Here's something I was pleasantly surprised about Dell: I work as a technician in a large university, when we were replacing all our public service machines (Well over 600 PCs), the tender went to Dell. I was initially sceptical, but looking back we have had hardly any failures. But when PCs did fail, we would fault diagnose and Dell sent an engineer the next day to replace the part! Excellent service, excellent machines!
I made similar experiences as responsible student for computer infrastructure in my working group at a university. (Although with just some tens of Dell PCs. ;-) ) I started with a rather sceptical image on Dell, whose personal market PCs were usually more expensive than competing systems from other manufacturers. What first surprised me, was how easy maintenance and upgrades could be done due to the clever designed Desktop cases. I can also confirm, that our Dell PCs were more reliable compared to other computers used in our group. (The Precision series used in our department, even featured ECC ram!) Also, I never had any driver issues, even on systems that were officially not supported anymore. Even for a 10 year old device, you may just enter its serial number on the support website and get a list of most recent driver options. Once my Dell laptop broke down due to a mainboard failure. Two days later, a technician exchanged it on-site. I didn't even need to waste time on reinstalling my OS and setting up my feel-good environment again. Consequently my latest PC at home is a refurbished Dell, bought as used device from a company. :-)
We had the opposite experience at the college where I work in the IT department. We had tons of failures with Dells, we have now moved to HP and have had way less failures. The motherboards always seemed to go on our Dells.
I used to hang out in the computer labs at my high school and became something of an assistant to the IT director, along with a friend of mine. We came in over the summer to help replace every computer in the school with brand new Dells in 2001. They were decent machines for the time that I remained in high school, but I graduated in 2002, so I didn't get to see them for their full lifespan. The customer service at that time was great, though. The IT staff at the school was extremely capable, so we only had to call customer service a couple of times. My younger brother said that they replaced in 2004, which is pretty standard for a public school system. They were replaced with a new batch of Dells.
Them having drivers readily available for pretty much every system they've ever made is especially helpful, as my dad isn't a gamer or anything, just needs a computer for office and TH-cam use. I can just grab him a refurbished office Core 2 Dell off Amazon for £30 or £40, stick a GT 710 in it for hardware 1080p video decompression and he's good to go. I can easily find all the drivers on Dell's site.
wow i hadn't seen that Packard bell logo in over 20 years. my family's first computer was a Packard bell back in 92 or 93 it ran windows 3.1 and had something like 4 megs of ram and a 400 MB hard drive. my parents held on to that PC till almost 1998 man it sucked being a tech lover when i was a kid because my parents refused for the longest time to let us use it for gaming and refused to upgrade even long after the machine had become obsolete. fortunately my grandparents had no problem with gaming and actually enjoyed playing adventure and puzzle games with me like Myst and the sierra adventure games and would let me play them at their house. I still have fond memories of spending the weekends with my grandparents playing kings quest with my grandpa or Myst with my grandma. Sorry for the ramble it just reminded me of some old memories.
I'm staring at a packard bell logo right now! It's on my monitor though. It would be interesting to see how the Products made by these old companies would look like if they were still active today.
PuffyRainbowCloud PB is still sold in Europe. Would be nice to know just what happened to them here. Seems they faded out pretty fast after buying out NEC. Had their all-in-one Spectria 200CD. That thing was a pain to work on. The monitor went to crap and it got canned.
Funny story; I used to find PCs (often Dell computers) that people tossed out or donated to thrifts, then I would wipe the drives (or restore them), replace any worn parts and clean them, then sell them for between $50-$100 online. This was very easy when I found Dells because I have a bunch of legal restore disks for the Dell computers, ranging from Windows 98 up to Vista 32-bit. And I can use them on virtually any Dell computer as long as the OS works with the hardware (the Dells almost always have a CoA when I find them). Hell, I even found a Dell quad-core from 2009 that was in a fire; the owners threw it out because they thought that the soot damaged it. I took it, cleaned it off and out, then used the computer's own restore partition to make it work good as new. It's currently my arcade computer.
I own a Lenovo ThinkPad T410 (golden oldie) and have owned a Dell Optiplex 780 (3GHz Core 2 Duo, Nvidia GT 710 GPU) desktop PC. Both are pretty dang solid.
I think, as the video implies, that's due to corporate contracts. Which is good for Dell, but it also means they're probably just the lowest bidder when looking to purchase 1,000 desktops.
