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Dell used to not suck

J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Unfortunate experience ?

Yeah. I just bought two new "Precision" workstations that are a
mechanical mess. The case design is awful and the floppies are
unreliable due to mechanical stupidities. Their support people told me
to reinstall Windows, the single time I got a human to respond.

The electronics looks fine, but they garbled the packaging pretty
badly. The support is either email robots or people in India reading
scripts.

Who makes good PCs these days?


John
 
R

Rob Gaddi

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
Yeah. I just bought two new "Precision" workstations that are a
mechanical mess. The case design is awful and the floppies are
unreliable due to mechanical stupidities. Their support people told me
to reinstall Windows, the single time I got a human to respond.

The electronics looks fine, but they garbled the packaging pretty
badly. The support is either email robots or people in India reading
scripts.

Who makes good PCs these days?


John
Fry's and a day spent assembling it.
 
T

Terry Given

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
Yeah. I just bought two new "Precision" workstations that are a
mechanical mess. The case design is awful and the floppies are
unreliable due to mechanical stupidities. Their support people told me
to reinstall Windows, the single time I got a human to respond.

The electronics looks fine, but they garbled the packaging pretty
badly. The support is either email robots or people in India reading
scripts.

Who makes good PCs these days?


John

Alas, I have had much the same problem with Dell - will never use them
again. Cheap, with what sounds like good warranties. But having spent 5
hours on the phone convincing some malaysian that my hard drive was dead
(smoke came out of it) *before* I got any on-site technical support, I
now know their support aint what it purports to be. We bought 6 dell PCs
(2000), and within a year had similar problems with all of them. In the
end we gave up on Dells *free* tech support, and paid a local to do it
for us, as it was cheaper (our time aint free)

Cheers
Terry

PS what was the brand of good DCCTs you mentioned?
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yeah. I just bought two new "Precision" workstations that are a
mechanical mess. The case design is awful and the floppies are
unreliable due to mechanical stupidities. Their support people told me
to reinstall Windows, the single time I got a human to respond.

The electronics looks fine, but they garbled the packaging pretty
badly. The support is either email robots or people in India reading
scripts.

Who makes good PCs these days?


John

I buy mine from PC Club, down on the corner. If I have a problem
(never have), I'd just walk in.

...Jim Thompson
 
R

Roger Hamlett

Jan 1, 1970
0
Unfortunately, whatever the story with the hardware, they have gone back
again to using the phone 'farm' in India. They did this about three years
ago, for a short time, then moved it back following the complaints. They
have gone back again recently.
The quality of phone support has switched to 'appalling'. Even buying the
computers is hard with the new system, and whereas in the past the larger
company contacts had UK numbers, these are now routed to the same phone
system. :-(
They have moved down about ten places in my rating system, and are heading
downward fast...

Best Wishes
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Alas, I have had much the same problem with Dell - will never use them
again. Cheap, with what sounds like good warranties. But having spent 5
hours on the phone convincing some malaysian that my hard drive was dead
(smoke came out of it) *before* I got any on-site technical support, I
now know their support aint what it purports to be. We bought 6 dell PCs
(2000), and within a year had similar problems with all of them. In the
end we gave up on Dells *free* tech support, and paid a local to do it
for us, as it was cheaper (our time aint free)

Cheers
Terry

PS what was the brand of good DCCTs you mentioned?


Danfysik. They are parts-per-million accurate. The low-end units, the
head with electronics but no power supply or burden resistor, are
something like $500. The US rep is GMW.

Julian Bergoz makes some extreme stuff.

LEM makes some hall+feedback sensors, pretty good but not as accurate.

I designed a DCCT once, for SLAC. They didn't buy any.

John
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Fry's and a day spent assembling it.

I've had bad experiences with the Fry's in Palo Alto. They practically
strip-search you on the way out to verify all your stuff against the
receipt. And they repackage returns and sell them as new. I bought an
inkjet printer and when I opened the box, the cartrige was installed
and there was ink everywhere. It had obviously been repacked.

John
 
T

Terry Given

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
Danfysik. They are parts-per-million accurate. The low-end units, the
head with electronics but no power supply or burden resistor, are
something like $500. The US rep is GMW.

Julian Bergoz makes some extreme stuff.

LEM makes some hall+feedback sensors, pretty good but not as accurate.

I designed a DCCT once, for SLAC. They didn't buy any.

John

Thanks John.
 
L

Luhan Monat

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
I've had bad experiences with the Fry's in Palo Alto. They practically
strip-search you on the way out to verify all your stuff against the
receipt. And they repackage returns and sell them as new. I bought an
inkjet printer and when I opened the box, the cartrige was installed
and there was ink everywhere. It had obviously been repacked.

John

Local place in Mesa Arizona called SoftQue. Bunch of tech guys work
there. They sold me a nice 2 gig machine for $550. All components
garanteed 'generic' as possible.

I always have looked for the smallish computer places since I bought my
first IMSAI.
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yeah. I just bought two new "Precision" workstations that are a
mechanical mess. The case design is awful and the floppies are
unreliable due to mechanical stupidities. Their support people told me
to reinstall Windows, the single time I got a human to respond.

The electronics looks fine, but they garbled the packaging pretty
badly. The support is either email robots or people in India reading
scripts.

Who makes good PCs these days?


