What does everybody think of Dell?

[fabsroman]

My desktop computer is 4 1/2 years old and going haywire. So, I am in the market for a new one. I also own a Dell laptop that is about 2 years old and except for Norton acting screwy, it seems to be holding up pretty well. Knock on wood.

Then, there is my brother's Dell desktop which is a little over a year old. The harddrive has already crashed once, replaced by Dell, but I spent the entire day reloading software on the harddrive because that wasn't covered by Dell. Getting Dell to give him a new harddrive was like pulling teeth. I cannot tell you how many people I spoke to with Indian accents , the number of times I got disconnected, and the number of times I was referred to telephone numbers that were no longer in service. That entire process was rather frustrating. Now, just recently he has encountered some corruption on the harddrive that does not allow the computer to boot up Windows XP.

My aunt recently asked me to order a new ink cartridge for her Dell printer and she brought the cartridge over. It had the part number on it and I provided this to the Indian Dell rep over the phone, but he said he needed the model # of the printer before he could order it because that part # applied to 3 different printers. I tried to explain to him that the 3 printers probably used the same ink tank, but he just couldn't understand it. I even gave him my aunt's name, address, and telephone number, which he had in his system. He could even see when the computer was purchased. I asked him to look at what printer was purchased because my aunt was at my place and had no idea what the model # was and he said there was no way for him to know based upon what was showing on the computer. Needless to say, the ink cartridge is still sitting on my desk downstairs.

What is the reliability like on Dell desktops? Is my brother's situation and anomaly or is it the norm? The reason I ask is because I have found a decent buy on Dell's website for a Pentium 4 E510 with a 19" LCD screen and my wife gets a discount because she is a Target employee. I am seriously debating pulling the trigger on this purchase because this is going to be my office computer and I am going to build another computer as our personal desktop. Problem is that I cannot have an unreliable office computer.