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To: wanna_bmw who wrote (59667)	10/22/2001 8:02:50 PM
From: Dan3	Respond to of 275872

Re: does a lot of their own validation on the parts that they sell 5 years ago the design life of a PC was much longer than it is today. That PC probably cost at least $2,500 and had, relative to its needs, the equivalent of a 500 watt server PS. A 133MHZ CPU from Intel or AMD could be run without a fan when an oversized heatsink was used. Today's mid range to high end Athlon XP or P4 use 60 watts and more (with P4 using more power than Athlon XP). Power and cooling needs are drastically higher, while the dollars put into chassis by OEMs, especially Dell, has been dropping steadily. Yesterday's Dells were very good machines. Today's Dells have been faring no better than any other machines - see Infoworld for confirmation. Dell quality has been slipping at least as fast as anyone else's. If you want a tank-like PC (built like "in the old days") you have to specify a mid-range server case and PS. That will cost less than it used to, but still approach $200. This fact applies equally to Intel and AMD systems. What kind of case/PS do you think Dell uses in P4 systems it sells for $699?

To: wanna_bmw who wrote (59667)	10/22/2001 10:23:33 PM
From: Milan Shah	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 275872

I'm sure you realize that Dell does a lot of their own validation on the parts that they sell Yes - what I am puzzled about is how does Dell manage to ensure things like 5 years of reliability, whereas my components lasted 2 years. How do you simulate wear-and-tear caused by time on electronic (non mechanical) components? Milan

To: wanna_bmw who wrote (59667)	10/23/2001 3:33:45 PM
From: jcholewa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 275872

> Their customers realize this when they give Dell great > scores every time for customer service and support. Many > of Dell's customers don't even need to call them for > problems, which saves them a great deal for support costs. I think you're getting this backwards. Dell is famous for having good support. The quality of their products, at least in my experience, is not above par. Of the four Dell consumer systems that I've thrown together, two had defective keyboards and one didn't seem to work completely with the delivered operating system (WinME). The two older systems bought for business were median to horrible Does dell burn in their systems like smaller shops have done in the past? Dell is slowly getting better. The first Dell business system that my company got had a faulty CD-ROM, if I recall correctly, but after that point all the Dell systems bought by us have attained reliability parity with the average boxmaker. Their corporate support seem to be very, very good. I'm sure that their consumer desktop support is good, as well. I hear that their notebook support division isn't so good, though.