I placed my order online since I knew what I wanted. It was easy and there were no problems. The computer arrived one day later than promised. Everything worked perfectly on setup and I have not had any problems.  
 
I owned Dell about 3 years ago and had several occasions to call their support techs. Generally the support given was adequate although one time it took the techie a very long time to come up with an answer.  
 
I think Dell has a quality product at a fair price.

This review was modified by its author, leveck, on 10/14/02 6:25 PM.

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 4100 notebook computer to replace my aging Compaq Armada notebook. I placed the order on a Friday and received the computer the following Wednesday--that was fast! I had previously attempted to order a computer from them last year, but after three weeks of waiting and no end in sight, I gave up and cancelled the order (I never did reorder until this year).  
 
I am very pleased with the notebook. It has a 1 GHz Pentium III CPU and a 14.1" display with 1600 x 1200 resolution. The top two reasons for selecting the computer was price and the high resolution display with a NVidia GeForce2 Go display. Setup, packaging, and shipping were professionally done. However, I was not very impressed with the online order status. The status was still not yet shipped even the day the UPS man showed up at the door.  
 
The notebook has performed almost flawlessly over the past 9 months. I am extremely pleased with the 1600x1200 lcd. The display is very sharp with vivid colors. However, there are a couple of things that I can nitpick about. I wish they would use a different vendor for the hard disk. The IBM TravelStar installed in the notebook is rather noisy (many times worse than the hard disk on my Armada). Also, according to IBM's web site, the proper use of the TravelStar hard disk is something like less than 8 hours per day. So much for a desktop replacement.  
 
The speakers are weak and tinny. Also, they could use a more sturdy, higher grade of plastic for the case and keyboard. The Compaq Armada had a much nicer case and keyboard. However, Compaq made up for it by skimping on the motherboard and other internals--performance was pathetic. I would rather they skimp on the cosmetics and concentrate their effors on providing the best technology inside the case like Dell.  
 
The only two problems I have noted are a whining noise comming from the motherboard when running certain programs, and installing Crucial memory which I purchased after receiving the computer (Dell charged too much for their memory and I mistakenly thought that the Crucial RAM was superior). The whining can be mitigated by adjusting the Windows XP power management setting to notebook--I no longer notice it.  
 
The first problem I had with the Crucial memory is getting the computer to boot. It took several tries to get the memory seated properly. The second problem is the performance of the memory. The memory is rated CL2. I cannot get the memory to run at any other speed than CL3. I don't know who is to blame--Crucial or Dell. Anyway, the memory works, albeit a bit slower than I had wanted.  
 
The technical support (downloads and information) and forums at Dell's web site is first rate. I believe Dell gave me the "best bang for my buck". Every other vendor I considered charged significantly more for equivalent notebooks. I very pleased with the notebook--I only have the minor complaints mentioned above. I would not hesitate to buy from them again provided their prices remain competitive.  

This review was modified by its author, larryholmquist, on 10/13/02 7:50 PM.

I purchased the new laptop from dell with the rebate promotion of 300, combined with 10% off coupon, it is a good deal.

This review was modified by its author, jam111, on 10/11/02 2:43 AM.

I owned a Latitude 800. The serial port was bad so they tried to replace it. Their fix made the mother board go bad. They eventually replaced the whole machine. Worked like a charm.  
 
Then my machine got stolen.  
 
I used the insurance money to buy a new one. I bought the Latitude C400. It locked up everytime I used the external CD-ROM drive trying to intal software that required activation. I sent it back. Havn't bought anything yet. Looking at the Sager and a used Dell on EBay.  
 
Their customer service was excellent. They solved my problems. Biggest issue with Dell is that my Dad and younger brother both had the same experience with the whole machine having to be replaced. My Dad had the Inspirion 8000 and Windows 2000 and my younger bro- had a Latitude 810 with Windows XP. What is their problem?

