I used to use Dell laptops a lot in the late 2000's, and was wondering if they are good in 2019. I used mainly Latitude series laptops. The D620 C2D was an excellent machine. Owned multiple of them, tough workhorses that never showed any hardware issues. I also had a 2005 or 06 Inspiron, it worked well except for the speakers. things crackled so loud you could feel it
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Are Dell machines any good in 2019?
- Thread starter retta283
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I've heard good things about them for 2018 but prior, though if you do some googling, they do tend to thermally throttle, and I've seen some complaints about the battery bulging in older models. I haven't owned a Dell in a long time, so I can't say first hand. I had them on my short list when I was looking at laptops but opted for another machine instead of Dell.
I'd be interested in seeing the current Latitude lineup. If they are nearly as good as the D620's I had, they would be great workhorses. I am looking at the Lenovo X1 as a 2018 MBP alternative though, since it really does seem like a nice machine.
If I were to get a Dell, it would have been the XPS. I don't know about anything about their Lattitudes I've owned an inspirion laptop from them and the thing just won't die. I have it in my closet running windows 2000 and I've fired it up on occasion to see that it still boots
Dells are what they always have been - good specs for the money, below average reliability, but good customer service & driver support, boring designs.
I have a 2003 Inspiron that still boots up Windows XP just fine. Like yours, it just won't die
Edit: Had to look at what the other Dell I had was again. Precision M50 Workstation. It looks almost identical to the Inspiron and approximately the same age. Both still boot to XP.
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Their workstations? Yes, pretty good. No idea on their regular consumer stuff. I've only fiddled with the XPS, and I can't recall which model years. Their mobile workstations are good, though HP seems to be the favorite for both those, AiO workstations and general tower workstations. Though, you can always get independent companies like Puget a try.
Precision and Latitude/Vostro series are enterprise class. Metal frames, better build quality, better driver and BIOS support etc. But oh so boring.
XPS units are crossover products with good build quality and decent support. Great screens for the 4k units.
Inspirons are where things slide. Plastic internal frames, lesser build quality. Slower BIOS/driver updates.
XPS units are crossover products with good build quality and decent support. Great screens for the 4k units.
Inspirons are where things slide. Plastic internal frames, lesser build quality. Slower BIOS/driver updates.
"the problem with scotland is it's full of scots" eddie longshanks Braveheart 1995
'the problem with dells is it's full of with windows" phunigai macrumors 2019
the Dell 2019 xps 13 is incredible, no i have not video edited the new star wars movie on the laptop, but the laptop is flawless, fast and great battery life running unbuntu linux and now that the camera is front and center were web chatting is better. the laptop seems strong were cats cant move or play with the laptop compared to other models.
hope this helps
'the problem with dells is it's full of with windows" phunigai macrumors 2019
the Dell 2019 xps 13 is incredible, no i have not video edited the new star wars movie on the laptop, but the laptop is flawless, fast and great battery life running unbuntu linux and now that the camera is front and center were web chatting is better. the laptop seems strong were cats cant move or play with the laptop compared to other models.
hope this helps
I use a Latitude 7480 (same body as 7490) at work and have a Thinkpad T480S at home. For the most part the T480S is a better machine. The only real advantage I feel the Latitude has is that the top is magnesium and feels a little sturdier than the CF lid on the Thinkpad (bottom is mag for both). Inputs (keyboard, trackpoint, trackpad) are all better on the Thinkpad. I much prefer the finish on the Thinkpad over the soft touch silicone coating on the Latitude, and I see a fair amount of wear on the Latitudes my co-workers have (though not on mine, but I don't travel with it much). Another plus for the Latitude is that the 1080 screen is decent - you need to go up to the 1440 screen on the Thinkpad to get reasonable color coverage/brightness (at least for the T480/S models - new screens for the T490, but there are a lot of other changes there as well). If I hadn't used a T480S, I'd be content with the Latitude, but after working with both, the Thinkpad definitely wins.
Haven't tired an XPS so I can't compare with that. X1C vs T480S is kind of a toss up, depending on your priorities. X1C is lighter, but at the cost of ports, cooling, soldered RAM, etc.
Haven't tired an XPS so I can't compare with that. X1C vs T480S is kind of a toss up, depending on your priorities. X1C is lighter, but at the cost of ports, cooling, soldered RAM, etc.
I purchased an XPS 9570 a few months back and am overall pretty happy with it. Dell Complete Care did me a solid and fixed my computer from a fall, and the notebook is pretty darn good.
I had to undervolt, repaste, and set thermal pads to get acceptable thermal capabilities, but after doing so I'm happy. I only hit about 88 - 90 Celsius with just a tiny bit of throttling (3.6ghz down from 4.0ghz) through half an hour torture tests, which is a pretty unrealistic scenario. The battery life is amazing (legitimately 10 hours with normal use, I couldn't believe it the first time), and the design is cool. I hated, hated, hated the look of the carbon fiber on reviews and press releases, but after using it I am glad it's there.
Overall, like I said, I'm happy. But I also lucked out I think on the range of quality control that Dell has. I feel like some people get unlucky and get lemons more often than Macs, but that's just how it is with consumer PC notebooks.
I had to undervolt, repaste, and set thermal pads to get acceptable thermal capabilities, but after doing so I'm happy. I only hit about 88 - 90 Celsius with just a tiny bit of throttling (3.6ghz down from 4.0ghz) through half an hour torture tests, which is a pretty unrealistic scenario. The battery life is amazing (legitimately 10 hours with normal use, I couldn't believe it the first time), and the design is cool. I hated, hated, hated the look of the carbon fiber on reviews and press releases, but after using it I am glad it's there.
