A place to vent about Dell

I’m writing this, well because I felt that I needed to vent my frustration about dell. As a kid we always had lots of dell desktops around, heck my first computer I ever had was a dell. When I went off to college I decided to buy a nice laptop, one that would not only replace my desktop, but one that had enough power for gamming.

I ended up buying a dell xps m1710 new from dell. After a year of use, I ended up having nothing but problems with it. For some reason dell laptops are sustained on a constant supply of $70 power cords, I could build a small “brick” house out of the power bricks lying around. This is just a minor problem compared to the wallet stealing NVidia gtx7950 video cards. A year and few months into owning this thief I ended up having to buy a $500 video card, with $200 extra for professional install.
I do understand that any computer will have problems, but 6 months later this new card went bad too and not wanting to throw away $4000 plus investment, I bought another video card. Almost 8 months into this new new video card I saw similar warning sings and not long after it became fried. I don’t want to sound too insensitive, but I can feel the pain of all you Madoff investors out there “$4460 plus now”.

I decided to cut my losses and just buy a new computer; it still looks cool on my shelf so not a total loss. I ended up buying a xps 1530m from best buy for $1500; I never thought I had algolagnic disorder “I had to look it up too, but if you didn’t, well maybe you should buy dell”, but apparently down deep I do. The first one I bought I ended up taking back the next day “lots a driver issues” and even the tech guys couldn’t figure it out, so they gave me a brand new one, which ended up having the same exact problems. Not wanting to deny my algolangnia I had another one shipped, Best buy thought it was just that series of computers they received were just bad.
A year into this computer, I just seemed to have minor issues; like the 5.1 though the 3 mic holes would cause lots of feedback, making it almost useless or the touchpad that would just stop working. A year and one week into this xps m1530 the battery just stopped charging, called dell and they told me “sorry your computer is out of warranty and that I could still purchase the extended warranty, for just a small fortune. Instead I just decided to buy a new power cord, which seemed to fix the problem for a few months. After 3 chargers and 1 battery and downgraded bios it seems the problem is how it’s attached to the mother board.

YouTube videos of people destroying their dell computers and office space have helped me make it through most of these difficult times. Those just didn’t cut it today, the accidently press of dell’s media direct button and the constant cycle of the blue screen of death, I just felt like anything less than putting pen to paper would not suffice. If you made it this far I truly do appreciate you letting me vent.

I think if one person doesn't buy a dell because of this post that just maybe all the problems i have had would be worth it.

 

Have a 1710, lost 2 GPU's, original and first replacement. After second replacement (all under warranty) GPU has been fine ever since. I'd recommend you get the warranty, if for nothing else because your luck seems to be very bad. It would have cost less than buying a new machine for sure.

 

After using Dell for 10 years, my company stopped last year. Dell is making such crap these days. Esp. the Studio series. We have the need for multimedia notebooks in our company and Alienware did not have the look we needed in a business machine. But, it was the horriffic service that finally made us sever ties.

The only Business macnine made by Dell that is worth a dam for any multimedia work is the Precision line. The latitudes are hardly equipped for that kind of work.

Haven't felt much need to rant since we moved on from Dell.

Bronsky

 

Consumer-grade laptops are not designed to last, as intended replacement is usually one to three years. Business-grade laptops are designed for three to five years. Interestingly, the standard warranties are one and three years, respectively.

If you get a Latitude, your experience will definately be different.

 

I know this sounds annoying... but if you had complete/total care warranty, they would've upgraded it to a 1730, and then if troubles still persisted an AWm17x

 

1) Get a warranty, esp for a $4k DTR.
2) Make sure the power in your apartment/house isn't messed up. Power bricks don't just up and die over and over again. A UPS isn't a bad idea.
3) That's a great word of the day

 

Yep the warranty is worth the cost. The more you pay for the notebook, the more you should want it to be covered for the years you plan to have it running. A 1 year warranty says either you'll cover the costs after a year (and tracking down the parts) or you don't care if you have to replace it after a year. The belief that all things "that normally go wrong go wrong in the first year" simply doesn't apply to notebooks at all.

