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man my mate got a dell :(

Mord

Mord

macrumors G4
Original poster
Aug 24, 2003
10,091
23
UK
my freind (14) got a dell some pentium 4 I'm really annoyed because he likes macs and wanted one and it would be perfect for him but now he's calling me all the time for help when it go's wrong. His mum go it because her brother recommended dell.

an ibook would of suited them so well.

dose anyone know the what percentage fail in the first couple of months?

he's calling me up all the time and I just want to yell "get a friking mac like I told you to and you'd be happy"

A mac would be perfect because all they use it for is the internet and homework

I'm sure they will regret this as they are not at all technicly inclined and there pc will be cloged up with viruses and spyware.

i'll probably end up giving him my ibook when i get a pbg5

dose dell have the same thing as apple if your not satisfyed within a month you can return it? because if there is i have 30 days to convice them
 
Tough break for him. Try looking on Dell's website for that info. If anyone tried giving me a Dull, I would refuse.
 
i looked on there web site yhea it's 30 days but you have to fill in some form and it all looks like pain in the ass i don't know weather to install virus spy wear protection stuff or leave it to go wrong I don't want him to suffer but it will make him learn

man i hate it when i get tech calls from my pc owning freinds when a freind of mine gets a mac from my recomedation they generally ask two things how to set up mail and how to eject a disk the rest they learn for themselves.

pc's are just to high mantinence
 
I dont want to turn this into a dell Vs apple argument but a dell is not suited to him at all he has no pc software he needs all he needs to do is surf and write and knowing him he'll download tons of crap that will clog up his registry.

this is not a gaming rig or anything requiring power.
 
Well, without turning this into an Apple vs. Dell discussion....

If you're the one on first-line tech support, do the right thing and install the anti-virus and firewall stuff. Protects your friend, and cuts down on the phone calls to you.

Next, have a good firm talk with your friend about installing anything he can download, along with the other usual "Internet safety" topics. You'll both probably be glad you did.

If they can't/won't/think it's too much trouble to take the Dell back and get a Mac, then you can at least make sure they've got the tools and knowledge they need to not suffer too much with the Dell.
 
one word...SABOTAGE

be evil and do as much to that thing as you can, infest it with virii, install spyware, bog it down to nothingness, throw up your hands in frustration and drive him back to the Mac! ha ha ha I'm feeling evil lately, don't mind me
 
thats mean but tempting

I think i'll leave him for two weeks and go to his house ibook in hand and show him the light
 
1. Thank you for saving money at Dell.

2. Shiny New Computer smell.

3. Boot

4. Play, work, use.

5. Crash
attachment.php


[Edit - You get what you pay for...]
 
I'll be honest; I am completely oblivious to most of these issues that people seem to get. I've not once gotten Spyware - nor have I ever RECEIVED an email with a trojan on it; and I've seen examples of them -- anyone who runs them deserves what they get. True, some exploit Outlook (Express) through the preview pane and whatnot, which I've never used (Eudora, Netscape back in the 3.0 days, and now Opera) --
"get a Mac if all you do is net and homework" -- this argument really confounds me (more because of Apple's lineup and prices than anything else); if all you want is a simple system then you want it to be cheap. I'd go for a used PC or a low end "Dell". If it's not a laptop then a PC is pretty much a PC now a days, and if you don't love Mac as is the price is just too high for entry level systems.
Don't give me any "eMac/iMac is a good value" -- the people that they (eMac in particular) seem aimed at to me put price as the number one factor; and Apple isn't playing ball because of their ego ("we don't see room to innovate" was the line I recall). Well; so what? Not every product needs to be a /huge/ innovation like the iPod controls. The elcheapo computer clearly has a good profit margin (otherwise Dell & Co wouldn't sell them and advertise them like they do); so just make a pretty iMac base or some other tiny little cube, sell it with a nice flat panel (consumers love these), and let it have the back end of your hardware.
I have no problem recommending a Mac to "rich kids," tinkerers, and people like myself (technical but not in the mood to deal with things like monitor refreshes to set up XFree in Linux) -- but to "we need a computer machine to type reports for school" -- I can't justify the cost of a Mac to them without lieing to both them and myself.

Now, on Laptops -- totally different story; Dell loves to blame any problem that comes up on "You dropped it!" or some other such BS. I can justify an iBook for most people's laptop needs no problemo.
 
Ha, he bought a DELL.

Just convince him and his old folks that their computer is a dud, (DELL's are duds.) This my be hard especially if your of the same age as your friend (14.)

However, they more than likley want a desktop, not a laptop, with a 12" screen.

I'm also guessing that this computer is for family use as well, and his parents may need software only avaliable on Windows.

