 🙁
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It appears that you can configure all but the low end machines, but the process is terribly convoluted.
Edit: oops - I was looking at "commercial desktops" - laptops have no options.
 
If you want a new desktop PC then build it your self. Save you some £ and will get you a better working and better quality PC.
Dell sux. Allways have allways will, you get plastic over quality.
 
Dell's fine. I enjoy bashing Dell here and there, but in reality they do offer very good prices on their products. And if you take correct care of the computer, and administer to it correctly, then everything will be fine and you'll end up saving alot of money. Note, though, that if your product is one of the few that ends up with a problem, Dell's customer's service isn't close to being up to par with Apple's.

The thing is, that some people would rather sink in more money and have a computer that they know will be fine, and will barely need any upkeep. Paying for peace of mind. And in my opinion, peace of mind is really worth the hundreds of dollars we pay as premium for our apple computers. But for others, it's not. To each his own.

If you can build your own computer, that'd be great. Saves a ton of money, but that's only if you know how to do it. My friends have built incredible gaming machines by themselves, and have saved hundreds of dollars.
 
Well, I was setting up a customer's computer and the Dell Wireless Keyboard and Mouse were not initialized until step 3 of setup. And on Step 1 you had to press enter to continue.

🙄

Not to mention, it takes 5 restarts (I counted) after your initial startup to deactivate the crap, pure and utter crap, that comes pre-installed, or to set up the pre-installed software. Major PITA... why can't they give me a clean slate to work with!? It literally took 45 minutes to deal with everything on there. McAffee, LiveUpdate, AOL Free Trial, Earthlink Free Trial, etc. etc. etc.

Buy a Mini. Be happy. You won't get 'value detracted' programs thrown in to seem like the computer is worth a lot.
 
ZoomZoomZoom said:
If you can build your own computer, that'd be great. Saves a ton of money, but that's only if you know how to do it. My friends have built incredible gaming machines by themselves, and have saved hundreds of dollars.
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Its not that hard building your own. Todays parts is assembled in 1, 2, 3..., ten years ago was another matter. Jumpers and stuff had to be set to the correct setting. Now you just assemble and start.
 
I'd go with the Mac, because by now with the PCs I've used in the past, I'd probably have some issues here and there (3 months now), but my Mac still runs just as fine today like the day I bought it.
 
Winstonp said:
get the 700m or get nothing.

I had an inspiron 2500. Repaired it under warranty prolly 10-12 times. Dell is horrible, which is why a warranty is a MUST!

if you dont get the warranty, you're pissing time and money into the wind.
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Warranty might be a must...but I would not be happy that my machine is more at the repair centre than at my place!
 
ZoomZoomZoom said:
Dell's fine. I enjoy bashing Dell here and there, but in reality they do offer very good prices on their products.
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There are co-workers of mine who swear by Dell. Then again, they also get excited at the prospect of going out for Chinese food at lunch. It must be the magical allure of vegetable lo mein and white rice.
 
Dell is not bad, is just ugly , their designers are just retarded and made of cheap plastic (that said they just came out with the 5051c dual core pentium D which is slightly better looking). And if you want to run mac osx then you can't.

Also with dell be careful if you get the lowest of the line because they never make it very clear if you can upgrade it or not.

As somebody said before, fix the ibook for about 100 pounds you can get a neww HD and you still have 500 to buy yourself a faster computer, for 500 you can get yourself a PC laptop or a half decent desktop..dell or not. For 500 and if you want a PC I would get a shuttle PC or another small form factor PC. Also AOpen should introduce a PC copy of the mac mini soon and should be well below the price of the mini...then again, you're getting a copy from a company that has not imagination and just makes a cheap copy in Taiwan.. like getting Nikke or Mike trainers 😛
 
zap2 said:
yes a dell is really that bad
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Yeah, I have heard that too. Their customer satisfactions down by 6.3%(?)
And there build quality is the worst its been in 5 years 😱
 
Why not buy a new iBook?

£700 in the UK new, but you can sell your old iBook (with or without a broken drive) to fund the difference in price. You will also get the educational price which takes a fair bit off. In the UK university students get even more of a discount.

xo RedTomato
 
For what you will be doing with the system I'd definitely recomend the mac mini. I would only go for the dell if you were into gaming. Browsing, writing, listening to music and your programmes are all things the mini will handle well. As someone else has posted, you can turn it into a music/video server once you get a mactel. And it will look so much cooler on your desk than that black plastic behemoth.
 
From my search on laptops, the "IBM" Thinkpads are the best thing going for laptops, and not that much more than Dell's.
 
I am currently in the market to buy my first mac, (gonna buy the updated mini as soon as its released)... Since I am a windows user, I would hope that I am not biased here, but I think you would do yourself right with a new mini. With your discount (education) you should easily be able to find one in the price range you are looking for (you should also check out the referbished macs).

My current employer is a Dell shop, and while they are not bad, they do have their share of issues. I am on my third LCD monitor in three years and our IT department has stacks of monitors and computers that are constantly being repaired.

As my grandfather used to say, "You get what you pay for".

Go look at the mini....
 
When you clear away all the bias and zealotry...no, a Dell is really not that bad.

My girlfriend recently got a Dell, and it runs great - never a single problem whatsoever.

Although I like Macs better, and I did try to convince her to get a Mini, I had to eventually realize she likes PC's better - and no matter how much I like Mac, her opinion is not going to change (just the same as mine won't).

At the end of the day, different people like and prefer different things. Mechanically, the Dell works great.
 
ack_mac said:
As my grandfather used to say, "You get what you pay for".
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We have that saying in my family as well (my dad & I in particular).

So ya, get another Mac. 🙂
 
Josh said:
My girlfriend recently got a Dell, and it runs great - never a single problem whatsoever.
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Hmm........must not be connected to the internet then. 😉 🙂
 
The saying should actually be "You don't get what you don't pay for". Otherwise, it makes it sound like just paying a lot for something will give you a quality product.

Dell is a good example. I live in Dell country and it seems like almost everyone I know works at, or has worked at Dell. So I hear a lot of the "inside scoop" on how Dell's are built...

Dude, you SO do not want to go there!
 
Well, in the end, I bought a 60Gb Fujitsu HD (5400rpm), nervously followed the instructions on http://www.pbfixit.com et voila! One smooth working ibook again.

So looks like I'm ditching the idea of a Dell! Thanks again for your advice!
 
Wuzz said:
Well, in the end, I bought a 60Gb Fujitsu HD (5400rpm), nervously followed the instructions on http://www.pbfixit.com et voila! One smooth working ibook again.

So looks like I'm ditching the idea of a Dell! Thanks again for your advice!
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A happy end to the story.
Enjoy the return to the iBook computing experience!

The funny thing is that you won't actually think about the fact that you're using the same old Mac because you'll find it actually works .

The amount of time I've spent troubleshooting one thing or another on brand new Dells for workmates of mine, who actually perform very undemanding tasks with their computers, it just isn't funny.

If I had to buy a PC, I can guarantee it wouldn't be a Dell. Cheap they are. Good, they ain't.

Dune
 
Wuzz said:
Well, in the end, I bought a 60Gb Fujitsu HD (5400rpm), nervously followed the instructions on http://www.pbfixit.com et voila! One smooth working ibook again.

So looks like I'm ditching the idea of a Dell! Thanks again for your advice!
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Wuzz -- hat's off to you. I just got nauseated looking at all the steps to replace the hd on an iBook. Brain surgeons would have no problem, I'm sure.

Glad you upgraded the speed and storage on your now "new" iBook. How much did you pay for the Fujistu?
 
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