What computer/OS are you using?

[Bella]

i hope you trust those people with the Dells, since if they're not nerds. they might not know better. everyone i've known has considered Dell to be the type of PC you buy when you can't afford a better one.

The people who have most influenced me in my favorable view of Dell:
-Stew; Übernerd whose family has used Dells for years with no complaints; veritable treasury of stories involving instances when his computer should have been destroyed by one thing or another, but wasn't.
-Red; who owns several Dells, is also an Übernerd, and on my Board of Computer Advisers.
-Andrew; professional computer repairperson, says Dells are typically good computers for their price (also on my Board of Computer Advisers).
-Dave; another computer repairperson, has always indicated that Dell is a decent brand (granted, there aren't many brands that he flat-out characterizes as bad, he seems to judge things on a model-by-model basis).

[Nichi]

IMO Dell was best when they where still "underground", so to say; in an era when they where only available via mail order (Ala NEC), and Gateway was the go-to brand for the masses. As soon as the Dell Dude ads began, it was the beginning of the end

This TV Tropes article is somehow fitting

[Chocofreak13]

@bella: oddly enough, aurora sums up my feelings about Dells pretty well. while they were quality machines, and might be from the start, their shelf life is horrible compared to other PCs. there's a reason my IBM laptop still runs great, and a reason why TK still runs nicely as well (Tanky is circa 99', TK is circa 05' or so).

go ahead and buy whatever type of PC you want to. it's your cash. all i'm saying is that you might wind up complaining/replacing it in about 2-7 years.

(also, while i'm not meaning to spark a flamewar, most of the computer advice i've gotten from red involves completely scrapping what i have and replacing it. [there, i said it.] maybe the Dells they have in the UK are better quality or something. all i know is that i'm one of the people who can't afford to start over. there's a reason all of my computers have been free or near-free. :\ )

[Bella]

Huuuuuuwaaaah? I've always heard excellent things about the longevity of Dells.

I'm pretty sure all Dells come from the same factory in China, it's not like UK customers are getting the specialty ones that are hand-crafted by skilled European artisans in quaint thatch-roof shops. Red has never given me anything but good/helpful advice in the past, btw.

[Krizonar]

All of my family uses Macs and strictly Macs as well, so my parents were either brave (or stupid) to go out and buy this $3k Dell tower and see if PCs were as bad as they seemed.
The tower ended up being better than we expected a PC to be, moving from the Power Mac G4 to this thing didn't make it feel slow.
The Dell tower replaced the space on a desk we had a Performa on prior.

The machine we replaced it with for some reason, costs about as much as an iMac would have but is nowhere near the quality of one or the prior Dell we had. I'm not sure my family will ever buy another PC in the future. Nanami has her purpose at playing games like my Wii or xbox do but my parents constantly said that both Nanamis were a waste of money since they know I can get any game to work in Wine.

I'm not very close to this PC as she constantly has glitches or errors but most of the time my work/money seem justified for playing games with less effort and that the wear and tear are going on her instead of Mac.

Asking my mom directly about Dell yields "I think they've cheapened them over the years, it used to be you could buy a nice expensive system from them, now they seem to be junk."

[Bella]

I'd love to get an Apple laptop (and as I wrote before, it's the only modern brand I'd feel 100% confident in buying), but I just don't have the money for a new OR used one. =____=

[Chocofreak13]

try ebay? when i was going for an ipod touch my plan was to buy a broken one and fix it. (or at least have my brother fix it.) :\

[Nichi]

Seconding Kari's suggestion. You could always buy a broken MacBook and attempt to repair it; which is what I was going to do prior to getting Fuuka last summer

[Chocofreak13]

if you get it for the right price, and it falls through, then at least you haven't spent all your cash, and you could save for a little longer and attempt a PC again. :\

[Bella]

I refuse to buy a broken computer.

Unless it's something software-related or a crashed HDD, aka, that I'm 100% certain I can fix.

[Chocofreak13]

your call. you've gotten our advice. >>;

[Krizonar]

I'd love to get an Apple laptop (and as I wrote before, it's the only modern brand I'd feel 100% confident in buying), but I just don't have the money for a new OR used one. =____=

What is your price range?

[svx]

I DO NOT TRUST DELL.

Let me tell you why.

Have you noticed how the word "Dell" is similar to the word Dill?  As in dill, the herb?  As in dill pickles?

Add an r.

Drill.

Dell -> dill -> drill.  But wait, what could Dell want to drill so badly?  What could it...  ...Wait, what else starts with 'd'?  Let's play a letter substitution game now:

First, dell:
d e l l       -> d _ _ e _

Now, drill:
d r i l l      -> d i _ e r

Di_er?  What's the missing link?  Think about it now.  Newer Dell laptops are equipped with Wireless N network cards.  Diner.  Dell wants to drill diners, though?  What sense does that make?

A lot, considering that the "diner" is commemorative currency in Andorra.

DELL wants to DRILL the COMMEMORATIVE CURRENCY from ... ?  From whom?  From whom?

From you.

I need a blog

[Chocofreak13]

word games are fun. :3

[Bella]

I'd love to get an Apple laptop (and as I wrote before, it's the only modern brand I'd feel 100% confident in buying), but I just don't have the money for a new OR used one. =____=

What is your price range?

Ideally <$600, though I'd be willing to go over depending on the model/condition and my/my dad's current financial condition.

DELL wants to DRILL the COMMEMORATIVE CURRENCY from ... ?  From whom?  From whom?

From you.

I need a blog

Maybe Dell just wants to pierce the heavens?