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Message 1 of 34
Anonymous
584 Views, 33 Replies

Why Dell?

I've been cruising the old posts looking for advice for picking out new
workstations and something struck me...it seems like an awful lot of you
are using dell for pc's/laptops/servers, way more than i would have
expected. It seems like most people build their own boxes or go with
Dell and I guess I was just curious why they are the brand of choice.

Maybe I'm easily influenced, but I look at the CAD rags and see
companies like Xi and Polywell consistently getting high ratings and put
them on my list of to-be-considered. Personally I've had less than
positive experience with Dell hardware but have heard good things about
their service. Is there something I'm missing?
33 REPLIES 33
Message 2 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Because it's so popular.
Like the AOL of computer makers.

:(


"rich" wrote in message
news:60C5B32F6C91F023DA786FC135061196@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I've been cruising the old posts looking for advice for picking out new
> workstations and something struck me...it seems like an awful lot of you
> are using dell for pc's/laptops/servers, way more than i would have
> expected. It seems like most people build their own boxes or go with
> Dell and I guess I was just curious why they are the brand of choice.
>
> Maybe I'm easily influenced, but I look at the CAD rags and see
> companies like Xi and Polywell consistently getting high ratings and put
> them on my list of to-be-considered. Personally I've had less than
> positive experience with Dell hardware but have heard good things about
> their service. Is there something I'm missing?
>
Message 3 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Cause its a name the big wigs who sign the check know/trust.
Personally I would never buy one.
--
Paul Houlker
Rimex Supply Ltd
www.rimex.com
Message 4 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

no one ever got fired for buying dell.
What are the other choices?
I absolutely hate HP, had horrible experience with there old (edited) systems.
I found the older compaq with their old unique setups to be a pain, so I don't like them either.
I ain't gona buy a cow computer either. So whats left?
Custom building or botique computers. I used to custom build systems, but they
took up too much time. Its like building a hotrod. Ya you could do it in your
garage or go out and buy a corvette instead.

I guess bad experiences in the past is still influencing my choices today.

I personally like dell and have had very good experiences with their desktops and
servers. I hated their india tech support, but that is supposedly gone now. One thing
that I do recommend is getting their gold support package. Only because I hate the
level 1 tech's who just read a script to give support. The gold guys are cool and helpfull
when you need it.

Plus dell is way cheep. Today there is a deal to get a 2400 for $350 after MIR wow

rich
|>I've been cruising the old posts looking for advice for picking out new
|>workstations and something struck me...it seems like an awful lot of you
|>are using dell for pc's/laptops/servers, way more than i would have
|>expected. It seems like most people build their own boxes or go with
|>Dell and I guess I was just curious why they are the brand of choice.
|>
|>Maybe I'm easily influenced, but I look at the CAD rags and see
|>companies like Xi and Polywell consistently getting high ratings and put
|>them on my list of to-be-considered. Personally I've had less than
|>positive experience with Dell hardware but have heard good things about
|>their service. Is there something I'm missing?

-----------------------
Dave Lewis
CAD Manager

Just say no to HTML Posts!
Message 5 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

dude, cause round rocks such a short drive from houston

"Dave Lewis" wrote in message
news:480ftvgamqktknurkmst0f17g7qmnj3ulp@4ax.com...
> no one ever got fired for buying Dell
Message 6 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

We've always liked Micron. Also, since they own Crucial, memory upgrades are
cheap.
This last round we bought 3 cadd systems and it came down to Micron and
Dell.
For the same configured system, Micron was $300 per computer cheaper than
Dell.
No problems and we're happy with our purchase.

- Jim
"Dave Lewis" wrote in message
news:480ftvgamqktknurkmst0f17g7qmnj3ulp@4ax.com...
> no one ever got fired for buying dell.
> What are the other choices?
Message 7 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

"rich" wrote in message
news:60C5B32F6C91F023DA786FC135061196@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I've been cruising the old posts looking for advice for picking out new
> workstations and something struck me...it seems like an awful lot of you
> are using dell for pc's/laptops/servers, way more than i would have
> expected. It seems like most people build their own boxes or go with
> Dell and I guess I was just curious why they are the brand of choice.
>
> Maybe I'm easily influenced, but I look at the CAD rags and see
> companies like Xi and Polywell consistently getting high ratings and put
> them on my list of to-be-considered. Personally I've had less than
> positive experience with Dell hardware but have heard good things about
> their service. Is there something I'm missing?
>

1. Cheap.
2. Reliable.
3. Support.
4. Model Consistency over several months.
5. Long-term access to parts/peripherals.

These components make Dell (and HP/Compaq) easy for companies to buy for
their standard desktop.
Easy to maintain, easy to support. The End User and the I.T. department
will sometimes have very different "wants". The end user wants the very
latest video card, even if no one else in the company has one. Or a mobo
with SCSI support. Or whatever. I.T. departments are tasked with making
purchases that give the employees the tools to do their job, in a
cost-effective manner for the company. It's a balancing act that isn't
always done properly.

