Is Dell that bad?

I have a Compaq, and I it. My FIL has just bought a smaller HP Netbook and he loves it too - it's so cute!!! They both have CD/DVD as well. I've had mine for 18 months now and it's still going strong - haven't ever had a problem with it.

We've got a Dell laptop had it for 12 months now and had no problems.

My DH is into the IT stuff, he says that Dell is rubbish because they use cheap parts, hence the cheap price. He doesn't recommend an Acer either I don't think.   He's not home for me to check what he recommends but we have an HP which he likes. I know to avoid an AMD processor, Intel is definitely superior and at minimum a dual core (or quad core is faster).

You can always ask the salesperson to do you a deal too, see what you can get them to throw in for free.

MrsH23 wrote: My DH is into the IT stuff, he says that Dell is rubbish because they use cheap parts, hence the cheap price. He doesn't recommend an Acer either I don't think.   He's not home for me to check what he recommends but we have an HP which he likes. I know to avoid an AMD processor, Intel is definitely superior and at minimum a dual core (or quad core is faster). You can always ask the salesperson to do you a deal too, see what you can get them to throw in for free.

Yup same, he wouldn't let me get a DELL or Acer. He highly recommends Asus. I ended up getting a Mac Book Pro in the end.

HP isn't that better either TBH. If you leave the laptops charging all the time it actually ruins the battery and they need to be constantly charged. Happened to 1 of my laptops and 2 of my friends as well. But their computers are better.

ETA: HP also have over heating problems too due to crap cooling fans.

Edited by nkap9

My HP touch pad is stupid too, I get so mad with it lol

We use an ASUS - second hand but still going pretty well.

I've got a dell desk top & it's been great. Good to know about the laptops for when we upgrade though.

Tash, i have this one

Nope I really don't miss the CD drive, most stuff if I really need anything most things are either downloadable or I can transfer from Antz laptop via usb.
I don't watch on demand but I have downloaded Eps that I watch and I find it awesome for that because its a lot smaller and nicer for in bed hehe.

We had a dell. Hard drive crapped out under warranty. Fixed it and then it died again after warranty. Ditched it as it was a few years old by then and we wanted to upgrade.

Bought a compaq (owned by HP) two days after warranty ran out the cd rom died. Then the wireless modem then the power adapter. It was just over 12 months old and the customer service was all thru india and was a nightmare. After the customer service experience I have vowed never to touch a compaq or HP again. (we also had issues with a printer thru them.)

We now have a dell again and have had it about a year. We bought it in texas and customer service was in texas as well. We figured to go with a local customer service department. Not that that matters now we are back in NZ.

Our thoughts (DH is in IT) are that laptops are fragile and do break. They put up with a lot more than desktops. It is a competitive market and price wins out in the purchase decision so they all use the cheaper parts to keep the cost down. I don't think any particular brand is much better than the next. It is just good luck as to whether it survives or not.

IMO go for customer service and an extended warranty.   Buy the warranty for the time period that you want the laptop to last. I think you can get 5 year extended warranty's and if it lasts longer that is a bonus. By then the technology would have moved on a lot and you will want a new laptop anyway.

Thats a bit weird, the only difference I can see is that the more expensive one has XP while the others have Windows 7 so maybe that has something to do with it... the 7 is a starter version which is probably a bit more basic than XP home... seems weird to me though