Author Topic: How reliable are Dell notebooks (Read 904 times)

Meatwad · « **on:** February 23, 2006, 09:44:18 PM »

I have my eye on the Dell Inspiron 600M, but heard both good and bad about Dell. I like it because its pretty cheap and does what I only need it for, no extra bells and whistles that I wont ever use. Whats the overall experience/opinions with Dell?

guttboy · « **Reply #1 on:** February 23, 2006, 09:51:34 PM »

I have a Dell Inspiron 8000 that I have had for quite some time.....still use it to this day...its been all over the world and I got it to play AW3 while I was playing it.

At work we have Dell's as well.

If you are not gaming with it I would say you probably will be very satisfied!

Trell · « **Reply #2 on:** February 23, 2006, 11:23:57 PM »

I like there new laptops they seem to hold up well, seem to work better then most of the major brands out there.

allways had good luch with them.

Octavius · « **Reply #3 on:** February 23, 2006, 11:28:45 PM »

Very nice for what it's worth. It'll get the job done, whatever it may be, excluding various graphic intensive apps. Dells come with a crapload of bloated/bundled ****, so uninstall 99% and you'll be good to go. They aren't shipping OS cd's with it any longer. They recommend merely using window's system restore and some junk.

Pongo · « **Reply #4 on:** February 23, 2006, 11:29:54 PM »

My 600m is a corporate model without the bloat ware. for a work PC it has been really good.

Wolfala · « **Reply #5 on:** February 23, 2006, 11:51:21 PM »

I've got an Inspiron 8600 - and I swear its better then the crap Inspiron's they are dishing out now. Built in mic and all - the new ones in addition to the bloatware don't even have a mic. But yes, rock solid is the 600M. Boss has it.

Meatwad · « **Reply #6 on:** February 24, 2006, 12:04:56 AM »

600M sounds like a winner to me. I dont like win XP home, I may just reformat the HDD and install XP pro

Dago · « **Reply #7 on:** February 24, 2006, 12:06:05 AM »

My Dell laptop at work was just replaced with a new one. The old one was condemned for so many problems. Most of the Dell laptops of my coworkers have been condemned too. We travel a lot and these things aren't holding up that well.

Beefcake · « **Reply #8 on:** February 24, 2006, 12:56:21 AM »

I've had a Dell Inspiron 9300 for almost a year now and I can say its held up very well. I use it to watch DVDs, play games, and run my admin software while I'm admining a BF1942FH server. It's a very nice machine and the 17" screen rocks.

Nilsen · « **Reply #9 on:** February 24, 2006, 06:21:35 AM »

Ive had one Dell and at work we have also had one. Both have had problems or irritating flaws. Seems like they are designed to be easily modified by the Dell guys after you spesify the specs on their website. The case is abit big for whats inside them. Doesnt feel like its all been designed to fit perfectly so you get a machine that is not tight.

I say stay away, and they are not cheap either. As soon as you start to add a few bits to the basc model it becomes expencive compared to what other brands offer.

Replicant · « **Reply #10 on:** February 24, 2006, 11:35:02 AM »

I have an Inspiron 9100 (P4 3.2g & Radeon 9700). I'm more than happy with it and it has been good for all office, graphics & gaming programs.

Mustaine · « **Reply #11 on:** February 24, 2006, 11:45:05 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Meatwad
600M sounds like a winner to me. I dont like win XP home, I may just reformat the HDD and install XP pro

you may have a problem with that...

at least with the last dell i worked on, you could not get the proper drivers for some of the MB hardware, and the generic XP drivers didn't work properly. i spent a good 2 days scouring the internet to find "hacked" or extracted drivers for this and that like the sound card, and video card (both built into the MB). the MB had no name brand or markings on it to identify the manufacturer and go to their site.

unless you really know what you are doing with a PC, and what needs to work properly, i would not recommend anyone just dump the shipped OS with a dell or HP for that matter. way too much hassle

Meatwad · « **Reply #12 on:** February 24, 2006, 01:53:18 PM »

Well Shoot. Guess I could just do a upgrade for xp pro since I have the disk of it.

Nilsen · « **Reply #13 on:** February 24, 2006, 02:00:09 PM »

I would recomend that you get a budget laptop from a different company. I am biased tho, cause my experiences with Dell has made me hate their systems. I guess their desktops are ok if you are not comfortable with building one yourself. My wife is not even allowed to say the Dell name out loud around me

xrtoronto · « **Reply #14 on:** February 24, 2006, 02:22:49 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Nilsen
My wife is not even allowed to say the Dell name out loud around me

Didn't you post that once your wife spoke the name Dell during love-making some while ago? Maybe an old love? An old love named Dell? I can see you being sensitive to it!