Dell Declares the PC 'Undead,' Windows 8.1 Starts to Shine

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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It looks like Michael Dell and the folks over at Dell are beginning to lead the charge to ‘undead’ the PC industry and start to sing the praises of Microsoft’s rebuild of its unpopular Windows 8 with the release of 8.1.

Dell’s products are designed specifically to make Windows 8.1 sing. Strong industrial design, incredibly beautiful high resolution touch screens, strong battery life, light weight and attractive prices.
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Do people seriously still buy Dell?

When I hear Dell, I think of very cheap shit coming off an even cheaper assembly line.
 
Megalith said:
Do people seriously still buy Dell?

When I hear Dell, I think of very cheap shit coming off an even cheaper assembly line.
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They remain very popular with Enterprise ... and they are number three in the PC manufacturers ... behind Lenovo and HP ... ahead of Acer and Asus ... Apple doesn't make the top 5
 
Build good products and people will buy them. Doesn't get any more complicated than that.
 
Why all the hate for dell?

If I ran a business and needed a big name, cheap, reliable machine that's cookie cutter and out of the box ready.... dell would be on the list..

I had two of their XPS 17" laptops when I was doing contracting CAD word, and they were a pleasure to work with. the GPU I outfitted it with suffered from known problems from nvidia) they had a tech on site the next day and swapped in a brand new GPU card for me no charge. I was impressed.

I have one of their cheapo 15R laptops now, bought it refurbished and it's a great mobile i5 system that's always been solid.

Unrelated to the article: I just went back to win8 Pro.... is 8.1 rolled out to end users yet? I havent done too much digging, is it something that's applied automatically like a system update? or do I have to manually install it on my own? I've heard 8.1 fixes a lot of the annoyances.
 
I like their business class computers, Alienware laptops, and of course the monitors.
 
I love my Dell IPS monitor. Not a professional user of course, but it's serving me well for it's price.
 
collegeboy69us said:
Why all the hate for dell?
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They make cheap stuff that breaks and can be tough to fix / diagnose / upgrade due to non standard/cheap parts.

I've been using a 22" Dell monitor for years as a small TV screen, superb picture quality for a TN, so not all bad.
Wouldnt touch their PCs though.
 
Nenu said:
They make cheap stuff that breaks and can be tough to fix / diagnose / upgrade due to non standard/cheap parts.

I've been using a 22" Dell monitor for years as a small TV screen, superb picture quality for a TN, so not all bad.
Wouldnt touch their PCs though.
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I think it depends on what you buy ... I bought their XPS desktop line a couple of times (I still run an XPS 630) and didn't have any issues (I changed out video cards, RAM, and Hard Drives multiple times) ... I certainly like them better than HP ... I don't really have enough experience with Lenovo, Acer, and Asus to judge them ;)
 
Dell’s products are designed specifically to make Windows 8.1 sing. Strong industrial design, incredibly beautiful high resolution touch screens, strong battery life, light weight and attractive prices.
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Not sure how any of that really addresses why Windows 8 sucks.
 
8.1 goes live on the 18th. Rumor has it that it won't roll out as a standard patch over WinUpdate, but will come through the Windows store as a manual Upgrade/Add Feature (it may even require a new/revised license code.)
 
collegeboy69us said:
Why all the hate for dell?

If I ran a business and needed a big name, cheap, reliable machine that's cookie cutter and out of the box ready.... dell would be on the list..

I had two of their XPS 17" laptops when I was doing contracting CAD word, and they were a pleasure to work with. the GPU I outfitted it with suffered from known problems from nvidia) they had a tech on site the next day and swapped in a brand new GPU card for me no charge. I was impressed.

I have one of their cheapo 15R laptops now, bought it refurbished and it's a great mobile i5 system that's always been solid.

Unrelated to the article: I just went back to win8 Pro.... is 8.1 rolled out to end users yet? I havent done too much digging, is it something that's applied automatically like a system update? or do I have to manually install it on my own? I've heard 8.1 fixes a lot of the annoyances.
Click to expand...

8.1 goes live on the 18th. Rumor has it that it won't roll out as a standard patch over WinUpdate, but will come through the Windows store as a manual Upgrade/Add Feature (it may even require a new/revised license code.)
 
