OT: Laptop Question

If she gets the Dell, it will be fitting punishment for not going Mac. :)

I haven't had a Dell laptop, but I do have a Dell desktop. Customer service has been non-existent. I had a bad motherboard and it took a year of harassing the company before they fixed it. They conveniently waited until my warranty was almost up before fixing it -- when the new motherboard developed similar problems, the response was "oh, sorry, your warranty is up. Would you like to buy a new computer from us?"

Recently the clips holding the heat sink down broke, and I ordered replacements from their website. After a week, they canceled the order, saying my PayPal payment didn't go through. (PayPal has a different version of events, and there was plenty in my account to cover the order). I reordered, and after two more weeks they canceled the order with no explanation. I emailed to ask if they had the part at all, and their response was to call customer service. I emailed back explaining that I was home with pneumonia and couldn't speak more than about 3 words without coughing, so a phone call wasn't possible. All I needed to know was if they actually had the part. Their response? Call customer service. (DH fabricated a part for me)

Needless to say, I will not be replacing this piece of junk with another of their products. :(

We had a Dell. Nevermore. Polly

We had a Dell laptop -- never, never again. Our business uses Toshiba laptops exclusively.

My husband has an ancient Dell laptop that he gives very hard use, lugs it all over the place, doesn't handle the bag that gently etc. It's lasted far longer than any laptop that I've owned and I've had one of most of the other major brands, I move on after being disappointed about the previous one!

The other thing is Dell being a large and well known company, they have power when it comes to getting Windows running well on it they ask and people at Microsoft jump!

Another good thing about Dells is that they generally are very well made, so issues aren't issues that involve sending them off and being without them for several weeks. There is a reason why they are the manufacturer of choice for many companies and institutions. I regret not having the patience to order a Dell when I needed a replacement laptop.

Anne

John, you won't like my experience with an Inspirion. They may have changed this in three years, but.... my son bought himself a pricey Dell laptop his senior year in high school. Spent his entire summer cherry harvest pay on it. And the damned thing lasted exactly 8 months. Seems there is a problem with the configuration of the battery plug in the back. Anyway, it broke just from the normal stresses of being picked upand moved. And it couldn't be fixed. Broken laptop, broken heart. Way, way expensive paper weight.

You might tell your wife that I, a confirmed PC user, am now dreaming of a Mac laptop. The reason is my husband has one for work and has been bringing it home, of course, because work never really ends any more just because somebody has come home. Anyhow, he is now getting into genealogy and when I saw what his computer could do that mine will never ever be able to do without a hundred extra pieces of software, which will goto war with each other, I decided that my next computer will be a Mac. You just wouldn't believe the things he's doing with his genealogy.

So that's my two-cents worth.

Sunny

I have a Dell Inspiron something or other and I love it. In fact, I was just today looking to get a second one since DH seems to have taken over mine.

Cindy

I use a Dell Inspiron. I love the mousepad, the big screen, everything. It's a bit heavy, but not a problem for lugging around the house. I use the Windows XP for home and it's been pretty solid. I never turn the laptop off, just put it into hibernate mode, and I think that messes up some of internal workings. If I just turned it off once a week or so, I would have no problems.

-- Anita --

I've never had a laptop, but I think Thinkpads (Lenovo now, used to be IBM) are supposed to be very good. They do rate high at I've always had IBM computers and have never had a problem with any of them, so have had no experience with the customer service. (Disclosure: I'm a retired IBM'er)

Julia > My wife is making noises about getting a laptop to haul around to her

I've had my Inspiron 9300 (I think) for a couple of years! I LOVE IT!

My experience with Dell Customer support has been good. I did have a hard drive failure outside of the warranty. They did not replace it -- and I didn't expect them to. (Rule of thumb... it's not IF your hard drive will fail... but WHEN -- and this was my first hard drive failure EVER and I've had my own computer for about 15 years).

I did have another issue -- where the power cord plugs into the back of the machine -- the cord wouldn't stay in there snug so my battery would frequently go dead. Twice I had to send the puter in (I kept the hard drive at home so my data and privacy was protected). The had DHL bring me a box... wait for me to pack it up... and then DHL took it away. I got it back a week later from DHL and never paid a penny - -either time.

I can't complain about Dell customer service. Both of those issues were well outside warranty... and they did right by me.

We have also had at least 4 or 5 Dell desktops - never any serious problems. I'm a Dell supporter.

Hi

Well, my experience is both good and bad. Having had over 80 Dell computers in my lab in three different models over 11 years, there have been highs and lows. They latest batch is a definite low. I have had two power supplies die, a mother board replaced, and a video card replaced. And all in less than two months on my 31 new computers. The ones previous to the latest batch were okay. But, those are desktops. My tablet PC is nice for some things, but too many attachements needed. Our two desktops at home, knock on wood, have been doing okay, with the usual technical glitches. Bert's laptop has been a little workhorse for us and has held up well during our travels with the minor glitch here and there. Dell tech support has been good and bad. I have on occasion asked for someone that speaks better english or someone else that is more knowledgeable. After all, they are there to help me. If they won't I simply hang up and call again to get someone else. My stepsons first laptop was a Dell and worked just fine. He decided to go with a Gateway this time and has had nothing but problems and no technical support. My late Dad's Dell laptop did just fine and the grandkids are now using it as it gets bounced around the house and couch, etc. With the educator buy program, several of my collegues have Dell laptops and have been doing okay.

