I work on alot of pc's - mostly dells, and I am here to say Dell is the most problematic when it comes to tech support, service, and overall customer satisfaction. The ONLY thing Dell has going for them is the price. Where I live most people are poor and cannot afford a pc that is over $500.00, so Dell is the computer of chioce for them. What most people do not understand is the local tech school or community colleges that offers tech courses has students that are willing and able to build pc's - not as cheap as Dell, but for the money you will not have any headaches. It gives the students "Real World" experience and you get a good running pc with no headaches.  

I disagree to most of the comment re: Dell and quality.  I've owned two Dell systems in the past 10 years.  I may be in the minority, but I have never had any trouble with the hardware itself.  Both are still in use today.  Dell offers components that you want.  I wasn't hesitant about paying more for components that lasted.  I admit that the early systems were of slightly better quality, but not much has changed.  The problem, not only with Dell, but all computer distributors has been the off-shore customer service.  I don't want to speak to somebody in India, first negotiating the language differences and second having to repeat the reason for calling if it's necessary to call back.  Which flows into the subject of kiosks.  Who works at the kiosks?  High school or college students who don't have the expertise in computers at all.  It's similar to cell phone kiosk employees.  Malls aren't the atmosphere to shop for computers in.  It's difficult to "tire-kick" the systems.  Unfortunately, Dell placement in Best Buy (although a good store) will lower the quality perception even more of a once great company.  But if the prices do come down?  Who knows.......

I like Dell because I am a computer tech and 75% of the computers I work on are Dell. Thier so called Customer Service has not improved hardly at all. The plain truth is that they fail MOST of the time because they use cheap parts that they get for next to nothing. They finally stepped up to the plate with the Vostro brand because customers complain that there was too much Bloatware on thier systems.

As for the Mall closings, who cares.

I have owned two Dell PC's had problems with both.Tech. support ( in India ) is horrible.Words cannot describe the frustration you will experience attempting to get help.You are put on HOLD forever.Warranty parts sent including monitors are used and sometimes faulty also.I suggest avoiding DELL computers.

maybe they'll close their overseas help desks, too, and bring everything home - back to the USA.

Dell has a great product, no matter where it is sold.  My wife and I are on our 5th Dells and have never had any problem and have always found the Dell personnel very helpful.  Super product, priced so it can be afforded.  

Putting an inexperienced sales person at the mall didn't help, I gave up trying to get info to purchase new computers.  Customer Service at the mall and on the phone is unbearable.  Same with Best Buy, horrible customer service.  Dell used to be a great company and have a great product, I could call and get great answers.  I won't purchase a Dell again. I used to only use Dell at home and recommended them at work until they sent the tech support to India.  I last purchased a Dell four years ago and had the horrible experience of trying to talk to tech support that doesn't understand English.  It took me seven phone calls (many hours) to get a replacement part on a computer less  than a year old.

People complaining about the service from the kiosks, i.e.

'Unless you are an atractive 18 year old female, those guys don't even bother to say "Hi may I help you"...'

Sounds like a complaint about local customer service. I highly doubt it was in the business profile to specifically target 18 year old hotties.

Dell has too much of the market share to make truly high quality PCs. If you want a high quality PC you'll build it yourself. If you want to get something quickly and  a  whole bunch of them with relatively little effort, for example if you are a school or The Department of Veteran's Affairs, Dell is a great way to go.

Every single PC manufacturer is selling their machines at an insane markup. All of them. Go check out something basic like Newegg.com if you don't believe me. And there's better deals than Newegg around!

Uh, really?  I don't understand how anyone can say Dell is overpriced.  I'v been building machines for 10 years, and I gaurantee that once you incorperate Software (just an O.S. even) the keyboard/mouse/moniter hoopla packaging and warranty (*even if the service is rather balls*);  NO HOME BUILDER/SMALL PC SHOP can match the price, OEM costs are still higher than a complete DELL bundle.  This will always be the case because of the MASS production factor.  

If your just buying the tower that is a different story, and never buy add on cards from dell 300% markup a $25.00 ATI card(pricewatch) sells through them for $75.00 as an upgrade during system configuration.

Quality wise: I don't really like thier products they never match the chipsets well, it's always cheap ram on a fast board, or budget processor with fast ram.  Or fast ram and board but balls processor.  No matter what unless your going to pay the 2k for their higher end machines your stuck running the speed of your lowest component. Always see things like a 800 mhz capable board and processor with 533mhz ram, so your limited at that 533mhz always some limitation due to corner cutting costs, that is also part of the "RELIABILITY" not pushing the hardware to its optimal speeds will increase the life cycle of the parts.  

-- Accountants normally make horrible system designers.  I'm always curious what they would sell if the focus were not it to make as much money as possible, but to deliver a real top notch product (such as the alienware machines).  Which those I would say are WAY over priced.  You can homebuild faster/fancy towers with the same components or better, for about half the price.  

Comments by Ed Merbach on 01-31-2008 are bogus.  Operating system has nothing to do with hardware failure.  What is a DVD card Ed?  Do you mean DVD drive.  DVD and CD drives typically plug directly to the mother board through a slave cable.  I have worked with Dells my entire life and don't have a single complaint.  Yes, I have lost a mother board, but they replaced it under warranty.  Very easy.  By the way, I purchased my PC with Windows XP.  Later upgraded to Vista.  The motherboard failed..My point is Dell had no concerns with my operating system upgrade.