Experience of Buying a Dell (or a new Computer)

[rtt2]

I am buying a new desktop and have to say that the process has turned into the most frustrating thing imaginable. My new computer will handle mostly business apps but also want it to be powerful enough to multitask and I will not be gaming on it.
I believe that shopping for a new computer has turned into a horrendous experience and closely mirrors buying or pricing a new car.
Prices change and variables are never certain. I have bought lots of computers in my lifetime and yearn for the earlier days of computer shopping. Sure prices were more expensive but you never believed you were being taken advantage of.
When Dell started I could remember buying a computer and adding components for fixed prices. Now I can't even determine the cost of things or get exactly what I want without being forced into a more expensive model. Then in that model prices are all different for the same option and feature.
I wound up buying from the Dell small business site for the same configured computer for $141 less then the Dell Home site. This takes into account all rebates and discounts on both sites. It is absurd.
I can build my own but I am not into that and really want the service on the computer that I pay additionally for. (For example when one of the Dells in my house had its integrated NIC on the motherboard fried, Dell came and replaced it free of charge and saved me a lot of grief)
My point is pricing on computers is less flexible because customers have to now pay for stuff they do not need. I was going to buy a Compaq but they do not sell desktops with DVI out for a monitor, instead you have to buy a HP desktop which has more stuff I do not need like Media Center.
Anyways, thank you for listening to my rant.

 

[Foxbat]

rtt2, I found that the Dell refurbished site gave me the best value for what I was looking for. As for Business vs. Home, it depended on what day of the year and phase of the moon, or actually the stock on hand. Another difference can be whether or not Dell does business in your state as Home is in one or two states while Dell Business is in several states.

If you yearn for the days of simpler, more expensive shopping, try the Apple Store... Actually, though, it's pretty easy to put together a Mac on the Apple Store, and you have the added benefit that it doesn't run Windows Exploit du jour.

 

[Bob Haller]

Dell tech support is all out of country. A good friend has a dell and went thru you know what.

He will NEVER buy another Dell.

Wants american tech support by americans!

 

[sA :: Shaggy]

build your own, go down to Fry's s and buy everything you need. I think Ive put about $600 into my computer but it can handle the most demanding games (so it can handle Ur business), and for tech support well i kinda have my personal computer tech so u know. lol

 

[Ilya]

I buy from Dell on a regular basis. Most of our business computers are Dells. I like that they can build it to my exact specs and that they always offer the latest and greatest technologies long before they hit the stores. Overall I am happy with the quality and with their support too. Never had any problems with their technical support people. I can call them at any time: day or night and relatively quickly get satisfactory answers, though I should mention that I primarily deal with server support people there - could be different for home desktops.

I especially like that they offer on-site support (standard with business computers), which is very important for servers. For example, there was a case when they notified me about a glitch found in the motherboard design (in one of our servers that has been running for more than a year without any problems) that could potentially cause a malfunction. They advised a motherboard replacement under warranty. They said they could do it at any convenient for us time. We told them that the only convenient time would be Sunday at 1AM as it was a 24x7 server. Guess what - they came on Sunday at 1AM!!! And that was just their standard least-expensive on-site support option, not a priority support or something!

As for the prices and promotions - yes, it's always a game with them! They change promotions every week. So, if I need, say, a dual CPU system with a ton of RAM, I try to wait for a free second-CPU promotion, or for a free memory upgrade deal, which come almost every other week or two. So, if you see that you do not benefit from their current promotion - just wait a week if you can. Actually it is a bit easier with a corporate account, as it usually offers additional discounts compared to the on-line prices. Just my 2 cents...

 

[rtt2]

Ilya I totally agree with you.
I have had a lot of Dells in the past and enjoyed the computers and have used the tech support including the onsite support. I really do not have time to deal with issues with a computer when I come home from work at night, if there is a problem and worry about fixing it myself. The last thing I want to do after I get off the train is stop at CompUSA or BestBuy to pick up parts before I drive home to fiddle with a computer.
My company has an Employee Purchase Program through Dell and HP but I find that that the special offers work out better than going through the EPP. I would only save 12% on the EPP and not be able to use coupons or take advantage of rebates etc.
Ilya you summed it up the best.. Its a game trying to buy from Dell. It becomes just frustrating for those of us who do not work in the industry.