@@TheThingNG Dell does a lot of good things in the enterprise environment that HP and Lenovo don't. While their consumer focused stuff is pretty shit their enterprise partner systems come with a very clean Windows install, solid and easy to service systems, and their ProSupport stuff is top notch.
EANTY Crown I have always suspected that there was at least an element of retroactive myth creation with Micheal Dell's success story, and indeed with those of many others.
I bought my first ever widescreen LCD monitor from them about 10-12 years ago, but I never go near them as they've always been ridiculously expensive for what they are. Which is why I found them buying Alienware ironic.
I bought a Dell 2405FPW when it first came out. It didn't have a dead pixel, it had a bright flickering pixel. So much time spent on the phone, trying to get the "Customer" service people to understand what I was saying. Dell would only replace it with a refurbished one. No value there. I've never gone back to them. Now that I look at the calendar, that's 13 years I've avoided Dell.
I bought a 2407WFP as my first widescreen in 2007 and have used it every single day since then. It's what I'm looking at as I type this to you. At this rate it already owes me nothing, and it's still going strong.
He does ! The one PC Unlimited ad reminded me so much of that one episode with Llyod Brawn. The whole aspect of Dell thriving in the phone based PC market reminded me of that episode so much. Costanza and sons.
Yeah, the XPS line of laptops are a good alternative to other ultrabook devices, namely HP's Spectre or Envy lineup. I can't say Microsoft's Surface lineup is a rival to XPS as those devices are on another level in terms of form factor.
Nowadays, Dell often is at the top or near the top whenever you read a review on laptop brand quality. Alienware also has become more down-to-Earth and some models are very competitive with premium models in terms of price
JoeStuffz Using a Dell Precision 7710. This laptop was considered a slight bit of a lemon (which is why they're affordable used so I could afford one), but even then it's a beast. By far the best made computer I've ever used, and I've used a MacBook Pro 15 inch back in their heyday.
JoeStuffz if you're into CAD, Dell is really hard to go wrong with. Get a low-mid end Dell Precision workstation with a good screen option and it'll treat you well. If you're a baller, a Xeon with 64 gigs ram and M5000M can be had for only a little more than similarly specced new gaming laptops, minus the overheating thing bc Dell Precision laptops are a bit overbuilt.
I got last year's Alienware refurbished, and it was a pretty good deal (Gefore 1060). I liked being able to skimp on the RAM and storage and upgrade those later. Here's hoping it'll last
My first AGP machine was a Dell! I still have its hard-drive inside this box, right now. And you're right about Dell's quality going down. I taught in a computer lab filled with Dell machines with bad video drivers. Ooh, when do we get a show on AGP? ISA? Microchannel? And all the insanity of busses? Great show!
Still using my Dell Studio 17 laptop. It is getting old, but still working perfectly and the time I've had to deal with their warranty was the best warranty repair experience I've had so far.
***** I had a Dell Studio, it gave me a ton of trouble. The motherboard died in it twice and they had to replace the hard drive. The repair work they did as well, they put the shell/case back on badly and the ethernet port is blocked. Also I had a lot of issues with the wireless card causing blue screens, freezes, and not connected to the internet at my school usually. Maybe I just got a bad one? It's hard to tell. I've vowed to stay away from Dell from here on out. After an experience like that, I'd rather not go back.
TheGuyWhoIsSitting This sounds like the early days of the Xbox 360 where half of the consoles shipped ended up with the RROD pretty quickly, and the other half were usually built to stand the test of time.
***** yeah, you really need to use their warranty alot! with most other brands you wont ever need to send it back, but luckily Dell has a 4 year warranty, in wich you will probably have to send it back at least 4 times! but their service is really good! they always repair it! almost every year when you send it in! :P
***** Back in February my 5 year old Dell Studio 15 died. Cause of death was the GPU failing. I loved that laptop, it was amazingly reliable and I had no real trouble with it until the GPU started failing. I would've liked to replace it with another Dell laptop, however their selection didn't provide what I wanted in my price range. So I went to HP. Unfortunately , I've already had to send it back to be repaired after only 2 months! I'll always miss my Studio, it was the best laptop ever.
He'll be able to reach FAR more people doing this tho than being a teacher. A teacher might reach several hundred students a year. On the Internet tho he will reach millions a year.