I bought a new computer after my old PC died. I desided to go with dell because freinds of mine told me that they are the best. I think my feinds are right because I have not had any problem with this computer sence i got it.  
The only thing I did not like about it is that when I customized it at dell's site I could not have them not include the microsoft's word program, I do not need a new word program I use Wordperfect.

There were 6 ways I could possibly have purchased a Dell laptop.  
Online: 1. as an individual, 2. as a small business (my wife has a VERY small company - just her, lol), 3. as faculty (I teach at a college), 4,5,& 6 ... same as above but via telephone.  
 
Being the persistant S.O.B. that I am, and having some free time, I was determined to get the best price, even if just for the challenge of it. However, I found out it is not simply a matter of 6 ways, it'a probably more like 12 or 18 or 24.  
 
Navigating the Dell website requires both advanced degrees and good eye-hand coordination. The company is trying to stop you from making a low-end purchase, even if it is the low-end of a high-end computer. You can start with the very basic machine and add extras, or start with a higher configuration and work downward. First of all, it is very difficult to find the BASE model. Many other choices are given as huge boxes or other colorful places to click, while it took me 3 or 4 passes to find the tiny hyperlink I needed. If you build upward, you put together the configuration you want, but nowhere along the line was I able to find the 3 year mail-in service plan, even though it was listed as part of a large number of plans. All I could get was a 1-year plan.  
 
So I tried the downward approach. However, I found that it was now impossible to get to the machine I wanted. Even if I thought the configuration seemed EXACTLY the same it was now $300 or so higher. AND the service plan I wanted was still unavailable. All I could get was a full-coverage 3-year plan for an extra $300 and change.  
 
I gave up and called sales. Funny, the salesperson had access to the plan I wanted, but the overall price was more than $100 higher than the online price (if you added in the $119 for the plan you couldn't get). Then I tried another salesman and was now quoted an even higher price.  
 
This went on and on as I tried to be a small business, and later, a faculty member. When all was said and done, I had 12 DIFFERENT prices with a $500 swing from lowest to highest, plus the differences in coverage came to over a $700 difference. Even the sales people did not have all the options for coverage and/or parts.  
 
My favorite was, when I finally settled on the salesman/faculty option, at the end of the transaction, the guy told me I owed a $130 in sales tax. Having bought Dells in the past I never paid tax before. The salesman told me thet as Dell did business in NY with colleges and school systems I would now have to pay sales tax. ???????? Needless to say, I cancelled the order. I finally bought one from a woman as a "home user" that cost $40 more than the education price but the sales tax magically disappeared.  
 
What the h*ll is going on? Add Dell to my long list of lousy companies! (They could at least have bought me a sandwich to eat while I worked).  

Two very different experiences, one great, the other one I ended up canceling my order.  
The first was with a set of z560 speakers, about a year ago, they were backordered but dell upgraded the shipping to next day from ground for free, and managed to send them eariler than when they had said.  
 
My latest expience involves two Samsung 900NF monitors. When I ordered them, they said they would ship on the 29th of August. This was later bumped upto the 19th of September which I was not pleased with but was ok with. Then on the 19th they futher bumped the shipping date upto the middle of october, about a month and a half after I had ordered. I proceded to cancel my order after that...

Bought UPS with 15% off and $10 coupon and free ground shipping. Shipped within 1 day and arrived in good condition.

This is the second time to purchase from Dell. I advised my sister to do so about 2 weeks ago, and I was very impressed with their system that I ordered one for myself as well. Prices are alright for a pre-made system. Normally I would build my own (such as my current system), but I was lazy. I got a good deal on this systemand it's much easier than having to order from different stores and building. The service department is excellent for me, no delays and I foudn the online tracking helpful.

this is unbelievable  
i ordered a Lite-ON 40x12x48 burner from dell on 9/12 and it showed "usually ships 1-3 days" under avaibility and after i ordered it  
the status was immedately delayed till 9/17/2002  
the funny thing was that first i called customer service asking why is it delayed and they said its in-stocked then i called dell spare parts sales and checked if they have SKU#A0011904 and they said "we have 1375 units avaiable"  
DO NOT BUY PERIPHERALS FROM DELL!!!  
i emailed them and still furiously waiting for their reply...  
unbelieveable from dell...

