6 ms·

Buying a PC with Dell: My Journey into Hell

17 points by spideymans 5y ago

rasz 5y ago
FCLGA2066 4 core Xeon and a server like 2 minute boot time motherboard, in 2021. Still, I dont understand the drama - you have 2 weeks to send mail order items back no questions asked.
- mrgreenfur 5y ago
  Is this what he bought? He didn't say the model or specs did he? It was very hard to read in these tiny sentences
  - rasz 5y ago
    Precision 5820, 4 Core model is a hunch based on description of computer being slower than 5 year old model. Whatever way it got configured it was money thrown into the toilet. Un-upgradeable with oem low cost parts, hard to sell and will lose value faster than ordinary 3rd party components, hard to work with enterprise oriented parts. There is nothing good about this computer if youre not a Fortune 500 company.
codevark 5y ago
Dell's consumer stuff (Inspiron, XPS, etc.) is solid, but no more solid than HP's or Lenovo's consumer stuff. Dell's Enterprise and Business equipment is fantastic. Again, I suspect no more fantastic than other enterprise stuff. Dell's support for their high-end stuff is extremely good. Etc. You get what you pay for. You also get what you choose at point of sale. A Precision workstation is what I would choose for the type of stuff you're doing. Maybe even a Poweredge R6525 with dual EPYCs and PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives. You are whiny, and will be eliminated. :)
spideymans 5y ago
Also worth checking out Linus Tech Tip's Secret Shopper series, where they buy a Dell PC over the phone while masquerading as an "average" PC buyer (hint: the experience is pretty shitty) Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz7WMF4wWko&t=430s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz7WMF4wWko&t=430s Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2kCUbY4ZWs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2kCUbY4ZWs Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ViO0ETvfEc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ViO0ETvfEc I think those of us in the industry often miss out on how confusing PC buying is for normal people. Things that are obvious to us is just cryptic technobabble for the general public.
- brundolf 5y ago
  Which is one of the reasons Apple is so successful (really, two reasons: simplified product differentiation, and customer service)
rekabis 5y ago
Everything I have read appears to be entirely self-inflicted. Had he been working through a flesh-and-blood Dell salesperson in a meatspace storefront, at least fault could be placed at their feet. But no. Pretty well every single mistake appears to be either ignorance or incompetence, enhanced by irrational and emotional panicking. If you are going to use a machine for cutting-edge work, it might be a valuable life skill to actually learn something about it. I mean, a formula-1 race car driver might not be able to replace any of his mechanics, but dollars to dimes he’s likely doing the majority of his own wrench-slinging on his personal vehicles. The same goes for computing, even if you’re just a blogger or vlogger or any other kind of non-technical power user - knowing your hardware and how to maximize what goes into it can familiarize you enough to avoid OP’s issues in part, if not fully. You don’t even need to be an expert, you just need to be decently familiar with most things.
rahimnathwani 5y ago
Previous discussion (flagged, 14 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26926756 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26926756
declank 5y ago
Only things I’d ever buy from Dell are some of its monitors, servers and XPS laptops. Most of their stuff is trash for a brand with good reputation.

17 points by spideymans 5y ago

rasz 5y ago

FCLGA2066 4 core Xeon and a server like 2 minute boot time motherboard, in 2021. Still, I dont understand the drama - you have 2 weeks to send mail order items back no questions asked.

mrgreenfur 5y ago
Is this what he bought? He didn't say the model or specs did he? It was very hard to read in these tiny sentences
- rasz 5y ago
  Precision 5820, 4 Core model is a hunch based on description of computer being slower than 5 year old model. Whatever way it got configured it was money thrown into the toilet. Un-upgradeable with oem low cost parts, hard to sell and will lose value faster than ordinary 3rd party components, hard to work with enterprise oriented parts. There is nothing good about this computer if youre not a Fortune 500 company.

codevark 5y ago

Dell's consumer stuff (Inspiron, XPS, etc.) is solid, but no more solid than HP's or Lenovo's consumer stuff. Dell's Enterprise and Business equipment is fantastic. Again, I suspect no more fantastic than other enterprise stuff. Dell's support for their high-end stuff is extremely good. Etc. You get what you pay for. You also get what you choose at point of sale. A Precision workstation is what I would choose for the type of stuff you're doing. Maybe even a Poweredge R6525 with dual EPYCs and PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives. You are whiny, and will be eliminated. :)

spideymans 5y ago

Also worth checking out Linus Tech Tip's Secret Shopper series, where they buy a Dell PC over the phone while masquerading as an "average" PC buyer (hint: the experience is pretty shitty) Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz7WMF4wWko&t=430s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz7WMF4wWko&t=430s Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2kCUbY4ZWs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2kCUbY4ZWs Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ViO0ETvfEc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ViO0ETvfEc I think those of us in the industry often miss out on how confusing PC buying is for normal people. Things that are obvious to us is just cryptic technobabble for the general public.

brundolf 5y ago
Which is one of the reasons Apple is so successful (really, two reasons: simplified product differentiation, and customer service)

rekabis 5y ago

Everything I have read appears to be entirely self-inflicted. Had he been working through a flesh-and-blood Dell salesperson in a meatspace storefront, at least fault could be placed at their feet. But no. Pretty well every single mistake appears to be either ignorance or incompetence, enhanced by irrational and emotional panicking. If you are going to use a machine for cutting-edge work, it might be a valuable life skill to actually learn something about it. I mean, a formula-1 race car driver might not be able to replace any of his mechanics, but dollars to dimes he’s likely doing the majority of his own wrench-slinging on his personal vehicles. The same goes for computing, even if you’re just a blogger or vlogger or any other kind of non-technical power user - knowing your hardware and how to maximize what goes into it can familiarize you enough to avoid OP’s issues in part, if not fully. You don’t even need to be an expert, you just need to be decently familiar with most things.

rahimnathwani 5y ago

Previous discussion (flagged, 14 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26926756 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26926756

declank 5y ago

Only things I’d ever buy from Dell are some of its monitors, servers and XPS laptops. Most of their stuff is trash for a brand with good reputation.