Are Dell computers trash now, or just this one?

[BehindBlueI's]

I'm returning a laptop I bought from Best Buy. It is complete junk. 6GB of memory and an i3 processor and it stutters loading a web page, the touch pad freezes, and it takes forever to start up. Looking at the HDD, it has 48GB of stuff out of the box. Windows 10 takes up, what around 15-20GB tops? No Office installed, nothing I'd consider useful programs at all. Just a bunch of advertisements and sign up for services stuff.

I remember when Dell was the brand to buy. Quality components, a no-nonsense approach to design, and reasonable prices. Now it's just another junk PC full of bloatware.

 

[lovemachine]

I have a dell laptop, and used a dell laptop and desktop at work for years. We recently got a MAC for work, and I'll never go back to a PC again. I will admit that my wife's old school laptop, a HP, was much better than the dell we had. But she has recently gotten a MAC as well.

 

[avboiler11]

I recently got a Inspiron 13 5368...8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Core i7 processor - it flies.

I did go through and delete as much bloatware as possible; took maybe 15 minutes of my time. McAfee is a HUGE resource hog and is the very first thing I delete on a new PC. I also had a bunch of Windows Updates to do...like hours worth.

I've used other laptop brands, and frankly if I go away from Dell it will be to a Surface Pro.

 

[One Shot One Kill]

Most windows computers have hibernate enabled which allocates around 30gb or so of HDD space for this feature. I manually disabled mine because I never use it.
Also, for speed invest in a SSD and an i5 processor 2ghz+. That's about all I can offer for advice, I'll let the more tech-savvy ingoers chime in. My 5 year old laptop can boot in less than 25 seconds and handles MANY web pages at once with a corsair ssd and intel i5-something 2.3ghz CPU.

My wife's computer was a dell and it died due to a faulty power supply unit, and I've not been without problems with mine, I will avoid dell in the future.
p.s. Mine is a dell.

 

[K_W]

Dell's been trash ever since they put proprietary power connectors on their motherboards and you could only buy a new motherboard or power supply from them

 

[NickXD]

I work for a small consulting shop and we still recommend Dell, but we buy the business lines (OptiPlex, Latitude, Precision...). I think the issue is more buying the home line and from Best Buy, so you are getting Dell's home bloat plus Best Buy's bloat. I would advise against i3 processor as well. You can usually find good deals at the Dell outlet, they have coupons online always for 20-30% off. I recommend getting a latitude laptop even for home use, with at least i5 processor, 8 GB RAM, and if you don't need a lot of storage a 256 GB solid state drive (the hard drive is usually the weak link nowadays as far as speed) can always get an external drive to store pictures, videos, and what not.

 

[Ericpwp]

Any new computer without an SSD is a waste IMO. They can be had for as little as $40 a la carte, if you know how to move the data.

 

[GlockRock]

Hope not. Mine just got delivered today. Best Buy Black Friday sale.

 

[adcecil]

I have been on DELL Desk Tops at work for years & years, with zero issues. I cant speak for the laptops

 

[jamil]

I have a dell laptop, and used a dell laptop and desktop at work for years. We recently got a MAC for work, and I'll never go back to a PC again. I will admit that my wife's old school laptop, a HP, was much better than the dell we had. But she has recently gotten a MAC as well.

In these kinds of threads, there's always a Mac guy that speaks up...



















There's a reason for that!

 

[jamil]

I'm returning a laptop I bought from Best Buy. It is complete junk. 6GB of memory and an i3 processor and it stutters loading a web page, the touch pad freezes, and it takes forever to start up. Looking at the HDD, it has 48GB of stuff out of the box. Windows 10 takes up, what around 15-20GB tops? No Office installed, nothing I'd consider useful programs at all. Just a bunch of advertisements and sign up for services stuff.

I remember when Dell was the brand to buy. Quality components, a no-nonsense approach to design, and reasonable prices. Now it's just another junk PC full of bloatware.

I've been out of the PC market for so long I'd have no idea what to buy if I had to have one. A few years ago I bought a Sony Vaio. I'm very sorry I did. It's a piece of ****.

I think just about any mass produced laptop is probably going to be crappy and loaded with bloatware. HP, Dell, Sony, Acer.