 

[HCI]

Please Please dont buy a dell. Go with EMachines or Compaq if you are going to buy over the counter. The best thing to do is like sA :: Shaggy said and build your own or get someone to do it for you. You can do this for around the same price as you can buy one over the counter.

 

[rtt2]

Can You Still Build a PC for Less?
You can't beat vendors' low-end PC prices, but building your own power desktop might save you some cash.
By Tom Mainelli, PC World
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/print?id=1302450
— -

Conventional wisdom once stated that building your own PC was more than just a way to create your perfect computer--it was also a lot cheaper than buying a finished system. However, in recent years economies of scale have overturned this truism, making it nearly impossible for the average individual PC builder to beat a big vendor's price when it comes to a basic desktop system.

Don't believe me? Just try building yourself a Pentium-4 based system for less than you'd pay for any basic Dell Dimension PC. See, every day Dell buys a gazillion hard drives, optical drives, motherboards, and so on, so it gets a better unit price for these components than you do for your single purchase. The fact is, without cannibalizing half of your current PC's parts, you can't touch Dell when it comes to building a cheap PC.

That said, I recently stumbled upon the satisfying realization that when it comes to high-end systems, there's still some wiggle room. Apparently this is the market where PC builders--both big and small--like to pad their margins a bit, so you can still save some bucks by doing it yourself.

When Shuttle recently announced its first dual-graphics-board system, I sat up and took notice. I'm a long-time fan of the company's small form factor bare-bones products and its fully finished systems, and with the XPC P 2600, Shuttle promised blazing desktop performance.

I requested and received a fully outfitted (and notably expensive) P 2600 review system to test for our January issue. And I have to say, Shuttle delivered big time. This is one serious, high-performance desktop PC. If speed is your need, this tiny terror will not disappoint.

Using NVidia's NForce 4 chip set and SLI technology, the P 2600's design is mighty impressive: The company fits two full-sized EVGA 7800GTX cards side by side in the 12.6- by 8.3- by 8.7-inch case. Also elegantly stowed inside: a Advanced Micro Devices X2 4800+ CPU, 2GB of memory, two 400GB hard drives, and a DVD burner.

In our tests the P 2600 put all that cutting-edge hardware to good use and notched a WorldBench score of 123, near the top achievers in our Power Desktop category. Predictably, the unit also scored very well in our graphics tests. But despite its high-performance pedigree--and its seven internal fans--the system remains remarkably quiet.

If the P 2600 has any weakness, it's a lack of expandability. There is no room to add parts to this machine: no open PCI or PCI Express slots, no unused bays to add hard drives, and no empty memory sockets. That means, for example, that you'll never be able to upgrade from the integrated audio.

And then there's the spare-no-expense price tag. The shipping system I tested--which included a 17-inch LCD, complete with carrying handle--sells for a whopping $4635.

Now, to be fair, I did ask Shuttle to load this system up with the latest and greatest hardware. And we all know bleeding-edge stuff is expensive. Plus, putting two NVidia 7800 GTX graphics boards in a PC is never going to be cheap.

But $4635? That seems awfully high. I was convinced I could build nearly the same system for less. A lot less, even. So I pointed my browser toward NewEgg.com and got to work.

Shuttle started off engineering and selling bare-bones systems exclusively; it only started selling fully configured desktops a few years ago. I was pretty sure I could find the exact same chassis and motherboard combination as that of the P 2600. I was right: It's the $559 XPC SN26.

From there I just worked my way down the P 2600's components list, most of which are standard-issue.

* One AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+: $884
* Two 400GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 SATA drives: $471
* Two EVGA GeForce 7800 GTX boards: $918
* One Shuttle XP17 monitor: $390
* One copy of Windows XP Pro (OEM version): $149

For those parts I couldn't match precisely, I picked top-quality alternates that weren't always the most expensive, but weren't the cheapest either.

* One Lite-On DVD Burner: $43
* Two sticks of Corsair XMS DDR 400 memory (2GB total): $221
* One Logitech mouse, keyboard, and headset: $110

By the end I'd pretty much re-created the spitting image of Shuttle's $4635 XPC P 2600 system in my shopping cart. Grand total: $3745.

Now, if I were a math wiz I'd be a famous architect and not a journalist. But I'm pretty sure that's a huge savings. (It's $890, to be precise.) True, the P 2600 comes with some additional software, a system warranty, and a QuickStart guide and disc-based manual. However, I noticed that none of these things were made of solid gold, so I still think the build-it-yourself deal is a better one.