That's water under the bridge for you now and sadly doesn't give much comfort. But please bear it in mind when you shop again, no matter what brand. If you want 3 years or 4 years of peaceful life from your machine, be sure it's covered that long.

 

It isn't Dell's fault if you have voltage spikes in your power supply which are ruining power adapters, and possibly even motherboards. Of course, NVIDIA is a customary villain, but I suspect that most of your troubles might have been averted by an uninterruptible power supply, or even a cheap travel surge protector.

You don't have a Dell problem. Actually Dell has some of the best AC adapters in the notebook business.

 

Bronsky, if your company is buying consumer notebooks, you shouldn't be surprised if you get consumer levels of service. This is why businesses buy business quality notebooks and get business quality service.

If you business needs portable work stations, you don't shop Alienware but go to the Precision line. Oh, and I can't possibly imagine why you'd even be talking about the Studio line for a corporate setting? Why oh, why?

Of course, you are the guy who imported an Acer from Germany, and then had to replace the German keyboard.

 

I agree completely.

 

XPS M1710 and M1730 quality isn't the best. The only gaming grade laptop from Dell that i would consider in the 17 inch format would be the Alienware M17x.

 

Okay ... whatever you say.

Bronsky

 

He does have a point...business use is a lot more demanding than consumer use, and frankly, the Studio line was not designed for that type of use. If your company had standardized on Latitude and Precision, I think your position would be much different.

 

No he doesn't. He doesn't have any idea what he is talking about. My business bought primarily Latitudes and Vostros when we used Dells. However, we had the need for a 13" unit with decent power and good GPU for portable presentation of multimedia. Latitude GPUs were nonexistent or too anemic and the workstations with a powerful enough GPU were too heavy to transport and lacked decent battery power. There are no business class Dells that fit those specs. We went with the Studio XPS 13. I don't think that it is too much to expect a computer to actually work, even a consumer unit, just because it is used in the business context?

Along with the Studio XPS 13, I owned a Vostro 1500. Dell's Vostro 1500 w/GT 8600M GPU was a so-called business class unit. Anyone who owned one of these know the issues they were plagued with. Plus, at a little over 8 lbs, it was hardly portable. The XPS 13 was no gem either. It too was plagued with GPU and cooling issues. You have to admit, Dell has put some real crap on the market over the past 10 years.

I believe that Dell kept selling the Vostros with the bad GPUs although it knew they were defective and failed to replace the defective GPU's until they totally failed. Not quite what I would expect from a business friendly company. Dell is, of course, being sued in a number of jurisdictions over the knowing sale of defective units to businesses around this same time and having its service personell conceal the problem from its customers so they would not have to replace what were, IMO, obviously defective units. Those suits are not being dismissed for lack of factual foundation as far as I can see.

Over the 10 years my company required us to use Dells, I had a number of Latitudes and, for a short time had a Precision. That is why I say that the Precision is the only Dell worth a dam IMO. It is just too large and heavy to be a good portable editing and presentation unit.

I've also had first-hand experience with the deterioration of Dell service over the years. Today, my company still buys mainly business class notebooks, (usually HP), but, we are free to buy what we want within our annual budget. I have an Acer 3820TG that I absolutely love (and, yes, I changed the keyboard from German to English ). There is nothing near it's size and weight that I can use to edit satelite images for technical presentation and still use as a portable presentation device while tethered to a smart board. We don't waste a lot of money on extended service plans and use a local tech to maintain our electronics. It has worked out to be less expensive in the long run and we don't have to deal with unresponsive service people or waste a bunch of time trying to reach out to a supervisor to solve very simple issues like we found ourselves doing more and more with Dell.

The poster just likes to argue, doesn't make a lot of sense and he is unnecessarily insulting. That's why I don't bother responding to him.

Bronsky

 

Alienware is good, but the price of it you could buy custom built laptops 2-3 times better, for the £2000 there asking for a i720QM, 4gb, sli 260m GT you could easily buy a unit that would molest even the hardiest of towers, but my point is i didn't even need to read all your post to know exactly what you've been through, i myself a few years back got the idea of purchasing a dell xps m1730.