My .02 cents.

Mike
Message 8 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

you might have problems with any of the top sellers. All any of them do is
assemble parts,so, check what's going into them. Had dell, gateway and xi,
had problems with all. Dell was faster repair (24 hours) but all took care
of the problems. I still reply with the old adage of ,Is Ford, Chevy or
Dodge the best

"rich" wrote in message
news:60C5B32F6C91F023DA786FC135061196@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I've been cruising the old posts looking for advice for picking out new
> workstations and something struck me...it seems like an awful lot of you
> are using dell for pc's/laptops/servers, way more than i would have
> expected. It seems like most people build their own boxes or go with
> Dell and I guess I was just curious why they are the brand of choice.
>
> Maybe I'm easily influenced, but I look at the CAD rags and see
> companies like Xi and Polywell consistently getting high ratings and put
> them on my list of to-be-considered. Personally I've had less than
> positive experience with Dell hardware but have heard good things about
> their service. Is there something I'm missing?
>
Message 9 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I've been involved in numerous purchases of Dell computers, from labs with
dozens of machines to laptops to servers, ('just installed another new Dell
server here last week).

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've *never* had problem 1 with any of them.

But the main reason I go with them is what you get for the money. No one
else can match what they give you for the price, simply because of the scale
of quantity they do.

John

"rich" wrote in message
news:60C5B32F6C91F023DA786FC135061196@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I've been cruising the old posts looking for advice for picking out new
> workstations and something struck me...it seems like an awful lot of you
> are using dell for pc's/laptops/servers, way more than i would have
> expected. It seems like most people build their own boxes or go with
> Dell and I guess I was just curious why they are the brand of choice.
>
> Maybe I'm easily influenced, but I look at the CAD rags and see
> companies like Xi and Polywell consistently getting high ratings and put
> them on my list of to-be-considered. Personally I've had less than
> positive experience with Dell hardware but have heard good things about
> their service. Is there something I'm missing?
>
Message 10 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I used to build all of our computers, until it was simply not
cost-effective. My time is worth more to me and my company and it's
simply too much overhead for dumb parts assembly. Tack on the time it
takes to install and configure all of the software required, and it's
about a day per machine. At this point it doesn't matter how cheap the
parts are, it's labor that kills it.

Plus, it's no fun at ALL.

Then I went with a lower-level name brand who since went belly-up.
Then promptly lost a couple of hard drives in my server and
workstations which were not covered anymore. So it was lost time in
shopping for new SCSI drives of the correct configuration, price, etc.

Since we went with Dell, any faulty items were corrected immediately
(well within three days at the most). Tech support came out to look at
a weird server problem the next day. I had two replacement batteries
and a new power AC adapter for my 3 year old laptop within 24 hours.

No, they aren't particular deals, and the hardware aren't top of the
line performers, but then they are stable as heck.

Time is money. I usually have neither, so Dell makes sense for most of
our corporate purchases.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com


On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 14:32:20 -0800, "StillwellK"
wrote:

> you might have problems with any of the top sellers. All any of them do is
>assemble parts,so, check what's going into them. Had dell, gateway and xi,
>had problems with all. Dell was faster repair (24 hours) but all took care
>of the problems. I still reply with the old adage of ,Is Ford, Chevy or
>Dodge the best
>
>"rich" wrote in message
>news:60C5B32F6C91F023DA786FC135061196@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
>> I've been cruising the old posts looking for advice for picking out new
>> workstations and something struck me...it seems like an awful lot of you
>> are using dell for pc's/laptops/servers, way more than i would have
>> expected. It seems like most people build their own boxes or go with
>> Dell and I guess I was just curious why they are the brand of choice.
>>
>> Maybe I'm easily influenced, but I look at the CAD rags and see
>> companies like Xi and Polywell consistently getting high ratings and put
>> them on my list of to-be-considered. Personally I've had less than
>> positive experience with Dell hardware but have heard good things about
>> their service. Is there something I'm missing?
>>
>
Message 11 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

"I.T. departments are tasked with making purchases
that give the employees the tools to do their job,
in a cost-effective manner for the company."