This review was modified by its author, dontbuydell, on 9/17/02 4:44 PM.

I cancelled my order for a 4500S (2 Ghz) when I found out that their prices are WAY TOO HIGH. As a systems engineer and a hardcore gamer I like to upgrade my systems when I feel like it. It turned out that the 4500S is a slim line deck, so you can never put anything else in it (like video card or more HDD's, extra cdrw or zip drive, etc). So after cancelling I got myself a nice barebone and saved myself over $200 (plus I got more memory and a nicer video card)

With 9 days left on a 3 year extended warrantee Dell came through.  
 
As a hardcore gamer and a computer technician, I push my computer to the limit every day. With all of the usage I have been looking into building myself a new computer. But while I construct my new PC, I still need my old war buddy (Dell XPS T600) to function. When the hard drive finally kicked the bucket I was very disappointed. I had 3 years ago spent money to purchase the best drive that Dell had to offer. My Deck Star 27.3GB ATA66 rated 7200 RPM overheated and was rendered completely useless (so much for faith in IBM).  
 
I called up Dell to see what they could do about the problem and they were great. They sent me a 40GB Maxtor 7200RPM drive rated at ATA133 which arrived the next day for free. I installed the new part and sent them back the bad drive. That was all. I lost less than 24 hours of time on the PC and was not charged a penny. 9 days later my extended warrantee ran out. Thank goodness that I was able to catch that probably before the expiration.

I purchased a 1400sc server for my company in late  
august, there were some promotions that upgraded the processor to a 1.4 and  
that added a Perc3 sc controller card. With all the rest of the options  
basic the total was 699+tax and free shipping I called to get the %5 off  
with american express and the sales rep (Mark Deml)set it up and forgot to  
add the free shipping(i think) the first time. So he redid it and the  
second time didn't add the %5 off I called the next day to get the %5 off  
taken care of. and after a while finally got it done, and when the  
computer arrived yesterday, I noticed the perc3 card wasn't on nor was the  
1.4 proc, I thought this would be an easy fix, but after being on the phone  
for over an hour and a half and being transferred 6 times back and forth,  
some one told me that he wouldn't be able to do it with the %5 off,fairly  
rudely too.(his last name was wheeler) so I said I just wanted to return  
the one I had than. he said fine and got off the phone. While the repsaid that the %5 0ff was taken off by amex later down the line(but dell had allready given me the %5 off from the first order.) after reassuring me that Amex took  
care of the deal after the sale. He set me up with the right server, at  
$699+tax. Than I called the customer care to get the old system returned  
and they said that the credit would take up to 30 days to appear on my  
account and I'm closing on a House in a few weeks and she said sales could  
probably put it on hold till than. So she got all the return information  
set up and transferred me to sales where the guy said that they(the mortgage company) would over look it (I hope) and that was that. 2 hours later I had my system exchanged, and now I got $1500 out on a server that was originally supposed to be $664.05+tax. Just wanted to say that I'm extremly disappointed in the customer service I received,although some of the many reps I talked to were very helpful and polite, many were not. All in all I don't think I'll buy from Dell soon, and will let others know my opinion.

My experience with Dell was very good. I ordered my new machine online on a Wednesday, it was shipped out on Thursday and arrived at my door on Monday. It was easy to set up and worked perfectly out of the box. I ordered another computer the following week and had the exact same positive experience. Also found some good coupons and got free shipping. Great product at a great price. I haven't had to use their service dept. yet, so I can't speak to that aspect.  

I purchased a 40GB drive from Dell in Jan of 2002 from their "Software & Peripherals" web page. Since the drive was specified as "for Dell Dimension" and I installed it into a non-Dell computer there is no warranty. "Dell" parts have no warranty unless they are installed into a dell system "with a current Dell warranty".  
 
Also I have bought a few laptops from Dell some of which had problems. Tech support is slow and ignorant. If time is money to you... DON'T BUY DELL!