Dell Laptops Suck
I thought I would start my blog with some useful information specifically that Dell laptops suck. I hate to start off on a negative note, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up before they buy one of these paper weights. Maybe I’m just venting because I’ve had to ship defective drives back to Dell every two weeks. It just seems like over the last few years their quality has diminished.
Don’t get me wrong, their still better then the Packard Bell days. I’d also like to say their server / workstation lines are top-notch. At work we have a half-dozen or so laptops all of which have experienced some type of hardware failure. I’ve also noticed the durability isn’t what it was either. The laptop chassis, keyboard, and screen seem to be weak and fragile. The focus of my frustration is directed primarily at their Latitude D400 model. Between the random lockups, hard drive failures, and simple lack of processing power it finds it way to my desk about every two weeks.
This isn’t the only model with problems; we’ve had LCD fail on their entry level Latitude line-up as well. This is simply unacceptable; these laptops are under a year old, and lightly used.
MESSAGE TO MICHAEL DELL
If you’re going to sell junk at least make it easy to return! Sitting on the phone with technical support and having to convince them of a bad LCD shouldn’t take a half hour.
After careful consideration; I’ve decided to start the migration to an IBM only policy. Although I have far less experience with the IBM ThinkPad then the Dell Latitude, every bit of information points to a better product all around. I’ll post again once I get a few new IBM ThinkPad’s to test.
Comment by Jay
yeah. Dell laptops suck. I think they use to be good but their quality has dimished. I won’t recommend buying a laptop from Dell. I’d rather consider buying from hp but for the gamers alienware is a must have
Comment by Jon Roberts
i have a insperon 9100 , just wondering if there have been any problems with the motherboard that u have heard of, dell assures me that my mb is just fine, they told me to replace the ram, so i put 2gigs in still the same problem, then the told me to replace the processor, did, still the same problem. what the laptop does is when i turn it on the three lcd lights come on for about 10 seconds then it shuts down, any help would be appriciated, thanks, by the way i have tried to start it with the battery and with out, same problem. if u could email me that would be great.
Comment by dwright
Sounds like poor customer service to me. I would recommend having a second set of eyes look over the laptop since you’ve already invested a lot into getting the laptop up and running. I would assume you’ve already checked, but it sounds like it could be related power. I have seen Dell laptops have a bad power connector so it will never charge. I bolieve in that situation they got the 3 LED lights as well. Hope I’ve been of some help. Goodluck!
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Comment by Mark
Wish I didn’t have to agree, but as a technician with 7 years exerience, I can tell you Dell does indeed suck. (Sounds awfully professional doesn’t it?) This week I’ve recieved three Inspiron laptops (5150, 8100, 600m) all with the exact same problem as Jon Roberts. In each case the final fix has been a motherboard DISPITE what Dell claims. In each case the computer has been between 13-15 months old. (Just out of standard warranty) This is sick. Dell Obviously has no intention of remaining in business or else they would fix a problem that, as near as I can tell from all the other angry Dell owners, has been going on since 2002.
Comment by dell=satan
Comment by Elizabeth
Couldn’t agree more..poor design of AC adapters
have a dell inspiron 8200 and have ordered replacement adapters over three times within the last few years. without particular support, adapter tends to hang over and protective casing peels over time and wires loosen, rewarding me with yet another broken ac adapter. sick of this..
Comment by Ann Dawson
Just purchased a 9400 Inspiron and since the day we got it have had issues. Bought three (3)! routers because they told us that the routers were bad, it would pick up the neighbours signal and then lose it. Spent 20 + hours! on the phone with their technicians this past weekend and still no fix. Purchased what they told us was an in-house warrenty only to find out this means that they will have a tech install a piece of hardware but no setting the computer up or troubleshooting. We paid close to $2000.00 for this and all i want is it out of my house. The easiest part about dealing with the Dell people was the person in the return department who was wonderful offering me first another year (in-house) warranty, 150$ and finally 350$ but we would have to spend $250 to have the computer looked at, what a deal! It is being returned and I hope never to speak to another Dell technician as long as i live! Can you tell that I think they are junk?
Comment by WAYNE WANAMAKER
I HAVE AN INSPIRON 9200, ABOUT THREE YEARS OLD……
THE SCREEN HAS DEVELOPED A VERTICAL STRIPE IN THE MIDDLE….AT FIRST IT WAS ABOUT 2″ WIDE….. BUT IT HAS GROWN TO 4″ WIDE…….THE SCREEN SEEMS TO BE FINE UNDER THE STRIPE AND I CAN MOVE EVERYTHING TO THE CLEAR SIDE OF THE SCREEN….. I HAD A 17″ MONITOR….NOW ITS 8.5″ ….AND SHRINKING…..ANY IDEAS….I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO ATTACH THE ANCHOR LINE….
Comment by Matthew Turner
We have the inspiron 1300 and it is, without a doubt, the biggest peice of crap ever made. We have 5 dell PCs at work (that do their jobs) - but this laptop is garbage - and i mean super crap. I hate this computer with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.
