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A thread for all those who love Dell.

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Tophinater

Tophinater

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Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Location
Rochester, MI
After the math department at the University of Texas noticed some of its Dell computers failing, Dell examined the machines. The company came up with an unusual reason for the computers’ demise: the school had overtaxed the machines by making them perform difficult math calculations.

Dell, however, had actually sent the university, in Austin, desktop PCs riddled with faulty electrical components that were leaking chemicals and causing the malfunctions. Dell sold millions of these computers from 2003 to 2005 to major companies like Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo, institutions like the Mayo Clinic and small businesses.
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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/In-FaultyComputer-Suit-Window-nytimes-2375403564.html?x=0

I've never been a fan of Dell and have always been aware of the low quality components that go into their PCs. When I try to explain this to Dell fans they always say something along the lines of "well my Dell is a great machine that has never had any problems so I don't believe you". Well, here is documented evidence that Dell puts garbage into their comps and knows it.
 
*yawn*

Sounds like a grinding axe to me. The problem with capacitor plague is a well documented issue and was an industry-wide problem that also affected other OEM giants such as IBM, HP, and Apple. Have any of the large OEMs admitted fault with purchasing bad caps? Please name that company.
 
benbaked said:
*yawn*

Sounds like a grinding axe to me. The problem with capacitor plague is a well documented issue and was an industry-wide problem that also affected other OEM giants such as IBM, HP, and Apple. Have any of the large OEMs admitted fault with purchasing bad caps? Please name that company.
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Agreed on it being an industry wide problem - the core of the issue is not only a Dell problem. Its just a lot of political/economic ruckus which is focussed on Dell right now, but shoddy electrical components like leaky/busting capacitors has been a known issue throughout the industry for a decade. It does hit Dell machines heavily however, and these guys know their stuff in this department:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10192

The way Dell handled reports of problems could lead to issues with the political/economic mess thats been stirred up now - if people reported problems and Dell tried to sidestep those issues by blaming how the machines were used that is a problem and they'll likely pay dearly for it.
 
I am not absolutely sure on this, but doesn't Dell use Bestec PSU's? I know all of their parts come from the lowest bidder, which turns into shoddy build quality, with systems that aren't really built to last.:bang head
 
They all use parts from the lowest bidder, ha ha. It's the nature of the beast. I think Dell gets unfairly hammered in this regard though. Sure, more Dells broke than any other computers in that time period...Dell sold more...it makes logical sense that more Dells would break, there are more of them in the marketplace. Like Compaqs or HPs are somehow superior quality?

Reminds me of a post I read the other day about Apples not having as many hardware issues as PCs. Well duh, they don't sell half as many...of course more PCs are gonna break. I wonder how many Microsoft I-Pods broke last year?
 
deadlysyn said:
I wonder how many MS IPhone 4's are having troubles connecting to wireless networks?:shrug: I will see if I can find that link again.:p
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Lol, I have no clue. I don't own an Ipod or an IPhone or any of that (my Blackberry suits me just fine for both duties :D), I'm just saying market share will naturally skew failure rates unless they are perceived as percentages.

Dell sells 1,000,000 PCs...250,000 died prematurely=25% failure rate.
Compac sells 250,000 PCs...25,000 died prematurely=25% failure rate.

Both suck, but there are 225,000 more people complaining about Dell on the "webernet". Who gets the lawsuit? :D
 
xokeman said:
Dell sells 1,000,000 PCs...250,000 died prematurely=25% failure rate.
Compac sells 250,000 PCs...25,000 died prematurely=25% failure rate.

Both suck, but there are 225,000 more people complaining about Dell on the "webernet". Who gets the lawsuit? :D
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I think your math is off a bit. 25% of 250,000 is 62,500.
 