I'm not here to give Shuttle a hard time for the price of its high-end system. The company deserves to make a profit, right?

Okay, maybe I am here to give Shuttle some grief. I mean, just how big a profit margin do you need?

In the end, I suppose the question for anybody who wants a system just like this is simple. Do you want to spend the time and effort to build it yourself and save some cash, or would you rather have it delivered to you ready to go?

I didn't actually build this system, but if I had I can't imagine it would have taken me more than a few hours, including the OS install. My time is valuable, but I'm pretty sure it's not that valuable.

For my money--or lack thereof--I'd build every time.

Copyright (c) 2005 PC World Communications, Inc.

 

[hdtvtechno]

WHen you buy a Gateway PC, Tech support can control and fix your PC over the internet.

 

[NightRyder]

My entire agency switched to Dell about a year and a half ago, desktops and servers. I won't recommend anything else to my small business clients. Never had a problem with service or support. As far as my home PC, I did build it myself but there is no way I would build one for a client, Dell may offer 24/7 support but I don't.


NightRyder

 

[cdru]

I wound up buying from the Dell small business site for the same configured computer for $141 less then the Dell Home site. This takes into account all rebates and discounts on both sites. It is absurd.

Were the two computers exactly the same? Or where they just compairable? Dell SB typically sells fewer models, but retains them for a longer period and has a fixed set of specs/options. This allows them to sell them cheaper to businesses that want to standardize their infrastructure. This comes at the cost of not having every new wizbang available that Dell Home needs to have to attract the gaming and home PC markets. SB customers also have different support/warranty concerns and needs then what Home customers have. That gets factored into the equation as well.

 

[Shawn95GT]

I work on PCs for a living. Of the last 3 PCs I've bought, I built one, bought two Dells.

Buy the Dells when there is a deal. Dell has insane deals you almost can't refuse sometimes.

Their regular pricing isn't all that great.

I paid $250 for a P4 2.8 (800FSB) system with minimal ram / hardrive which got upgraded the day it arrived here over a year ago. You can't buy a crappy motherboard / processor / case for that.

I haven't seen Dell deals for a while, but watch the deal sites like Fatwallet / slickdeals. When these come, they will be posted.

It wasn't 6 months ago I bought my finace's system for about $600 after rebate. Dell 4700 P4 2.8 (800FSB), 512M RAM, 80gig HD, Int ethernet / sound / video, DVD ROM, good (1705) LCD monitor etc. We can add a 'real' PCI-E video card if she ever wants to game.

Any way you look at it, price it out. For me in both cases it was cheaper to buy the Dell and upgrade a couple parts as needed.

Keep in mind that in some cases taxes / shipping will make Dell home or Dell Small business a better deal. I pay tax at small business, but not at Dell home.

Shawn

 

[Van]

Please Please dont buy a dell. Go with EMachines or Compaq if you are going to buy over the counter. The best thing to do is like sA :: Shaggy said and build your own or get someone to do it for you. You can do this for around the same price as you can buy one over the counter.

Popular misconception unless you can buy everything you need at bulk wholesale prices that the vendors get. Where companies like dell and gateway are able to keep prices low is on mass bulk buying of parts and consolidation of resources such as having the audio and video integrated right into the motherboard and the memory that both use comes out of the system resources, doing this they save the cost of $150 for a video card and $75 for a sound card more or less.

The only way that you could conceivably come close to building a comp for the same price as what you would pay for one and not get the bulk discount on prices is if you use all the cheap strange named stuff that you can find at trade show's and if you do that then I have a yugo to sell you.

 

[damaged]

Stay FAR, FAR away from Compaq, HP (compaq and hp are one and the same now), Gateways, or eMachines, they have the highest repair counts, they are gar-bage, (just try to replace a harddrive of a HP pavillion or compaq, and you'll see what I mean, or upgrading the RAM, the case logistics are a joke try it, and you'll see what I mean) stick with Dell (great case logistics), the only more reliable system is Apple.

As for building your own, yes it CAN save you some cash OR get you a better system (but almost never both), but consider, when a part fails you have to track down that one manufacturer to replace it, for each and every part, you have to deal with a different manufacturer, each will have a different warrantee policy, different return methods, also you are more likely to get a part that is DOA than you would from a pre-built system, as the manf. will be more careful with the quality so as to not loose a big companies business, while they could care less about DIY Bobs homemade system, then you have to call the manf. get a RA number, wait 4-6 weeks, etc, blah...