I had a DOS machine almost all throughout the 90's. We couldn't really afford a new Windows machine and neither my mom or grandmother knew much about computers in general. WELL, my uncle (my grandmother's sister's husband) had stock in Dell in the late 90's, and luckily enough he talked my grandmother into getting one for the house, anyways, shortly after we moved in with her. I was so excited I even remember the day it came in. Summer '98 - I had been swimming at a friends house when my grandmother called me to let me know it came in. I had such a bad headache but my excitement took over everything and I immediately told her to come get me. I remember the moment I walked in the living room to see all the boxes stacked up. I immediately went to work hooking it up. It was a Dell Dimension XPS R400. Man I loved that thing at the time. It wasn't long after I attended my first LAN party and a friend gave me a better video card to put in it, which is where I started learning how to upgrade and mess with hardware. So it was also my last pre-built PC as I started building my own computers only a few years later.
My grandma totally had that exact tower at 4:40! It was my fist real encounter with a computer when she bought it in 2001. She didn't have the foggiest idea how to use the thing, but it was all the rage, therefore she had to have one. I, however, was determined to Understand it and its ilk. Which is why I'm watching LGR on some website 23 years later talking about computers.
Dell also makes some of the best monitors on the market which have a reputation of just never dying. I've got 1 from the Pentium 4 days that still works perfectly along with the Dell PC it was sold with. Almost all my keyboards are Dell and even 1 of my mice is the one shipped with the Pentium 4 machine. Add to that my Optiplex 760 used as a low end gaming rig and these things just don't die. I even got a Pentium 4 Optiplex that has all it's parts fully stock except the ram which I upgraded running well enough for my girlfriend to use through Linux software. Plus didn't they make one of the 2 best high end monitors on the market? An 8k resolution thing or something? Wow this makes me sound fanboyish, but no. I still prefer making my own. Just credit where it's due.
We have a 2009 Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop that we used to use for EVERYTHING. watching movies on car trips, edu-tainment games, email, school projects, etc. and I Loved it.
There's just something about that "intel inside". Even after all the "dead inside" spoofs and the like, it's just so nostalgic. Man, I love these Tech Tales!
baxopoka98 yeah, it bugs me to. Is "LIMITED" a thing owned by "PC"? Or does it mean "PC IS LIMITED", meaning it was actually warning people that technology is not infinite. :P
This is why I watch your videos Lazy Game Reviews Nostalgia just pops up and all retro tech reviews are very satisfactory. Not only educational, but immensly entertaining. Keep up the awesome work bro! -fan
While my first computers where DELL, by the time I got my 3rd DELL I was done with the company, i hated that their quality was poor, and that you basically couldn't upgrade anything with most DELL PC's. After my 3rd and Last DELL I went on to build my first Desktop PC from a Compaq case I had from my 4th computer (after that 3rd DELL, a Dimension e520 died a year after I bought it)
My 3 1/2 year old Dell Latitude keeps churning along. It's been through more scanners, dropped, tossed about, in the cold, in the heat, in the humidity, dangling from ship sides, on trains than most computers. It still keeps going. I wouldn't say I love it, but I certainly commend it for its efforts.
All of the computers in the video game F.E.A.R. were made by Dell. When a firend of mine played through that game, he'd had some rather unpleasant experiences with their products, so he made an effort to blow up all of the computers in that game.
Growing up with Dells was awesome. An old eggshell tower in my dad's office, eventually buying my own Studio XPS 13 for college. That's still one of the most beautiful laptops ever made... Great brand.
Seriously, they should show this video in Dell training classes instead of the boring stuff they where showing 10 years ago. Great video (as always!) Still using an Dell XPS system these days myself!
You know, all my friends are says Dell is shitty as hell and convinced me to buy a Macbook, But I don't listen to them. XD I got Dell Inspiron 13 7000 series convertible. After a year and half of using it. it still do all the things i needed it to do. Sure. it get lag and buggy over time. but to my personal thinking. atleast it better than The New Macbook which have only a FRICKEN' ONE PORT. like seriously? what are you thinking Apple? XD
The newest MacBook is more of a note/netbook, though. It's meant to be really easy to just pick up and type something out on. I agree that having at least one regular shaped USB-port would have been very beneficial and a SIM-card slot for portable cloud syncing would have made it more useful, though. On top of that it is heavily over-priced and if I may state my opinion, I don't think anyone should buy it.
