whats the common consensus about Dell?

[bmwannabe]

I went to their site, configured my own PC and it came out to $780. Heres what I included:
Pentium 4 3Ghz
512 MB Ram
160 MB Hd
Dual CD-DVD/RW drives
Floppy disk Drive
Windows XP
15" Flat screen
Free Printer
Free 2 day shipping
Free 2 yr service plan

I dont think im gonna find much cheaper, but everytime I talk to someone about Dell, they kinda laugh. Ive never owned one, but this seems like a hell of a deal. Now, my dream computer would be an IBM, but if i wanted one that had the same #'s as that dell, as well as the flat screen, Im certain Id be looking at over $1500. What are your experiences w dell?

[PanamaE30]

hmm.. considering i work here... Good ;)

what system are you looking at? Dimension 2400? 3000? 4700?

[M-technik-3]

I have an E-machines and hate to say it for just general use it just fine. $350 and had 60gb and CDRW and DVD. The bad part the cooling fan is loud but to lazy to put it on rubber isolators.

[Brian 89 325i]

Im in the same boat as you. I had a friend help me compile what i would need for my computer elseware and then check the exact same thing on dell's website and it was lots cheaper than what i would have paid to build my own. Ive never had any problems with my Dell laptop.

Brian

[Rob]

my dell worked well until I shot it.

I bought a gateway recently with a phatty warranty, if it fucks up, I take it to the store and they fix it...

[PanamaE30]

my dell worked well until I shot it.

You shot it?

like, literally shoot it?

[Jarvis]

Dells are alright. My family has a Dell desktop (what I'm using now), and my mom just got a new Dell laptop. The only advantage of Dell is that you can get everything you need in one easy to buy package, instead of buying random computer shit and putting it all together yourself. Dells are user-friendly, and by user-friendly I mean easy for idiots to use daily.

For what you listed, less $800 is a good deal I guess. Go for it.

[PanamaE30]

Indeed, we do a lot of research when building. Furthermore, unlike other manufacturers, we frequently update firmware, bios and drivers.

And hell, if you know what you're doing, the only thing between you and doing what you want is uninstalling all the crap that comes from factory.

[Brian 89 325i]

Can you order a Dell Less software? and ask for all the recovery discs? Or maybe an OE copy of XP to start from scratch?

Brian

[Rob]

my dell worked well until I shot it.

You shot it?

like, literally shoot it?

yup, true story

[PanamaE30]

Can you order a Dell Less software? and ask for all the recovery discs? Or maybe an OE copy of XP to start from scratch?

Brian

We do have systems we offer with no software, but that's for corporate users. Home users can't order systems like that. You can reduce the amount of preinstalled software by just not ordering it though. I think sales is pretty flexible, more than they know.

As for the OEM copy of XP, our systems do come with recovery media, although we may be slowly phasing that out for recovery partitions on the drives. At any rate, the windows cd is no worry, you can use any as long as you use the key on your computer.

[PanamaE30]

my dell worked well until I shot it.

You shot it?

like, literally shoot it?

yup, true story

I'm scared to ask, but I wanna know why and how lol..

And here I was thinking i'd heard everything customers do to their systems lol.

[Wes325]

Everything in your list for that price looks like a good deal. I have a Dell Laptop and I love it, everything was included and put in when it was shipped to my door, good stuff.

[sparticus]

I've got an older Latitude CPI notebook and a newer Latitude D600 Notebook. Both are great. Only problem I've had with the older model is the lid cracking at the hinges.
My son has a Emachine desktop and has upgraded the RAM and videocard to play games and it's sufficient for him. the Notebooks are used wireless in my home with the notebook connected directly to router.

[Dave]

I used to build my own systems until about 3 years ago when I bought a Dell. I was going to get a Gateway, but my brother who is an IT guy recommended against it.

My kids still use our original Dell and my wife and I both have Dells on our desks at home. We just got a Dell Laptop and it works well too.

I usually get the extended warranty, just in case.