There are times that building one is a must, I had to build a custom machine for a guy who wanted to do near-realtime music editing, but did not save us any money, just that the configuration was specific to the application.

I buy systems on a regular basis, I've seen it all from each of those companies, and Dell has been the best thus far.

And before I get flames (no doubt from someone typing that flame on a HP or Compaq), yes, consumers do occasionally get a good deal and/or reliable machine from those 'stay away from' companies, but it is NOT the norm.
If you were to buy a whole office of Compaqs (which I have done by clients request, as far as he was concerned, they just _had_ to be Compaq, fell for the price hype) the repair rates become more obvious (as opposed to just buying one and knowing 2 people with the same machine), anyways 2 years later, the process began, I had to replace each compaq, sometimes 2 at a time, with new dells, within the 3rd year, all Compaqs were gone (now garbage, no sense in spending for repairs anything over 40% of the cost of a new machine that is at least 2 times as fast), it has now been almost 6 years with the Dells, they stay on 24/7, the only failure was the python backup tape drive on the server (a normal thing really since they get used alot) and even thought it was out of warrantee, Dell replaced it free. (subsequent tape drive replacments were not free however).

I also run openmosix, a clustering linux setup, I use machines my clients would throw away and I throw them into my cluster, as time goes by each node on the cluster fails eventually, to which I just throw in another replacment, guess which ones died first (A: the hp, compaqs and emachines) and which ones are still running (A: the dells and one IBM). The emachine actually outlasted the compaqs.

I also suggest if you DO go with a Dell, go through Small Office/Business, do NOT go through Home, they know a company will probably come back and buy more, while a Home customer will run the machine into the ground before buying a new one from them, so you get better support. (for example, called Dell for a client who bought it through Home, always got India on tech supp, when I call for my business clients, I always get a english speaking person.

 

[Roger]

I would never buy from Dell and their quality has gone to hell as well. I think a good way to buy a PC is from the HSN website where you can get a Gateway at a decent price. The only down fall is that you can't customise it but I'll take that and 5 Flex-pay payments than pay any interest with financing. Mine broke at an inconvenient time so I had to do what I could fast to get a new one.

 

[sA :: Shaggy]

buy At Fry"s Electronics If You Can Find One Around You

 

[Shawn95GT]

Ugh, I hate Frys.

Fry's is a great place to look at stuff. Buy it someplace else.

I'd venture to say that at least half of Frys's inventory is open box (aka used crap).

I buy stuff at Fry's if it's something cheap I need right that second and I won't be upset if I get home and find the part is defective. Be sure to check for the little 2x2 'why this item was returned' tag. Don't be fooled into thinking what you are buying is new because it's shrink wrapped in plastic. They have the machine to do that on-site.

Shawn

 

[T2k]

I buy stuff for the whole company, for my family, for most of our employees etc, together deeply in the six figures range - and the only case when I consider Dell when it's a low-budget operation but even then I often go for HP refurb.
Reasons against Dell:
1. They are behind the technology curve for long time now: they do not have *ANY* AMD-based setup and Intel is plain and simple sh!tty and pathetically behind AMD for more than a year now everywhere except laptopl chips.
2. They stripped down their support including forums etc - now it's a *&%$ pain in the ass to get something fixed unless it's obviously broken or totally dead.
3. Their formerly reasonable quality has quickly falling for more than a year now. Last case was when my friend received THREE 20" LCD panels with broken back lightning in a row: not only the first one but two conecutive replacement were broken... this is ridiculous, obviously nobody checks anything, nobody gives a sh*t about anything.
Having said this in budget laptop category Dell is probably the best deal, still - with coupons, of course.
For desktop I would quickly forget the power-hungry yet mediocre Pentium-based Dell desktop and their expensive price/performance ratio... buy an HP. THeir support is really good, let alone they do sell the fastest machine Dell cannot even match.

I was going to buy a Compaq but they do not sell desktops with DVI out for a monitor, instead you have to buy a HP desktop which has more stuff I do not need like Media Center.

Ummm what? "hey do not sell desktops with DVI out for a monitor" - I don't get it... what Compaq doesn't have but HP does? And why HP doesn't work for you (exactly the same stuff inside in both)?

 

[HCI]

HP owns Compaq does it not?

 

[hdtvtechno]

HP owns Compaq does it not?

Yes