Almost 3 months after posting, My Dell had some problems... It's gyroscope that make screen auto-rotating seems to gave up... but hey, after calling Dell they offer a on-site motherboard replacing. So atleast I know I still getting some help from them 😉 (Luckily it's still in the 2-year warranty. 😂)
Michael Dell is someone that makes me proud to be from Houston. This man founded a multi-billion dollar company out of his dorm room. Much respect goes to this dude.
Bonswally _The son of Lorraine Charlotte (née Langfan), a stockbroker, and Alexander Dell, an orthodontist, Michael Dell attended Herod Elementary School in Houston. In a bid to enter business early, he applied to take a high school equivalency exam at age eight. In his early teens, he invested his earnings from part-time jobs in stocks and precious metals._ They don't sound like poor immigrants huddled in rags at Ellis Island, and how many dishes do you think you'd need to wash to decide you had earned enough to start investing in stocks and precious metals?
Bonswally How do you know how hard he worked? Maybe you are a relative or childhood friend and personally witnessed him washing dishes over extended periods of time so he could save money to invest in precious metals?
One of my mentors told me the story of the key that lead to Dell’s dominance. The key was Michael Dell making tons of relations overseas with computer part manufactures. Gaining these connections constantly on the phone, he founded PC’s Limited selling parts cheap for healthy profits which lead to him making his own computers with the hardware he was buying cheaper than anyone could get it. This was the ‘Dell Magic’. Just at the right place at the right time with enough money and good connections. I feel this is an accurate assessment; said mentor was working for IBM in Austin at the time running in the same social circles as Michael. Apparently Dell was notorious for late night drives in his black Acura NSX, the irony of the VMware product is awesome.
I've got three Optiplex machines in my room, including the one I'm using right now (9010 w/ i7). Here's to older machines businesses phase out and put on the used market.
I've never owned a Dell computer but all my monitors are Dell, I like the swiveling stands, the minimalist design, their integrated USB hub and the IPS panels.
I enjoyed watching this on my Dell Dimension 8400 running Linux Mint 17.3. In fact, I've had rather good luck with Dell computers. Aside from a stint of strangely proprietary power supplies and a few production years marred by faulty caps, on the whole I've been very pleased with the performance and longevity from the Dell Computers I've used and worked on over the last 20 years. Kudos!
Sadaki I've been really happy with my dell 1u servers for my colo hosting. feature packed, well engineered, and reasonably priced. I did a lot of research before buying a dell xps 13, and it's seriously impressive for the price.
Sadaki how can you even say this? the xps13 costs like 1300 dollar+ , yes it is very slim and sleek looking, but it doesnt even have a videocard! it uses stupid on-board graphics haha i cant believe people praise that piece of shit... i bet its only because it has a quite nice CPU, and a cheap 250gig SSD....
raafmaat It's $899 with some deal it's even lower. Well it's ultrabook after all, 15+ battery is require for lots of people. Edit: $799 now www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd
Sadaki theres different models i guess, i see some for arround 800 yeah, but most are between 1300 and 1900, anyway, 799 is still rediculous for a laptop with no videocard, just the onboard graphics.... you are better off just buying any laptop with a nice GTX videocard, and then just add a SSD drive yourself (my epic 250 gig samsung SSD only cost like 160 dollar on sale)
They say to make it on TH-cam you need to have as solid and professional an identity as possible out the gate, and LGR is an exemplar of this. I legit could not tell this was from 6 years ago
I think it would be cool if someone modified a 90s computer case to have more cooling and then made a gaming rig out of it. It would sure be a surprise to whoever saw it to see it run new games at 60fps
I did that with a Window 95 Gateway up until 2014 when the box was too small for the graphics card as well as the power supply needed for the graphics card.
+Cube Fish My first gaming computer was an HP Pavilion from like 2009 that I slowly upgraded over time (until finally building an entirely new system like 6 months ago). I still use it as a secondary computer. The only original parts are the case and RAM. Certainly not super old, but it's kind've a low-key gaming PC. +Nithor666 Yeah I had to cut away some of the 3.5 in. bay to fit the graphics card, and the PSU barely fits.
