Dell Sucks

Shaun @ Tru6 · 07-06-2009, 08:38 AM

We have a 5 year old Dell Precision 470 that is only used for our order entry/invoicing system...very light use at most. 2 years ago, Dell replaced every single board in it under warrantee. Today, the motherboard died. Naturally Dell won't replace it since it's pretty far out of warrantee, but how can motherboards die every 2-3 years?

How difficult would it be to plug our HD into another similar Dell? Want to get a temp computer until I can get a Mac Pro tower and just run Windows off of that.

BTW, I have a Dell from 2000 that just keeps humming along, so clearly Dell quality has gone downhill from it's earlier days.

Jim Richards · 07-06-2009, 08:40 AM

I agree. From my past experiences with their products, Dell sucks.

stomachmonkey · 07-06-2009, 08:46 AM

You can probably get away with putting the drive in an external case and hooking up to another Dell.

You might get a bunch of driver errors on boot.

Or hook it up to one of your Macs and pull the data.

If you get an Intel box look at Cross Over. Can run Windows apps under OS X without installing/running Windows.

BlueSkyJaunte · 07-06-2009, 08:48 AM

You're lucky it lasted as long as it did. Mine was a POS out of the gate--by design!

onewhippedpuppy · 07-06-2009, 08:51 AM

I've ordered probably 10 Dells in the last few years for family members, not a single issue. Sorry about your luck, but they are pretty good for normal use. We currently have a desktop that's probably 8 years old and a nearly new laptop.

masraum · 07-06-2009, 08:57 AM

Weird, I've had Dell laptops and desktops at various jobs. I ordered a Dell for my mom, and now I have a refurbished Dell at home ($270). I've never really had a problem with any of them.

island911 · 07-06-2009, 09:01 AM

Geez, I have a few Dells collecting dust which still function fine ...just old and abused. .. LED's have faded from sooo many hours.

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

no offence, but it's a 5 year old computer... business use...
replace it.. 400 bucks get's you a decent model with 3 years waranty...
Why bother with it for that kind of money ? It will use less power and make less noise too.

I've been on Dell for the last 8 years, no problems.. one warranty issue, video card, most likely due to bad earth in the previous house electricals... replaced in no time...

Shaun @ Tru6 · 07-06-2009, 09:50 AM

yeah, if this thing performed like my 2000 Dell or our servers running koala4.com, I'd be very happy with Dell. This model's motherboard seems to be the 2.7 w/ thermal reactors of their product line.

MysticLlama · 07-06-2009, 09:56 AM

There is a big quality difference I've found between the "home" machines and the "business" machines.

Have had very very few issues with Optiplexes and Latitudes, but with a much smaller sample size of Dimensions and Inspirons have had just as many or more problems.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 07-06-2009, 10:18 AM

I'm going out now to get a SATA-->Firewire enclosure and hook it up to a laptop a friend is bringing over.

Will buy a new computer soon, just needs to be able to run a custom app in Access 2007 on XPPro relatively fast.

Any recommendations? Like the idea of a 3-year warrantee.

MysticLlama · 07-06-2009, 10:33 AM

For the office I've just been buying Dell Optiplex 755/760s from the Dell Outlet.

I don't go for the refurbs though, I go for previously ordered new. This means someone ordered it, screwed up on what they wanted, it got built, they cancelled, and it wasn't ever used. Not only are they new, but they are also already sitting there in a box, so they show up much sooner.

There isn't always one available, but if I open up the outlet filter thing and just check a couple times a day until one comes up.

If you're a bit flexible on specs, you can get a nice machine with the 3 year warranty for $500-700ish. Other models can be had cheaper, I just try to keep all of mine at least similar.

Just looked, and right now there are 38 available previously ordered new 760s.

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

Running Windows 7 with Virtual Box on MacBook Pro. Pretty cool. And both are free for the moment.

I have had endless problems with my Dell, which I keep off the 'net and only use for RTS gaming.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 07-06-2009, 11:01 AM

Scott, Bill, can I take my 5-year-old PowerBook G4, 1.5 and convert it into a Windows Machine? Then I could get a Mac Pro tower just for me.

Tim Walsh · Tim Walsh's Garage

we run hundreds of dell servers here from all generations of rack mount servers, and thousands of desktops, also from all eras(we've been using dell as our main supplier for over a decade). We don't have many issues with them at all. Some liked to eat hard drives due to lousy ones installed from the factory or lousy slimline case design, but that's all I can think of.

Hell I've got a GX400 on my desk that's about 6 years old. It's got some LOUD fan bearings, but that's it.

Are you sure it's not the environment it's in?

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

Scott, Bill, can I take my 5-year-old PowerBook G4, 1.5 and convert it into a Windows Machine? Then I could get a Mac Pro tower just for me.

No, sorry. You can, but you won't like emulation on a G4. With OSX + Intel processor, it's like buttah.

mikester · 07-06-2009, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

We have a 5 year old Dell Precision 470 that is only used for our order entry/invoicing system...very light use at most. 2 years ago, Dell replaced every single board in it under warrantee. Today, the motherboard died. Naturally Dell won't replace it since it's pretty far out of warrantee, but how can motherboards die every 2-3 years?

How difficult would it be to plug our HD into another similar Dell? Want to get a temp computer until I can get a Mac Pro tower and just run Windows off of that.

BTW, I have a Dell from 2000 that just keeps humming along, so clearly Dell quality has gone downhill from it's earlier days.

Someone already asked this but how is the environment the computer is in?

I've seen dusty computers running along for ever but still, it isn't something you should expect. 5 years is a long time, is the computer on 100% of the time or does it get shut down when not in use? 2 years isn't that long, are you sure it is the MB and not possibly the power supply? I would look at environmental issues (to hot, too dusty, etc) as the cause of the failure. Even in an office environment if the computer is picking up a lot of dust it can get clogged up and unable to move air through it - this will cause obvious heat buildup issues and shorten the life of the computer (as with any electronics device).

I've had decent luck with Dells but they are far from computer perfection.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 07-06-2009, 01:39 PM

Thanks for the replies, I'm now up and running with the SATA in a gaming dock and an IBM laptop and Access installed. One day completely shot, but at least I'm up and running.

A clarification. the computer is 5 years old, that is the case, the hard drive, DVD and floppy drive are all 5 years old. Dell, under warrantee, replaced every single board in the computer 2 years ago.

Environment: basic office desktop, my laptop is 5 feet away.

I think the boards defective. When I was troubleshooting with Dell Support, all we did was unplug every drive, plug the computer in, read out the ABCD colors and he instantly says it's a bad integrated voltage regulator...over the phone. My guess is their CS software gives them past incidents on which to draw conclusions. The speed of and lack of actual testing with such a precise diagnosis leads me to believe this model suffers consistent failure. Just a guess.

stomachmonkey · 07-06-2009, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

Scott, Bill, can I take my 5-year-old PowerBook G4, 1.5 and convert it into a Windows Machine? Then I could get a Mac Pro tower just for me.

Unfortunately no but I do have a MacPro sitting here that I might be convinced to let go for a friend.

It's my spare video editing box and have not fired it up in months.

Forget the config, it's about 2 years old, nice clean machine with very low hours.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 07-06-2009, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Unfortunately no but I do have a MacPro sitting here that I might be convinced to let go for a friend.

It's my spare video editing box and have not fired it up in months.

Forget the config, it's about 2 years old, nice clean machine with very low hours.

ooooh! email me Scott!

working on getting the wireless printing set up now on the pc.