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On 02/14/11 13:16, Gary Schrock wrote: > On 2/14/2011 12:24 PM, STeve Andre' wrote: >> On 02/14/11 12:16, Gary Schrock wrote: >>> On 2/14/2011 11:58 AM, STeve Andre' wrote: >>>> I think Dell is going seriously downhill. I'm going to think very much >>>> before >>>> ordering anything else from them. >>>> >>>> --STeve Andre' >>> >>> I can't say I've really noticed it going downhill with Dell recently, >>> but trust me, it could be far worse. Like, say, Sony. We bought a few >>> Z series laptops about a year and a half ago. One we had a bad drive >>> right out of the box. One developed vertical lines on the screen, took >>> a month a half for Sony to get the parts in to come out and repair it >>> (although they did at least go to Ann Arbor to the professors home to >>> replace it, which was good because that month a half later >>> corresponded with the day before I left on a 2 week vacation). That >>> same laptop developed the same problem a few months later, this time >>> the on-site tech managed to disassemble the laptop and not get it back >>> together, so it ended up having to be sent in. (In fairness, I'm not >>> convinced mere mortals could reassemble one of those). It then >>> developed the *same* problem a third time, this time out of warranty. >>> Tough luck. And finally, we have the case of one that just stopped >>> turning on. This one they insisted had to be taken into the sony style >>> store (in Troy), and they've had that one for 2.5 months, and have >>> been unable to give me a satisfactory answer on why it's taken so long >>> and when we'll get it back. (The only number I have for info on it >>> apparently only the sony store can interpret, and they claim they >>> can't give me a number that I can talk with Sony about it.) >>> >>> And we only ordered between 4 or 6 of these laptops, and these are >>> some of Sony's higher end laptops. So the grass isn't always greener >>> elsewhere. I'll take Dell any day of the week over Sony. >>> >>> Gary >>> >> >> Oh yes... MUCH worse. I refuse to use Sony, Toshiba, HP and a host of >> other >> companies, as they all produce far too much utter crap. Or, perhaps I >> should >> say wildly inconsistent quality control. My other beef with most >> places is >> they availability of older spare parts. I had an adventure getting a >> part for >> a two year old Sony laptop. Two years! It was wild, but I finally >> found a >> place that had it (palm rest). >> >> I'd settled on Dell for desktops and Lenovo for ThinkPad laptops. Lenovo >> has gone downhill some, but relative to everyone else they stayed at the >> top during their slide. I thought so about Dell, but I am really >> questioning >> that now, when listening to friends whov'e had bad problems with >> repairs. >> >> I still LOVE my little white Optiplex Dell's. I have some that are 10 >> years >> old and will working, and consume about 57w of power, too. >> > > So, are you having much luck with an abacus? Doesn't seem like > there's much else left :). > > But in all seriousness, we have probably 400-500 computers in the > department here, and I'd say 90%+ of them are Dell. I'd say I > probably end up having to call dell about 1 or 2 times a month, and > generally the problem is fixed the next day. Now, if a computer > that's out of warranty has something like a motherboard fail, I have > to admit, and that point I tend to tell people it's time to send that > machine to salvage. (If for no other reason that some people here > will hold onto a machine until you pry it from their cold dead > fingers, well past the useful life of the machine. And then when I > try to salvage that machine, someone else will come along and swipe it > from my salvage pile before it gets picked up :) ). > > Even Dell's home support has supposedly improved based on my > conversations with someone's that dealt with them. (And I have to > admit, a few years ago, their home support had me ready to throw my > phone through the wall.) > > (And to go back to topic, I'm afraid we don't have any motherboards > from an Optiplex 320 sitting around. Honestly not sure we've even had > any of those systems. I know we have a few 330's, but can't remember > any 320's.) > My lunches are with ThinkPads. ;-) Despite their not being as good as they were before (I have several friends with 7xx series thinkpads running DOSish stuff, 11+ years old!) they are still the best; my A series lasted 5+ years. This W500 will hopefully be as good. The desktop brand that Lenovo has, judging from the 80+ that a friend got for her work, with one unit having problems after 2 years, is also good. There is also the possibility of assembling a computer, as well. There aren't many parts any more (1. case 2. PS 3. motherboard 4. ram 5. video card 6. DVD 7. disk 8. monitor 9. misc cables & keyboard/mouse), so making one is hardly the exercise it once was. I admit that I am a hardware snob. It's OK... call me that! ;-) I got very used to the old Sun-4 days, where I had a Sun-4/670 run for 5 years, except for two power outges, and three disk failures. (Sniff... I miss VME card days!) --STeve Andre'