It Reflects Poorly On The Brand
This is my first post in this community and I am pretty sure I'm not going to be a regular here as I don't like to complain, so let me say Hello to everyone, nice to meet you.
I didn't even know what the community name is, all I knew it contains the word Rant and I knew a person who is posting here occasionally (I think). So after some detective work I have managed to get here.
Today I'd like to share may experience with my laptop, just to let people know what can happen. It's not even a rant as I'm not angry, it's just sad.
I bought my laptop roughly 2 years ago (on the 6th September 2019 actually). It's a Dell Inspiron 3584 and was brand new. There are a few areas where I don't like to make compromises and electronics is one of them. I always buy new and also try to choose a good brand. I chose Dell because I consider it a good choice and it was the best brand in my price range.
Another thing I need to mention is that for me an item is good till it serves its purpose, which means I don't buy a new one just to be trendy. Thar is a waste of funds.
I've been very satisfied with it as it does the job and helps me in whatever I do, so no reason to complain, except one.
The Problem
After one year it became obvious that the technical part is great but the keyboard is not going to make it. The paint started to go and it was worse every month. I had the option to send it back and have it repainted (in theory) as it was still in the two year warranty period, but there were two problems.
One and the biggest was the content that I have on my laptop. Being in crypto requires extra cautiousness, this means I would have wiped my device clean to avoid any kind of data leak and/or compromise. You never know.
The other problem I may have ran into was the fact that the two year warranty may have not been covering this problem. That is given for the parts and paint may not be it.
Living without my laptop for two weeks would have been a nightmare, another reason for me to look for an alternative solution. This is why I decided to wait another year, till the warranty period expire and avoid the official way.
After two years of daily use, this is how my laptop keyboard looked like. I need to mention that I type with both hands and could type with my eyes closed as I know the place of all keys, but even so, I prefer paint on my keyboard, rather than a blank keyboard.
As you can see the left side of the keyboard has been more affected, I can't figure out why.
The Solution
Long story short, I decided to wait till the warranty period expires. I have a friend who's working for a refurbishing company and among other things, they do repainting as well, as used laptops usually need repainting. I trust him, this was the main reason I decided to opt for this solution.
He took apart my laptop, putting my hard drive in a safe place and only took with him what it was needed.
And voila! Here's my (brand new 😜) keyboard. It took two days as the multiple layer of coat had to dry in order to be ready and now I'm not allowed to use it for 7 days to let it dry properly.
Needless to say I'm thrilled. I got my keyboard safe, without being forced to wipe my hard drive clean and all that for free.
DELL Has Let Me Down
I have known dell to be a good bland, trustworthy, that's why I choose it. Now imagine someone buying a laptop like mine for work purposes, to be used for 8 hours per day, five day a week. While writing my post, I thought let's run a search to see if I'm the only one with this problem and if it is my nails, as I've been told. If you have some spare time, you may want to read this thread. I'm not the only one, other DELL users have gone through the same experience. And it's not my nails.
This kind of damage like “Wear and tear” on the computer (LCD panel or plastics) is not covered by limited hardware warranty. Customer Support on Dell's official page
Let us note that during the warranty time, you're not allowed to modify the device, otherwise you lose the warranty. I had to wait another year to resolve the problem.
Safety
Regardless of what laptop or device you're using, sending your device to be serviced is a huge problem. I'm not an IT or software expert, I may miss something while wiping my device clean, so better not to put myself to unnecessary risk.
I'm planning to replace my phone shortly as it's time and even though it may still be useful for someone who's using it for phone calls only, I'm going to destroy it. Not worth the risk.
Ever since DELL bought Alienware their quality has reduced.
The new AMD APU processors will be likely the best laptop processors going forward, they have had a comeback in the market and have overtaken Intel as the #1 performing CPU manufacturer.
I know very little about the company, but I know their product is reliable. I still love the laptop and this is the only downside.
The same happened with the Thinkpad laptops. They were the best, until they were produced by IBM. Lenovo bought them, and their quality is not as good as before, but still much better than the consumer laptops.
Consumerism is great!
Yes. It gets even better, when people bring their laptops to repair them twice or even more times in the first year from the purchase. I heard about someone, who went there three times, and he had to replace the whole motherboard of the laptop within the first year from buying. The laptop was some kind of Acer. I heard a lot of bad stories about that manufacturer, so nowadays that is probably one of the worst laptop manufacturers.
A android tablet is far superior to a laptop.
I would never use a apple product.
Oh this is not cool. I have an ASUS and wrote my whole master's thesis on it. And all the keys are still fine. The processing power and stability are going down though, but my laptop is 4 years old now! But after reading your rant post I am not going Dell! It is crazy how the quality of things is going down (so that we can buy new ones quicker etc. etc.).
My dad has an ASUS and there's no sign of any damage, although the laptop is 5 of 6 years old. Truth to be told, he's not using it as much as I do mine.
I would go DELL again if I were to buy a new one as the laptop itself is good, but I would make sure to have a place where to redo the keyboard when it is needed.
That makes sense yes! There are so many choices on the market these days it is crazy. I think my university is sponsored by DELL, so all the official work we do is on DELL.
Rumours have it that your next laptop will come with engraved letters on the keyboard 🙂
Lol, this is already engraved as first there's a layer of white coat applied that needs to dry. Then comes the black coat that also needs to dry and then the letters are burnt with laser. I was told this will last and I believe that. Obviously time will tell but if it goes again, I know where to go :)
Welcome to my community here! Glad to have a spot for the occasional rant. This one is apt for it that’s for sure!
My wife was a dell person for her working career and when I was at my previous job, everything was HP. When we bought a new laptop for her we went with an HP and she loves it. I refurbished my old work laptop with a new hard drive, and the laptop itself is HP and it’s solid. One of the things I like about both here and mine is the keyboard is backlit so that the letters don’t have any paint on them but they have an LED light that shines under them. Some might not like that but for this scenario you mention it works excellent!
I hear you on the safety of it all. I had to return my old work laptop and though they don’t know what I had on there I wasn’t happy about not having the Ledger app in my full control anymore. I uninstalled it and there wasn’t anything else on it but it was a sad day. They wipe all used computers that come back and put a new drive but still.
I haven’t been into giving my phone back or selling it to companies so I’m glad on that, though I just have to figure out how to properly destroy them lol.
Thanks for the warm welcome.
For now I don't have to look for a new laptop as this is still perfect for me and I hope to keep it for a few years, but in case I need a new one, I'll keep in mind HP for sure.
I'm not sure I would like the lighted version though. I know it has its advantages but my eyes are sensitive and need to protect them.
About destroying my phone, my dad has a garden at the countryside, good place to burn things 😁 I'm going to keep it for awhile in case something happens with the new one and have to send it back, but after that 🔥 Better be safe!
You could have used a set of stickers, we find that easily (even if it is not very pretty). Speaking of Dell, after building my own computers for years, I have chosen the ease and security of perfectly compatible components from Dell for 2 years and i am completely satisfied.
Stickers? No way, that's not me :) However, I know many are using it as it's doable at home. Congrats for building your your own computer, that is amazing!