A fun morning

[Rhys]

This morning has been wide and varied.

I started out writing some DL DVDs - aren't they great! 8GB per disk as opposed to 4.4 - 4.7.

Then midway though that a phonecall. Somebody found my number on partypop.com and wouldn't take no for an answer when they tried to sell me some internet listing or other. Finally after politely telling them I wasn't interested, several times I had to tell them very firmly "no and goodbye".

Immediately after that the phone rang again - this time Dell on a customer satisfaction survey. I bet they wish now that they hadn't asked my opinion! I told them straight that a video card in an 18 month old computer should not have died. That the person I dealt with over the phone was hard to understand due to the crappy (cheap) phone line they used and the horrendously thick Indian accent. Then they asked tentatively how the new video card was and I told them straight that it was ordered a week ago and should have been here by now. They promised delivery in the next business day - we'll see how that goes. I rated them mostly 1s on their survey. I sure as heck won't buy a dell for myself since the parts are Dell-unique now.

 

[JohnMF]

you wanna get yourself a mac... hehe

 

[Rhys]

you wanna get yourself a mac... hehe

Already got a macbook - only way to write DVD DL disks!

 

[Andrea K]

Love my macbook pro.

Also love my school-issue IBM Thinkpad!

I've had to deal with Dell Tech Support as well.......................it was a few years ago. Imagine how a 12 year-old completely computer illiterate kid fared with dell......at the ripe age of 12 I decided never to buy a Dell again.

 

[JohnMF]

How would a "mac" help???

(photo from google images)

dealing with Customer support lines can be hungry work you know...

 

[Rhys]

dealing with Customer support lines can be hungry work you know...

Damn right - took me 45 minutes with the incomprehensible Indian then another 12 minutes on the phone to the follow up people. Not to mention the time the twit trying to flog some internet scam or other wasted.

 

[mrodgers]

It's not just Dell, it's all stock-box computer system builders. I am a gamer (only one particular "game" actually and a poor one so I don't have the best equipment) and I replaced a P4 2.5 ghz with Intel onboard graphics with a new Compaq with Athalon 64 3500+, twice the memory, and added my own separate graphics card and it was completely unusable with horrible frame rates. I called Compaq service and had the same thing, someone I could barely understand reading the list of help steps from a standard list. Everything she told me to do was the simplest and most common things to try first and I had to say "did that, did that, did that...." Finally had to tell her that I'm not some idiot who uses a computer just for websurfing and emailing and needed some actual help more than just "download the latest directX drivers" etc. and had to hang up. I ended up getting my help from the forum of the particular "game" that I play, and from a very PC knowledgable 13 year old kid at that.

 

[Rhys]

One of the things that kills Dell for me (if Microsoft hadn't already killed Windows for me when they came out with XP's product activation) is the fact I cannot buy a graphics card from a local store and use it. Instead I have to order from Dell as an ordinary graphics card will not fit into the slot provided! Try $80 for an in-store card versus $220 for a Dell card!

 

[mrodgers]

My only experience with Dell is all the crap we have to use at work because we supply packaging for them. IT takes care of the PCs, so I've never looked in one. Do they not have normal PCI-e slots? What graphics card manufacturer would be stupid enough to manufacture a card with an oddball bus that you couldn't go and upgrade later buying one of their cards over not buying anything because of the expense of the "Dell slot"?

Stupid stupid move on ATI/nVidia.

 

[Rhys]

My only experience with Dell is all the crap we have to use at work because we supply packaging for them. IT takes care of the PCs, so I've never looked in one. Do they not have normal PCI-e slots? What graphics card manufacturer would be stupid enough to manufacture a card with an oddball bus that you couldn't go and upgrade later buying one of their cards over not buying anything because of the expense of the "Dell slot"?

Stupid stupid move on ATI/nVidia.

Dell probably special orders them. Pays a premium and passes that premium on and then some.

The slots are standard AGP and so on but they're located in such positions that ordinary cards will not fit in the case.

It just confirms that my move to Apple was right. If the Linux people ever get it together then it'll be interesting to use Linux for photo editing.

 

[clarinetJWD]

I have a feeling it's a PCI-e slot, not AGP. If Dell were using non-standard ports, a simple google search would bering up thousands of complaints, but I couldn't find a single report of it.

 

[Rhys]

I have a feeling it's a PCI-e slot, not AGP. If Dell were using non-standard ports, a simple google search would bering up thousands of complaints, but I couldn't find a single report of it.

It's a Dell Dimension 9200.

 

[clarinetJWD]

It's a Dell Dimension 9200.

Yep, PCI-e slot. There are some reports online of some cards being to long for the room at the far end, but the slots are standard. Good luck with your upgrade!

 

[Rhys]

Yep, PCI-e slot. There are some reports online of some cards being to long for the room at the far end, but the slots are standard. Good luck with your upgrade!

That was my problem. According to the Firedog guy at Best Buy, Dell's been doing it like that in order to have a monopoly on graphics cards.