Dell-Mart
Moderator: Dictators in Training
Dell's business class desktops, laptops, workstations and servers are expensive for a reason. They are solid and their service is top notch if you are willing to pay for it. Their consumer grade desktops and laptops are garbage but are so cheap the average consumer can afford a machine with decent specs. Just don't expect to be able to upgrade it significantly or cheaply or be able to buy many off the shelf parts for it. They make their money on the backend by charging top dollar for compatible "upgrades".
That's my biggest gripe with any of the major companies, they load up the machines with a bunch of crap most of which the end user never really uses, or even knows what it's for.
Raymond S. Kraft wrote:The history of the world is the history of civilizational clashes, cultural clashes. All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society and civilization should be like, and the most determined always win.
Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win. The pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill them.
Arlos wrote:I've been fairly happy with the Laptop I got from them. I mean, it's no Alienware uber-machine, but it's fairly functional. Well, once I cleaned off all the bloatware and put in real software.
-Arlos
Dell's laptops are significantly better than their desktop counterparts.
If I was to bite the bullet and suck at life, I'd buy a Dell over just about any pre-made POS.
How do you like this spoiler, motherfucker? -Lyion
I've put together machines before, but there is something to be said for having something else do it, especially if it involves something you HAVEN'T done. I wanted a water cooling system, had never done one, and figured that if *I* do one and it leaks or fucks up, I'm just out a lot of expensive components. If someone ELSE does it and there's a problem, it's their costs to fix it, not mine. And honestly, the company Lyion pointed me to, while somewhat slow in responding were only about 5-10% more expensive than doing it myself.
So far, it's been rock solid. I even move the case around moderately often, cause I take it with me when I house sit at my parents' place. Only thing that's ever happened to it is the lead from the power button wiggled off the jumpers on the board (oooh, hard to fix, not), and I had to re-glue the power button into place (oh boy, 3 drops of superglue and 5 minutes. TOUGH REPAIR) Other than those 2, no issues whatsoever.
As for my laptop, it's a business-class one; even has an actual video card in it (an ATI something) with its own memory, not like those intel video cards that borrow main memory. Not too heavy, big screen, decent power life, integrated wireless and bluetooth... yah, it's done good for me.
-Arlos
So far, it's been rock solid. I even move the case around moderately often, cause I take it with me when I house sit at my parents' place. Only thing that's ever happened to it is the lead from the power button wiggled off the jumpers on the board (oooh, hard to fix, not), and I had to re-glue the power button into place (oh boy, 3 drops of superglue and 5 minutes. TOUGH REPAIR) Other than those 2, no issues whatsoever.
As for my laptop, it's a business-class one; even has an actual video card in it (an ATI something) with its own memory, not like those intel video cards that borrow main memory. Not too heavy, big screen, decent power life, integrated wireless and bluetooth... yah, it's done good for me.
-Arlos
- kaharthemad
- NT Traveller

- Posts: 3768
- Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2004 8:47 am
- Location: Somewhere South of Disorder
Tacks wrote:Anyone on this board who doesn't just make their own PC is lazy. Laptops I can understand but how easy PC's are to build these days there's really no excuse to settle for junk. There are also some smaller online boutique type stores that make shit just as good as you can build, for cheaper.
I agree to some extent, Taxx. Some people, no matter how smart they are, just don't have the mechanical knack to build their own computer. Now if you meant going to a place, giving them the specs of the comp you want and having them build it, I am in total agreement with you. Why settle for crap you don't need or can't easily upgrade?
- kaharthemad
- NT Traveller

- Posts: 3768
- Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2004 8:47 am
- Location: Somewhere South of Disorder
I actually partially agree with him. Except for those that are almost completely computer illiterate, I would never recommend going with a desktop from Dell, etc. There ARE, however, advantages to getting it done for you at one of the boutique shops, or one of the higher end places like Falcon-NW, Alienware, etc.
-Arlos
-Arlos
Tacks wrote:Anyone on this board who doesn't just make their own PC is lazy. Laptops I can understand but how easy PC's are to build these days there's really no excuse to settle for junk. There are also some smaller online boutique type stores that make shit just as good as you can build, for cheaper.
That's me, there. For many of us, it's a matter of time.
Some of us value our time more than to screw around with building out our own PCs, anymore. Plus, it's much easier to have one stop to get it fixed, in case of problems. I built my first PC (and second, third, etc), and back when I started, one needed to solder. I did it because I was broke and had plenty of time. That isn't the case anymore.
I'll spend the extra 100 bucks at Cyberpower and have them build it out and ship it to me the way I want. If it doesn't work, I'll ship it right back. No skin off my teeth, no swapping out parts, no BS.
Building PCs when I was in my 20s was fun. I detest it now. I upgrade every 3 years and I'm done. The old PC goes to a family member, and I'm set.
What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step.
– C. S. Lewis
– C. S. Lewis
- kaharthemad
- NT Traveller

- Posts: 3768
- Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2004 8:47 am
- Location: Somewhere South of Disorder
After you've built your 100th PC, the novelty kinda wears off. If I get another desktop, I'll probably buy a barebones or just get a premade one from some vendor. I don't have the time these days to fuss with my PC. I want the shit to work and if it doesn't I want someone to call to make it work, pronto.
lyion wrote:
I'll spend the extra 100 bucks at Cyberpower and have them build it out and ship it to me the way I want. If it doesn't work, I'll ship it right back. No skin off my teeth, no swapping out parts, no BS.
That's still what I do. I've bought my last 3 from them and have been absolutely 100% happy with everything I've gotten from them. I'll keep going back.
Last edited by Tacks on Fri May 25, 2007 11:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cyberpower is where I got mine, too. My friend who got his from there as well has had some parts issues, he has had 2 successive power supplies blow, taking the motherboards with them. The later parts weren't from Cyberpower, of course, but he still had that first one go. Mine, though, as I said before, has been solid as a rock other than the lead coming loose, which likely happened because of how often the case got moved, and needing the quick glue repair job on the power button.
-Arlos
-Arlos






