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canyoneer posted:Now where am I going to tell my mom to buy her next desktop? If you don't need ongoing support, Dell is still the way to go as far as I'm concerned. For one-offs, you can still just hit up their site and get something cheap that will work. The problems come in when you need to swap stuff out or (god forbid) try to return anything.
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Jul 17, 2014 20:18
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organburner posted:This needs to be quoted again. This. We used to use DELL gold premier or whatever, we've since switched to lenovo (which isn't bad, but I HATED having to get on the phone, I no longer do T1 support tho so meh), but the chat support was AMAZING. I'd get a rep, tell them my widget is dead, give a generic stop code sometimes, tell them I tried a different widget that worked and bam, tech+item onsite next day.
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Jul 17, 2014 20:25
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I bought a Dell XPS 17 a few years ago (basically offbrand Alienware) and the system board poo poo the bed two years into the 4 year warranty. They sent me a DOA motherboard as a replacement (and no thermal paste), so I bitched @DellCares on twitter. I got a new laptop. I'm pretty happy with them overall. Aside from the motherboard failure, I've had zero problems with that laptop. I got it because of the weekend rotations at work where you're sitting at a desk on standby for 12 hours in case poo poo breaks. Management turned a blind eye and would say "Do what you need to do so you can get through the shift." My stepmother, on the other hand, had a lot of issues with Dell just getting her laptop. She bought one (and her company was reimbursing her), and Dell ended up losing it in the warehouse. They then lost it during the handoff to shipping. They then shipped it to the wrong address. That was a fun time tracking that.
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Jul 17, 2014 21:19
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I'm pretty happy with their server grade stuff, but Lenovo is kicking them in the face as far as laptops are concerned. Less of a hassle for warranty requests (even with chat) and much more rock-solid hardware from a reliability standpoint. We were constantly having issues with keyboards and power supplies on the e6420s along with rapid degradation on the magnesium chassis. If you have sweaty hands and use the thing then its a safe assumption that you'll start seeing some ugly wear and tear on that thing sooner rather than later.
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Jul 17, 2014 22:14
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Wrath of the Bitch King posted:I'm pretty happy with their server grade stuff, but Lenovo is kicking them in the face as far as laptops are concerned. Less of a hassle for warranty requests (even with chat) and much more rock-solid hardware from a reliability standpoint. We were constantly having issues with keyboards and power supplies on the e6420s along with rapid degradation on the magnesium chassis. If you have sweaty hands and use the thing then its a safe assumption that you'll start seeing some ugly wear and tear on that thing sooner rather than later. Agreed with this. We just made the switch to Lenovo from Dell, their laptop purchasing timeline is like twice as fast.
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Jul 17, 2014 23:58
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Wrath of the Bitch King posted:I'm pretty happy with their server grade stuff, but Lenovo is kicking them in the face as far as laptops are concerned. Less of a hassle for warranty requests (even with chat) and much more rock-solid hardware from a reliability standpoint. We were constantly having issues with keyboards and power supplies on the e6420s along with rapid degradation on the magnesium chassis. If you have sweaty hands and use the thing then its a safe assumption that you'll start seeing some ugly wear and tear on that thing sooner rather than later. I just got one of these as a replacement for my 6410 from work and it seems a little bit better but it's still pretty shite and other departments are getting their replaced with Thinkpads so I'm pretty miffed. Also it boots up slower than my 6410.
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Jul 18, 2014 02:56
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wilfredmerriweathr posted:I just got one of these as a replacement for my 6410 from work and it seems a little bit better but it's still pretty shite and other departments are getting their replaced with Thinkpads so I'm pretty miffed. Also it boots up slower than my 6410. I would be as well, we were purchasing [5|6]430's late last year and are up to xx40's now.
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Jul 18, 2014 03:24
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I have 6420's that are out off their 3 year warranty period. If you got a 6420 someone doesn't like you or there's budget issues
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Jul 18, 2014 04:05
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Dell is terrible. Everyone else is usually worse.
