They have good, basic design. They last forever and are easy to repair. They have everything you need, no extras, but nothing lacking.
They’re like the Platonic Ideal of laptops; you open it up and you don’t say “wow”, you say “Well, this sure is a laptop” – but that’s not an insult; that’s what makes them the perfect all purpose general laptop.
Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts and opinions :)
This really only applies to their (for the most part anyways) business/premium lines
Their consumer/budget lines…are shit
However, still better than HP that’s for damn sure, business, premium, budget, prosumer doesn’t matter with HP it’s all crap.
You’ve nailed it. The Dell consumer grade hardware is hot garbage. The business line is rock solid and when it isn’t, parts are usually plentiful. HP is a lesser quality product in general, but the same levels apply.
People bring up the Thinkpads. They are very good as the older units go, but I’ve not owned the newer ones. I’ve heard they’ve not maintained the same quality.
If Dell is a Corolla, then HP is a Pontiac Aztec and the older Thinkpad is a Lexus. Or something.
I’m not sure about today, but my school had the Optiplex 760 line like 15 years back, and those things were rock solid. I wouldn’t be surprised if those units, and their accompanying black keyboards and 1280x1024 monitors were still around somewhere today.
Newer optiplexes are the same.
Even the small ones can easily be opened, remove the fans, RAM, SSD, all without a tool.
The only problem they have (including the model you shown) is that they use a proprietary 5-pin fan connector.
And just like Corollas, this sentiment is exactly limited to production models before 2016 or so.
This!
My last laptop, brought at some time around 2014 was a Dell and was exactly like the OP mentioned. There was nothing amazing about it, and nothing egregious either. It mostly run, for a very long time, without any problem. Had to change the battery once, and the multiple battery standards without any visible difference was a speed bumper, but not all that bad.
When I went to replace it, every singe decision I could see on the Dell line was bad. I could see bad things on the specs, the photos, the segmentation… didn’t even need to see an actual laptop to run away.
My only complaint with Dell is they use shit fans that sounds like jet engines.
That is a overgeneralization considering dell has many budget laptops that are not that well built.
And several high end laptops that are not that well built.
Hard disagree; Dell would be GM, so many around that even when hundreds of thousands die - there are plenty still left in the wild.
IBM’s Thinkpads, before they sold that division to Lenovo? Would be the most apt comparison: Was really good in the late 90s and early 00s, and has been coasting on reputation since then.
Modern Lenovo are still good. My P51 can withstand a litre of water being poured on the keyboard without breaking. It’s easy to service and built like a tank.
My Dell e5420 requires me to reset the Graphics Driver on a literal daily basis. Ctrl+Shift+Win+B because either some parts of the screen have gone black, all of the screens have gone black, or I’m getting that Solitaire copy effect.
Also who the fuck specs out a laptop in 2022 to have a 1024x768 Resolution?
Dell can get fucked.
It’s literally the opposite of everything you’ve just said as an IT pro who has managed endpoints for 15 years. Dell is hot, flaming garbage.
Once had a model with a 100% RMA rate (thousands ordered), and I wasn’t even surprised.
Then there’s the trash bloat apps trying to manage the OS instead of letting it manage itself (Dell Optimizer, etc.) Blech.
Work in tech retail. Have never been particularly impressed with Dell build quality nor repairability
Strong disagree from me. Every Dell laptop I’ve personally used, and every Dell laptop any acquaintance has used, has ended up broken sooner or later (usually sooner). Not due to misuse, but just randomly breaking while sitting there securely on a desk.
Given that Toyota cars are famous for being reliable, I’d say Dell laptops are the antithesis of that.
as a person who actively processes returned dell/lenovo/hp/apple lease devices for my job, this is a funny stance to have.
My work supplies us with Dell laptops. I have to put in a request for a new battery at least yearly.
I had an Inspiron 14 7460 that was an absolute PoS from the outset. It went through two mainboard replacements within 6 months and even then the USB ports on the right side stopped working after about a year.
On top of that, the battery pack was pretty much useless after two years, which meant I has to constantly have it plugged in in order to use it, and the fans would kick in any time I did anything more intensive than opening an Excel spreadsheet.
It wasn’t a cheap model either - I paid about $800 for it.
I love Dell’s monitors, but I won’t be buying another of their laptops any time soon.
Have you seen the new XPS designs? They are pretty terrible. No physical function keys
Eeewww capacitive touch buttons. Kill it with fire!
Compaq cousin.
Compaq built by HP was utter trash. At least the handful Compaq laptops I’ve had the displeasure of dealing with.
Thinkpads would quality too. I don’t know about the latest models, but I had a few T440, T470, those were unbreakable.