- Mike Donahue

That's about the most accurate description of the relationship, between I.T.
guys, CAD guys and the Boss, that I have ever heard. Definitely worth more
than $0.02 Mike!

The CAD guy wants the fastest.
The Boss wants the cheapest.
The I.T. guy wants the most reliable.

What they buy is usually a compromise between all three.

Dell does a great job of satisfying all three.

- Ashley Fulks
www.nisku.ca


"Mike Donahue" wrote in message
news:77D078591A0C3CD5CE7AEF425E218A89@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
>
> "rich" wrote in message
> news:60C5B32F6C91F023DA786FC135061196@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > I've been cruising the old posts looking for advice for picking out new
> > workstations and something struck me...it seems like an awful lot of you
> > are using dell for pc's/laptops/servers, way more than i would have
> > expected. It seems like most people build their own boxes or go with
> > Dell and I guess I was just curious why they are the brand of choice.
> >
> > Maybe I'm easily influenced, but I look at the CAD rags and see
> > companies like Xi and Polywell consistently getting high ratings and put
> > them on my list of to-be-considered. Personally I've had less than
> > positive experience with Dell hardware but have heard good things about
> > their service. Is there something I'm missing?
> >
>
> 1. Cheap.
> 2. Reliable.
> 3. Support.
> 4. Model Consistency over several months.
> 5. Long-term access to parts/peripherals.
>
> These components make Dell (and HP/Compaq) easy for companies to buy for
> their standard desktop.
> Easy to maintain, easy to support. The End User and the I.T. department
> will sometimes have very different "wants". The end user wants the very
> latest video card, even if no one else in the company has one. Or a mobo
> with SCSI support. Or whatever. I.T. departments are tasked with making
> purchases that give the employees the tools to do their job, in a
> cost-effective manner for the company. It's a balancing act that isn't
> always done properly.
>
> My .02 cents.
>
> Mike
>
>
Message 12 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

"Ashley Fulks" wrote in message
news:322324E8D4B63266DC67AF7FC4BABBD4@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Dell does a great job of satisfying all three.

Until you want to upgrade (juked Mobo so you can't use industry standard
boards in a Dell case), or get a basic machine with anything special
(standard machine, better graphics, they won't sell it, and if you get the
wrong tech support person they will force you to pull your graphics card and
put theirs back in before they help you).
Dells are still great for servers, but for a decent work station they now
offer either underpowered sub $1K machines or overblown workstations. They
just don't offer a solution that meets our needs. Our local shop does, at a
competative price. Support has been good, and replacement parts are not an
issue because they are standard parts, not some juked garbage to force you
to buy an all new machine.

Just my $0.02 anyway 😉

Gordon
Message 13 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

> Until you want to upgrade (juked Mobo so you can't use industry standard
> boards in a Dell case

True.dat
I have clients that wish to upgrade their Dell machines with new
motherboards. In all cases, we have to scrap the case. Most the time the
PSU, CPU, memory, onboard graphics and sound, and most the time they just
get a whole new base machine because their is not much left worth salvaging.

> Dells are still great for servers, but for a decent work station they now
> offer either underpowered sub $1K machines or overblown workstations. They
> just don't offer a solution that meets our needs. Our local shop does, at
a
> competative price. Support has been good, and replacement parts are not an
> issue because they are standard parts, not some juked garbage to force you
> to buy an all new machine.

That's why we do CAD machines too. A few of our customers wanted to get an
Opteron system to replace their older pentium 4 and AMD systems. No problem,
we simply pulled out the mobo, CPU and memory and replaced it with an AMD,
CPU and memory and Viola! Instant double in power for cheap.

Opterons are so powerful, some don't need to upgrade for three years.

- Ashley Fulks
www.nisku.ca


"Gordon Price" wrote in message
news:EEADC03C9D41EF447266580C67E7CD12@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
>
> "Ashley Fulks" wrote in message
> news:322324E8D4B63266DC67AF7FC4BABBD4@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > Dell does a great job of satisfying all three.
>
> Until you want to upgrade (juked Mobo so you can't use industry standard
> boards in a Dell case), or get a basic machine with anything special
> (standard machine, better graphics, they won't sell it, and if you get the
> wrong tech support person they will force you to pull your graphics card
and
> put theirs back in before they help you).
> Dells are still great for servers, but for a decent work station they now
> offer either underpowered sub $1K machines or overblown workstations. They
> just don't offer a solution that meets our needs. Our local shop does, at
a
> competative price. Support has been good, and replacement parts are not an
> issue because they are standard parts, not some juked garbage to force you
> to buy an all new machine.
>
> Just my $0.02 anyway 😉
>
> Gordon
>
>
Message 14 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

