Dell Laptop Battery Recalls

[ViPER1313]

I dislike Dell's because I work on them all year for my job with CampusNet and have seen first hand how they cut corners left and right. The 30 and 40gb hard drives they use for their 610 and 810 laptops have a tendency to die (I think they are Hitachi or Samsung drives, 5400rpm), the power supplies used in their desktops are grossly underpowered and tend to fail, the backlights in their laptop monitors crap out on the reg and their laptop cases / keyboards are flimsy and cheaply constructed compared to an IBM laptops. Their laptops also get rather hot while running due to their poor ventilation designs and cheap fans compared to other brands I have worked with.

On a more personal note, 2 of the 3 Dell computers my dad bought for his store have suffered motherboard failures in their 2 years of service (at least according to the Dell guy who repaired them.)

The one thing I will give Dell is that they have good warranties available for their systems :roll:

[.RJ]

seen first hand how they cut corners left and right

This is not any different from Compaq, HP, or the dozens of other "OEM"s out there. Retail prices are market driven, but manufacturing costs are not....

Are you encountering lots of Dell failures because they suck, or because most students are buying Dell machines? The failure rate could very well be less than any other brand yet you just see more of them due to their ubuquity.

[Mike]

funny... IBM is NOTORIOUS for using shitty drives yet they're the company you love. we used to have IBMs here, but after the screens starting crapping out after a couple years we got rid of em.

[ViPER1313]

funny... IBM is NOTORIOUS for using shitty drives yet they're the company you love. we used to have IBMs here, but after the screens starting crapping out after a couple years we got rid of em.

No, IBM was NOTORIOUS for making one shitty drive, the Deskstar series. On a not so subjective scale it looks like IBM is on ahead of Dell in quality. (EDIT: Emachines thing no longer true)



Edit: Updated image to more recent one from PC World article rated December 1st 2005

[Evan]

funny... IBM is NOTORIOUS for using shitty drives

got a source? Ive never heard that. IBMs drives (now hitachi) have always been the market leader in reliability. I have a couple IBM drives that have been in use since 98. Unless they are using cheaper drives like Maxtor that doesnt make sense.
As a data point, Booz Allen buys IBM laptops for all of its 16,000 employees, and since they are the most expensive laptops, there has got to be a reason.

[Mike]

As a data point, Booz Allen buys IBM laptops for all of its 16,000 employees, and since they are the most expensive laptops, there has got to be a reason.

a reason? somebody at the top likes them or they get a great corporate deal. doesn't have to be any more reason than that.

an example of shitty drives? google "ibm deathstar." there was a debacle that ibm completely denied for years. yes, they are now using hitachis, but the whole deathstar debacle left enough of a sour taste in my mouth that i'll never buy an ibm.

i have used IBMs and dells... i prefer the dells.

[Apoc]

I'm sure people will say that Dells are a little Playskoolish but am I the only one that thinks the IBMs look like they're stuck a decade or two behind? Sonys have a slick design but they're too freakin expensive.

Just reminds me of Zack Morris' cell phone.

[ViPER1313]

shrug... btw, that picture has the laptop attached to a base, they are not that big.

[Sijray21]

i have the IBM Thinkpad T42 for work - i like it alot. It has everything i need and want from a work laptop.

[John]

I can't believe you all haven't had problems with the D600s. About 33% of my team has either experienced a fried motherboard or a corrupted hard drive among other things. hrug:

[Apoc]

Do they spill beer on theirs too?

[Evan]

As a data point, Booz Allen buys IBM laptops for all of its 16,000 employees, and since they are the most expensive laptops, there has got to be a reason.

a reason? somebody at the top likes them or they get a great corporate deal. doesn't have to be any more reason than that.

you must be naive, any coroporate discount would also apply to any other manufacturer who would love to get an order for 16,000 laptops and a huge support deal, so IBMs would still be the most initially expensive to buy. These decisions are all made about the numbers, and apparently the long term cost savings on a IBM machine is worth the initial cost.

And 1 model of a bad drive doesnt mean they all suck. Maxtor has had many more bad models than IBM has. Ive lost 2 maxtors (weeks apart from each other) and never lost anything else.


