My real story with Dell computer, hope my experience can be used for reference.

[DoubleF]

Dell consumer grade is absolute trash, but it is not the only manufacturer where this is the case. However, they do play a little more on riding on the reputation coat tails of their higher end products than other manufacturers which is kind annoying.

Customer service wise, if you have an enterprise account, they are more likely to listen or toss in extended warranty for cheaper. Amazon regular and Amazon prime are also similar in this regards. Amazon regular will often charge you restocking fees on many returns. Amazon Prime, it's often no questions asked and often no restocking fee.

Dell business grade (ie: XPS laptop) stuff is still respectable and pretty good. But their commercial grade product is IMO worse than the average manufacturer like Asus/Acer/HP/Lenovo etc.

[Lanny_McDonald]

You get what you pay for. Period. Base your expectations on what you pay for and understand the components of what you're getting. Also understand the warranty and service contracts you're engaging in. Most high-end systems from all manufacturers are great. As soon as you start cutting corners you get cheaper components and the quality drops. Temper your expectations accordingly.

[TorqueDog]

Probably belongs in the Tech Talk forum but eh.

I've had decent results in my dealings with Dell.

- I leased a Precision M2400 laptop back in 2009 and spilled Orangina on it the first week I had it. They sent a tech the next day to my apartment and he fixed it. Ended up using that laptop until 2013 and sold it for a couple hundred bucks.
- Bought a brand new Dell PowerEdge T110 for a customer in 2010. That server lasted them until 2019 (small outfit that went through a lot of lean times so no infra. spending), and it was only because instead of asking me to come do server maintenance (which they hadn't in years) they had one of their guys take the server out into the garage, whip out all the hot-swap RAID HDDs, and blow out the case with an air compressor. They also bought a bunch of little Latitude desktops for staff, the turnaround was quick and they have been trouble-free for them.
- Wife's boss needed a new PC within a month last summer (no one ever asks me with lots of lead time). With the part shortages that were happening, Dell still managed to get customized Precision 3630 workstation shipped out within a week of ordering. He's had zero issues with it.
- My monitor, the Dell S3220DGF, is f--king awesome. The one they replaced it with in their lineup -- the S3222DGM -- isn't nearly as good.

YMMV, but mine has overall been pretty good with Dell. Keep in mind three out of my four dealings with them were on business-grade machines, and my fourth was a monitor that was pretty highly rated to begin with. I don't generally make use of their consumer grade offerings where PCs/laptops are concerned.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Buff

Acer and quality are two words that have never gone well together. Acer is the Edmonton of computers. A=NG

Their predator series are quite good. Where acers are junk trash are in the budget category. Or as I like to call it, stuff the source sells.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Buff

Acer and quality are two words that have never gone well together. Acer is the Edmonton of computers. A=NG

This guy has never owned an Acer monitor.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

YMMV, but mine has overall been pretty good with Dell. Keep in mind three out of my four dealings with them were on business-grade machines, and my fourth was a monitor that was pretty highly rated to begin with. I don't generally make use of their consumer grade offerings where PCs/laptops are concerned.

Which is exactly the right approach. I have the same monitor, as well as high end monitors from Samsung and LG. I think Samsung makes the best displays for most of what I need now but the Dell is still very good, I've had no issues with it.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

This guy has never owned an Acer monitor.

The colours my Acer 19" widescreen LCD used to pump out were like I had taken hallucinogens. So vivid. Much saturation. Beautiful monitor, loved it.

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Which is exactly the right approach. I have the same monitor, as well as high end monitors from Samsung and LG. I think Samsung makes the best displays for most of what I need now but the Dell is still very good, I've had no issues with it.

Samsung is still the big daddy I think when it comes to monitors, but it was really hard to beat the value for money with the Dell. This thing had no business being discounted to a mere $500 or so, but I'm glad it was.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Their predator series are quite good. Where acers are junk trash are in the budget category. Or as I like to call it, stuff the source sells.

Perhaps. At my first IT job I had to deal with so many bad Acers that I won't bother trying anything from their brand.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

This guy has never owned an Acer monitor.

Not personally. I did use one at my last job. I hated it because it had Acer's name. See my last comment for reasons.

