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Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Nikolas on Thu 05/06/2008 10:13:52

Title: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: Nikolas on Thu 05/06/2008 10:13:52
I found some great prices in dell, uk, and I seriously thinking of buying one.

I can get a duo core 1.8 GHz, 2 MB cache, 2 GB RAM (!), 160 GB hard drive and other things (15.4" screen), for £360, inclduing VAT and shiping (final total that is).

I find this price amazing, in all honesty and lower value laptops, don't get free shiping (which is for £299 or more), so the price is not really altered for lower quality products.

It's a Vostro 1510.

Are there any negative experiences with dell, in general, or specific with vostro ones? Just curious to see, cause I do recall seeing the name "dell" plenty of times here, but don't actually remember if it was for good, bad, or both... :-\

Thank you all!
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: SSH on Thu 05/06/2008 10:26:11
I'm sure I found a voucher code online somewhere that gives you 10% off @ Dell. My Inspiron 1710 is fine, although I did need to fiddle with drivers a bit to get the Wifi working well in Vista. Not sure if Dell, wireless card, router or Vista was to blame, though...



Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: vict0r on Thu 05/06/2008 10:33:55
I've heard loads of negative speech about Dell, but not anything specific. Just stuff like "Dell sucks, don't buy it". Personally, I lived with a Dell stationary computer for 4 or 5 years and it worked great for my use.
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: Nikolas on Thu 05/06/2008 11:03:27
Thanks guys, keep 'em coming...

SSH: If you still know how to get the voucher, it's £36 off... a big case of beers for me... and lots of kisses for you! ;D

Victor: so have I, but with nothing too specific, if I remember correctly. It's one of those huge companies that attract attacks it seems to me... :-\

More people, please?
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: SSH on Thu 05/06/2008 11:59:43
Quote from: Nikolas on Thu 05/06/2008 11:03:27
SSH: If you still know how to get the voucher, it's £36 off... a big case of beers for me... and lots of kisses for you! ;D

Try here. My comp was more expensive and some of them have minimum purchase prices...:

http://www.myvouchercodes.co.uk/discounts/dell.co.uk
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: Darth Mandarb on Thu 05/06/2008 13:10:26
I'm currently on my second Dell laptop.  The first was an Insprion 1705 (which was a heavy sucker!) but a wonderful work-horse!

Now I have an XPS 1530.  Smaller, MUCH lighter, and a great work-horse as well!

The only bad thing I will say about them (both of them) is that they have annoying stand-by mode that sometimes is hard to "wake" them up.  I've been using them for over 2 years and I still can't figure out the exact way to make it work!

Bottom line, I like 'em.
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: voh on Thu 05/06/2008 13:20:45
The hardware's fairly good, especially given the price. The only thing I'd complain about is tech service. I've heard from multiple people in other countries that it's similar over there. But, as always, I can only say anything about what it's like in the Netherlands.

I recently bought a Compaq, something I though I'd never do, but they've improved massively since HP took over. I'd just as easily bought a Dell though, so I say go for it if the price is right for you.
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: Ren on Thu 05/06/2008 13:58:55
A big chunk of laptops dont have the middle mouse button. But that shouldn't be a problem since you can commect a mouse to a laptop.
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: tube on Thu 05/06/2008 15:22:47
Dell isn't any worse than the rest of them, but the fact that Vostro is their "economy" line of laptops will be noticeable from things like flimsier casing, noisier fans, worse support etc. But if you're on a budget, I'm sure the Vostro will be good value for the money. Just don't expect to play any recent 3d games with the Intel graphics chip...
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: Nikolas on Thu 05/06/2008 15:36:19
But I'm not. This computer is strictly for traveling, for Word (my thesis and a book... ok, maybe scores as well, but they are extremely light software), and nothing more.

I have a great computer (even if it's 4 years old), and when the time comes I won't be saving anything on my new desktop! I don't fancy laptops for anything serious really! Never mind that I would have to put a new sound card, was I to use it for music, so I'll pass to that!

Cheers for the replies people! :)
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: SSH on Thu 05/06/2008 15:36:57
My Dell had a broken DVDRW drive (it could read/write CDs OK but couldn't do DVDs at all) which their (hardware-only!) tech support diagnosed and sorted out very quickly. Because I was comfortable fitting the replacement myself, it all went swimmingly.
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: evenwolf on Fri 06/06/2008 15:09:55
I've only ever heard bad things about Dell from electronics employees of OTHER merchandise.
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: LimpingFish on Fri 06/06/2008 22:21:58
Been a Dell customer for six years, never had a problem with their products.

The Dimension 4400 I've had for that time still works perfectly, and this new XPS is the bees knees.

Both are desktops, though, so I couldn't comment on the laptop side of things. :(
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: zenassem on Sat 07/06/2008 14:30:35
I have a Sony Vaio laptop which ran me $1,500.00 and it's quirky as heck. I am much happier with my $1,000.00 Acer w/ 2gb ram, and Nvidia 8600GT. And the Toshiba that I picked up for $499.00 from best buy, actually out performs that Sony.

I have owned a couple of Dell laptops, and I haven't been impressed. More specifically I would stay away from the Lattitude line. For some reason their touch pad has a mind of it's own. It begins drifting all over the place. I have a feeling it's the location and the way it's wired. I have seen this on two models, 1 being the c610. I have also had the aforementioned standby/sleep issues with them; and noisy Failing HD's and heating issues to boot.
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: radiowaves on Sun 08/06/2008 12:25:07
It depends, what do you need your laptop for?
Gaming? Just internet surfing? Some more serious? 3d?

I am planning to get myself an XPS also, 15* is a bit high on prize, I think I'll do with 13* Still, laptop prizes are quite high here in Estonia, compared to the US or GB. I am hoping maybe someone can buy it for me and send it to me (I will transfer you the money of course)?

You think Dell XPS 13* is good enough for some little 3D and Aftereffects?
Title: Re: anything wrong with dell laptops?
Post by: Nyu001 on Sun 08/06/2008 18:41:04
How could I not see this thread :O

I am one looking for a laptop from last week and still not sure of what to choice. -_-