Ten Reasons Not to Buy a Dell Laptop

My experience with the Dell computer company has been short lived and for this reason - it has not been a good experience. I know people who have owned Dell computers and have been very happy with them. These people, however, have owned desktops. Having myself never owned a Dell desktop computer, I can't speak for their advantages or disadvantages. I can, however, share my own experience with my Dell Inspiron 500m. So, here are ten reasons not to buy a Dell notebook:

1. They're unreliable. After owning my Dell for less than two months, my hard drive died completely. I had to have a new drive sent to me to install. It's always traumatic when these things happen, but I found it to be rather bad stroke of luck that such a thing would happen to my computer after owning it for so short a period. However, six months after my drive crashed, the new drive crashed and had to be replaced once again. Fearing that I was doing something horribly wrong, I asked the lovely woman in tech support if there was something I could do to prevent further problems; her response to me was, "No, these things just happen." Don't you need more security than that from your computer?

2. Refurbished parts. There's a reason Dell has you send your dead hard drives back to them - your burned-out hard drive ends up in someone else's computer. A tweak here and there and things are…sufficient enough to be mailed out when someone else needs new parts. Makes a bit more sense why the machines come across as so unreliable.

3. Out-sourcing. I'm not going to go on a rant about the loss of American jobs to workers over-seas. My main complaint is that when you generally get patched over to India, not only is communication a problem, but how do you call them back when your phone mysteriously gets disconnected? Don't even get me started on how much their hold music sucks.

4. They combust. Seriously! Yes, laptops tend to get a little hot after used a while, but Dell recalled their laptops because of a battery problem that caused them to catch fire. According to www.engadget.com, they may have known about the problem two years before the recall was issued. Even if that's not case, take a look at this photo of a laptop that's had an unusually bad day: http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/20/dell-knew-about-dozens-of-burned-laptops-two-years-before-reca/

5. The motherboard is a motherf…never mind. I have known several people who have had problems with their Dell motherboards, mainly that they fail. In fact, a friend of mine worked to replace his Dell only two years after he purchased it because in that time the motherboard not only had to be replaced completely, but further problems developed.

6. Non-standard parts. If something happens to your machine and, as is the case with many companies now, you or your business is reliant on a computer, you cannot purchase parts from a computer store to replace what has malfunctioned (i.e. a power supply, something that should be relatively easy to replace). This means that if you encounter a problem on a weekend you are, in fact, stuck until Monday. Or whenever things finally get shipped to you.

7. The hypochondriac. Okay, I'll admit now that this might be unique to my own experience, but my computer was a hypochondriac. I recognize how odd this sounds, but once my computer gave me all of the errors that cited that the hard drive had crashed (this would have been shot number three in a year). Hours later, after calling tech support to request yet another new drive, I tried, on a whim, to start my computer up. It worked, despite this same tactic having failed hours earlier. This brings me to point Number 8:

8. Their customer service is horrible. I won't speak ill of their tech support, as these kind people have talked me through many issues (and they certainly have their work cut out for them). However, their customer service is hardly up to speed with their tech support. They're definitely a group that is satisfied with their current sales and not really looking for next sale, unless of course you consider such wonderful sales pitches as give in Number 9…

9. They're "not meant for everyday use." There is a page at www.thisistrue.com dedicated to the problems with Dell. But, by far the best comment came from Jeff in DC who reported that a sales rep from Dell informed him that the problems with his Dell laptop were because, "we bought a laptop that was not designed for everyday use, and if we had bought a more expensive model, our everyday use would not have caused such problems." How do argue with that?

10. Their "at home" service is a joke. If you do get a Dell, which I would hope after reading this list you won't, please do not buy their at-home repair plan. This is a waste of your money. If the people do show up at your home to help you - which some have told me does not happen, even if you schedule an appointment - do not expect them to help you with anything. The most they will do is take your computer away to be repaired, a job the good people at UPS could do for you and you wouldn't have to wait around on a Saturday.