[btimbit]

Acer monitors are great.

Any hardware company has good and bad products. Buy the cheap stuff, you get trash in return

[Tyler12]

Have been using the Ultra Sharp monitors for years they are fantastic, well built and look great.

[BloodFetish]

My rule of thumb with Acer is never buy anything that I may one day want support on. Generally I only buy 19 - 24" entry-to-midlevel monitors from them.

We buy mostly refurbished Dell Optiplex as our workhorse computer. Fortunately we don't need modern processors, always get a new SSD and new OS image, and because we're always buying at least 3 years after market release any systemic issues with a model are well documented and avoided. At the price we're paying, for anything more complicated than a dead PSU it's easier to swap out computers rather than invest too much time troubleshooting.

For laptops I look for where quality and value intersect, and right now for me that's refurbished Latitude 7470/7480s (or Thinkpad T-series) with a good screen. Excellent laptop, but again our processing needs aren't high so we can get away with something 3 years old. I avoid anything with the Inspiron badge like the plague.

We ain't sexy but our bang-for-buck ratio is pretty darned good!

[combustiblefuel]

Dell moniters are usually good because they use a LG panel. My Alienware 34 curved is stunning but that's due to using lgs top Ips display. My only complaint is it dosen't have HDR but the new 38 one does have hdr600.

Usually not a problem tho. If I do have a game I wanna play with hdr I use my Samsung 49"90gr or I have my Samsung 55" frame hooked up to the computer In my triple moniter setup.

[OldDutch]

I have a XPS 13 ultra portable and a usb c ultrasharp monitor

It works in tandem like a dream, one plug to the laptop. The laptop even has touch screen but I seldom use that.

Overall its a great laptop and monitor and I saved probably $600 at least over a MacBook and much more than a Apple monitor

Is it Apple quality? Nope but I am happy enough with it.

[craftfun]

Dell product works fine, but not customer service and repair center, if lucky enough, the product can running many years.

[AC]

Hmm, yes.

[DoubleF]

I believe gaming level and business grade computers are basically on par with each other. Business leans slightly more towards reliability, usability/portability and durability though. Gaming level focuses slightly more on cooling, performance and display quality/dedicated graphics.

IIRC, there were lots of stand alone gaming/luxury builders a few decades ago. But like Alienware and Voodoo, they were snapped up by bigger companies and integrated into them as a side product line.

Commercial grade laptops are trash. Horrific keyboard layouts/feedback that are awful to type on, terrible resolutions on the screens, flimsy plastic that flexes from a single finger vs metal chassis that you can feel comfortable stacking textbooks on it, quality parts and airflow that seems like 50% of what the business grade and gaming laptops offer (thereby making it way easier to overheat and performance drops), not designed to be opened to easily swap ram/HDD... ugh.

[Snuffleupagus]

I've bought one name brand PC in my life, a very expensive IBM in 1996, since then I've built my own with upgrade capability's, I suggest everyone learn to do the same.

Dell,HP,Asus,Apple..etc

All a pile of under performing overpriced on a stick.

People don't realise you can buy the best components for almost half the price and a 12 year old can put it together in 2 hours.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

I've bought one name brand PC in my life, a very expensive IBM in 1996, since then I've built my own with upgrade capability's, I suggest everyone learn to do the same.

Dell,HP,Asus,Apple..etc

All a pile of under performing overpriced on a stick.

People don't realise you can buy the best components for almost half the price and a 12 year old can put it together in 2 hours.

This isn't really an option with laptops though or for commercial use, and I would assume most of the discussion in this thread is around that.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

I've bought one name brand PC in my life, a very expensive IBM in 1996, since then I've built my own with upgrade capability's, I suggest everyone learn to do the same.

Dell,HP,Asus,Apple..etc

All a pile of under performing overpriced on a stick.

People don't realise you can buy the best components for almost half the price and a 12 year old can put it together in 2 hours.

In this market? Go buy a decent GPU and tell me how that went.

I'd agree otherwise, but there's a cost for the convenience and peace of mind that if something f--ks up, you have a warranty to fall back on that will cover the parts and labour to fix it, and people who aren't inclined to be their own IT support will happily take that.