Oh NO, my computer died!

[Snoozan]

My computer finally up and died. It's got some virus, I guess, and even trying the rescue disk and reloading no longer works. I'm on my DS's computer right now. We've got to get a new PC - time to get into the 21st century, I guess. Does anyone have any experience with Dell computers? Those seem to be a good deal. Any suggestions on what to get OR stay away from? My DH does not want another HP since the on/off switch on the monitor has never worked right from day one.

We don't need anything fancy. We pretty much just use ours to surf the net and for setting up our digital photos.

 

[UncleScrooge338]

I've purchased 3 Dell desktops - 1 high end and 2 cheaper and have been very happy with them.

Advice? Get the largest hard drive and the most memory you can afford. Go for the flat panel monitor - they take up a lot less space and run cooler.

 

[Sparx]

I am on a dell. It is great. My advice, get largest hardrive, and alot of memory. I don't use a flat screen monitor, because I work with alot of pictures (my uncle is a digital artist). In our experience, flat screen doesn't give the very distintice colour that we need. But most people don't do work like we do, if you don't, by all means, get a flat screen.

 

[Mermaid02]

LOVE our flat panel!!! Can't imagine having a big ginormous monitor again!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Currently use 3 Dells, 2 DT's, 1 laptop, have had 3 others prior to these, all have been great. Well priced (you do need to select carefully what you want and do not want), great service. Check this link, or others similar, gives you all the current 'deals', and there are always MANY from Dell.....

http://www.techbargains.com/dellcoupons.cfm

You do need to do a little homework to configure what is good for you.

Do either of you work for a company that may have further discounts? Or govt, education or healthcare?

 

[LindaG4458]

We own three Dell computers, two desktops and a laptop, and wouldn't buy any other brand. All have been workhorses. The one I'm using now is 6 years old and runs Windows 98. Still good enough for net surfing and bookkeeping. The newest one, a desktop, is for photo editting and more sophisticated applications. Working on DH to get another....

 

[DemonLlama]

We've never had a problem with any of our Dell desktops, but the laptop has been nothing but trouble.

And Dell has outsourced its service. You generally are calling India when you speak to support staff. We have had nothing but headaches when we call.

One time the woman basically said, "well, your hard drive is dead, let me connect you to sales". And thanks to a friend, we discovered she was wrong. We were able to get it running again, for a while, but no thanks to Dell.

The computer is 15 months old. We finally did have to replace the hard drive last month, but luckily had figured out we had a lemon that could die at any time and had everything backed-up.

Dell may be wonderful for some, but it's not all wine and roses, especially if you have problems.

 

[MoniqueU]

I like Dells warranty in THEORY but the one drawback is that their tech support is based in India which personally drives me nuts as I can't understand them well and they work off a worksheet thing of questions which I find endlessly frustrating. So if you have problems, which I did with my laptop you can be in for a long relationship with them. But they beat the heck out of HP. It's a crap shoot on if you are going to get one of their lemon computers or not. The replacement laptop I finally got from them seems to be working fine for now.