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Jul 18, 2014 04:13
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Inspector_666 posted:If you don't need ongoing support, Dell is still the way to go as far as I'm concerned. For one-offs, you can still just hit up their site and get something cheap that will work. Actually, Dell is one of the better computers to take apart. I've dealt with HPs and Gateways and Dell at least is much more friendly to people poking around inside, even small form factor (which is almost exclusively what I deal with). They also don't care if you do it and don't threaten to void the warranty over it, though I was dealing with them on a Prosupport contract.
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Jul 18, 2014 05:11
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skipdogg posted:I have 6420's that are out off their 3 year warranty period. If you got a 6420 someone doesn't like you or there's budget issues It's my whole dept, they don't like us and give us the scraps, because it's not like we are the ones keeping the whole thing running (we are).
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Jul 18, 2014 07:05
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 I like the E6420s apart from the visual design that was such a huge shock after the restrained design that was the E6400 and E6410. They have been very reliable, the palmrest is made of antibacterial material and takes wear very well it seems, and I usually upgrade them to SSDs and 8GB RAM whenever one crosses my desk. We have tons that are out of warranty and still going strong. I do love the design on the new E6440 though, it's like the best of the E6410 and E6430 combined.But to repeat one story I told in another thread, when the 14" E7440 was launched, I fought long and hard with my Dell rep to get a 2,5" SSD in it, but my only option offered was a PCIe minicard SSD. This was launched at the same time as the E6440 which we DO get with a 2,5" SSD, which we also got on our E6420s and Optiplex 7010 and 9020. So when I get a couple of the E7440 shipped to me, I tear of the bottom and take a look. In the space for the 2,5" drive is a PCIe minicard in a bracket, and with an adapter to fit the SATA controller on the motherboard. I let the Dell rep know that it felt like people were amusing themselves at my expense, and I didn't particularly approve of it. Someone want to discuss Dells Business-Ready Configurations? The reps are ordered to push them hard on us and tell us my custom good configurations will take too long to arrive, and they are all useless because of combinations like i7/5400rpm hdd or SSD and 8GB RAM, but 1366*768 display on a 14" business laptop. No thanks, I will wait an extra week for a laptop that is useable every day for the next 5 years. This ended up longer and rantier than I thought it would.
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Jul 18, 2014 07:24
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evobatman posted:
Yeah all I really need is an SSD in this thing and I'd be fine but that's definitely not gonna happen anytime soon.
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Jul 18, 2014 07:26
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skooma512 posted:Actually, Dell is one of the better computers to take apart. I've dealt with HPs and Gateways and Dell at least is much more friendly to people poking around inside, even small form factor (which is almost exclusively what I deal with). They also don't care if you do it and don't threaten to void the warranty over it, though I was dealing with them on a Prosupport contract. I meant warranty replacements, not the physical hardware swaps.
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Jul 18, 2014 15:04
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We just made the switch to Lenovo's and the build quality on the laptops are far better. The build times have been easily half of what Dell was for our custom configurations. Don't know how warranty support will play out yet but I'm hopeful.
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Jul 18, 2014 15:35
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 Dell is now accepting Bitcoins To make it even better: quote:we’ll be offering a special Alienware promotion wherein customers can save 10 percent off a new Alienware system purchase (up to $150 limit) when checking out with bitcoin http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/direct2dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2014/07/18/we-re-now-accepting-bitcoin-on-dell-com.aspx
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Jul 18, 2014 18:26
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I'm a stupid fucker who can't shut-up about how great Apple computers are! I want Steve Jobs semen in and around my mouth.
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Jul 19, 2014 07:16
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I call Dell Tech Support: "Hey, I dropped my Venue 11 Pro, I'd like to set up a repair with my accidental damage coverage." "Please allow me to remote into your system and update the BIOS. I cannot proceed without doing this to see if it fixes your problem." "My system has a giant crack in it and it rattles. It's not supposed to have moving parts or, you know, extra holes in it." "Please allow me half an hour to figure out how to use Dell.com to update your BIOS." "You, uh, need some help there?" "The website isn't working." *alt-tabs to the Dell.com website I had opened previously, downloads and run BIOS update* "Now, to solve the problem of the keyboard dock not connecting to the system because of physical damage, we must update its drivers."I had to hang up because I honestly hadn't thought to budget more than an hour and a half for the call. I seriously wish I'd gotten a Surface Pro instead.
