Dell used to be really good quality....

[TheLaw]

You know, it seems that a lot of people don't give too much credit to Dell, but I gotta hand it to them...They really used to make some good stuff. I've had a total of 3 Dell computers in my life before I started building my own. An Optiplex GX150 circa 2001 (Pentium III), Dimension 8100 (Socket 423 P4) circa 2000, and a Optiplex GX260 (Socket 478 P4) circa 2003. As you can see, I decided to populate my house with computers pretty quickly. They all still work...which is partly due to the great stuff inside.

To start,

-The GX150 is filled with a few Chemi-Cons, and a boat load of OSCONs. Really nice to see.

-The Dimension 8100 has a lot of Chemi-Con LXZs ( I think), as well as a good asortment of a Sanyos and Nichicons. It's power supply has Nichicons, United-Chemi-Cons, and Rubycons. Yumm....

-The GX260 has Rubycon MBZs on the CPU as well as Nichicons elsewhere. It's power supply had a big Hitachi, some United-Chemicons, and Teapos.


Now...

These computers were a lot more expensive than the cheap stuff you can buy today. (The Dimension 8100 was around $1100 at the time.)

But it's a pleasant surprise when you open one of these up and get some really lovely stuff. HP on the other hand....We won't get into that.

I haven't bought a new Dell since 2003 so, how has the quality changed? I'm sure they're using some polymers now, and maybe some Chemi-cons? Or have they resorted to OSTs...

Just sharing my thoughts!

Good day.

[eppidrummer]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

I run a computer business that stays pretty busy and about 90% of our repair work that comes through our door are dells. New and old. Starting to see more poly caps on them around the cpu but caps bulging in other places on the board. Dell quality IMO went down the tubes years ago.
Easy to work on (thats a good thing).

[TheLaw]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

Well that's too bad. I really had a hint of respect for them for a second there....

I'd say probably 2005ish, they started turning into the junk we have today. But could be wrong.

[seanc]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

Plenty of GX270 with failed caps, but we all know about those.
1 x GX150 which mysteriously let out some magic smoke.
1 x GX280 with a fan that constantly ran full pelt.

SX280 and GX620 USFF are nice machines, but they cook.

Optiplex 780 series - tower, desktop, SFF and USFF. Meh. The USFF is worth the trouble, the rest are just cut down boards with custom PSU that WILL have to be repaired if it fails because a new one will probably cost the earth.

The Vostro 200 series are all cheap and nasty, I wouldn't say they're too far apart from the likes of the HP business line - e.g. DX2250 etc. On the plus side, they use standard parts.

I'd much rather build my own. Dell are not cheaper.

[TheLaw]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

In general, I think they were still good. My GX150s PSU fan died, but that's not the craziest thing in the world to happen.

I think in their early days, and the very early 2000s, they were excellent, but 2004-present, they aren't anything special....

[delaware74b]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

Three years ago, when i was taking courses at Computertraining.com, we had half of the GX280's with the fan problem. Dell would come in, replace boards, never solved the jet-engine problems.
I've run across 2 Optiplex 240's that have bad Nichicon caps so far.

[TheLaw]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

Not trying to defend Dell, but that was Nichicon's fault for producing shit caps circa 2004.

[Scenic]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

still.. USFF boxes still cook caps.. even rubys..
this might not be too terribly bad of a problem with the much cooler running CPUs we've got nowadays though.. (compared to the P4 hotplates those older Dells used)

[TheLaw]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

still.. USFF boxes still cook caps.. even rubys..
this might not be too terribly bad of a problem with the much cooler running CPUs we've got nowadays though.. (compared to the P4 hotplates those older Dells used)

Yeah thank god no more P4s. I had a 2.8Ghz chip in my SFF GX260....oh my Lord. Easily could have cooked eggs on it. EASILY.

