Buy a Dell from their P-R-E-C-S-I-O-N Line.. tech support is from Americans who speak English.. and who are in the USA. Tech support there is excellent!
That would be like asking your ex wife to marry you again. Didn't work the first time around. AIN't Gonna Happen a second time man!!!!!!!!!!
Did you ever have a Precision Line machine? I've had quite a few... currently have 6 in my home network, including laptop. True with Dell... somehow I doubt tech support on cheap computers from any maker is what you'd call "good".... no worries.
You must work for Dell... Probably from some Asian shithole... I believe the TOS requires that you get an ET sponsorship. The biggest problem with Dell is not even support... It's non-standard parts that lock you into expensive Dell service. 5 years ago I had 5 Dell desktops... and a power supply blew. It turned out that each of the 5 Dells used a DIFFERENT power supply... For the sole reason they can charge you $150 for a $50 power supply. And they told me it would take 2 weeks to get such a common part. This is called a "racket". Today I have about 10 PCs... and NOTHING made by Dell ever again.
Dell has gotten better quality for cheap. Although their laptops may not be built for endurance based on the premise they expect people will buy a new laptop in 2 to 3 years anyways like they used to do with cars. Maybe try a Lenovo Thinkpad. Costs a bit more, but they still make their laptops like the old days. Magenesium alloy covers, ducts for spilled liquid on keyboards. metal hinges instead of plastic etc. And the keyboards are the best. Like real laptop keys they used to have 15 years ago. Not the MAC-style pushy pad keys that's the fad rage now. Unfortunately they sold out their factory locations to China. And probably gave the Chinese their blueprints in order to even set up the factory there. My X201 came from the factory in China. But every laptop and computer part is pretty much made in China now so the difference is which factories still have American quality control such as ISO 9000. However, Lenovo customer support was an American guy and nice and very helpful on the phone.
UP YOURS ASSHOLE! 1. I don't work for Dell. I was a Dell doubter years ago.. solely on hearsay... then bought one for myself at a good deal. It was just fine. 2. Since, I've bought maybe 20 others... Only problems I can recall were a couple of optic drives were flaky which Dell support replaced ASAP. 3. The only non-standard parts in a Dell are motherboard and case. Everything else is off the shelf, just like everybody else. (About 15 years ago Dell used proprietary PSU.. about 10 years ago they wised up and have used standard supplies since. So... you're calling me out and you're WRONG ON EVERY COUNT! I don't recall you handle before, but I've seen enough already to put you on my ignore list...
What do people do to their machines anyway? All three Dells that I have ever owned, 2003, 2005, and 2007, have been running without a single problem.
My guess... (1) They buy from Dell's budget line then try to run 6-8 monitors on them. Also, budget computer "support" is likely from Asia where sometimes it's difficult to understand the tech support person. (2) The live in an area where the power is "dirty"... should be using a UPS if that's the case... and power spikes eventually take their toll. (3) Some had a problem one time 10 years back and have been Dell haters ever since.. Or, they heard about Dell's proprietary PSUs (a terrible idea which they corrected about 12 years ago). Haters conclude that because of propritary PSUs, everything on a Dell is proprietary and as cheap as possible.. therefore breaks down a lot... NONE of which is true. I believe Dell still uses a proprietary mobo and case... the proprietary aspect is the physical size and placement of mounting holes.. nothing proprietary about the mobo's innards. So, if you get a Dell you should know (a) you can't overclock it, and (b) you can't replace the mobo with one from Gigabyte. I'm like you. My Dells have operated virtually without a hitch for around 10 years now. I did buy a Vostro once, but it had a couple of proprietary quirks. I wouldn't buy another Vostro (or any other budget line machine) for a trading rig, but it would be OK for the kids or the folks to surf the net and email.
Word of advice, those laptops were "made" during all time NASDAQELL stock euphoria. They say that as the economy goes to crap so do cars... Just look at the crap Mercedes being churned out compared to a while ago...