Comment by Louise
I have a DELL Inspiron (5100 I believe, but it’s not in front of me right now) and it is AWFUL. Don’t trust them about the motherboard, my brother had to buy a whole new laptop because his power source (where you plug the cord in) failed. And mine just died this morning for the same exact reason. It is awful. They claim this doesn’t happen, but I know at least 4 people that have had the exact same problem. I used to love DELL, but I assure you I am never purchasing one again.
Comment by Gary
Purchased my Inspiron 1300 in May 2006. Here we are 13 months later and on Saturday when I turned my machine my lcd was basically BASICALLY F…. i have colored vertical lines all over, big black blops of “paint” and thr right hand side of the screen is green?
Up until now, it was 100% okay. Called Dell Support, all they were concerned about was trying to make $49 out of me. The fact that laptop has lasted just 13 months was unimportant to them.
Its a throw away…I wil never by another Dell product. Neither will the +- 1000 people I cross paths each week.
Comment by Alex
I bought a Inspiron 4100 in 2001. Yes..by now you might expect that it has outlived it usefulness…and it has. The truth is…the day the warranty ran out…it fell apart. In fact, the first year that I ahd it, I might have used it 30 days out of the entire year. The LCD screen began to flicker…the touch pad never worked properly…the curser slowly crawls across the screen on it’s own…the CD drive died and so far I have replaced TWO keyboards. This on a machine that I use about 5 or 6 days (for a few hours) a month. Oh and try to get help from them…forget it. I am radio broadcaster and I will use the power of radio to tell as many people as I can reach that Dell laptops are junk and their support is useless.
Comment by arlene clapp
I have a Dell inspiration 8100, and I called Dell, only to be switched to India reps. who could hardly speak English. I told them that I had a heat problem, and that it needed to be addressed immediately. It took 4.5 hours to run tests, and they picked up the lap top the next day, but sent it back to me, and the fan still does not come on as it should when it overheats. It overheated so badly that the letters and the keyboard melted in a U position. Nothing that a good resistor couldn’t fix. Any comments for this inferior product? How about a new IBM?
Comment by arlene c
I have a Dell inspiration 8100, and I called Dell, only to be switched to India reps. who could hardly speak English. I told them that I had a heat problem, and that it needed to be addressed immediately. It took 4.5 hours to run tests, and they picked up the lap top the next day, but sent it back to me, and the fan still does not come on as it should when it overheats. It overheated so badly that the letters and the keyboard melted in a U position. Nothing that a good resistor couldn’t fix. Any comments for this inferior product? How about a new IBM?
Comment by Jack V
The sentiment I see here is what I experience in the field. I’m in the computer industry and work for a large, enterprise organization that buys Dell exclusively. The Latitude line has gotten cheaper and cheaper in its assembly and it really shows. (D620 is little more than a plastic clamshell w/ a motherboard sandwiched between it). Dell has taken the low road in using more generic parts (their RAM now comes from suppliers in Korea-not Micron or some other reputable brand). They also seemed to leave the testing of their components (hard drive, RAM)to their vendors, as the failure rate for machines right out of the box seems high (3 to 6% by my guestimate). If Boeing built airplanes the way Dell made computers, nobody would fly them and they’d be out of business by now!! No matter, Michael Dell and his shareholders are all living in mansions watching their stock rise!
Comment by Rita D
I have had an inspiron for about a year and a half, and its been great- I have had no problems at all. My husband who is in the networking biz, travels a lot, has bought three Dells over the last 8-10 years. (He doesn’t buy them because they are broken, but merely as upgrades. They are very reliable).
I have to say that you all are missing the bigger picture. With every company there are a few defective items. But more importantly, laptops are exposed to the wear and tear of our carrying them, moving them, banging them (especially if you travel a lot or carry it to/from work/school) and that makes a difference- on any computer. If you get three years out of it- then that is a good machine.
My husband has called for new a/c adaptors (one broke and one our dog chewed up) and the customer service was great. We didn’t pay a dime. So, it sounds like some of you all just had bad experiences. This tends to happen when companies outsource for cheaper labor- but Dell is not the only company doing it, sadly.
My coworkers have IBMs and ACER laptops and those are by far way worse- particularly troublesome (flicker screens, errors upon start up, and more).
Comment by larry
I have an Inspiron 2200 and it is a piece of sh..,I have not been able to speak with anyone at Dell the moment I voiced a complaint. Right off the bat Dell offered an internal wireless card free so I bought but when my laptop was delivered, not card installed. I call and found out that it was my fault and my call ended, what a customer service dept. , blame the customer. I guess it was a good thing that my lesson was only for $1200, I just spent 11,000 for desktops for our small office.
Comment by jim
yes they are crap. i have an inspiron 6000 takes 5 minutes to load and 6 to shutdown? any help out there; anyone have same problem?