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CPU fan died in my Optiplex780, should be a 5 minute $2 repair, but Dell refuse to sell me the (Dell custom) part because im "not the official registered owner of the computer" and even if i was they want $52 for a CASE FAN !!!!

I will get a 3 wire fan off tard me and rewire it for the custom Dell plug, but thats the last dell i buy.

My first computer was a Dell. This'd be about 1993/4. I bought it second-hand. It developed a fault so I phoned them on the off-chance they'd do something but not expecting much. Next day they had a technician at my house and it was fixed free of charge.

Just shows how things have changed. Suspect the margins just aren't there to properly support their products anymore.

Heh... yeh that's business.
My most recent pc purchase was an Alienware Alpha actually, so I have the dubious honour of being in the Dell owners' club too, but so far it's going fine.

I've got three computers at my shop ~ two out the front running primarily as point-of-sales and a main one in our back office.

Two of them are Dell's (the other is an Acer) and it's the Acer that always causes the problems! Touch wood I've never had any issues with the Dell's despite them being fairly old machines. I sometimes think it's pot luck when something will go wrong or crap-out on you, but saying that I would probably think twice about replacing our front computer with another Acer as it's been a major pain in the arse.

I feel a song coming on Dylan, Dellinquency.

Think I've been listening to Whitey Power too much.

I would never buy a dell. She irks me tbh.

I should mention that up till now i really liked my dell quad core. Pizza box size, only one fan combining case/cpu/psu, stable sonar 8.5.2 on vista 32, and 60 frames stable on unreal3. Im not gonna try and rebuild my recording stuff on a new 64 bit system and have to learn new stuff and go through endless hours of fault fixing before i (hopefully) have stable recording again, with all the same plugins and templates.

contact cleaned then crc'd the fan, quiet for now.

So, if you buy one of the ex lease dells off TM, make sure you contact dell with proof of purchase to change their registered owner, and if your system is older than 5 years its considered trash, and replacement components that normally just plug in (fans, psu, pci, cpu cooler) wont be physically compatible, so unless you can get branded replacements ur stuffed.

I spose my irritation is because normally a fan failing is a 5 minute repair, for it to be an actual hassle is ridiculous

Dellatorius ?

So like... Must we still never buy a Dell?

I use Dell for everything I can @ work. Their pro support is awesome, that and being able to deal direct rather than via a reseller. Sure getting some support for out of warranty stuff can be a bit of a hassle, but its fair enough that the vendor doesn't want to wear the cost there. Just fielding your support call has probably already cost them a few $$. Best bet is find the part on ebay or aliexpress

Have a look here to start:
http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?cat ... t=dell+fan

I get the what laptop should I buy question all the time - occupational hazard, and I recommend Dell to everyone who asks.

I personally like my stuff to be easily fixable and upgradeable, so I wouldn't normally go for a Dell, but when it comes to balancing performance vs. cost at purchase time they always look pretty good on paper.

Oh yeah and haha at "A Dell" , very good.

jimi wrote:I recommend Dell to everyone who asks.

These days I recommend "buy an ex lease lenovo with windows 7 on it".

But I've always thought that Dell laptops must be made out of recycled mcdonalds toys. Why else do bits and pieces of plastic fall off them all the time?

My Dell is a 7 year old box that sits under the desk. 3 times over the years IT friends have said, "I've got some old shit that's better than you've got. Want me to install it?"
So it's a collection of castoffs with a free OS and screens I salvaged from work. It does almost everything I want and has cost me the grand total of $23 in the past 5 years.

Low expectations have their advantages

JHorner wrote: But I've always thought that Dell laptops must be made out of recycled mcdonalds toys. Why else do bits and pieces of plastic fall off them all the time?

They come out of the same Chinese factory as Apple laptops.

The Corporate lines are a bit hardier than the consumer lines, but you pay for the difference.

To be honest there is pretty much nothing between the HP, Lenovo and Dell ranges - We got to market for our laptop/server supplier every 3 years, and last laptop review was 2015, so I've been over the lines pretty recently. What sets Dell apart is that we can deal direct instead of via a reseller, which has great flow-on for global support and delivery times, other than that the only thing that really separates the devices is the logo on top.

Over the years I've had some great dell stuff and some really shit. My main PC is currently a Dell ex lease from pbtech, its an i7 and does everything I want. I've also had Dell laptops that fall apart.

Slowy wrote:My Dell is a 7 year old box that sits under the desk. 3 times over the years IT friends have said, "I've got some old shit that's better than you've got. Want me to install it?"
So it's a collection of castoffs with a free OS and screens I salvaged from work. It does almost everything I want and has cost me the grand total of $23 in the past 5 years.

Low expectations have their advantages

I keep telling my wife this, but it doesn't seem to be getting through.