Overall, like I said, I'm happy. But I also lucked out I think on the range of quality control that Dell has. I feel like some people get unlucky and get lemons more often than Macs, but that's just how it is with consumer PC notebooks.
I got a XPS 9570 a few weeks ago. Was liking it a bunch. Wiped system and did a clean reload of the OS. Ran well.
Then earlier this week it stopped recognizing the speakers. Bluetooth headphones okay. Now today, I put it to sleep and went to work. Come hone, no power. Won't come on at all. Dig out the old 2013 MacBook Pro 15, charge it a bit, and type this post.
I was trying real hard to get back to Dell or Lenovo and Windows but I am being challenged.
Then earlier this week it stopped recognizing the speakers. Bluetooth headphones okay. Now today, I put it to sleep and went to work. Come hone, no power. Won't come on at all. Dig out the old 2013 MacBook Pro 15, charge it a bit, and type this post.
I was trying real hard to get back to Dell or Lenovo and Windows but I am being challenged.
Late to this, but, have a number of friends with XPS Dells and happy with them. Seem to hold up over the years, relatively easy to do upgrades to.
Safe choice, imo.
Last Dell I had was an Insperion machine (2005-2008). Was ok, but even with gentle treatment, started to crack at the display hinge, case started to crack. Odd blue screens from time to time.
But my Dell netbook Hackintoshed was a real trooper. Similar specs to then Macbook Air for cpu, gpu at the time. Upgraded SSD to something more useful; pulled the plug on that when I got an iPad which was a better away from home machine re: performance, imo (and that 10.6.8 was last OS that was viable on that) and better integration with my iPhone and then new Macbook Pro.
Only thing that would make me leery about any Windows machine these days is not a fan of Win10 in general, and their forced updates. Sure, can wipe and put Linux on it, but I'm happy with Apple environment: been hassle free for me and MacOS being Unix under the covers, have Linux-y environment (and something I can easily dig deep into when troubles since I've been using Unix/like environment for decades). Previous Mac lasted 11yrs and about 2 weeks before GPU died and took machine out: happy with the investment.
Safe choice, imo.
Last Dell I had was an Insperion machine (2005-2008). Was ok, but even with gentle treatment, started to crack at the display hinge, case started to crack. Odd blue screens from time to time.
But my Dell netbook Hackintoshed was a real trooper. Similar specs to then Macbook Air for cpu, gpu at the time. Upgraded SSD to something more useful; pulled the plug on that when I got an iPad which was a better away from home machine re: performance, imo (and that 10.6.8 was last OS that was viable on that) and better integration with my iPhone and then new Macbook Pro.
Only thing that would make me leery about any Windows machine these days is not a fan of Win10 in general, and their forced updates. Sure, can wipe and put Linux on it, but I'm happy with Apple environment: been hassle free for me and MacOS being Unix under the covers, have Linux-y environment (and something I can easily dig deep into when troubles since I've been using Unix/like environment for decades). Previous Mac lasted 11yrs and about 2 weeks before GPU died and took machine out: happy with the investment.
Dell laptops are still trending with their design and built but users have multiple complaints regarding the battery and heta up issues. The laptops can be bought cheap but you face repercussions as well and the overall value for money is not seen
Qc may have gone down the drain in the last year or so. My mate has the 2019 version and it keeps crashing. Common issue actually
I’m giving Windows a second chance, bought a Dell XPS 13, returned it because the fingerprint sensor/power on button required pressing it harder than any electronic button I’ve ever owned. Checked on a Dell forum on Reddit, they said this wasn’t normal, here’s hoping #2 works better. Dell support is an interesting experience, have purchased quite a bit of hardware from them lately, a desktop & a couple monitors along with the laptop. Had to complain on Twitter to return the laptop, kept getting the whole “let me transfer you to the right person” over & over on the phone, also needed to return a monitor, filled out the online process, and I was just ghosted by the system, no RMA or shipping info was provided as promised, gave a phone CSR a chance, and they were able to promptly fix the return process.
I also contacted Dell about extended warranty options, they tried to get me to purchase a warranty that was $100 more than the price of the laptop, when I balked at the price, they admitted there were plans for $150, I considered that stunt as unethical.
I also contacted Dell about extended warranty options, they tried to get me to purchase a warranty that was $100 more than the price of the laptop, when I balked at the price, they admitted there were plans for $150, I considered that stunt as unethical.
I ordered an XPS after thinking I had an issue with my X1 Yoga and have been doing some research into their new XPS 13 2in1 7390. I ordered a pretty high end machine and it's suppose to ship this week. It's an interesting machine as it's coming with the Ice Lake i7... Not a huge upgrade CPU wise over the i7 my X1 Yoga has but GPU difference should be massive!
During my research I've seen a bunch of different complaints about coil whine, screen flashing / flickering, various other failures to reports of 4 hours of battery life with the 4K screen. A few complaints that the fans run 24/7 and others about a mushy spacebar key.
At over $2K for the machine I configured, I am cautious about what I am going to get.. I understand that most times happy peeps do not post on forums but man reading their reddit make me cautious...
During my research I've seen a bunch of different complaints about coil whine, screen flashing / flickering, various other failures to reports of 4 hours of battery life with the 4K screen. A few complaints that the fans run 24/7 and others about a mushy spacebar key.
At over $2K for the machine I configured, I am cautious about what I am going to get.. I understand that most times happy peeps do not post on forums but man reading their reddit make me cautious...