I will say good things about the high end Dell Precision laptops. We took them into military field exercises full of dirt and crap being tossed around and they held up great (at least in the short term)
However Dell's standard line in my experience have been flaming piles of shit.
And dont get me started on Sony...

[Apoc]

FWIW, we probably have 20k+ Dell desktops/laptops on campus. Either demand is an indicator of quality and Dells are just as good or Mike is in fact right. It sounds like John would disagree about the quality of Dell so where's that leave us?

[Dragon]

As a data point, Booz Allen buys IBM laptops for all of its 16,000 employees, and since they are the most expensive laptops, there has got to be a reason.

a reason? somebody at the top likes them or they get a great corporate deal. doesn't have to be any more reason than that.

you must be naive, any coroporate discount would also apply to any other manufacturer who would love to get an order for 16,000 laptops and a huge support deal, so IBMs would still be the most initially expensive to buy. These decisions are all made about the numbers, and apparently the long term cost savings on a IBM machine is worth the initial cost.

We recently switched from all IBM to all Dell laptops/desktops, it's all about the sales job the provider does, and how much they undercut the competition.

[Evan]

As a data point, Booz Allen buys IBM laptops for all of its 16,000 employees, and since they are the most expensive laptops, there has got to be a reason.

a reason? somebody at the top likes them or they get a great corporate deal. doesn't have to be any more reason than that.

you must be naive, any coroporate discount would also apply to any other manufacturer who would love to get an order for 16,000 laptops and a huge support deal, so IBMs would still be the most initially expensive to buy. These decisions are all made about the numbers, and apparently the long term cost savings on a IBM machine is worth the initial cost.

We recently switched from all IBM to all Dell laptops/desktops, it's all about the sales job the provider does, and how much they undercut the competition.

Initial cost is only part of the equation. Since IBMs are the most expensive brand in initial cost by a good margin, there is reason to believe that in long term cost and maintenence that initial cost is recouped. What do I know though, I guess one of the VPs is just fucking an IBM sales slut. :roll:

Dell is almost always the cheapest, which Im sure has something to do with their popularity as well.

[bimmerboodle]

we used Dell's for both the standard desktops and laptops for the police dept when I worked for the City of Winchester. The warranty was great , the reliability was pretty good...we had a series of precision workstations that had crappy drives in them and had some failures at the 2 year mark.

[Mike]

As a data point, Booz Allen buys IBM laptops for all of its 16,000 employees, and since they are the most expensive laptops, there has got to be a reason.

a reason? somebody at the top likes them or they get a great corporate deal. doesn't have to be any more reason than that.

you must be naive, any coroporate discount would also apply to any other manufacturer who would love to get an order for 16,000 laptops and a huge support deal, so IBMs would still be the most initially expensive to buy. These decisions are all made about the numbers, and apparently the long term cost savings on a IBM machine is worth the initial cost.

sorry, you're wrong in your assumption. yes, it could be as simple as someone sleeping with someone in the IBM sales department. i think you're giving your fellow human beings too much credit.

[Evan]

sorry, you're wrong in your assumption. yes, it could be as simple as someone sleeping with someone in the IBM sales department. i think you're giving your fellow human beings too much credit.

Its certainly possible, but I guess I just believe the power of money is more powerful than the power of pussy. Especially when it comes to a several million dollar deal that a few execs would be involved in (and accountable for)

...although I did date a slammin hot chick who sold enterprise networking gear.....

[BLINGMW]

i then got a d620, which was a steaming pile of shit

Hooray that's what they got me at work :lol:

If I were using this as a laptop, I'd be disapointed too. The screen SUCKS, honestly I can't beleive they get away with these screens. Trackpad kinda sucks too, at least compared to a Mac. But I've got a secondary screen and mouse, and this is pretty much a desktop machine, so good enough. And it hasn't blown up or anything yet.

[.RJ]

Especially when it comes to a several million dollar deal that a few execs would be involved in (and accountable for)

If the laptops turned into steaming piles of poo, would the execs be fired?

They'd likely just get a bigger bonus because the IT staff is busier.

Maybe IBM just made a better sales pitch. Maybe they offered better warranty support. Or hummers. Who knows... if the employees are happy with them, then who gives a shit?