'Build Quality' - What Does It Mean Exactly?
in [Dell]
|
Prev: Is This Mixing RAM?
Next: XPS M1330 Parts
From: Tom Scales on 23 Jan 2010 11:30 > -----Original Message----- > From: William R. Walsh [mailto:wm_walsh(a)hotmail.com] > Posted At: Saturday, January 23, 2010 9:17 AM > Posted To: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell > Conversation: 'Build Quality' - What Does It Mean Exactly? > Subject: Re: 'Build Quality' - What Does It Mean Exactly? > > Hi! > > > how would rate a dell xps 420 ? > > Honestly...not very highly. I haven't been hugely impressed by the > Dimension/XPS BTX systems built around Intel processors. > > There's just something about them. I can't quite put my finger on it. > I think they feel cheaply made and the engineering of the interior > seems a bit...muddled. Cables are routed strangely, and some of them > are difficult to remove because they've been zip tied into place. Of > course, they are zip tied into place in difficult locations. > > Someone *gave* me an XPS 400 after it had been nothing but a pain for > them. It had a rumbling PSU fan. I've never seen that in any other > Dell system--in fact, the only Dell fan I've had trouble with was the > CPU fan in my Dim8300. But that's not a fault of the fan. The P4 > Prescott CPU in that Dim8300 always ran so hot that the fan pretty > much ran wide open all the time. > > The various OptiPlex models from roughly the same time frame (both > Intel and AMD), as well as the Dimension E521, are much better systems > in my view. > > William Interesting, as I have found my XPS 410 machines to be the best engineered, easiest to work on and most reliable computers I have ever owned. Three of them are video servers/recorders that run 24/7/365 -- about 80% of the time at 100% CPU. Very nice machines.
From: pacca on 23 Jan 2010 13:03 I also agree with Tom, I had a e521 , I was not impressed with it at all, had a lot of problems with motherboard , the 420 runs circles around it. "Tom Scales" <tjscales(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:9EE9A2BDD3784E12AD3350541F6C2447(a)XPS13... > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: William R. Walsh [mailto:wm_walsh(a)hotmail.com] >> Posted At: Saturday, January 23, 2010 9:17 AM >> Posted To: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell >> Conversation: 'Build Quality' - What Does It Mean Exactly? >> Subject: Re: 'Build Quality' - What Does It Mean Exactly? >> >> Hi! >> >> > how would rate a dell xps 420 ? >> >> Honestly...not very highly. I haven't been hugely impressed by the >> Dimension/XPS BTX systems built around Intel processors. >> >> There's just something about them. I can't quite put my finger on it. >> I think they feel cheaply made and the engineering of the interior >> seems a bit...muddled. Cables are routed strangely, and some of them >> are difficult to remove because they've been zip tied into place. Of >> course, they are zip tied into place in difficult locations. >> >> Someone *gave* me an XPS 400 after it had been nothing but a pain for >> them. It had a rumbling PSU fan. I've never seen that in any other >> Dell system--in fact, the only Dell fan I've had trouble with was the >> CPU fan in my Dim8300. But that's not a fault of the fan. The P4 >> Prescott CPU in that Dim8300 always ran so hot that the fan pretty >> much ran wide open all the time. >> >> The various OptiPlex models from roughly the same time frame (both >> Intel and AMD), as well as the Dimension E521, are much better systems >> in my view. >> >> William > > Interesting, as I have found my XPS 410 machines to be the best > engineered, easiest to work on and most reliable computers I have ever > owned. Three of them are video servers/recorders that run 24/7/365 -- > about 80% of the time at 100% CPU. > > Very nice machines. > --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news(a)netfront.net ---
From: William R. Walsh on 24 Jan 2010 05:11 Hi! > Interesting, as I have found my XPS 410 machines to be the best > engineered, easiest to work on and most reliable computers I have ever > owned. Three of them are video servers/recorders that run 24/7/365 -- > about 80% of the time at 100% CPU. Of the ones that I have seen, I have no complaints about their operating reliability. I just don't think they can hold a candle to the systems that came before them. My complaint is solely with their physical design. William
From: William R. Walsh on 24 Jan 2010 05:17
Hi! > I also agree with Tom, I had a e521 , I was not impressed with it at all, > had a lot of problems with motherboard , the 420 runs circles around it. Huh. Maybe it was a lemon. I was given an Dim E521 whose motherboard had been obliterated by lightning. It was nicely equipped in every other way, and all the other hardware seemed OK, so I bought a replacement motherboard. Since that time, it has just run and run. I've been very happy with it. For whatever reason, I'd swear the case metal is slightly thicker than the XPS 400. Some cables are zip tied into place in the E521 case, but they're not in awkward places. I did have a bit of a fuss with getting the sound to work, but I think that was really a result of not getting the right driver software. And while I have no justification for it, I like the fact that it displays an actual system model at POST time, instead of a "series number" like the Intel based offerings do. William |