Used search function, no joy.

How do we like Dell these days, in general, for value/longevity?

Thanks

They use cheap components. I moved to Velocity Micro or Pudget Systems.

business line is rock solid, the consumer line is buy and trash when it beaks.

Same with HP.

The business lines are made to last with a 3-5 year refresh cycle. Most will last twice that.

The consumer lines have a 1 year warranty for a reason.

Buy trash repeat.

Their XPS line is still excellent. The Inspiron line -- cheap. The Latitude line is their business class and costs more, but I think the XPS line is actually their best line for quality and reliability.

I use the Latitude series laptops for work. Have never had any issues. My last one Latitude 5510 survived over 7 years. Replaced it just because I wanted a new one. In my opinion and experience for business class laptops the are the go to source.

XPS or Optiplex is good to go. XPS is their premium line and Optiplex is their business lines.

I'd avoid the other lines if possible.

Just bought and XPS8920. It works, it's fast, new so I can't comment on longevity, but the XPS it replaced lasted 13 years.

Currently still using a Dell Latitude that I bought my daught in 7th grade. It has been dropped numerous times, overheated quite a few more, and just seriously abused in general. Other than a new battery and external power supply, nothing has ever failed on it and my wife now uses it daily since my daughter got a new HP 3 months ago before heading off to college

This is our second Dell Latitude with that kind of service life, so you’ll hear no complaints from me!

quote:

How do we like Dell these days, in general

I might suggest a more refined set of requirements rather than a "general" assessment.

Oh, and I forgot to mention HP...

Currently typing this on an old HP Inspiron 17" that I bought used from a buddy of mine. He bought it new in 2006 while in college, and I gave him $40.00 for it about 5 years ago because he had moved to Mac, and it was just sitting on his shelf in the closet.

Other than being now on it's 3rd battery, it's 2nd external power supply, and me upgrading the RAM to max capacity when I first got it... oh and upgrading (if you want to call it that) to Win10 when it came out, I have done nothing else to it. It continues to work perfectly and reasonably fast for my needs, including PhotoShop, some graphics work, number crunching in Excel, database work in MS Access, and of course all various forms of web use.

Not sure what else to say about the "consumer line" of both the Dell and HP laptop computers, but mine have been excellent. I know you didn't specifically mention laptops, but I build my own desktop/tower computers, so can't speak on those...

I've bought 3 refurbished latitude Win 7 laptops from Newegg in the last couple years and they have all been good. prices range from 175-250.

I am on my second Dell in the last 10 years, and have no qualms about purchasing another when needed. I don't demand a lot from my computer, as it is just a toy for me.

I'm a big fan. At work, we have 6 servers, 8 desktops, and 2 laptops, and at home 2 laptops and 5 desktops. Three purchased in the last 3 weeks.

I find them easy to maintain, and they usually last forever.

If you like to do your own maintenance, you can find cheap barebones boxes on ebay.

I used to resell Dells about 10 years ago.
Business line, good
Home/office, not so much.

I’m sure it has changed since I was “in”,but I would always pay for the next level of warranty. That got you US based tech support. I found out early on that East Texan & East Indian didn’t mix well.

They always did me right as a reseller.
I got a DOA unit once (only time this happened) for the anti-dell owner of my biggest account....I called my sales rep and he overnighted me a new one, no charge, and told me we would do the paperwork after the smoke settled.

This was right after Michael Dell had to step back in and start running the company again. I’m not sure what role he may play in the day to day of the business these days.
It seems that, as a company, they ebb and flow on their customer service/support side.

I would still stay away from the Inspiron line if possible. Cheap stuff.
Also, order it online, don’t buy it in a big box store. The online stuff usually (back in the day, anyway) comes with a more stripped down software overhead, not a lot of trial/bloatware.

My current desktop is a Dell XPS.

flashguy

Have used Dell for years, but always the Latitude, OptiPlex, and 2 older Precision (T3400) line.

PC

I've used a bunch of Dells over the years and have switched to Lenovo ThinkPads. I used to be a Dell fan (former employee from way back), but I've found Lenovo to be much more durable/better built.

Timely post. My 5 year old Lenova needs replacement. Sound card no longer working, running out of memory only 4 gb, etc.

Any other suggestions for a care free home system?

NO gaming, DO watch video's, and need a decent printer too.

FN

I love my xps desktop...but have no idea how thier current stuff is.

Was in Costco last week. They has an XPS tower with what looked like a nice configuration (24 GB RAM, Core i7-7700, 8GB Video card, 1TB HDD / 250 GB SSD) for $1,099. Thus seems better than what's on Dell's website.