Dell Sucks

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

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.

Same here, and am typing this on a Dell that is 3 years old. My "carry" laptop is a Dell that has been around the world 100 times without a hiccup. The laptop before that was also a Dell and so on.

Never had a problem with them, period. If you think that Apple is the end all, its not and they have issues as well.

Its a machine and eventually they will all have issues. If you think that a hard drive or motherboard in an Apple is any better then you need professional help.

Shawn, Any computer that is more than 3-5 years old is living on borrowed time. Any laptop over 3 years old is outdated IMHO. You got lucky that it lasted this long! Put an extra fan in whatever desktop you buy and that will help them last longer.

[mikester]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

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.

Does your laptop spend its entire life in the same place or just a few hours a day?

Your guess about their CS software is logical enough and probably close to true.

I still believe the failure is likely environmental (unless you have a filtered AC environment) and expectations that are a bit higher than reality. Sure, computers can last a long time but it isn't likely that they will.

Apple's hardware these days is nearly identical to Dell's. They use Intel hardware, same architecture as the Dells. There are slight differences, Apple contracts to have their motherboards made and they have a few bits that are unique to identify them as Apple hardware and enable OS X to run on them but the remainder of the components including the Hard drives, Disc drices, Memory, etc are sourced by contracts with Apple from the same vendors that supply the same hardware to Dell and every other Intel based PC on the planet.

Your G4/5 is different but anything newer is ordinary inside that slick little Apple exterior. Let me repeat - ordinary.



I'm not being nice Shaun but I don't direct my insolence at you (well, not entirely because I do think your expectations of the life of your hardware are a little high) but more at the crowd that thinks the current generation of Apple hardware is somehow 'special.'

It is not. I am an Apple product user, I own a Macbook, iPhone, iPods, I use a Mac Mini at work and I really like OS X but THAT is what is good about their products. The operating systems and software, NOT the hardware.

Apple is just BARELY a hardware company, they make effective and well received user interfaces and tie them to their usually well designed hardware. Their stuff is far from perfect but it's better than the average junk sold today.

If you need to run Windows XP and you want a Mac to do it - well - you're wasting your money. The Dell replacement to what you have today will likely cost you hundreds less and perform equally well doing the same task.

If you need OS X however - buy your Mac and enjoy.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

LOL! well put Mike.

yes, the Mac and the PC are preeeety much in the same environment and my Mac is used as a dual-display desktop along with a 23 inch Samsung monitor. What's done is done, I just need to figure out how I configured the wireless connection to the laserjet now. quick HP TCP/IP port creation should have worked but didn't for some reason.