He chose the wrong time for a relaunch.
Maybe there will never be a good time now unless MS start doing what the customer wants.
See what Windows 9 brings, I'm not holding my breath.
 
Nenu said:
They make cheap stuff that breaks and can be tough to fix / diagnose / upgrade due to non standard/cheap parts.
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Other than SFF systems, and that's really a problem with all major manufacturers, that's not true about nonstandard parts. Unless you're making some kind of 2001/2002 back to the future comment, then rock on or whatever.

Looking at the least reliable system maker, HP, you see that the reliability canard is really misplaced. Dell certainly isn't a great consumer system maker, but it's closer to the middle of the pack than the bottom.

There's still a lot of childish nonsense spreading because Dell didn't use AMD for a long time, and when it started to, AMD's heyday was over. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, marketing bribes and other stuff which ended 6 years ago this month.)
 
Windows 8 is terrible. 8.1 will do nothing to fix it. When MS gets their head out of their *** then the PC will become "undead"
 
pxc said:
Other than SFF systems, and that's really a problem with all major manufacturers, that's not true about nonstandard parts. Unless you're making some kind of 2001/2002 back to the future comment, then rock on or whatever.

Looking at the least reliable system maker, HP, you see that the reliability canard is really misplaced. Dell certainly isn't a great consumer system maker, but it's closer to the middle of the pack than the bottom.

There's still a lot of childish nonsense spreading because Dell didn't use AMD for a long time, and when it started to, AMD's heyday was over. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, marketing bribes and other stuff which ended 6 years ago this month.)
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You could have asked instead of having a dig, especially after bringing up 'childish nonsense'.
ie a CPU fan stopped working on a clients machine.
I tested it on my PC, no luck.
I tested a new fan on his PC, no luck.
Turns out after a fair amount of research, the fan was none standard, Dell CS werent aware until they dug deep.

Their PSU bays are sometimes too small to to take standard PSUs.
There have been other issues/complaints over the years, I havent kept a list.
HP arent that good either, but I didnt mention them nor AMD, this thread is about Dell.
 
^ wooo an anecdote, with zero details of model or age of system

generalization fail
 
Not my problem, I'm passing on an experience from a couple of years ago, the machine was a core 2 quad core.
If I could remember more detail I would post it.

I thought you were against childish rhetoric, thats twice in 2 posts.
 
Nenu said:
They make cheap stuff that breaks and can be tough to fix / diagnose / upgrade due to non standard/cheap parts.
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Dell is no harder or easier to upgrade than any other oem pc manufacturer. As a matter of fact I've been upgrading dell PC's for almost 2 decades and never once thought they were tough to fix or upgrade.
 
Minor experiences from friends and colleagues in the last few years.
Bloatware.
Cases/power supplies/BIOS can frustrate upgrades.
On line and phone support gets mixed reviews/experience. Can get expensive.
Prices float among retailers(including Dell), sometimes hundreds of dollars for same/similar item. Shop or pay hard.
 
not to derail the thread -- but if 8.1 is rolled out as something I Have to pay for.... fuck you microsoft.

Current price of Win8 looks to be between 99 and 140 dollars. I'd expect free patches after that until there is another OS on the horizon,that's how it's always been. To me, 8.1 is a service pack for all the dumb crap they tried to pull that didn't fly. And they want you to (maybe) pay for it?
 
collegeboy69us said:
not to derail the thread -- but if 8.1 is rolled out as something I Have to pay for.... fuck you microsoft.

Current price of Win8 looks to be between 99 and 140 dollars. I'd expect free patches after that until there is another OS on the horizon,that's how it's always been. To me, 8.1 is a service pack for all the dumb crap they tried to pull that didn't fly. And they want you to (maybe) pay for it?
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My understanding is that 8.1 is free for existing Windows 8 users ... only people who do not have a copy of Windows 8 (Windows 7 or below) would need to pay
 
Nenu said:
You could have asked instead of having a dig, especially after bringing up 'childish nonsense'.
ie a CPU fan stopped working on a clients machine.
I tested it on my PC, no luck.
I tested a new fan on his PC, no luck.
Turns out after a fair amount of research, the fan was none standard, Dell CS werent aware until they dug deep.

