Computer time

[ramchandra]

I've been looking at the rain computers for awhile. They have me sold on what the computers can do and how reiliable they are the price is too steep and there is no financing.

So I now turn to Dell. Does anyone use a Dell? Are there people here that are mortal enemies with Dell? I can get pretty good prices from them and they finance. I just need to know if their audio and video components are up to snuff.

I will most likely be looking at their higher end notebooks because I'm too freaked out about getting something that won't do the job.

Any help at all in this field would be apprieciated.

[GooberNumber9]

I'm an IT consultant and my company recommends and uses Dell computers and servers almost exclusively. It is important when buying a Dell to recognize the difference in their different product lines. The Dell Latitude Notebooks and Optiplex Desktops are their professional product lines and those are the ones we use and recommend. The build quality and comprehensive support on those is the best out there, from my experience.

The Inspiron Notebooks and Dimension Desktops are decent products, but their build and support is totally different and inferior.

Whatever you get, I would recommend buying a 3-year warranty. So many computer components are commodities that can fail any time. The Dell Optiplex and Latitude come with 3 year warranties included.

Todd Wilcox

[YOUR KONG]

Also compare the Dells to recommended specs - I bought a cheapo Dell, and it has not failed me...once I upgraded the RAM, added a second harddrive and new soundcard.

...

Fortunately I have a good buddy who is handy with computers.

[John Jeffers]

I'm an IT consultant and my company recommends and uses Dell computers and servers almost exclusively. It is important when buying a Dell to recognize the difference in their different product lines. The Dell Latitude Notebooks and Optiplex Desktops are their professional product lines and those are the ones we use and recommend. The build quality and comprehensive support on those is the best out there, from my experience.

The Inspiron Notebooks and Dimension Desktops are decent products, but their build and support is totally different and inferior.

This man is correct. The Optiplex (desktop) and Latitude (laptop) lines are good computers. I've been a sysadmin for over ten years, and literally everywhere I've worked has used Optiplex/Latitude stuff. I've had mostly positive experiences with it, though Dell's tech support process has gotten worse over the years. You can usually get what you need, it just takes a lot longer than it should. I don't think I've had a support call that took less than 15-20 mins lately, even for some basic and obvious hardware failure where I just needed a replacement part shipped out.