 

[russc2542]

Complaining about slow speeds on a budget computer (i3) is like complaining your Vespa can't keep up on the interstate. That being said, browsing the web should be a cakewalk.

Pretty much any brand name big-box store bought computer will be like that: full of bloatware. Most of the pre-installed anti-virus/anti-malware stuff slows everything to a crawl too. Dell warranty service and Geek squad get tired of dealing with unrecoverable computers from viruses so they load the computer up with AV till it's so slow the viruses have as many problems as the user getting anything done. Then customer service can tweak a few things and it magically works again. Again, like cars: they used to be fun, then people complained about emissions and safety so now all we have are neutered cookie cutter beigemobiles. Even the "fun" cars have only slightly more feel than a video game with all the electronics and nanny gizmos.

I recently picked up a little tablet/notebook cheapo for the garage with a clean install of just windows, it ran OK (for what it is and what I paid). Installed AVG (best rated free AV) and it wants to check every single web search and web page for problems and basically added 3-5 seconds to every click on the web. Need to disable the webpage checker as it's my use doesn't warrant the heavy security.

 

[BobDaniels]

I'm returning a laptop I bought from Best Buy. It is complete junk. 6GB of memory and an i3 processor and it stutters loading a web page, the touch pad freezes, and it takes forever to start up. Looking at the HDD, it has 48GB of stuff out of the box. Windows 10 takes up, what around 15-20GB tops? No Office installed, nothing I'd consider useful programs at all. Just a bunch of advertisements and sign up for services stuff.

I remember when Dell was the brand to buy. Quality components, a no-nonsense approach to design, and reasonable prices. Now it's just another junk PC full of bloatware.

You do not want the i3, go with i5 minimum and 8GB RAM minimum, I'd doulbe the RAM to 16GB if it were mine. I personally wouldn't buy a pocket comb from best buy let alone a laptop, but that's just me. Dell usually has decent deals on their website, but I don't like how they state their msrp at some high number then say you can buy it for some low number, making it appear you are getting a fantastic deal. Spend the extra money for a business class laptop. I have always bought HP laptops but my new employer is a dell shop, so I'm stuck until I can change the culture.

That said, I am extremely sour on dell right now and recommend you buy a HP, or anything but a dell. Why am I sour on dell? They took a functioning (but ailing) server and turned it into an expensive paper weight requiring me to perform a disaster recovery to restore an exchange server; fortunately I had a hyper v server handy so I didn't have to beg/borrow/steal a new server. That was last week and I am still dealing with it because I have to swing the exchange server back to the original hardware.

 

[russc2542]

I've been out of the PC market for so long I'd have no idea what to buy if I had to have one. A few years ago I bought a Sony Vaio. I'm very sorry I did. It's a piece of ****.

I think just about any mass produced laptop is probably going to be crappy and loaded with bloatware. HP, Dell, Sony, Acer.

same here. Luckily I have a step bro who's 20 and very much in the loop who gave me a few pointers and tips on navigating the current plethora of components available. ordered $800 of components with a lot more confidence than I could have prior to talking to him over thanksgiving.

 

[JTScribe]

I have had very good luck with my Lenovo Edge 15. It ticked off all the marks I was looking for in that it's a metal frame rather than plastic. We were a Dell household for years but my laptop finally crapped out and my wife's is on it's last legs.

But yeah, any computer with a mechanical hard drive, particularly a smaller laptop drive, is going to be slow. SSD or get out.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Hope not. Mine just got delivered today. Best Buy Black Friday sale.

Yeah. It's that one.

 

[GlockRock]

Yeah. It's that one.

Great...

 

[Frank_N_Stein]

I thought this was going to be about the crap computers ISA gives us.

 

[indiucky]

Well BBI, Randy from Dover says they are good for something....

[video=youtube;rBL2eiO0pDA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBL2eiO0pDA[/video]

 

[PistolBob]

I have a dell laptop, and used a dell laptop and desktop at work for years. We recently got a MAC for work, and I'll never go back to a PC again. I will admit that my wife's old school laptop, a HP, was much better than the dell we had. But she has recently gotten a MAC as well.

Yeah but for the price of one Mac you can buy a stack of intel or AMD based laptops....