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U3818DW, Dell should add full Apple support
Dell, please listen to your customers and work towards adding Apple support on the U3818DW.
Hi Dell folks,
I'd like to respectfully ask that you listen to your customers and work towards providing Apple MacBook support on the U3818DW. I understand that the initial 2018 plan was to only provide official support and testing for Windows PCs, and that the online recommendations are out of your control. But, this is what gets people to buy electronics: online recommendations. If lots of MacBook owners are buying your product, you should acknowledge and react to it. I won't pretend to understand your market analysis and business knowledge, but I do know that companies that listen to their customers will usually be more successful.
Here are just a few examples from a quick google search, with very reputable websites saying that the U3818DW is a great monitor for MacBooks:
- https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/08/29/the-best-external-monitors-for-your-thunderbolt-3-macbook-pro
- https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/12/07/how-to-pick-the-best-monitor-for-your-new-mac-mini
- https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-monitor-for-the-macbook-pro/
- https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/best/monitors-macbook-pro
- https://www.techradar.com/deals/the-best-usb-c-monitor-2018-the-best-deals-for-macbook-pro-and-windows-laptops
- https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/29/16384330/dell-38-inch-ultrasharp-ultrawide-u3818dw-monitor-review
Reading those recommendations is what made me buy the U3818DW.
Here you can see that there are 600 hits for a search of "U3818DW" on Apple's forums:
And here you can see just a few of the posts on your own community forum from MacBook owners who bought the U3818DW:
- https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/U3818DW-MacBook-Pro-HDMI-cuts-out/td-p/5186425
- https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/U3818DW-MacBook-Pro-USB-Type-C-intermittent-connection/td-p/7264153
- https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/U3818DW-MacBook-Pro-power-issue/td-p/6246171
- https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/U3818DW-MacBook-Pro-via-USB-Type-C-USB-2-0/td-p/5182008
- https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/U3818DW-issues-with-non-supported-Apple-MacBook/td-p/7308369
- https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/U3818DW-no-official-Apple-hardware-software-support/td-p/5178448
- https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/U3818DW-Apple-USB-Type-C-signal-search-issue/td-p/6127186
And here is a great and detailed bug report about a possible non-compliance with regards to the USB-C protocol, which is still unanswered: https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/U3818DW-USB-Type-C-power-delivery-problem/m-p/7492407
Again, I understand and appreciate that the U3818DW was set out to only support Windows PCs (which is the informative but not helpful official reply to all MacBook posts in the Dell forums), but please understand that we as customers want to use your product with MacBooks. I also understand that Apple is at the extreme of the position of not supporting anything non-Apple, but from what I see Dell might be in a position to invest some resources to making sure that at least the high-end monitors work with MacBooks.
Wesam77
1 Message
1
February 19th, 2020 04:00
Thanks @mpereira1 for your post, which mentioned every detail of problems and expectations of Apple users. Dell, please look to this problem and help us to get the most benefits from this great monitor.
Many thanks
rol801
6 Posts
1
February 24th, 2020 02:00
Agree. Honestly, all monitor should provide Apple support.
Owned U2311H, U2913DM and U4919DW. Only U2311H works perfectly without any problem all these years.
U4919DW replaced today due to abnormal crackling sound inside. What I felt so far is that the product quality is dropping when compared with 6-8 years ago.
Just a Monitor. How difficult is it to provide Apple support? Don't make any excuses and fool people to find support via Apple.
3818owner
6 Posts
1
March 17th, 2020 11:00
rtings.com has updated their "The 5 Best Monitors For MacBook Pro - Winter 2020" article to remove the U3818DW and all Dell monitors.
"Due to numerous complaints of compatibility issues and Dell's unwillingness to offer support to those affected, all Dell monitors have been removed from our list of recommendations for the time being and until the situation is resolved. At this time, we don't test for compatibility; if you run into any issues using a monitor when connected to a MacBook, please let us know in the discussions below."
mpereira1
14 Posts
1
March 17th, 2020 12:00
That's great. It will prevent others to go through this headache.
