Dell Laptops - Any good?

[Trotster]

I am thinking of getting a Dell laptop - the Inspiron 1501 with 1024mb / 2ghz.

I have been on the interweb but seen mixed reviews - not only of the laptop but also the service provided.

Has anyone got one or had any experience with Dell and the quality of the products?

I dont want to shell out a lot of cash to find i have a dud!!

thanks

xx

 

[Razi]

I bought an Inspiron 640m a couple of weeks ago (1.8ghz, 2gb) and it's been running absolutely fine - am more than happy with it. The company I used to work for always bought from Dell (all desktop machines though) and, as the IT guy there, I never had a problem with the machines or the support.

I have, however, taken all the support options off my laptop to make it a bit cheaper - and immediately formatted it and installed XP Pro.

 

[Gwylan]

I've had a Dell laptop for seven years and it's still working fine (even though I dropped a bookshelf on it).

The products are great but Dell's service is one of the worst there is. If you feel confident enough with PCs, I'd say buy one. If you need a lot of hand-holding, I'd go elsewhere.

 

[Trotster]

Thanks Razi.

Mine is comign with Xp Home and office basic which should run everything i need. Its only for working at home so basic applications are fine as the majority of large profile docs will be run from the PC.

I am buying direct from Dell which works out a hell of a lot cheaper and you get a lot more than going via PC world et al.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Dell is generally good quality. Someone will post on here with their terrible experience - but we usually buy them at work - and they are fine.

We get refurbished from www.europc.com . Check you can get the screen resolution you need.

 

[Drumstick]

Ive found dell great. Three dell comps and a laptop the third pc comes today! Earlier than expected, Ive always found theyve had a good to average afterservice to.

8/10

 

[Mark Ormerod's Gloves]

Buy a mac instead....

 

[bhaexpress]

The project I'm on has decided to swap from IBMs to Dells. I've installed about 20 of the thousands they're going to buy. Yes, a good machine IMHO.

 

[Skint Gull]

Yes, very good. As somebody else said don't bother with the service packages as they're shit and very expensive. Dell laptop that i bought for £350 over a year ago is MILES better than HP desktop i paid £600 for a couple of months before!

Get one!

 

[bhaexpress]

Buy a mac instead....

And pay a hell of a lot more for a machine which is nowadays no better and no more reliable in terms of software or hardware. Naturally you'll enjoy not being able to transfer data from your company PC very easily if at all.

Spoken by somebody who has a lot of experience of supporting both.

 

[Trotster]

Thanks guys and girls

Much more positive feed back than i expected!!

I think i will order it - the only thing that has slightly put me off is the guy I spoke to was very difficult to understand has had a very very thick Indian accent - he was also very pushy to get me to sign - he looked up my work number and phoned me!!!

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

I've had Dell laptops for the last 8 years, currently an XPS M170. I have not needed to use their tecnical support since 2000.

 

[Cian]

Buy a mac instead....

aka a 60% overpriced ASUS. Cause thats who makes them now. Apple haven't built laptops in YEARS.

 

[bhaexpress]

Thanks guys and girls

Much more positive feed back than i expected!!

I think i will order it - the only thing that has slightly put me off is the guy I spoke to was very difficult to understand has had a very very thick Indian accent - he was also very pushy to get me to sign - he looked up my work number and phoned me!!!

If you plan to pay by credit cardbut it over the net - www.dell.co.uk. PM if you need any help although I doubt that you will

 

[Trotster]

Thanks all!

It is ordered and even managed to get a carry case with space for my papers.

A very reasonable price of £521 inc VAT, Delivery, memory as per spec and office basic!

 

[Hiney]

Dell laptop here (along with 3 desktops and another laptop) and it's been brilliant.

I also have a GOOD service story to tell. The machine came with a 3 year collect and return policy and when the machine started misbehaving around 3 months ago, I e mailed Dell and they sent an engineer round one Friday afternoon who replaced the Motherboard.

This made the machine run really slow for some reason and I sent another E Mail.

This time, they collected the machine, took it away and 4 days later returned with a brand new machine.

You have to go through the process which can be a bit long-winded and you get some brilliantly composed letters from the Call Centre 'technicians' - "Please allow me to be delighted at you giving me the kind opportunity to assist you in this most troublesome problem"

In my opinion and experience, Dell are excellent machines and would recommend them highly.

 

[Man of Harveys]

I'm thinking of getting one of the real cheapo Dell laptops, the ones that are around £400. Are they shit, OK or is it worth spending another £1-200 for a better one? I only want it for watching DVDs on the train and the odd bit of writing.

 

[Hiney]

I'm thinking of getting one of the real cheapo Dell laptops, the ones that are around £400. Are they shit, OK or is it worth spending another £1-200 for a better one? I only want it for watching DVDs on the train and the odd bit of writing.

I reckon you'll be fine.

It's a bit like buying a BMW - the basic models are (relatively) cheap but once you start adding all the bells and whistles, the price soon shoots up but ultimately, the main bit (the ability to get you from A to B) is just the same.

The basic laptops will not have all the jazzy hardware but if all you want is to do a bit of Word Processing and listening to DVDs it will be fine.

That's my opinion anyway - I'm not a techie in any shape or form but that's been my experience.

 

[Trotster]

I'm thinking of getting one of the real cheapo Dell laptops, the ones that are around £400. Are they shit, OK or is it worth spending another £1-200 for a better one? I only want it for watching DVDs on the train and the odd bit of writing.

Thats what I went for - the price is £429 reduced from £509 until the 22nd Nov - you also get the free upgraded memory and free delivery. Link below

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/inspn_1501?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

 

[Skint Gull]

I'm thinking of getting one of the real cheapo Dell laptops, the ones that are around £400. Are they shit, OK or is it worth spending another £1-200 for a better one? I only want it for watching DVDs on the train and the odd bit of writing.

I think mine was £299 inc delivery but plus VAT and it's very decent for what I (and sounds like you) need it for. You'll be fine