I worship at the altar of Dell (Dell)

Member Name: alocin

Product:	Dell
Date:	15/05/03 (1267 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good value for money, Specify what you want, Excellent service

Disadvantages: Online tracking did not work for me

I love Dell. They are a wonderful company. If you haven't guessed yet then I'll tell you now that this is not a negative review about Dell. If you are a Dell-hating, build computers with your bare hands kind of person then look away now! I have just bought my very first own computer from this company and I have fallen in love with them, despite handing over £920 of my hard earned money. That shows how much they impressed me!

My story begins with many hours of research in various computer magazines, shops, websites, on dooyoo, asking friends about their experiences. I finally came to the conclusion that if I wanted the specs for as little money as possible then I would either have to buy a computer that was on special offer or go to Dell. After inspecting PC World where my sister bought her computer, I thought that the deals were all a bit basic so I decided on Dell.

I first spotted them in a newspaper where they were advertising one of their great deals - double your memory from 256MB to 512MB (this is on at present as well). The deals tend to cycle round and they only last for a week or two at a time. This caught my attention, but I was worried about buying online as a non-expert computer person. Then a friend at work told me about how he had got his new computer from Dell - it was really cheap but high spec and the service was great. This made me seriously think about them as a possibility, and it lead to me sitting at the computer test customising my computer.

This is the great thing about Dell - you can specify what you want to have added onto a basic starting computer. You might start out with a 2GHZ processor but you can pay a bit more and have 2.4 for example. Equally if you don't want that much power you save money by keeping it basic. Dell's website, at, cunningly, www.dell.co.uk, gives you a page where you can try out the customising process and the price at the bottom of the screen is adjusted accordingly. Afte
r one try where I made my superpowered dream computer and would have bankrupted myself, I then started to see where I wanted more power and where I could save money.

When I bought my computer the current offer was free delivery and double your hard drive from 60GB to 120GB. I went for the Dell Dimension 2350 which started out with a flat TFT screen, 2.4GHZ, the doubled 120GB hard drive, 256MB of RAM and a CDRW/DVD combo drive. I paid a bit more and went up to 512MB of RAM and got seperate CDRW and DVD drives, as well as paying for Paint Shop Pro and a multimedia keyboard. You can even specify whether you want a cordless mouse or a surge protector included! I bit the bullet and paid up. £920 - not bad for the computer I was getting at the end, exactly what I wanted. It also helps that Dell computers are streamlined and black, and I really hate beige boxy computers. Urgh.

The online ordering process is secure and very easy to follow. The only odd bit was one section of questions included because Dell is an American company. It asked whether the computer would be used for military or government use, and then (this is great) asked if I was going to use it for anything to do with weapons of mass destruction! What would they have done if I said yes?! I if I was - would I have told the truth?! Anyway the order was whisked away into the elctronic ether and I was left contemplating my bank balance.

The website has a facility for checking your order status, but I never got that to work as my customer number was not accepted for some reason. This was the only problem, but it is one small black mark against the company's otherwise untarnished name in my book. I recieved an email saying that the computer would take 7-10 working days to arrive and it was being "custom built" in their factory. Is it just me or is that so much better than just picking a machine off a self of a computer shop? Then later I got a phone call to say the exact day
it was arriving. Sure enough 11.45am some lovely boxes were delivered to my sister who is currently quarantined at home after having her tonsils out. From Bank Holiday Monday odering to the next Monday delivery - 6 working days.

Everything was there and it was all in perfect condition. After getting it all out of the packaging (I now have a small cardboard mountain at home) it only took around 20 minutes to set everything up and connect all the wires together. The instructions were very easy to follow and wires colour coded. Then I switched on the power of my very own computer. Ah the wonderful sound of the Windows XP setup! Everything was loaded onto the computer and even the date and time had been correctly set! I am completely satisfied with it and there have been no problems so far.

The website has a special section devoted to Dell owners with topics such as "Fix my Dell" and "Upgrade my Dell" and there are FAQ and hints and tips to help you on your way and get the most from your computer. I hope to investigate this further as time goes on. This all compares to my sister who bought her computer on the same Monday at PC World. She waited until Friday for them to get the computer but the monitor did not follow on until the Wednesday after, and there was very poor service in-between. All in all Dell have made themselves a life-long customer in me, and I certainly intend to buy my next computer from them in the future.

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