+ Dell are competative when it comes to price and looks
+ Easy to configure before you buy (don`t need to have a salesman bothering
you)
+ Very stable and robust (in my experience anyways)

- Hardware upgrades like main moard, case, cpu, power, fans etc. will not
work as Dell uses "propriary" (or something like that) parts.
- Somewhat limited choices for hardware configurations (GPU, memory)

+/- Support is usually fast but the answers are mostly "format and
reinstall"
+/- Delivery, I have been sent wrong parts, delivery taking a long time, but
other times really fast again...

I would never buy one for home use again (gaming etc) been there done that,
I can`t upgrade the thing, but for a workstation, a office desktop or a
laptop I would recommend them. I use the online configuration alot when
comparing prizes from other and when coming up with budgets for the Cad
office.

Jorgen
Message 15 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

#1 reason people use DELL is ADVERTISING
It's the same reason all the radio stations play the same music and there
is no variety. Major companies control the market.

#2 reason companies use DELL, they are cheap (in more ways then one).

I have a DELL precision 340 Workstation. P4 2ghz with 512mb RDRAM. It cost
about $500. Works "ok" for LDD. If it was up to me, I would've built my
own
Message 16 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Speaking of Micron. Intel just dumped millions into Micros to make memory
for their new and upcoming cpu! Very interesting. Another RDRAM perhaps?
Message 17 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Maybe that cow computer has spell check on it. 🙂


"Dave Lewis" wrote in message
news:480ftvgamqktknurkmst0f17g7qmnj3ulp@4ax.com...
> no one ever got fired for buying dell.
> What are the other choices?
> I absolutely hate HP, had horrible experience with there old (edited)
systems.
> I found the older compaq with their old unique setups to be a pain, so I
don't like them either.
> I ain't gona buy a cow computer either. So whats left?
> Custom building or botique computers. I used to custom build systems, but
they
> took up too much time. Its like building a hotrod. Ya you could do it in
your
> garage or go out and buy a corvette instead.
>
> I guess bad experiences in the past is still influencing my choices today.
>
> I personally like dell and have had very good experiences with their
desktops and
> servers. I hated their india tech support, but that is supposedly gone
now. One thing
> that I do recommend is getting their gold support package. Only because I
hate the
> level 1 tech's who just read a script to give support. The gold guys are
cool and helpfull
> when you need it.
>
> Plus dell is way cheep. Today there is a deal to get a 2400 for $350
after MIR wow
>
> rich
> |>I've been cruising the old posts looking for advice for picking out new
> |>workstations and something struck me...it seems like an awful lot of you
> |>are using dell for pc's/laptops/servers, way more than i would have
> |>expected. It seems like most people build their own boxes or go with
> |>Dell and I guess I was just curious why they are the brand of choice.
> |>
> |>Maybe I'm easily influenced, but I look at the CAD rags and see
> |>companies like Xi and Polywell consistently getting high ratings and put
> |>them on my list of to-be-considered. Personally I've had less than
> |>positive experience with Dell hardware but have heard good things about
> |>their service. Is there something I'm missing?
>
> -----------------------
> Dave Lewis
> CAD Manager
>
> Just say no to HTML Posts!
Message 18 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Thanks for all the feedback. At least there isn't some glaringly
obvious reason that I was missing. We've been using IBM PC's for quite
a while because of excellent reliability and support (yea, I know those
kinda conflict). Problem is that we're shopping for some beefier
workstations and the Intellistations just don't fit our needs well.
Dell doesn't seem to fit the bill either, I just wanted to make sure I
wasn't going to kick myself later for passing them over.

Thanks all.
Message 19 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Then look into SGI machines
"rich" wrote in message
news:7C93F2A55C5E51518601EE68F0180400@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Thanks for all the feedback. At least there isn't some glaringly
> obvious reason that I was missing. We've been using IBM PC's for quite
> a while because of excellent reliability and support (yea, I know those
> kinda conflict). Problem is that we're shopping for some beefier
> workstations and the Intellistations just don't fit our needs well.
> Dell doesn't seem to fit the bill either, I just wanted to make sure I
> wasn't going to kick myself later for passing them over.
>
> Thanks all.
>
Message 20 of 34
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

that's cuz you are on the newsgroups too much 😛


Matt Stachoni
|>Time is money. I usually have neither,

-----------------------
Dave Lewis
CAD Manager

Just say no to HTML Posts!

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