There's no need to be mean. I spoke to two dell reps because I was trying to help my friend make a good choice with his money. There's no shame in that.
I didnt read the original post, so this post may not be prefectly targetted in the way of a response, but this does remind me of the all to common thing i see happening in regards to computers. Some guy who *Thinks* they know anything about computers, giving advice to their friends who know even less (or who are smart enough to know they really dont know anything). It also leads to fun things like the person *thinking* they know what they are doing trying to fix problems that are over their head, and end up making the situation worse, removing drivers, messing up the registry, etc... Usually then the person who *thinks* they know something will then call someone who might actually know something to fix the situation or more often then blames the hardware/software/god/monsters for the problem and avise the person to buy new hardware/software to fix the problem.
Okay, to anyone who actually prices generic/common PC parts will easily be able to tell you that DELL put a nice little price mark up on their products... Its really not a secret, you can easily see the 15-33% extra on top of normal competitive prices found throughout the internet, moverover, DELL (as well as the other brands often use inferior and refurbished hardware in "new" products. For proof, just look at the costs of their parts, then go to newegg.com. Custom building is the way to go if you want A. Quality (aka non refurbished Cavier drives that wont last you even 2.5 years on average), B. Good Price to Preformance C. Good CustomerService (DELL = far longer wait then say calling up seagate, gigabyte or any individual company for their standard 1-5 year warranties, at least in my experience). Okay, thats just to disprove your "its a good value" statement (in terms of price), because i would add that their is an additional "value" concern, which is the useability of the product, I would argue for people not knowledgeable in computers, they should get a mac, as a computer riddled with spyware/spam and in need of constant updating is probably a heck of a lot useable or valuable to them.
This comes from experience... ive gotten many calls from friends and family members, "Hey Mike, my 2 week old computer isnt working right, can you come over and take a look?" or "Hey IE isnt working right anymore, does this mean I need a new computer?" My answers to these people are always these three,
1. you can either expect this every 1-3 weeks and bring it someplace to be cleaned (aka geek squad for life solution).
2. You can learn to deal with these problems (virus protection, spyware sweepers, updates, change the programs you use and every other year windows reinstall)
3. Buy a Mac.
I have many PCs and like them. I rarely recommend them for anything other than experienced users (where i recommend custom built-- ideally that THEY build) or hardcore gamers. To recommend a DELL i find to be foolish on both price/preformance and as far as the useability and likely poor experience for a non-computer savvy person.
The situation has been getting *slightly* better as XP becomes more stable though, so many im just harping on old situations with Windows... but i dont think so, I think I just stopped taking their calls
So one deserves to be attacked for doing a lot of research before spending over a thousand dollars on a new computer? That's not very nice
It doesn't really seem like a "lot of research" going to both Dell and Apple's sites, and clicking on those pages with the info takes but a few minutes.
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Nope. My friend watched the video and then showed me it exclaiming he was going to buy a Dell One based off it, at which point I tried to convince him otherwise. I watched the video too, which left out a lot of that crucial information. I'm not saying that's a good reason not to read the article, I just figured that his video review wouldn't leave out crucial information like that and thus that viewing both would be unnecessary.
So, I guess I was wrong. Next time, I will read the article but not watch the video, in the hopes that he doesn't leave things out of the article.
You should know that these videos are no more than the headlines from the actual written articles, which are much longer. There is simply not enough time for them to repeat the entire thing.
You ALWAYS have to refer to the actual words on paper to know what was said.
Quote:
There's no need to be mean. I spoke to two dell reps because I was trying to help my friend make a good choice with his money. There's no shame in that.
I was mean because it didn't (and still doesn't) sound likely that you said what you said.
I've been in business a long time. If someone had the authotity to call their companies rep, they have better sense than to say something that the rep can't respond to.
After you wrote most of your post with the comparisons, you said:
Quote:
I just presented all that to two Dell sales reps and their only retort was "I assure you when you buy a Dell you are getting a quality system"
What could ever be the purpose in presenting specs for another companies system that you KNOW your reps company can't reproduce?
No one does that. You're trying to embarrass them? To what end? You think they will get on the line with Michael Dell, and say that they just got off the line with this guy, and they better change their entire line around because of what he said?
If you instead had said that THEY had called YOU, then I could better believe that they may have asked what was thought about their new system. But otherwise...
And, believe me, some people here have called me an Apple fanboy because I do defend them at times.
Quote:
Thanks. I've been reading AI for a while I just avoid commenting on most sites because of...well, it's pretty self-evident
You have to get used to it. I post the most here, so I also get attacked the most. That doesn't mean that I'll stop expressing my ideas.
Often, we are at odds with someone on an issue or two, but then on the same side about others.
Don't let it bother you.
Quote:
Oh, I just don't like mossberg because I think he leaves out important information and misleads people. That's all.
I don't agree with that. He speaks to a lay audience. Some details aren't important for that audience to worry about.
Besides, he's on the right side of the issues, or do you think his like for Apple's products is misplaced?
