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General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Meatwad on February 23, 2006, 09:44:18 PM

Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: 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?
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: guttboy 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!
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Trell 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.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Octavius 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.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Pongo 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.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Wolfala 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.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Meatwad 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
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Dago 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.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Beefcake 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.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Nilsen 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.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Replicant 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.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Mustaine 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
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Meatwad 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.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Nilsen 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 :D
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: xrtoronto 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 :D



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! :confused:

:)
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Nilsen on February 24, 2006, 02:27:15 PM
Quote
Originally posted by xrtoronto
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! :confused:

:)


SHUUUUUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHUUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!!!!



:O
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Meatwad on February 24, 2006, 06:59:07 PM
I was talking to someone today, they said that Acer makes a pretty study laptop. Also apparently, internal floppy drives are not that common in laptops either
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Ripsnort on February 25, 2006, 07:44:28 AM
Quote
Originally posted by guttboy
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!

What Gutt said. We have 2 at home, one is 3 years old, not a problem (Inspiron 1150) Boeings  vendor for most of its PC hardware is now Dell.(It used to be IBM, they're being phased out) My work laptop is a Dell M70 with 3 gig of ram. They are not without their problems, but I think its a pretty good laptop PC.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Nilsen on February 25, 2006, 07:49:02 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Meatwad
I was talking to someone today, they said that Acer makes a pretty study laptop. Also apparently, internal floppy drives are not that common in laptops either


Yup.. they are good! Finding a modern laptop with a floppy is not that easy, but you can get usb floppies if you need it.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Ripsnort on February 25, 2006, 07:54:44 AM
14 page article at this website: http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,112915,pg,1,00.asp

(http://images.pcworld.com/howto/graphics/112915-2112p132-3b.gif)

(http://images.pcworld.com/howto/graphics/112915-2112p132-2b.jpg)
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: phookat on February 25, 2006, 08:48:02 AM
I'm going to have to side with Dago and Nilsen on this one.  My Dell laptop's monitor hinge broke clean off, and the CD drive malfunctioned as well.  And the trackpad too, started clicking and randomly moving the pointer around on its own.  And no, I wasn't throwing it off buildings. :)  A lot of my friends have similar reports on Dells. Very poor build quality, flimsy and creaky (even when new).  After the hinge broke, you could see the cheap thin metal used for attachment.  This was a Latitude.

My current IBM laptop was treated the same, but has been solid as a rock from day 1.  Plus it's a lot lighter.  Plus it has a 3 button trackpad.  I would heartily recommend the IBM thinkpads.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Nilsen on February 25, 2006, 09:05:35 AM
Quote
Originally posted by phookat
I'm going to have to side with Dago and Nilsen on this one.  My Dell laptop's monitor hinge broke clean off, and the CD drive malfunctioned as well.  And the trackpad too, started clicking and randomly moving the pointer around on its own.  And no, I wasn't throwing it off buildings. :)  A lot of my friends have similar reports on Dells. Very poor build quality, flimsy and creaky (even when new).  After the hinge broke, you could see the cheap thin metal used for attachment.  This was a Latitude.

My current IBM laptop was treated the same, but has been solid as a rock from day 1.  Plus it's a lot lighter.  Plus it has a 3 button trackpad.  I would heartily recommend the IBM thinkpads.



Yup.. id say that Thinkpads are the best around. I have 2 of them and they are rock solid. If you can afford it and are not put off by what some say are a booring design and color choise then you cant get better laptops anywere.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Maverick on February 25, 2006, 09:54:28 AM
I've had a lousy experiance with Compaq and will never buy another one again. I've had a good experiancewith Toshiba and have had no problems with it at all. It is not a gaming machine but I didn't get it for that either. The wife absolutely loves the small hand held trackball device our son gave her. It fits on her finger with a trigger like switch for most clicking and 2 more buttons on top under her thumb. Neat and slick little gadget.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Nilsen on February 25, 2006, 10:02:09 AM
Toshiba is up there with the best for sure.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Donzo on February 25, 2006, 09:11:40 PM
I'm currently using a Dell Latitude D810 for work.  No problems.  Even runs AH2 decently.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Meatwad on February 25, 2006, 11:39:50 PM
I got an OLD toshiba satellite pro, I think its a P266. Case is literary held together with packing tape. It still works pretty decent.  Acer's seem pretty nice though. Right now im still at the state of looking around, havent made a real decision
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Vulcan on February 26, 2006, 04:29:57 AM
<-- hug's my Asus W1.

(https://www.oneclickaway.com.au/shop/images/res/NBASW1820N-TV_78_80.jpg)

Ever thought about an Asus? They make Apple, Sony, HP, and a few other brands notebooks.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Nilsen on February 26, 2006, 04:46:08 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Vulcan
<-- hug's my Asus W1.

(https://www.oneclickaway.com.au/shop/images/res/NBASW1820N-TV_78_80.jpg)

Ever thought about an Asus? They make Apple, Sony, HP, and a few other brands notebooks.


Im seriously looking into the A6J with dual core and ati x1600 + a few other goodies
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: MrCoffee on February 26, 2006, 05:02:42 AM
chinese piece of chits!
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Meatwad on February 26, 2006, 10:28:53 AM
Last 2 motherboards I bought were Asus's. They seem to hold out pretty good but expensive.
Title: How reliable are Dell notebooks
Post by: Nilsen on February 26, 2006, 10:36:46 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Meatwad
Last 2 motherboards I bought were Asus's. They seem to hold out pretty good but expensive.

yup

Another thing about Asus is they guarantee that all pixels are healthy, and if only one is broken you can the pc replaced. Don't think any other brands do that.