Why have Dell laptops (and computers in general) gone to shit nowadays?

[alienationware]

Why have Dell laptops (and computers in general) gone to shit nowadays? For instance:

=> New Dell Inspiron 15 (Circa 2009) with 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo and 2GB memory running Windows Vista Home Basic vs. Dell Inspiron 640M (Circa 2007) With 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo and 2GB memory running Windows Vista Ultimate => The laptop (Circa 2009) literally pauses for 1-2 sec upon opening any application. The other laptop (Circa 2007) opens an application seamlessly w/o pausing. So, whoever paid for the ultimate edition of Vista simply got this purposely implemented pause taken out of the OS?

=> Can't burn a CD, or DVD with New Dell Inspiron 15 (Circa 2009) b/c the drive is shit quality (rotates with a sound like an airplane propeller). Decided to get rid of it on Kijiji.

=> Can't read/boot from a burnt DVD with Dell XPS M1330 (Circa 2008). WTF? Has DRM/copyright protection gotten so bad that MS has colluded with laptop optical drive manufacturers to prevent you from using burnt discs, and hence potentially using pirated software? Can do this fine with Dell Inspiron 640M (Circa 2007).

=> Office 2007 Enterprise won't install on Vista Home Premium on laptop. But instead of telling you this, MS decides to let you waste 20 minutes of your time to let you think the install is actually working, then pops up a window telling you the non-existence of an existant file and forces you to relocate it in an infinite loop as a way to make you cancel the install, rather than telling straight to your face you can't use Office 2007 Enterprise on your laptop. You then get frustrated and decide to reinstall the OS, thinking that maybe there's an error with your system, only to find an identical message staring at you upon attempting to reinstall Office 2007 Enterprise.

So there you have it, my rants.

Buyers beware, the Dell laptops you are getting these days are shit compared to those you would have gotten 2-3 years ago. I've had it with Dell and walking away from it. Though I'll use it mainly for productivity, my next laptop will be an Alienware...

A side note: I fried my Dell Inspiron 1000 laptop when I decided to update its bios from the downloads on Dell's web site. Users beware!

 

[ScOuT]

http://www.computerforum.com/52038-forum-rules.html

I understand your frustrated...don't just start posting swear words everywhere.

I am a Soldier and swear like you would not believe...not here please.

 

[bomberboysk]

Half of those arent even true, the only reason an OS would pause is if the hdd is slower. Ultimate and Home premium would open applications at the same speed. The office problem and "burned disc" program sounds more like a bad optical drive than anything else....

But i will agree that dell notebooks are crap

PS: Watch your language

 

[alienationware]

"Half of those arent even true, the only reason an OS would pause is if the hdd is slower. Ultimate and Home premium would open applications at the same speed. "

Right... Okay, so I would never have noticed this difference, had I not shell out money for a Dell 1545 (Circa 2009). The HDD was 5400 rpm, same as the other laptop (Circa 2007). The CPU and memory are similar. So then, why would Vista Home Basic freeze for 1-2 sec when opening an application everytime vs. there is never a freeze in Vista Ultimate on the older laptop? We're talking about having Windows indexing service, system restore service, and schedule defrag services disabled on both machines!

Another thing... M$ is actually promoting the use of pirated versions of their Vista OS (mostly Ultimate edition) b/c you can't even install a legit copy of Office 2007 Enterprise on Vista Home Premium.

 

[bomberboysk]

"Half of those arent even true, the only reason an OS would pause is if the hdd is slower. Ultimate and Home premium would open applications at the same speed. "

Right... Okay, so I would never have noticed this difference, had I not shell out money for a Dell 1545 (Circa 2009). The HDD was 5400 rpm, same as the other laptop (Circa 2007). The CPU and memory are similar. So then, why would Vista Home Basic freeze for 1-2 sec when opening an application vs. there is never a freeze in Vista Ultimate on the older laptop?

Another thing... M$ is actually promoting the use of pirated versions of their Vista OS (mostly Ultimate edition) b/c you can't even install a legit copy of Office 2007 Enterprise on Vista Home Premium.

Umm... wrong there, as i have office 07 installed on quite a few computers with home basic and premium. Have you ever thought you might have a slow hdd to begin with on your new computer? And like i said, your office problem sounds more like an optical drive issue... There are no purposely integrated "pauses" in the os....

 

[alienationware]

Umm... wrong there, as i have office 07 installed on quite a few computers with home basic and premium. Have you ever thought you might have a slow hdd to begin with on your new computer? And like i said, your office problem sounds more like an optical drive issue... There are no purposely integrated "pauses" in the os....

We're talking about Office 2007 Enterprise. Of course you can install the regular version of Office 2007 on any edition of Vista!

 

[alienationware]

There are no purposely integrated "pauses" in the os....

Yes there is! Buy a Dell Inspiron 15 (~$500 bucks) with Vista Home Premium and find out for yourself!

 

[bomberboysk]

We're talking about Office 2007 Enterprise. Of course you can install the regular version of Office 2007 on any edition of Vista!

Enterprise= pretty much everything, which is whats on every single computer that i have with office... (Excel, Access, Word, Groove, Infopath,Onenote, Outlook, Powerpoint, Publisher etc)

Yes there is! Buy a Dell Inspiron 15 (~$500 bucks) with Vista Home Premium and find out for yourself!

How many notebooks have you tested this on, as i said it sounds more like you have a hardware problem than anything else. Either that your you have a crappy quality hard drive to begin with... Not like i havent had to reload the os or change hard drives on plenty of dell notebooks...