If you have any computing knowlege (can read an instruction manual) Tell them you will build and maintain a PC for them (for a small fee,) as long as they take their DELL back.
 
a friend of mine bought a dell about 18 months to maybe 2 years ago. its a celeron 1.3ghz and hates any ram stick we ever tried to put in it. only way to add ram in the end was to buy from dell. its like they design their hardware to force you to buy upgrades from them. thats pretty sleazy...
 
blue&whiteman said:
a friend of mine bought a dell about 18 months to maybe 2 years ago. its a celeron 1.3ghz and hates any ram stick we ever tried to put in it. only way to add ram in the end was to buy from dell. its like they design their hardware to force you to buy upgrades from them. thats pretty sleazy...
Click to expand...

sounds like apple and internal airport cards or the sticks needed to max out a dual 2 G5 (in OZ anyway)
 
my friends dell compleatly f***ed up yesterday after installing some anti-virus software and crashed during installing it. so lucky me spent a good 2 hours of my time reformatting it and making it usable! joy!
 
benixau said:
sounds like apple and internal airport cards or the sticks needed to max out a dual 2 G5 (in OZ anyway)
Click to expand...

with apple its not the same issue at all as they are the only ones making the hardware anyway. dell has thousands of competitors and apple has none.
 
Ding Dong the dell i dead

the cpu fan failed so it overheated and went poof he has just purchaced an 17" imac :)
 
Hector said:
my freind (14) got a dell some pentium 4 I'm really annoyed because he likes macs and wanted one and it would be perfect for him but now he's calling me all the time for help when it go's wrong. His mum go it because her brother recommended dell.
Click to expand...

Tell your friend to format the hard drive and reinstall the OS from scratch. OEM installs of Windows, at best, are occasionally unstable. At worst they will cause your system to crash on a daily basis.
A friend of mine just got himself a used Toshiba laptop. I told him to reinstall the OS but he didn't bother to listen. For weeks all I heard was bitching about how the system locked up. I finally convinced him to hand the laptop over to me. Reinstalled and tweaked the OS. That was a month ago. Not a single complaint since.

To reiterate. Format the drive and reinstall the OS.
 
Hector said:
my freind (14) got a dell some pentium 4 I'm really annoyed because he likes macs and wanted one and it would be perfect for him but now he's calling me all the time for help when it go's wrong. His mum go it because her brother recommended dell.

an ibook would of suited them so well.

dose anyone know the what percentage fail in the first couple of months?

he's calling me up all the time and I just want to yell "get a friking mac like I told you to and you'd be happy"

A mac would be perfect because all they use it for is the internet and homework

I'm sure they will regret this as they are not at all technicly inclined and there pc will be cloged up with viruses and spyware.

i'll probably end up giving him my ibook when i get a pbg5

dose dell have the same thing as apple if your not satisfyed within a month you can return it? because if there is i have 30 days to convice them
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that!

My buddy ordered a Dell laptop. Within a few days, he requested an RMA to return it and he got a 12" PowerBook. He couldn't be happier! :D

If they want to return it they can just call them up and tell them they don't like it, and they want to go Mac.
 
If you think that is bad, my friend went behind my back and has got a windows PC out of a shopping from home magazine. He understood what he would be getting from owning a mac and it was within his price range. He just sold his old Duron and I told him to inform me when he wants the new computer so we could talk about it further.

I have troubleshooted his old winME pc for 3 years and they always looked to me for help and I was the only person to help them. Now it seems I don't have to since I don't use XP and its the perfect excuse for not helping him. He will run into trouble as they are normally clueless about such things, hence their dependancy on me for help.

His other friend was telling me how he ordered it last week out of his shopping brouchure and so he doesn't know that I know.
God was I pissed when I found out, I did feel betrayed because I helped them so much and OSX would of been perfect with its full range of features. I even mentioned the amount of software you get with the Apple as well plus they weren't bothered about having to learn how to use an Apple because they knew that XP would throw them off just as much in UI.

All they would of used it for was internet and word processing, now they got a computer from a home shopping catalogue which doesn't even allow the return of the machine once its been delivered!

I'm just waiting for him to ask for my help when IE gets a virus onto his system.
 
Hector said:
my freind (14) got a dell some pentium 4 I'm really annoyed because he likes macs and wanted one and it would be perfect for him but now he's calling me all the time for help when it go's wrong. His mum go it because her brother recommended dell.
Click to expand...

Times like these, never underestimate the pleasure to be gained from saying "I told you so until he goes mad". :D

I would not help. I would go there, see the hoops he's got to go through to get his Dell working, and G-L-O-A-T.

The above advice only works if you have the willpower to NOT help him with his troubles. Think of yourself as salt in his Dell wound. :D :D :D
 
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