dells a rip off...
- Thread starter HaZzY
- Start date
jac006
Golden Master
- Messages
- 5,810
Case, smase, who cares... Build your own and save. I didn't, but I got an awesome deal for it...but I then upgraded it... you can get a dell xps gen 5 with a built it 6800 and there's also a gateway out there with the same card... but I'd just buy it off some site or comp shop near you.
aaron12345
In Runtime
- Messages
- 217
So I was sticking in a new hard drive last week on a 3 year old dell for a client - the internal hard drive went dead. Anyways props to dell it took 30 minutes just to get the case off properly. Each dell I work on seems to have a different array of green plastic levers to push and pull, metal levars that cut your fingers, then removing the heatpipe to make room to slide in the hard drive. Now this particular dell you had to take the front bezel plastic off first, before you could get the right side (non motherboard side) off. So figured out all that and went to take out the old hard drive oops it's also screwed in on the motherboard side of the case (I applaud dell for paying the cost to use two screws!). So I try to get that side off can't figure it out for 15 min so I look in the manual. That side is non-removable! Great! So now they have a dead hard drive sitting in there - not the worst thing in the world but a bit of pain just makes the airflow even worse in a computer with NO CASE FANS - the whole computer was smothered in dust and I used a compressed air can to clean it out for them - disgusting and maybe the reason the hard drive failed, hard drives don't like heat. And there was no room even add a case fan to alleviate the problem. So there are only 2 hard drive slots in this mid-tower (room for more - 2 cheap for the cages I geuss). Anyways second slot has screw holes in weird places (not standard like the first one, gotta love dell) so I have to use washers to make it fit (finding right washer took a bit of trial and error). All in all the whole ordeal of re-placing the hard drive took 3 times as long as it should have. Sorry I had to vent about this but I needed to - the worst dell upgrade experience I have ever had. And lastly to be even cheaper in a nice and overpriced computer - the ide cable only had one connector since there was only one hard drive. Not a problem now, but would it have killed them to spend an extra two cents and put in a standard ide cable with a primary and slave connector!
aaron12345
In Runtime
- Messages
- 217
For laptops check chemusa.com. They sell to alot of the companies you see advertised online. No there website isn't flashy, or even current! But their support is impecable. Ever heard of next day warranty turn around! I had a problem with a laptop bought from a reseller (a mistake should have bought direct from them, but didn't even know they existed or were the original manufacturer when buying) the reseller, hybrid gear was a living hell to deal with, but as soon as they passed us on to chemusa it was smooth sailing. We got a rma number and were told a 2-3 turn around, the rma number was givin within the hour of filing out an online form and when we called the same person answered throughout the warranty process almost immediatly. Well they ended up fixing the laptop (a few dead keys) and shipping it out the day after receipt! Very polite and on the ball, great prices, and the best support I've ever had. Highly recommended!
www.shopacer.co.uk is a good place to find great value PC's, but if you're American, it probably won't apply to you, unless they have American versions of the site.
I know the local PC computer store charges extra to work on dells. To install new compents on a normal computer is liek 25 bucks i believe on a dell 50. When my dad owned a dell he asked why. They went cause their a pain in the ass to deal with. And yea I bet dell don't even have personnel WORKING they have machines doing it I bet. I was talking to the guy at the computer store. He said he was trying to fit ONE and I SAY ONE stick of ram into a dell took him 45 mins. I could stick a piece of ram into my computer is about 10 mins that includes shut down time, receving the ram from the fedex guy and all.
Yeah, I've seen the insides of a few Dells, and they are CRAMPED. Most have this HUGE green heat diverter from the processor to the back. If they didn't have it though, it would overheat because there's so little space to begin with. Then add that big green monstrosity.... it gets pretty hairy if you try to mess with anything. And GOD FORBID YOU NEED TO GET THE DIVERTER OFF! It would be easier to toss it in the trash and save up for a new computer than to upgrade those things.