Their PSU bays are sometimes too small to to take standard PSUs.
There have been other issues/complaints over the years, I havent kept a list.
HP arent that good either, but I didnt mention them nor AMD, this thread is about Dell.
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They have switched to more standard components over the last few years ... I think people are judging them by their performance in the early and mid 2000's ... also, except for enthusiasts hardly anyone buys desktops anymore ... Dell's laptops are pretty competitive ... Lenovo is clearly the big hitter there but I like Dell laptops way more than HP (even though HP has more market share) ... I also find it amusing the folks that talk of Dell dying off (they do realize they are a 50 BILLION dollar revenue company still ;) ) :cool:
 
Unless Dell's quality has improved since 2005, my friends and I have had bad experiences with their consumer laptops, including their Alienware brands after Dell bought them out.

Problems are usually the following-- Dell or Alienware:

  • LCD screen failures within one year-- screen corruptions, split screen issues where one screen is displayed properly while the bottom half isn't, .
  • Power adapter failures within six months. One Alienware laptops AC adapter burned, nearly caught fire.
  • Battery unable to hold a charge or dies completely within six months.
  • Keyboard issues-- unresponsive keys, falling keys, etc.-- within one year.
  • Bezel and/or case cracks even if safely handled within one year.
  • GPU damage and/or overheating (mainly Alienware).
  • CPU overheating even if vents are cleared of dust.
  • Wireless adapters failing to connect and/or constantly losing signal.

Cheap and affordable laptops? Yes, very much so.

Shoddy build and poor build quality? Yes.

Poor customer support? Yes, numerous times. Getting tossed between India and Texas. Worst being India and them being unable to understand spoken English.

Yeah, great for businesses because they're affordable and are basically "throw away" laptops at best.

My best laptop was a Toshiba 335CDS from 1998. It lasted six years. My last Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop lasted no longer than 3 years-- LCD screen, keyboard, battery, and AC adapter issues. Total repairs and parts replacement would have cost me $300-plus after the 1 year warranty ended. I ended up selling it for $100 because it's pointless to spend that much to repair it when I could put the $300 towards a new laptop.

All of my friends (and people I've fixed their computers for) have moved onto HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, and one Acer-- which is surprising because many consider Acer worst than Dell in terms of build quality, but has served one of my friends very well.

So, unless Dell improved build quality in their consumer laptops and fired their entire India customer support service since 2005, I won't buy another Dell computer. Monitors I'm alright with.
 
octoberasian said:
Unless Dell's quality has improved since 2005
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Doesn't get any trollier than that.
Comparing what happened in the tech industry with *any* brand in 2005 with what's happening today is just beyond ridiculous.

So read what you wrote again and then laugh with me ....
 
The PC was never dead and anyone who said so is a tool.

Windows 8 never meant the PC was dead, it just meant people didn't like Windows 8.
Tablets never meant the PC was dead, it just meant that people like to use tablets for some stuff.
Phones never meant the PC was dead, it just meant that people like to use phones for some stuff.
Apple never meant the PC was dead, it just meant there are a lot of metrosexuals out there.

*REAL* computing, you know, stuff that actually matters, still tends to take place behind a keyboard and mouse, and a LCD screen that isn't tiny for no reason. This isn't going to change for a while.
 
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot said:
8.1 goes live on the 18th. Rumor has it that it won't roll out as a standard patch over WinUpdate, but will come through the Windows store as a manual Upgrade/Add Feature (it may even require a new/revised license code.)
Click to expand...

If you bought 8.0 you'll be able to download an 8.1 .iso free of charge direct from Microsoft--like the Technet and MSDN .iso's already released (same code.) Running the .iso directly from Win8 you will automatically upgrade to 8.1 while preserving all of your programs and applications, regardless of where they came from. You will activate 8.1 with your original 8.0 key. If you didn't buy 8.0 but you buy 8.1 separately you will be issued a new key, of course.