No one here is going to argue probability theory. The point isn't that Dell sold PCs that failed, its that Dell sold PCs that they KNEW would fail but sold them anyway. Then they "fixed" their mistake by replacing faulty components with more faulty components. As far as I know HP, Apple, etc don't perform this kind of business practice (not that I'm a big fan of HP and Apple comps).
 
deadlysyn said:
I am not absolutely sure on this, but doesn't Dell use Bestec PSU's? I know all of their parts come from the lowest bidder, which turns into shoddy build quality, with systems that aren't really built to last.:bang head
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Dell PSUs are mostly OEM Delta or LiteON. Both companies make a wide range of units and the Dell units are lower end of the specturm from both OEMs. Just to put things in perspective, you may be familiar with the excellent Antec Signature line (high end Delta) and the Ablecom line for Supermicro (high end LiteON).
 
thideras said:
Where does it say that? No one can really prove that...
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Did you even bother to read the article I posted? Its right in the fourth paragraph.

Documents recently unsealed in a three-year-old lawsuit against Dell show that the company’s employees were actually aware that the computers were likely to break. Still, the employees tried to play down the problem to customers and allowed customers to rely on trouble-prone machines, putting their businesses at risk. Even the firm defending Dell in the lawsuit was affected when Dell balked at fixing 1,000 suspect computers, according to e-mail messages revealed in the dispute.
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Super Nade said:
Dell PSUs are mostly OEM Delta or LiteON. Both companies make a wide range of units and the Dell units are lower end of the specturm from both OEMs. Just to put things in perspective, you may be familiar with the excellent Antec Signature line (high end Delta) and the Ablecom line for Supermicro (high end LiteON).
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May have been eMachines I was thinking of when I mentioned Bestec. I am very familiar with the Antec Signature PSU's, and have recommended them more times than I can remember around the forums. I have also set up a few clients with them, and I have to say, they are beastly. I still also use a lot of Seasonic and CWT based PSU's, but don't remember using a LiteOn based unit. If I see that OW gives it his approval, I am likely to use it without too many questions.:thup:
 
Dell PSUs are mostly OEM Delta or LiteON. Both companies make a wide range of units and the Dell units are lower end of the specturm from both OEMs.
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Hipro, too... I actually see a lot more Hipro units than Liteon.

And while they may be lower-end, they still tend to be very well-built and often under-rated units. The main shortcoming with them is that, once again, they tend to use sub-standard capacitors.

And yes, Bestec is mainly HP and Acer (plus their subsidiaries, like eMachines). I can't say I've ever seen one in a Dell.
 
I have 6 Optiplex (bought in 2008) machines at work that have been flawless other than a single bad memory stick.

Dell has always been good in my book.
 
deadlysyn said:
May have been eMachines I was thinking of when I mentioned Bestec. I am very familiar with the Antec Signature PSU's, and have recommended them more times than I can remember around the forums. I have also set up a few clients with them, and I have to say, they are beastly. I still also use a lot of Seasonic and CWT based PSU's, but don't remember using a LiteOn based unit. If I see that OW gives it his approval, I am likely to use it without too many questions.:thup:
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the e-machine i have had a hi pro PSU, not the greatest of course, but it also had a MSI mobo in it with solid caps so eh its werid.

do dells and compaqs and the sort still use funky shaped PSUs in them or wire them differently so you cant just stick a regular one in there still?
 
Niku-Sama said:
do dells and compaqs and the sort still use funky shaped PSUs in them or wire them differently so you cant just stick a regular one in there still?
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To the best of my knowledge, they have switched to standard ATX PSU's (although not up to our standards:p). As of the last few years, you can replace them with Antec, Corsair, PCP&C, or whatever you happen to like. I have replaced a lot of faulty Bestec PSU's in HP/Compaq rigs with EarthWatts and even a Signature. I even had a client asking for an HX1000 for a Wal-Mart bought HP because he thought the TX650 wouldn't be enough.:D When I explained he didn't really need more than an EA380, he was beyond shock and started asking if I was going overkill. It was the last PSU I had in stock, and gave it to him for the price of the EA380.:rock:
 
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