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Jul 19, 2014 09:35
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Inspector_666 posted:I meant warranty replacements, not the physical hardware swaps. Ah, my mistake then. Bob Morales posted:
But will they accept reddit gold and cheetos?
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Jul 19, 2014 19:23
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I guess I've been lucky since I've had two Dell desktops in the past twelve years and they've been nearly trouble free. The first one was a Dimension 8300 that lasted over eight years. The only problem was with the NVIDIA drivers that would poo poo themselves every six months like clockwork. A simple reinstall would always fix it. I finally replaced it when I contracted the XP Security 2012 virus. I've had an Inspiron for nearly four years and it's given me zero problems.
Mister Kingdom fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Jul 20, 2014 |
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Jul 20, 2014 03:18
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Ask me how Dell gave us a (continuing) 5 year hardware support contract on three storage shelves, then end-of-lifed the custom firmware drives we needed to replace failed drives in them. Their suggestion, buy new shelves...
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Jul 20, 2014 12:30
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Factory Factory posted:I call Dell Tech Support: Second time around, the tech didn't give me any guff and got straight to the heart of the problem. It still took an hour and a half to set up sending me a shipping box to the repair depot.
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Jul 20, 2014 12:43
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Until I can run iLO off the same network ports that my OS uses it will be an inferior product. The list of things you can't do when sharing ports is amazing, the bandwidth between iLO and main network interfaces must be like 56k.
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Jul 20, 2014 16:23
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We have a few new Dell servers. I was at first happy with the prompt support we got from Dell, but I haven't been happy with the people they seem to be contracting the work out to. With our newest PowerEdge, its backplane has been acting flaky. One of the drive bays makes the hard drive act like it's connected directly to the RAID card and not part of the backplane, so whatever drive is inserted doesn't appear on the same "bay" as the other drives. Because this is a hardware problem that is covered under the warranty, Dell doesn't want me to fix it (they've sent me parts before to upgrade another new system). I was hoping they would just send us a new backplane. Nope. Dell has to send someone out to come out and repair it. Some guy comes out, struggles with the system for quite a long time. It's like he can't figure out how to get it back together. He spends ~30 minutes trying to get the new backplane in. Finally, it's in, and the all drives are working - but one of the LEDs is off (but the hard drive is working just fine). I take a look at the backplane with a flashlight and see the LED contact has been broken and bent downward. The Dell guy broke an LED in his struggle to make it fit into the system. Now I have to wait for another appointment for him to try and install another backplane. He suggested that I just call Dell and request that they replace the entire server. The backplane is not a super-difficult part to replace, it's just that he doesn't want to do it again.
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Jul 21, 2014 19:38
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Jesse Iceberg posted:Ask me how Dell gave us a (continuing) 5 year hardware support contract on three storage shelves, then end-of-lifed the custom firmware drives we needed to replace failed drives in them. Kick that over to legal, or get a lawyer involved.
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Jul 21, 2014 20:43
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Are Dell's switches still laughable?Xenomorph posted:The Dell guy broke an LED in his struggle to make it fit into the system. Now I have to wait for another appointment for him to try and install another backplane. As much as I like to cut someone a break, it sounds like this guy had no business loving with your server if he couldn't handle swapping an easy part like that. I would use that as leverage against Dell on your next purchase. Also, I wouldn't let him touch my servers after he did that. Next thing you know he'll put the drives back in the wrong order or break something else.
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Jul 21, 2014 23:08
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The higher end Dell switches aren't laughable, but there's just no reason at all to buy them. They aren't massively cheaper than anyone else, they aren't better than similarly priced switches etc. I guess if you got them free when buying some servers then you could find a use for them.
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Jul 21, 2014 23:44
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Thanks Ants posted:The higher end Dell switches aren't laughable, but there's just no reason at all to buy them. They aren't massively cheaper than anyone else, they aren't better than similarly priced switches etc. My old place only ran Dell switches. While they are not the best, they functioned and we could get them cheap. Ran 6248p at the access layer and some 8132f at the core/distribution. Working with Juniper stuff at my new place is a joy.