At the time it was dell's flagship unit, nicknamed "The Beast" it demolished all opposition in it's field and gave most towers a run for there money,but anyway i had one with the t7500 @ 2.2 ghz, 2gb, 8700m GT SLI config an what can i tell you 2 years back before the release of the 2 series of GPU's it was rivaled only by the 8800gtx sli configuration it cost me only £1100 so i was chuffed and it ate every game i threw at it. but then i think it was like 2-3 months in the dual hard drives came out of sync, and so dell replaced it for me after 3 weeks of threatening to sue them if it didn't get sorted so they did. 3 months later the motherboard goes, so i phone dell and some very rude Indian man who could barely speak English starts telling me it's my fault the system is crashing ( i was overclocking it but that's not the point) this time it took them 6 MONTHS to sort out the problem at this time they attempted to charge me after t had gone out of warranty and at which point i began screaming at the operator down the phone saying that i had been waiting for them to do something for 6 months so they replaced the motherboard which was the problem, 6 months later it went again and know 6 months down the line again dell have contacted me saying they cant get the part they need so there going to give me £450 cash and £229 gift voucher to spend at dell, which i'll probs just buy a ty laptop and use it for something stupid. but yeah tbh i don't think i'll ever buy from dell for it is a unwieldy behemoth of a company that employs people for there telephone advisors who clearly can't speak English in order to try and get away with the clear fact that they use the cheapest parts for there units and always will, Alienware will soon be going downthat path..

 

Agreed, even though he sometimes has a point, the condescending tone is unnecessary.

 

You might have a very dated notion of integrated graphics. By the sound of things, you're editing satellite photos and making presentations. You might have needed a dedicated GPU for that 6 or 7 years ago, but these days, you really could get by with integrated graphics.

I'd suggest that it's time to shake up your IT department.

It sounds like you had NVIDIA issues, not Dell specific issues.

Let's see, some university made claims about defective desktops produced in 2005.....and the claims became public early this year.....in 2010. I'd say that those 5 year old desktops would have been obsolete anyway after 5 years, so boo-hoo.

None of this has anything to do with the NVIDIA issues of the last couple of years.

Incidentally, I'm pretty familiar with GPU failures. Thanks NVIDIA.

Well, yeah, they're workstations. It sounds as if you have an idea that you need to swat a fly with a sledgehammer. It sounds like you really don't need a workstation for image editing and presentations. You can edit some very large still images without a high end GPU.

Wow, your solution to service issues is to buy a German market Acer that doesn't have any North American warranty? Don't like the warranty service, get something that effectively doesn't have a warranty. I love that logic.

The weird thing is that Dell's service is actually much better today that it was in the much praised golden age of the 1990s. Of course, if you insist on local third party techs, you're getting a mixed bag. I'm much rather mail in for service, or better yet, have the choice between an exchange or a full refund.

I'm still perplexed by the sort of reasoning that leads anyone to ship an Acer from Germany, just so you can have a new computer without a North American warranty. Wow.

 

hmm...i had decided on getting a Dell Studio XPS laptop, but after reading this thread, i'm rethinking it, thanks for your opinion, sorry you had such bad luck...

 

Please ignore the OP and don't let his experience affect your decision. You are not likely to run into any of the problems he had. Most of it was user error, and part of it were problems that are no longer present on current Dell products.

Also, purchasing computers from retail stores is a definate no-no. You won't get to customize the system or purchase extended warranties, and one-year warranties aren't sufficient for laptop purchases (and if you get CompleteCare, you will have nothing to worry about at all). Dell's customer service is much better than other companies, and the premium service plans make it even better 9it's hard to beat Dell ProSupport).

 

Raaaaaaaaaaaah !!! Phew that helped
no seriously my m1730 is dead but dell is doin whatever they can to resolve it asap. I paid the extra for extended next businessday warranty and it pays off if you have problems. Imo and i deal with dead laptops every day because i work in a wholesale electronics aftersales Dell has the best service you can get if you are prepared to pay the extra and buy it and its totally worth it because i started with a $2500 m1710 four years ago and i will probably own a m17x in a month ( my m1730 keeps failing lately ....)