How is DELL in terms of quality of their laptops and support?

[modeonoff]

Hello, I recall that 20 years ago, some of my friends and school used DELL's laptops and desktops. They complained about poor quality and support. I remember that their keyboards were very loud. They considered DELL making cheap and low quality products with poor support. How about now? Personally, I have not used their product before but I am considering to buy the just announced laptop with i9 CPU.

 

[k19_window_maker]

Dell is only second to alienware lol , it's like Ford and Lincoln if you will .

 

[ragnar-gd]

In my team there is a Lenovo-fraction and a Dell-fraction, as far as it goes with business laptops, and both sides can show their marks with pride.
I think at the moment the business products of Dell are of decent quality, but i'd always go, after consulting toms hardware on gaming laptops, to https://www.notebookcheck.com/ to see their review, if you consider a "business machine", as experience with one machine cannot necessarily be translated to the experience with another.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Well like most manufacturers in really any sector that have a large line of products, they make good stuff and some less than good stuff. If you buy a really cheap dell laptop expect it to have a similar quality level to other laptop manufacturer's really cheap laptops. If you say buy a business grade dell laptop like an XPS or something they are known to be quite good quality.

So to some it up there is not black and white answer to this. The quality of a dell laptop will depend on which one you buy. Any dell laptop with an i9 is likely going to be quite high end.

My old school gave us a rather cheap dell inspirion laptops, it certainly isn't high quality but it has been perfectly reliable in the 5 years I have owned it.

 

[canadianvice]

Dell is pretty solid, but you need to be aware that the experience and quality of your laptop is generally a function of price more than brand. If you buy a cheapo unit, you will get a cheapo experience. I say this having worked retail sales for 5 years - you can't imagine how many people fork out for the $300 laptop and think it's going to last 10 years.

 

[k19_window_maker]

i remember in the 90's dell was selling pretty well in our country . that was before the american sanctions.

 

[10tacle]

Agreed with all the above. If you go with a non-Inspiron (and similar G-series) upper scale model (XPS, Latitude, Vostro), you'll be good. Stay away from the cheap lines. HP is the same.

 

[Sam Poland]

My company has bought about 20 Dell Latitudes over the last 5 years. Their longevity is great. Their quality control on what they ship to you, not so much. One example was just a deformed keyboard. But that's on a laptop that cost $2k. You would think for that kind of $$$ they would get it right the first time. Also if you do buy a Dell you should always do a full wipe and restore using the recovery media they will sell you for extra. I don't know why but their pre-installed Windows is not stable. Whatever brand you decide on keep in mind that more often than not, you get what you pay for. Their basic warranty is decent. Keep in mind that there are many parts that Dell will expect you to perform the repair/replacement instead of providing an onsite tech. Good luck with your purchase.

 

[King_V]

I have only dealt with desktops, and the very few times I've needed support from Dell, I had no complaints.

A friend of mine worked in a school system - so they buy things on a large scale. For a while, they used Dell. Then, for the past several years, it's been HP, and my friend suspects that the switch was due to "someone who was friends with someone who got a cut of the contract"

His experience on this scale is that when it came to service, especially with under-warranty stuff, Dell was easier to deal with, and HP can sometimes be counterproductive, and seems to be suspicious of claims.

This is just the one school system, mind you, and is this guy's experience. But, when it came to warranty parts replacement, he found it easier to deal with Dell compared to HP.

 

[modeonoff]

For the past 20 years, I use HP desktop, Apple laptops and desktops, as well as IBM Thinkpad (before Lenovo took over). Apple and IBM are excellent in terms of customer services. They stand behind their products and if they cannot fix their machines, they give you a brand new one of the latest version. Not sure about Lenovo and DELL. Any experience?

The DELL laptop I am interested in is XPS 15.

Regardless of which laptop to get, I want to install both Windows and Linux. If possible, I also hope to turn it into a Hackintosh.

 

[canadianvice]

For the past 20 years, I use HP desktop, Apple laptops and desktops, as well as IBM Thinkpad (before Lenovo took over). Apple and IBM are excellent in terms of customer services. They stand behind their products and if they cannot fix their machines, they give you a brand new one of the latest version. Not sure about Lenovo and DELL. Any experience?

The DELL laptop I am interested in is XPS 15.

Regardless of which laptop to get, I want to install both Windows and Linux. If possible, I also hope to turn it into a Hackintosh.

The XPS models are known to be quite good. In terms of a hackintosh, I don't expect too much trouble, but you should expect some things to not work - if I had to guess, screen lighting adjustment may be one, and another would probably be the touchpad.

Really depends - but you can always try! Is there any particular reason you want so many OS' on it? Linux and Mac are basically interchangeable for any additional utility they have above and beyond windows.

 

[10tacle]

Not sure about Lenovo and DELL. Any experience?

I still have a Dell Core Duo E1705 laptop working from 2006, and my 2010-era Lenovo Thinkpad T400 that I'm using right now had half a bottle of beer spilled on it two days ago while powered on and it's still kicking after an afternoon in the sun. If that's not bullet proof I don't know what is.

 

[modeonoff]

All three OS are required for my work. So, I hope one machine could run all three OS.

One thing I don't like about the Thinkpad laptops is that the cases lose the coating very easily. I saw shinny corners and edges.

 

[alvarolunab]

dell will give decent support or guarantees in coorporative or goverment fat contracts, if your are a particular you mean next to nothing to them.

 

[epscoe]

Dell is awful. I bought a high-end Inspiron -- great specs, really pretty screen -- but it was defective. Sent to the repair depot multiple times but never worked right. Kept having to re-setup and reinstall all my stuff after the repair people wiped it without actually fixing the issue.

Finally, months later, they admit it was defective and send a replacement. But the replacement is dead on arrival, can't even make it through the Windows setup.

The support is atrocious, they never admit fault or express any kind of real understanding for the nonsense that their crap products have inflicted on you. Everyone you talk to has the same script, which invariably doesn't address your problem, and nobody (tech support, customer "care", etc) can offer a real path to success. Just keep sending it to the depot until your warranty expires and you're stuck with rubbish.

 

[USAFRet]

Hello, I recall that 20 years ago, some of my friends and school used DELL's laptops and desktops. They complained about poor quality and support. I remember that their keyboards were very loud. They considered DELL making cheap and low quality products with poor support. How about now? Personally, I have not used their product before but I am considering to buy the just announced laptop with i9 CPU.

And conversely, I have a 20 year old Dell laptop (1998) that still works.