Comments
There's no need to be mean. I spoke to two dell reps because I was trying to help my friend make a good choice with his money. There's no shame in that.
I didnt read the original post, so this post may not be prefectly targetted in the way of a response, but this does remind me of the all to common thing i see happening in regards to computers. Some guy who *Thinks* they know anything about computers, giving advice to their friends who know even less (or who are smart enough to know they really dont know anything). It also leads to fun things like the person *thinking* they know what they are doing trying to fix problems that are over their head, and end up making the situation worse, removing drivers, messing up the registry, etc... Usually then the person who *thinks* they know something will then call someone who might actually know something to fix the situation or more often then blames the hardware/software/god/monsters for the problem and avise the person to buy new hardware/software to fix the problem.
Okay, to anyone who actually prices generic/common PC parts will easily be able to tell you that DELL put a nice little price mark up on their products... Its really not a secret, you can easily see the 15-33% extra on top of normal competitive prices found throughout the internet, moverover, DELL (as well as the other brands often use inferior and refurbished hardware in "new" products. For proof, just look at the costs of their parts, then go to newegg.com. Custom building is the way to go if you want A. Quality (aka non refurbished Cavier drives that wont last you even 2.5 years on average), B. Good Price to Preformance C. Good CustomerService (DELL = far longer wait then say calling up seagate, gigabyte or any individual company for their standard 1-5 year warranties, at least in my experience). Okay, thats just to disprove your "its a good value" statement (in terms of price), because i would add that their is an additional "value" concern, which is the useability of the product, I would argue for people not knowledgeable in computers, they should get a mac, as a computer riddled with spyware/spam and in need of constant updating is probably a heck of a lot useable or valuable to them.
This comes from experience... ive gotten many calls from friends and family members, "Hey Mike, my 2 week old computer isnt working right, can you come over and take a look?" or "Hey IE isnt working right anymore, does this mean I need a new computer?" My answers to these people are always these three,
1. you can either expect this every 1-3 weeks and bring it someplace to be cleaned (aka geek squad for life solution).
2. You can learn to deal with these problems (virus protection, spyware sweepers, updates, change the programs you use and every other year windows reinstall)
3. Buy a Mac.
I have many PCs and like them. I rarely recommend them for anything other than experienced users (where i recommend custom built-- ideally that THEY build) or hardcore gamers. To recommend a DELL i find to be foolish on both price/preformance and as far as the useability and likely poor experience for a non-computer savvy person.
The situation has been getting *slightly* better as XP becomes more stable though, so many im just harping on old situations with Windows... but i dont think so, I think I just stopped taking their calls
So one deserves to be attacked for doing a lot of research before spending over a thousand dollars on a new computer? That's not very nice
It doesn't really seem like a "lot of research" going to both Dell and Apple's sites, and clicking on those pages with the info takes but a few minutes.
Nope. My friend watched the video and then showed me it exclaiming he was going to buy a Dell One based off it, at which point I tried to convince him otherwise. I watched the video too, which left out a lot of that crucial information. I'm not saying that's a good reason not to read the article, I just figured that his video review wouldn't leave out crucial information like that and thus that viewing both would be unnecessary.
So, I guess I was wrong. Next time, I will read the article but not watch the video, in the hopes that he doesn't leave things out of the article.
You should know that these videos are no more than the headlines from the actual written articles, which are much longer. There is simply not enough time for them to repeat the entire thing.
You ALWAYS have to refer to the actual words on paper to know what was said.
There's no need to be mean. I spoke to two dell reps because I was trying to help my friend make a good choice with his money. There's no shame in that.
I was mean because it didn't (and still doesn't) sound likely that you said what you said.
I've been in business a long time. If someone had the authotity to call their companies rep, they have better sense than to say something that the rep can't respond to.
After you wrote most of your post with the comparisons, you said:
I just presented all that to two Dell sales reps and their only retort was "I assure you when you buy a Dell you are getting a quality system"
What could ever be the purpose in presenting specs for another companies system that you KNOW your reps company can't reproduce?
No one does that. You're trying to embarrass them? To what end? You think they will get on the line with Michael Dell, and say that they just got off the line with this guy, and they better change their entire line around because of what he said?
If you instead had said that THEY had called YOU, then I could better believe that they may have asked what was thought about their new system. But otherwise...
And, believe me, some people here have called me an Apple fanboy because I do defend them at times.
Thanks. I've been reading AI for a while I just avoid commenting on most sites because of...well, it's pretty self-evident
You have to get used to it. I post the most here, so I also get attacked the most. That doesn't mean that I'll stop expressing my ideas.
Often, we are at odds with someone on an issue or two, but then on the same side about others.
Don't let it bother you.
Oh, I just don't like mossberg because I think he leaves out important information and misleads people. That's all.
I don't agree with that. He speaks to a lay audience. Some details aren't important for that audience to worry about.
Besides, he's on the right side of the issues, or do you think his like for Apple's products is misplaced?
Give it, what, between five and ten years?
3 to 5 fives years...
3 to 5 fives years...
Wow Dave, you're even more pessimistic than I am.