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Jul 22, 2014 00:01
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They are complete and utter poo poo. Or at least the MXLs are.
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Jul 22, 2014 00:07
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Is the Dell website unresponsive, broken-link, slow loading poo poo for everyone else? It's almost as bad as HP.
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Jul 22, 2014 00:17
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Nvm
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Jul 22, 2014 01:16
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Thanks Ants posted:Is the Dell website unresponsive, broken-link, slow loading poo poo for everyone else? It's almost as bad as HP. http://ftp.dell.com
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Jul 22, 2014 09:43
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I was trying to look up the specs of some Sonicwalls. Maybe it's a sign.
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Jul 22, 2014 11:11
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Thanks Ants posted:I was trying to look up the specs of some Sonicwalls. Seemed to work alright for me. v  v
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Jul 22, 2014 11:16
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skipdogg posted:I have 6420's that are out off their 3 year warranty period. If you got a 6420 someone doesn't like you or there's budget issues So today I was puttering along at work (totally not browsing craigslist)and my brand-new-to-me-from-IT e6420 froze for 30 sec and then just sort of shut off. Doesn't appear to be remotely close to overheating, and upon restarting it opened all my tabs back up. What the hell happened? I've seen my coworker's e6420 do the same thing once.
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Jul 23, 2014 07:14
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The laptop decided you needed your mandated 5 minutes in the hour doing another task. it really just loves you and wants you to be healthy.
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Jul 23, 2014 08:38
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Xenomorph posted:Some guy comes out, struggles with the system for quite a long time. It's like he can't figure out how to get it back together. He spends ~30 minutes trying to get the new backplane in. The same guy came out to work on the server again. He got the backplane in easier this time. Turns out that he had some clips in backwards the last time (whoopsie!). He got the server all together and left in a fraction of the time (~5 minutes). I opened it back up after he left to make sure he did it right. Nope. The "tray" that holds the row of fans that sit between the front hard drives and the CPUs wasn't locked in place correctly. I'm guessing he kinda forced it in. I had to bend a piece of plastic back into the normal shape for the clips/locking mechanism to fit (there are two light-blue locks on the left and right ends of the tray). Also, three pieces of plastic were just sitting loose in the server. They were little spacers that are included in the backplane where the RAID cables connect to it (the spacer are in the sockets during transport, I guess, to keep foreign objects out of them). I'm guessing the repair guy pulled them out and just sat them on top of something - perfect for falling onto the hot CPU heatsinks below.
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Jul 23, 2014 14:33
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wilfredmerriweathr posted:So today I was puttering along at work (totally not browsing craigslist)and my brand-new-to-me-from-IT e6420 froze for 30 sec and then just sort of shut off. There is a magnetic sensor in the palmrest on the right side, you might have triggered it and entered sleep mode with a ring or a watch or a paperclip or something. Had a lady with a watch with a magnetic buckle that had the exact same issue, or people who left a paperclip in between the lid and base when they closed their laptop.
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Jul 23, 2014 16:03
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evobatman posted:There is a magnetic sensor in the palmrest on the right side, you might have triggered it and entered sleep mode with a ring or a watch or a paperclip or something. Had a lady with a watch with a magnetic buckle that had the exact same issue, or people who left a paperclip in between the lid and base when they closed their laptop. Good to know. I don't think that was the issue here, as it was docked with the top closed sitting maybe 2 feet away from me. When it happened to a coworker, it was the same situation. I think it's probably just hosed.
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Jul 23, 2014 22:07
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Honestly, dell has done us pretty well, hell we have a dozen 7 year old core duo inspiron laptops none of which died. The vostro line was pretty lovely, and i'm glad they killed it off that said the few I bought worked pretty well. It does seem that they probably just lowered the bar on the optiplex line when they did that. With the exception of a couple of preemptive drive replacements I don't think I've had any hardware problems with any of the dell servers we own though. That said the last desktops we bought were the ultra mini form factor lenovo things which seem to work really well.
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