John

I go to one of the little computer shops I trust, tell them exactly
what to use for each part (or ask their advice if I haven't researched
it) and get them to put it together and set it up (and transfer data
if I want). More expensive (and takes more time to buy), but I know
exactly what's in there, and it's all interchangable industry-standard
brand-name stuff (even the case, and especially the power supply). All
the parts come from a small number of wholesalers, and what they don't
have in stock they get the next day, so it's not too bad once I've
figured out what I need.

The mass-produced stuff is fine for someone *else* to use for word
processing or whatever, but I really don't want to have to use it
myself. The stores take credit cards, and the small shops all want
cash or debit (or a big surcharger), but that's a minor inconvenience.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
 
B

Bob Stephens

Jan 1, 1970
0
On Wed, 18 May 2005 14:19:28 -0700, John Larkin wrote:
I've had bad experiences with the Fry's in Palo Alto. They practically
strip-search you on the way out to verify all your stuff against the
receipt. And they repackage returns and sell them as new. I bought an
inkjet printer and when I opened the box, the cartrige was installed
and there was ink everywhere. It had obviously been repacked.

John

Same deal here in L.A. The thieving bastards just shrink wrap returns as is
and place them back on the shelf along with a 'reconditioned to original
factory spec's by Fry's technicians' sticker.


Bob
 
B

Bob Monsen

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
I've had bad experiences with the Fry's in Palo Alto. They practically
strip-search you on the way out to verify all your stuff against the
receipt. And they repackage returns and sell them as new. I bought an
inkjet printer and when I opened the box, the cartrige was installed
and there was ink everywhere. It had obviously been repacked.

Yes, Fry's sucks for some things. I've had issues with their 'new'
printers too.

Much better to buy the components online and build the system yourself.
Or, better yet, hire a college kid to come in and do it for you. It's
trivial, takes about 2 hours to put one together, and another couple of
hours to install XP and the drivers.
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yes, Fry's sucks for some things. I've had issues with their 'new'
printers too.

Much better to buy the components online and build the system yourself.
Or, better yet, hire a college kid to come in and do it for you. It's
trivial, takes about 2 hours to put one together, and another couple of
hours to install XP and the drivers.

Fry's employs those people who don't qualify to flip burgers or mow
lawns ;-)

...Jim Thompson
 
M

Mike Engelhardt

Jan 1, 1970
0
John,
...Who makes good PCs these days?

I like to make my own. Usually a mix
a parts between Central Computer on
Stevens Creek in Santa Clara and Fry's.
(This within driving distance from
the OP's Palo Alto, for non South
San Francisco Bay readers).

For new retail-boxed peripherals, I
do the web. www.pricewatch.com at
least used to be pretty good, but
wwww.pricegrabber.com has been getting
my nod lately for a price search
engine.

--Mike
 
K

keith

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yeah. I just bought two new "Precision" workstations that are a
mechanical mess. The case design is awful and the floppies are
unreliable due to mechanical stupidities. Their support people told me
to reinstall Windows, the single time I got a human to respond.

The electronics looks fine, but they garbled the packaging pretty
badly. The support is either email robots or people in India reading
scripts.

Who makes good PCs these days?

My KeithKits have always been superb. The 24/7 on-site support beats
anything out there on the market now.

The fact is that there is no money in PeeCees these days, so what you buy
is crap. You can build decent stuff though.
 
K

keith

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yes, Fry's sucks for some things. I've had issues with their 'new'
printers too.

Much better to buy the components online and build the system yourself.

NewEgg.com is my favorite place to buy. Good prices, good selection, and
great service.
Or, better yet, hire a college kid to come in and do it for you. It's
trivial, takes about 2 hours to put one together, and another couple of
hours to install XP and the drivers.

Keep the kid on retainer for a few bananas. I do my own, since my time
isn't even worth even a few bananas after work (can't contract, so it's
either the computer or the toob).
 
M

Mac

Jan 1, 1970
0
But now they do.

John

I still like Dell. I usually buy from the "small business" part of their
website.

I configure the system on-line and get it shipped to me without ever
talking to a person.

When I have built my own systems or ordered from smaller places, I always
seemed to end up with a really noisy system. The Dells I've received have
always been fairly quiet. I hate noisy fans and hard-drives.

My two most recent purchases were one each Dell Dimension 2400 and 3000
systems. No problems yet, and they are quiet enough for me out of the box.

Obviously, your mileage does vary. ;-)

--Mac
 
P

Pooh Bear

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
Yeah. I just bought two new "Precision" workstations that are a
mechanical mess.

Is that the new BTX case with a fan at the front ?
The case design is awful and the floppies are
unreliable due to mechanical stupidities. Their support people told me
to reinstall Windows, the single time I got a human to respond.

Yeah - the support is shit. We had a 2 yr old Dell PSU fail about a yr
ago. It was *obvious* the psu had failed but support insisted on going
through some 'diagnostics' for 20 mins and decided it must be the mobo !
Guy arrived, realised it was the mobo but had to fit it anyway since he
was a contract engineer and had to do what he's told. He couldn't bring
a
PSU since they only got issued what 'support' tell them they need.

Eventually the PSU was replaced ( it took 5 days ). It cost us about
£150
to get the 24 hr onsite warranty upgrade and that was the result !

Oh *and* we had to reactive Windoze on account of the mobo replacement !
Duh.

The electronics looks fine, but they garbled the packaging pretty
badly. The support is either email robots or people in India reading
scripts.

It's ppl in India reading scripts.
Who makes good PCs these days?

Pot luck I think.

I made my own last one. Takes ages to install everything ( esp building
the raid array ) but you know what's there !

Graham
 
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