 

[alienationware]

Enterprise= pretty much everything, which is whats on every single computer that i have with office... (Excel, Access, Word, Groove, Infopath,Onenote, Outlook, Powerpoint, Publisher etc)



How many notebooks have you tested this on, as i said it sounds more like you have a hardware problem than anything else. Either that your you have a crappy quality hard drive to begin with...

Wanna come over to my place and try installing Office 2007 Enterprise on my machine then? It's not just me its these other people too:

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6129_102-0.html?threadID=224650

Windows Vista Ultimate
Office Enterprise 2007
I receive tthe message:
"Setup cannot continue because a required file is either corrupted or not
available. Run setup again from the original source disc or download
location."

MS support has been no help. What file is corrupt or not available?
Where do I get file to replace.

Hmm... It's funny, if him and me have different laptop computers, why are we getting the same fake error message (same disc installs fine in Vista Ultimate).

 

[bomberboysk]

Wanna come over to my place and try installing Office 2007 Enterprise on my machine then? It's not just me its these other people too:

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6129_102-0.html?threadID=224650



Hmm... It's funny, if him and me have different laptop computers, why are we getting the same fake error message (same disc installs fine in Vista Ultimate).

Are you running service pack 1? It sounds to me like your installing a burned/pirated version...

Oh and by the way, you say your next notebook will be an alienware? Guess who alienware is? Thats right, dell.

 

[alienationware]

Yes I'm running Vista SP1!

Another funny thing:

=> Can't install Vista SP2 for shiet over SP1. The installer wastes 1/2hr of my time, then decides it can't continue and rollsback.

=> Can't install Vista SP1 for shiet over SP0. Same thing happens.

Was these ever an issue with WinXP SPs?

Another reason for people to resort to pirated versions of their Vista O$ with the service packs already integrated!

 

[bomberboysk]

Yes I'm running Vista SP1!

Another funny thing:

=> Can't install Vista SP2 for shiet over SP1. The installer wastes 1/2hr of my time, then decides it can't continue and rollsback.

=> Can't install Vista SP1 for shiet over SP0. Same thing happens.

Another reason for people to resort to pirated versions of their O$ with the service packs already integrated!

Heh, i have SP1 already on my install dvd. Plus the forum link was referring to vista RTM and office RTM... If your so anti vista, try downloading windows 7, performs quite a bit better than vista and its free til 2010

 

[alienationware]

Since M$ stated that DRM in Vista won't come into full effect until 2009, since the beginning of this year, my screen has gone to sh1et (ie. became scrambled and fuzzy) sometimes after I quit playing a 3D-based game, or load an application, which uses Direct3D, or DirectX.

 

[bomberboysk]

Since M$ stated that DRM in Vista won't come into full effect until 2009, since the beginning of this year, my screen has gone to sh1et (ie. became scrambled and fuzzy) sometimes after I quit playing a 3D-based game, or load an application, which uses Direct3D, or DirectX.

What? I think now you are just making stuff up as DRM has nothing to do with something being fuzzy, that would be called overheating or tearing...

 

[h364]

I bought my last Dell a few years ago, and didn't have any problems with it, only those caused by me. But if your that against Dell products, maybe Alienware isn't the best option...

 

[alienationware]

I bought my last Dell a few years ago, and didn't have any problems with it, only those caused by me. But if your that against Dell products, maybe Alienware isn't the best option...

Wasn't taling about Dell laptop from a few years ago. I would rate those 8-9 out of 10. We're talking about Dell laptops sold last and this year. I would rate these 1.5-2 out of 10 for quality, even the high-end XPS models. Scares me to think of what would happen if my Dell (Circa 2007) breaks down... Thank God there are brands out there, such as Alienware.

You ever get the feeling that M$ is developing a cancer from within? I mean, take a look at what they did to IE (all versions). Ever since they stopped listening to what people actually want in a browser and following strict web standards, FireFox now owns a whopping 47.7% of market shares ( http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp ). Vista is pretty, but in every way inferior to XP for the average home user (note I did not say Vista is technologically inferior to XP). It's too bad that I will continue to use M$ products because: (1) I don't want to get a Mac (not one of those types who bothers trying to show off how cool, hip, or unique I am), (2) I don't like free/open source stuff (which is in every way worse than what M$ currently offers => wouldn't touch open source with a ten-foot pole), so I'm pretty much stuck with PC-M$ until some other PC company blows them out of the water... Eventually! One day, a "FireFox"-type company will come in the nick of time as Windows gets more and more bad rep and steals away the user base, just like how FireFox came in the nick of time and now tops the browser market share over all versions of IE in existence.

 

[bomberboysk]

Wasn't taling about Dell laptop from a few years ago. I would rate those 8-9 out of 10. We're talking about Dell laptops sold last and this year. I would rate these 1.5-2 out of 10 for quality, even the high-end XPS models. Scares me to think of what would happen if my Dell (Circa 2007) breaks down... Thank God there are brands out there, such as Alienware.

Not sure if you read what i said earlier, but dell = alienware....

 

[alienationware]

Not sure if you read what i said earlier, but dell = alienware....

Noooooo! Is there no justice left in this world? What's a better brand of laptop than Dell/Alienware? Btw, no wonder why the XPS sucked big time... It became scaled down and with cheap components and parts, some of which don't even work the way they're supposed to (esp. the optical drive) b/c it hurt Alienware sales.

 

[bomberboysk]

Noooooo! Is there no justice left in this world? What's a better brand of laptop than Dell/Alienware? Btw, no wonder why the XPS sucked big time... It became scaled down and with cheap components and parts, some of which don't even work the way they're supposed to (esp. the optical drive) b/c it hurt Alienware sales.

Asus, Sager, Ibuypower,MSI, Etc...

 

[Vizy]

Completely OT:

I have office 2007 ultimate on home premium