I have been using an Inspiron 6000 for 3 years now and I have to say, its not the perfect laptop, but I can rely on it to turn on at the end of the day, when I need it, which is supposedly hard for some of the other laptops out there.
I live in University residence and it is amazing to see how many people come to me to get their toshibas hps and acers fixed.
I have had a two acers come to me, which say they have a windows recovery partition, but when I try to use that to reinstall windows, the entire HDD corrupts for some reason. So much for the safety net.
The next laptop I buy, after my Dell becomes unusable is either going to be a new Dell, or a mac.
Interesting. I had an Inspiron 6000 that first had a faulty DVD-burner, which was okay because it was still under warranty. A month after the warranty expired, both of my shift keys stopped working. I had to remap my caps lock key to act as a shift key just so I could type in e-mail addresses and question marks, etc. THEN the friggin' thing started running hot all the time, so the fan would be on full blast whenever I turned it on. In addition, the battery light started blinking red, which I found out (after days of searching online, since Dell won't so much as online chat with you if your warranty is up) meant that my battery's charge ability was already down to 30%. Thirty friggin' percent after 2 years. RIDICULOUS. My girlfriend has had similar problems with her Dell, and I feel even worse for her considering she bought the lifetime warranty which the salesman promised "covered every part of the laptop." He forgot to mention that the battery isn't considered a laptop part (give me a facking break) so when her battery light started flashing that annoying red every 2 seconds, she was told she could fork over another $300 for a battery.
Dell is the worst computer company ever, and, not to be an Apple fanboy, but I bought a macbook pro and my experience has been flawless. Dell can choke on a big one.
I'm still trying to figure out what is supposedly so horrible about Dell systems, specifically notebooks. None of the three I've used over the years have ever given me a single problems starting with a Latitude LM-P133 (OMFG MMX!) in 1995, a Latitude CPx J750GT in 2000, and my current Latitude X300 1.4GHz from early 2005. I'm hoping my new $599 Latitude D420 lives up to my expectations (thank you, slickdeals.net)
Ohhh wait, there's the problem: I've never used a Dell home-style system. Hmm, I think I'll keep it that way too, just to be safe.
Lein, if you use enough of them, you will encounter problems, just like pretty much any manufacturer (though I have to say I never had any problems with an IBM think pad) I had an early Pentium Pro system that crashed all the time even after repeated reinstalls and patches that Dell refused to help out with after a few calls (this box is still in service and finally stable under Windows XP), I had a 5150 laptop that had BIOS issues that would blue screen all the time. Currently I have a Inspiron 520s, an Inspiron 1521, an Optiplex 745 and an older Dimension that I converted to an Ubuntu box. Currently I'm not having any issues, other than the 10 support calls and the BBB complaint that it took to get Dell to resolve the issue of the incompatible video card they installed in 520s. For the money Dell is probably the best, but they still screw up, and as I said before, their tech support sucks. a lot.
Dells are physically ugly compared to every other laptop maker out there this side of Alienware. I've had a Dell and the cheap milky white/silver plastic exterior was a pain to see everyday. Plus, Dell's customer service sucks. My HP notebook has been great, plus it's super sexy and HP Total Care service is amazing. My next computer will probably be an HP or a Sony VAIO.
uhm...have you seen the xps 15-13 inch series of laptops from dell? i think they look better than the hps by a long shot...and even better than a macbook(gasp)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mike @ Mar 28th 2008 11:39AM
Too bad its a Dell...
Nabil @ Mar 28th 2008 12:12PM
sounds like you've had the same experience with Dell that I've had...
y3k.nik @ Mar 28th 2008 12:21PM
I have been using an Inspiron 6000 for 3 years now and I have to say, its not the perfect laptop, but I can rely on it to turn on at the end of the day, when I need it, which is supposedly hard for some of the other laptops out there.
I live in University residence and it is amazing to see how many people come to me to get their toshibas hps and acers fixed.
I have had a two acers come to me, which say they have a windows recovery partition, but when I try to use that to reinstall windows, the entire HDD corrupts for some reason. So much for the safety net.
The next laptop I buy, after my Dell becomes unusable is either going to be a new Dell, or a mac.
Mark @ Mar 28th 2008 12:39PM
I've had an Inspiron 9300 for almost 3 years. It's been solid the entire time. My next laptop will be a Dell.
John @ Mar 28th 2008 12:56PM
Interesting. I had an Inspiron 6000 that first had a faulty DVD-burner, which was okay because it was still under warranty. A month after the warranty expired, both of my shift keys stopped working. I had to remap my caps lock key to act as a shift key just so I could type in e-mail addresses and question marks, etc. THEN the friggin' thing started running hot all the time, so the fan would be on full blast whenever I turned it on. In addition, the battery light started blinking red, which I found out (after days of searching online, since Dell won't so much as online chat with you if your warranty is up) meant that my battery's charge ability was already down to 30%. Thirty friggin' percent after 2 years. RIDICULOUS. My girlfriend has had similar problems with her Dell, and I feel even worse for her considering she bought the lifetime warranty which the salesman promised "covered every part of the laptop." He forgot to mention that the battery isn't considered a laptop part (give me a facking break) so when her battery light started flashing that annoying red every 2 seconds, she was told she could fork over another $300 for a battery.
Dell is the worst computer company ever, and, not to be an Apple fanboy, but I bought a macbook pro and my experience has been flawless. Dell can choke on a big one.
John @ Mar 28th 2008 12:58PM
Oops, my bad. By "lifetime warranty" I meant "extended warranty."
I need to stop watching so many infomercials...
CraigJ @ Mar 28th 2008 1:00PM
Dell is fine as ling as you don't need tech support for any reason: their Indian tech support sucks ass.
Lein @ Mar 28th 2008 1:29PM
I'm still trying to figure out what is supposedly so horrible about Dell systems, specifically notebooks. None of the three I've used over the years have ever given me a single problems starting with a Latitude LM-P133 (OMFG MMX!) in 1995, a Latitude CPx J750GT in 2000, and my current Latitude X300 1.4GHz from early 2005. I'm hoping my new $599 Latitude D420 lives up to my expectations (thank you, slickdeals.net)
Ohhh wait, there's the problem: I've never used a Dell home-style system. Hmm, I think I'll keep it that way too, just to be safe.
CraigJ @ Mar 28th 2008 1:51PM
Lein, if you use enough of them, you will encounter problems, just like pretty much any manufacturer (though I have to say I never had any problems with an IBM think pad) I had an early Pentium Pro system that crashed all the time even after repeated reinstalls and patches that Dell refused to help out with after a few calls (this box is still in service and finally stable under Windows XP), I had a 5150 laptop that had BIOS issues that would blue screen all the time. Currently I have a Inspiron 520s, an Inspiron 1521, an Optiplex 745 and an older Dimension that I converted to an Ubuntu box. Currently I'm not having any issues, other than the 10 support calls and the BBB complaint that it took to get Dell to resolve the issue of the incompatible video card they installed in 520s. For the money Dell is probably the best, but they still screw up, and as I said before, their tech support sucks. a lot.
Will3 @ Mar 28th 2008 1:57PM
Dells are physically ugly compared to every other laptop maker out there this side of Alienware. I've had a Dell and the cheap milky white/silver plastic exterior was a pain to see everyday. Plus, Dell's customer service sucks. My HP notebook has been great, plus it's super sexy and HP Total Care service is amazing. My next computer will probably be an HP or a Sony VAIO.
Arnob @ Mar 28th 2008 6:22PM
uhm...have you seen the xps 15-13 inch series of laptops from dell? i think they look better than the hps by a long shot...and even better than a macbook(gasp)