By the way, I returned my U3818DW and replaced it with an LG 38WK95C-W, which has been working great with my 2017 Macbook Pro 15".
wer234wer
10 Posts
1
April 18th, 2020 18:00
One more angry user of dell u3219q with the exact same issue. I was so appalled by Dell's pathetic and defensive position, so I even registered here to write. I decided not to buy Dell ever again. I would rather pay 1.5x more for an Apple monitor and get the above-and-beyond support when I need one, and not that miserable "it-is-not-our-fault" excuse. You can definitely see that the apparent demise of Dell is well explained by this level of customer service.
jphughan
9 Legend
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14K Posts
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April 18th, 2020 19:00
Very nicely done write-up, @mpereira1. For what it's worth, having discussed this general issue of Dell/Mac interoperability with Dell-Chris M here, I get the sense that he personally is on the side of the consumers on this. He's pushing to get Dell to test compatibility with Mac systems and commit to supporting issues that arise. But apparently the customer satisfaction and brand reputation arguments he makes internally (and that others including myself make both here and elsewhere) consistently lose out to the "Macs just don't have enough market share to worry about" argument. It's also the case that there are guidelines around what official Dell reps are allowed to post on public forums regarding issues like this.
So unfortunately, this may be one of those situations where customers voting with their wallet, their online reviews, and their in-person recommendations to others who come to them seeking product purchasing advice is the best way -- and possibly the only way -- to bring about change here. The change to the Rtings.com recommendations and their published reason for it is significant in my mind. Hopefully the people within Dell in a position to do something about it see it as significant as well.
The link to the USB PD analysis is interesting and certainly seems to point to an issue on the Dell side. But with regard to other issues reported here involving other Dell displays when operating with Macs, it seems clear that this is an interoperability problem that only affects the specific combination of certain Dell displays and certain Mac systems -- because obviously these Dell displays work properly with most if not all other PCs, and Macs work properly with other displays. In situations like that, it's not always clear whose side is "at fault", or whether it would be possible for one side to develop a workaround for the issue even if the true fault lies with the other side. But even with THAT said, I remember being very disappointed with Dell's handling of a recently discovered interoperability issue involving their own products. It came to light that when the XPS 13 9350 was connected via USB-C cable to certain Dell USB-C displays, there was no video signal -- even though the system worked fine with other USB-C displays, the Dell USB-C displays worked fine with other USB-C sources, and the system worked fine with those USB-C displays when using a USB-C to DP cable. I brought those to the attention of another Dell rep who escalated it internally, and it resulted in this KB article. To spare you having to read it, Dell didn't provide a fix or even explain the underlying cause. They basically just said, "This is a confirmed issue, but we consider the XPS 13 9350 end-of-life at this point, so it won't be fixed. But you can work around this issue by spending more money on one of our docking stations and using that between the system and display.". Maybe the underlying cause is a hardware issue with the XPS 13 and therefore couldn't be fixed with a firmware update even if Dell were inclined to do so, but without Dell explaining underlying cause, there's no way to know. But I personally believed that if nothing else, the messaging could have been improved quite a bit there. And again, this was how Dell opted to handle an interoperability issue with their own products.
I certainly hope Dell does right by its Mac user customers. And I'm encouraged to know that there are people like Dell-Chris M within the company that are advocating on behalf of those customers trying to bring about change from within. I hope they're successful in that endeavor.
wer234wer
10 Posts
0
April 19th, 2020 09:00
Just one more example of extremely poor customer service. After posting my previous message, I've got 3 messages over the next 24 hours from dell bugging me to find a Service Tag and send it to dell support so they could help me.
After sending the Service Tag I got a canned response "Thank you. We see that your query has already been answered by one of our community experts. Do let us know if you may have any other questions. -Paventhan"
To which I replied that I did not get any answer to my problem. The next reply was "Thank you for contacting us, our support is very limited towards third party devices. -Paventhan M"
I am laughing out-loud, so much hassle asking me a service tag just to send me this absolutely useless reply. Pathetic indeed. Dell, stop burying yourself deeper
jphughan
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14K Posts
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April 19th, 2020 09:00
@wer234wer yeah the Dell Cares bot definitely needs improvement. I've had multiple occasions where I've posted in a thread trying to help the person who started the topic, and Dell Cares then PMs me asking if "my" issue has been resolved.
BullFlags
2 Posts
0
May 7th, 2020 21:00
Well said. It is hard for me to recommend this to other Mac users without a Mac support. I hope Dell will listen.
doubleh87
1 Message
0
June 2nd, 2020 19:00
I'm glad I saw this thread before I made decision. I was looking for a new monitor to work at home and I was choosing between Dell U3818DW and LG 38WK95C. I was leaning toward U3818DW, but as a user of both Windows and Mac, I guess I'm going with LG