DELL WHY??? WHY??? WHY???

Question

I understand that DELL builds machines for the average person that doesn't usually know more than how to turn on the monitor and the tower.  I understand that computers are complicated and that if the average person has their keyboard unplugged their the ones clogging up DELL's phone support trying to figure it out.  But what happens when I have somewhat of a clue about computer's and I am lazy and buy a DELL computer instead of building one and it is childproofed.  It blows!!!!  I mean the BIOS is completely trashed and reinstalling Windows XP Pro is a pain when I don't have the drivers I need for this new system that came installed with Windows XP Home (I have a copy of XP Pro with a license good for 2 computers).  If you have ever tried you will find that you can't unless you install every third party driver needed for your storage devices (maybe cause it's my copy of XP Pro is the very first one every released and I don't think SATA was real big then yet).  Now I also thought it was cheap to put a heatsink on the 3.4 Pentium chip WITH NO FAN!!  But then again the BIOS is locked so your dreams of OC'ing are shot out of the sky.  But the worst thing is that I had a sound card installed (of course) despite their being integrated sound (cause that is worthless).  Well just so I wouldn't be confused by this they put a plastic plate with a NO sign on it over my integrated plug jacks :smileyvery-happy:  I mean come on, that is ridiculous.      Okay....I am not trying to complain for no reason here, this is my cry for an option of NOT DUMMY PROOFING MY COMPUTER.  I think that you should have the option to have a fan on the CPU and not have a plastic plate over the integrated sound ports.  I think I should be allowed an all access to the BIOS like a normal Mobo would have.  So DELL, and in that MR DELL, please add this to your computer's.  I mean, they build the most reliable computer's I have ever played with, minus the big dog's like Falcon, and recommend them to all people but hardcore gamer's (I apologize, your gaming rig's need some work).    In conclusion all I am asking is to not make me feel like an idiot when I get a computer from you, or to have the option to not feel like an idiot.  I am not trying to offend anyone at DELL or anyone who thought their computer was broke when it just had to be plugged in (my wife's Aunt did that).  So if your offended good...maybe you will change it...but regardless, this is just an observation.                    Please don't ban me from your Forum for this post.                                      VIR@L

msgale · Answer

No one will ban you from here for either stating an opinion or raising a question!  Now on to you question.  Dell sell there products in a manner consistant with their business model.  That business model is why Dell is still in business while other companies, (IBM, Compaq, Dec) have fallen by the wayside.  The business model limits what customerizatons they will and won't do.  Allowing customers the leeway you are discussing will negatively impact suppport requests, and those requests cost dollars.  Also sales  to home users is, according to published reports, only fifteen percent of Dell's business, therefore it is of little value for Dell to cater to the extreme customer.   P.S I am using the built in sound on a PWS 530 with no ill effects.  I was able to find the SATA drivers for a Dimension 8400 in less than one minute, therefore that is really not an issue.  According to Intel oveclocking their high end Pentium IVs is not a good idea, so maybe locking the BIOS is not such a bad idea.  Another issue to be resolved is who would 'bit the bullet' when a processor went to 'the big bit bucket in the sky.'  'I mean the BIOS is completely trashed', this comment's meaning escapes me completely.   I would be suprised if you can easily overclock any main stream PC (HP/Compaq, Gateway/E-Machines, IBM in their death throws,Sony)

Chulio · Answer

If you want a custom pc then build one. Very simple.   Good Luck

Conrad Stockton · Answer

I like Dell but for many of the reasons above I did build my own puter. So There!   Later, Conrad

VIRAL2 · Answer

Yea....I suppose your right, I understand the logistics of it all. It came down to I was cheap and lazy so therefore I suffer. I was going to build another computer, but it is just for my son to tinker with and use for school, so it was not going to be my baby. It just kills me,,,,another thing i noticed is that i ran 3DMark2005 1.1.0, on Dells configuration it only scored 1268. When I reloaded it with my own personal partitions and tweaked out windows and everything that I could it scored 2986. That is a substantial difference. I guess this goes hand in hand with what I was saying. I understand the money aspect, but to not have to produce a better product....just configure it differently, you think that it would be somewhat easy. I guess I knew the risks and should have realized this wasn't Burger King, but McDonalds. I appreciate your response to my gripe, it was a point of view that i needed to get out for my wife wasn't getting it :smileytongue:

VIR@L

NS_MaNiAc · Answer

If you want to overclock your tower just use ClockGEN. Its a software program that lets you manually adjust the clockspeeds of your PC even if it is a Dell. ~ Knowledge is Power ~

VIRAL2 · Answer

I know....their are a couple programs like that, they are just very hard on your processor and risky to use. I mean OC'ing in general is risky but to do it from the BIOS is the safest way to do it. I have read many places that using those types of software programs are not real stable and you have to be twice as careful. This is not first hand experience but the testimonies of others, so maybe I should give it a try and it if it fries out I guess the board is prolly only $80 to replace anyways. Maybe I will give it a shot on your suggestion.

VIR@L

Joanne Hamann, · Answer

Overclocking your processor can also void your warranty. So would save it until the warranty ran out or on one you built yourself.

Windows General

DELL WHY??? WHY??? WHY???

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