If you were crazy enough to skip the 8.0 Pro version when you could download the .iso direct from Microsoft for $39.99, and you are running Win7 or <, you'll have to buy an 8.1 .iso (or disk) for full pop and will not be able to upgrade from Win7 (unless Microsoft changes something.) If you have a lot of stuff installed that you don't fancy reinstalling, I'd look for a copy of 8.0 and buy that--because you *can* upgrade from Win7 to 8.0, and once you've done that, then download 8.1 for free and everything will smoothly upgrade to 8.1 with you being forced to reinstall nothing.

Since Microsoft allowed for upgrades from Win7 when it shipped 8.0, it seems bizarre that 8.1 won't also allow for an upgrade from Win7. It could be that is a temporary code stipulation that will change on October 18th, when not just Technet and MSDN developers are running 8.1 but everyone will be able to run 8.1. We'll see.
 
GotNoRice said:
The PC was never dead and anyone who said so is a tool.

Windows 8 never meant the PC was dead, it just meant people didn't like Windows 8.
Tablets never meant the PC was dead, it just meant that people like to use tablets for some stuff.
Phones never meant the PC was dead, it just meant that people like to use phones for some stuff.
Apple never meant the PC was dead, it just meant there are a lot of metrosexuals out there.

*REAL* computing, you know, stuff that actually matters, still tends to take place behind a keyboard and mouse, and a LCD screen that isn't tiny for no reason. This isn't going to change for a while.
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Absolutely! Couldn't have put it better myself...;)
 
Galvin said:
I think if it doesn't do awesome MS will start working on windows 9 instead of 8.2.
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I think that's a given. There was never supposed to be an 8.1, it was just something they scrambled together quickly because 8 sucked so bad.
 
Its on msdn right now if you have access but I believe RTW is the 18th like said above.
 
Galvin said:
Windows 8 just passed 8% market share. 8.1 will have to do really awesome for MS to keep going with 8.x name. It's a gamble for any company to ride windows 8.1 brand. It may do awesome or it may not. I think if it doesn't do awesome MS will start working on windows 9 instead of 8.2.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/01/wi...hare-but-windows-7-grows-faster-in-september/
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Very misleading article because they didn't account for 8.1. 8.1 went from .24% to .87% from August to September so growth of 8.x was still faster than 7. Indeed 8 will start to contract this month or next as 8.1 rolls out and as 8 users upgrade to 8.1, which I will expect to happen very quickly.
 
I have a dell IPS monitor...it's great. Like others, I have no use for their computers at home. We have them at work. They work and we haven't had any issues with them.

Having said that, if you are trying to sell me a computer, putting Windows 8 on it will guarantee that you will lose a sale.
 
pxc said:
^ wooo an anecdote, with zero details of model or age of system

generalization fail
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You're kidding, right? Dell is well known to purposely implement non-standard parts, connectors, dimensions, etc. They've dont it fo years and continue to do it just to screw people over.

Here's an example for you since you're so sure Dell couldn't possibly do anything proprietary and wrong. Just about all of their laptops in the past several years including modern ones use chargers that implement DRM. The there is a chip in both the charger and the laptop itself that communicate with each other for authentication. Can't authenticate, can't charge your laptop. Oh, and they change shape/interfaces from time to time too; how nice of them.
 
GotNoRice said:
I think that's a given. There was never supposed to be an 8.1, it was just something they scrambled together quickly because 8 sucked so bad.
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Not quite true...

Microsoft's new strategy is a new major version OS every other year with one free update in between.

In other words, 2012: Win8 - 2013: Win8 SP1 - 2014: Win9 - 2015: Win9 SP1

They are no longer using the term "service pack" however, and will likely stick to a X.1 naming scheme for the time being as is brings back both memories of the well received Windows 3.1 as well as being similar to Apple.
 
Climber said:
Dell is no harder or easier to upgrade than any other oem pc manufacturer. As a matter of fact I've been upgrading dell PC's for almost 2 decades and never once thought they were tough to fix or upgrade.
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They used to re-arrange the standard atx pins purposely just the screw people over. Also, they used to change the motherboard dimensions so that nothing would line up in a standard atx case. I'd say that makes them harder and more annoying to upgrade than other OEMs.
 
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