[brethin]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

For the volume Dell is fine, The reason you see so many coming in for repair is because they sold a fekload of them. Alot of failures are due to bad/no maintenance never cleaning them out and letting them get full of dust and overheating. Same goes for alot of the ASUS failures.

[Topcat]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

You buy entry level, that's what you get. They're all like that. When is the last time anyone saw a high-end item showing up with crap caps?! If you're a servicer, be thankful. If there weren't broken Dell's, what would you be fixing?!

[smason]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

The company that I've been doing IT work for for 8 years buys only Dell.
Dell servers, Dell desktops, Dell notebooks, Dell switches.

Other than 4 270s with bad caps that got replacement MBs under warranty, we have very few problems. I'd recommend dell to anyone. Just don't get the entry level stuff, and you're fine. My wife's Inspiron 1525 is a piece of shit, but my 4 year old Latitude rocks.

[Scenic]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

If there weren't broken Dell's, what would you be fixing?!

Asus with failed KZG's

[c_hegge]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

I also used to consider Dell to be good, but now, it stands for Doesn't Ever Last Long

[Topcat]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

Asus with failed KZG's

I wont own another asus board.....EVER! The last Asus I actually used was a P2B-DS. I've horse traded a few after that, but never used one for my stuff.... Asus is the only board I've ever seen where there's nothing detectably wrong with it, but the piece of junk just doesn't work.

[TheLaw]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

Ehh I like ASUS personally. Their new stuff is quite good...Their older stuff circa 2006-2008 sucked wind.

Recently, not too many problems.

But if you have a choice for boards, Gigabyte. Most boards are almost 100% OSCONs. Any lytics will be good ones. No KZGs.

I can't speak for ASUS pre-built computers. My friend has an ASUS laptop. No notable problems yet...

[Scenic]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

Asus is the only board I've ever seen where there's nothing detectably wrong with it, but the piece of junk just doesn't work.

reminds me of my P4C800-E Deluxe.
new caps, new BIOS, checked for shorted or open mosfets (every single one)... nothing.. dead as a rock..
POST code card always shows FFFF.. ie dead..

edit: talking about FFFF...

[TheLaw]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

You buy entry level, that's what you get. They're all like that. When is the last time anyone saw a high-end item showing up with crap caps?! If you're a servicer, be thankful. If there weren't broken Dell's, what would you be fixing?!

This is true.

You can get an entire Dell computer for $250. That's ridiculous when you compare it to 10 years ago, where $1000 was average. I bought a Micron Pentium 1 computer in 1995 for $3000....soo.....

Hardware prices have dropped with technology changes, but I think people aren't too concerned, nor do they have any idea about computer quality. They'd rather have cheap.

Higher end Dells are pretty darn good imho. XPS seems nice.

But the Inspiron desktops...yuck. ELITE caps. KZGs. Nononono.

[ratdude747]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

idk. my mom has a dell dimesion 4600. rated as one of the 10 worst computers of all time. why? POS PSU. I replaced the psu, gave her 2gb pc4200 ram (it has 4 slots), and a 478 prescott cpu. it has lots of usb ports, SATA capability, nice audio, gigabit ram, etc.

i'd say that it is a great one once one fixes the psu. i'd say dells aren't trash but are a ripoff when new.

[Krankshaft]

Re: Dell used to be really good quality....

Used to be good quality..... I remember replacing Dell POS power supplies in the mid 90s and that was when they still had 120V switches screwed into the front case!

They've always been entry level crap (like Packard Bell was before they went under) suitable for no more than web browsing IMO. I especially love the proprietary cases, CPU fan connectors, and even up until the early 2000s ATX connectors. A good way to lock you into their crappy power supplies. I Dremeled a square hole out of the front of my brothers P4 3.2G Dell circa 2005 to install a 120mm fan for extra cooling.

I have never seen a mini tower without the option for a front mounted fan.

Next time when I ask him if he wants me to build him a PC after his Dell experience I'm sure he'll say yes .