My experience, you either get a good one or you get a bad one and not much in between. Whatever you get, use it often, use it "hard" and put it through its paces right from the start. This way, statistically, if something happens, it usually happens in the first couple of months.

Any computer is a piece of technology that can, and somday will, have a bad hair day. Hopefully not too many. My advice is to find the program that your wife wants to use, see if there are demos somewhere in both Mac and PC versions, see which one she likes, and check out consumers reports on computers. Beware of impulse purchases.

My two cents worth.

Steven Alaska

John

While I know people who have and love Dells, methinks you need to explain to her how bloody *wonderful* Reunion is as a genealogy program.

(nayy, of course....) Macs rock. Macs rule. Just as much in the library as anywhere else :)

--pig, genealogist & quilter

There most likely isn't a laptop brand on the market that you won't get yeas and nays about if you talk to a large enough group. The same goes with what's best for OS; Windows or Mac. It's a Ford vs. Chevy question...personal preference is really what it boils down to. I've personally never had a problem with Dell. The only suggestion I will make.....when you order the computer INSIST they put XP on it. This comes directly from the lips of 'Uncle Bill's' employees. (I had a herd of these people for dinner at Christmas and this was quite the discussion when I asked about upgrading to VISTA.) Dell will try to talk you out of it and tell you they can't install XP, VISTA is all they install now, insist on climbing the food chain and speak to somebody who can authorize this. Took my DIL 40 minutes of 'climbing' to get XP installed on her new Dell laptop. Vista still has a lot of problems and it's really been developed for gamers whether the sales people will admit it or not. Plus there's more software out there than not that either isn't compatible or it's a royal PITA to make it compatible with VISTA.

Just a little heads up. Val

Thank you all for the quick replies. It appears it is a personal experience as to whether it is a good or bad one. I know that applies to may types of mechanical contrivances. As to the suitability of PC vs. Mac. I have and love my Mac but she is wedded to Windows. We are aware of the XP vs Vista on a laptop debate and one of the reasons we considered Dell is that they offered XP right out of the box. She is very advanced in Genealogy. She uses a program called Legacy which only comes in PC version. She is Certified as a Genealogist, and has published one book and been state and local registrar for a number of lineage groups so she is quite informed on what is state of the art as to genealogy programs. She is off this summer to a conference in Alabama for a week of workshops on writing Genealogy books so she thought she could use a laptop. The thought of spending a week in Alabama in the summertime gives me the willies , but that shows you the lengths a Genealogist will go to. Anyway, I will pass along your thoughts and let her decide. She is the one that will have to live with the decision. I am the one who will probably have to spend time on hold, waiting for customer service to get to me.

John

I have three Dells in the house - two desktops and one laptop which replaced an older Dell laptop. I won't buy anything but Dell's. I have not had a lick of trouble with any of them. The newest laptop has Vista on it and I've loved it right out of the box. I would not upgrade from XP to Vista, but getting a new machine with it already installed is ok in my book.

I would get a good size hard drive and as much memory as you can afford and the machine can take. I like the Inspirons. Dell has sales all the time and I was able to find a coupon on line that saved me another $300 so look for one if you go Dell.

I do have to say that I am a borg when it comes to computers so I can do a lot with my own set up and maintenance. But I did a lot of research before buying my last laptop and thought the Dell was the way to go. HTH

Alice "Do what you like, like what you do"

Ah, Piglet, I *knew* I loved you! Yup -- Macs rule, but some people just can't see it. :S

I made sure our office only bought Dell computers, desktops and laptops. I worked as a programmer, systems analyst, DBA, systems admin, for the last 30 years. I have a Dell desktop and laptop at home. Bought an Inspirion for my 13 grandson last year and bought the warranty for it that covers ANYTHING. Good thing too, he decided to cut the screen with a knife, scratched the case and removed some of the closing mechanism (the kid is ADHD and !!!!) Dell had DHL pick up the machine and returned it in a few days completely refurbished and no cost. Dell's support is excellent too! Michelle

We got my son a Dell laptop from the Inspiron line this past summer. He is a college student, we hope that his useage is mostly for writing papers, e-mailing us and other academic type things. He has had no complaints about it.

If you want some more specifics, please let me know and I will ask him.

His roomie showed up with the same computer. The only difference was that we had sprung for some more memory than his folks had.

John wrote:

Mary

my 2 cents....

I'll admit I've been a PC person for nearly 20 years. But I bit the bullet and bought both and iPod and an iPhone. However, as I am a fairly literate computer user -- I have been SEVERELY frustrated at the lack of flexibility in settings etc... for the iPhone.

Does it make the iPhone easier to use... probably... but I am less able to customize it to my specific needs than my husband does with his BlackBerry.

There is a lot I do like about my iPhone -- but my frustrations still override it. I can't in good faith recommend it to anybody who wants to customize it to there specific needs.

When I was working for the Registrar of Voters for the Primary, they gave some of us Dells and others of us IBMs. Thank heavens I was in the IBM group. The Dells were useless-- videos were choppy and made teaching nearly impossible. They also were a pain to used with the software we used to re-set our equipment. My partner and I worked it out that we only used the Dell that she had for recording roll and used my IBM for teaching and re-setting equipment.

Debbi in SO CA

John wrote: