Anna. I told our CORCC not to buy the "big box" desktop machine, i.e.Dell, HP, Emachine, Gateway, Compac, etc. This is based on discussions with owners. They are very proprietary, hardware and software, and you are married to the vendors for replacement parts. And, I have heard claimed, their hardware is not guaranteed as long. I recommended approaching a local assembler with your individual needs and desires. Then you can dump it on their counter for problems. You can get your operating system. Laptops are a different animal. All are proprietary.
When I replace my desktop, I'll assemble it myself, of generic hardware, and use free software. But I'm retired. Tony ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rex Nelson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Central West End Linux Users Group" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 11:06 AM Subject: Re: [cwe-lug] what do you think of Dell > >Thank you, Scott. Sorry that you had to be our test target >>if you will; but had it not been for you. I would have bought >>an HP this month. I am in the market for a new computer. >> >>What do people think of Dell? >> >>Anna >> > We bought a Dell 1600SC server in 2003 with a dual Zeon motherboard. > We had only one cpu installed originally because we did not think we > would need the 2nd cpu. Well in November, we decided to upgrade and > put in a second cpu. You would think this would be relatively easy, > but it was not. We did not extend our warrantee after it expired > (2yrs) so we did not have a contract with Dell. It now seems that > Dell can not get a cpu and fan for our server (if we had a service > contract, we could get the part from them). So we decided to go on > to the open market and get a cpu and fan. This was easy. > > We get the cpu and fan and install the cpu. We try to install the > fan only to discover Dell has a non-standard cpu fan connector on the > motherboard!!! So we google around and find a couple of rants that > say other parts of Dell servers are non-standard like the power > supply form factor!!! > > I can only assume the laptops and desktops have similar gotcha's. > > If you will not upgrade or have any failures (screen, cpu fans, power > supply) you will probably be OK. But if you do have to replace > something, you better have a service agreement or be willing to get > parts from a bone yard particularly as the unit ages. > > My Opinion, YMMV. > > It will be interesting to see if my experience is an isolated case or > if it is Dell's business model. > > Rex > > -- > Rex Nelson Ph.D. > Ames,IA > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > (515) 294-1297 > ~~~_/) ~~~ > > _______________________________________________ > CWE-LUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.cwelug.org/ > http://www.cwelug.org/archives/ > http://www.cwelug.org/mailinglist/ _______________________________________________ CWE-LUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.cwelug.org/ http://www.cwelug.org/archives/ http://www.cwelug.org/mailinglist/