2:36 *Look at those prices!!! I bought upgraded ram for my HP clone back in 99'...64MB costed $165 from Future Shop at the time....I still have the receipt lol!*
A few years ago when I was still in trade school, we had some of the dell bigwigs come down to our school to tell us a little about themselves and offer jobs and things like that. One of the most memorable conversations this particular big wig told us was about their current sales model. He told us that dell only makes about a 5% profit on the computers themselves. There were even times that they were selling computers at a loss just to keep up with current prices. Where they make ALL of their money is in customer support and warranties. Think about it, these extended warranties cost anywhere from 50 to 200 extra dollars on the price. With the quality of most electronics today, those warranties will never be used. Its pure profit for the company. They also make a lot of their money setting up and maintaining servers for small and medium sized businesses. Their business model is unlike most companies I have ever seen, where they worry more about full scale deployment to large businesses and schools rather than to the individual user. Pretty cool stuff.
Nice video with the history for Dell, I found it quite informative. Never actually owned a Dell, but used them a lot at work. Seems a good example of the American dream for Michael Dell's story. Couldn't imagine making that kind of money at his age back then, to be honest I really cannot imagine it at my age now. Enjoyed the video.
Yes, one of their best made LCDs of all time here, in the Dell 2408WFP 24" UltraSharp. ;) I believe that was just before they made the stupid decision to move to IPS in their UltraSharps, since this was probably the last cream of the crop of Samsung panels in a Dell monitor, iirc. LG might make IPS panels cheaper, but certainly not exactly what I would call the fastest technology along with keeping that sharp picture.
Gabriel Ignacio The 2014 model which is essentially similar to a 2014 MacBook Pro but runs Windows. But I have tried out the newer ones, they are really awesome.
My experience with Dell has most of my life been through crappy school computers and the like. I always saw them as expensive yet uninteresting and kind of crappy computers. However when I needed a new laptop back in 2016 I suddenly realized that Dell had suddenly become very interesting, especially with their XPS laptops. Seems like this fits perfectly with Micheal Dell taking over the company a few years before. Impressive what good leadership can do to a company. I ended up buying an expensive XPS 15. When I got it I found out that the speakers were loose. I called their support. I quickly got hold of an actual IT technician and after I explained the problem and what I had already tried to fixed it he just said "Well you have not purchased the (expensive) extra support service but since it is a brand new laptop we will send a guy to your house with spare parts to fix". This guy ended up coming 3 times and pretty much changed all components except for the screen and chassis. All for free. THAT is excellent service!
Terrific video, Clint! I'd say that Dell is making something of a consumer comeback recently with their XPS line of sexy low-bloatware laptops (especially the XPS 13 with the super slim-bezel display).
Dell computers were cheaper than their competitors for a reason. You got what you paid for. I used to work as a computer tech back then and I can tell you that especially in the '90's during the "Your getting a Dell" era, those computers would be lucky to hold together a minute beyond that warranty if they even made it that long. And god help them if they were under heavy use. They just shoved the cheapest, crappiest parts they could get their hands on into those things.
You know, after eMachine's initial foray into the Windows 95 market, their machines got better. Like... really fucking good. I still have a 98 machine I still use to this day, and that's more than what I can say for most other computers for its time. A few years after Acer closed out eMachines, people started to report that their eMachines were lasting longer than most other computers sold.
Gabe Weisdorfer Dell is GARBAGE and they are the worst thing that happened on Alienware. If you think Dell is great you are tripping because they fucked up everything on Alienware after Dell bought them.
I bought a Dell PC in 2009 for personal use, and it served me pretty well. The only time I ever had a hardware problem with it had to do with bad wiring in the house I lived in which damaged the power supply (and some other things I owned like some christmas lights that sort of exploded), and even so that was five years later. And as far as I can tell, the rest of the parts still work fine! So I'm fairly satisfied with that. I knew pretty much nothing about the company's history though, so this is nice and informative.
I worked a tech support job from the mid 90's to about 2010. Where getting a Dell was about as exciting as getting your teeth cleaned. But I also remember my first laptop, a dell core duo with XP. Thing was a tank I put 7 on it.
I never even understood why these companies that just put PCs together are so important. People recognizance brands like Dell or HP, but as far as I am concerned only companies like Intel or AMD make stuff that matters. Putting a computer together doesn't really add value and anyone can do it.
miiiikku There is a lot of skill involved in designing and assembling PCs that are both affordable and can last a long time. No PC company has consistently churned out perfect products, however, the companies that exist, exist because they perform well and they are marketable. PC companies are important because they put the product in the customer's hands- plug it in, turn it on- it's yours. I don't want to have to buy all the parts individually and then pay somebody to put it together. That is ridiculous. What is your alternative? What good is a processor without a way to use it??
miiiikku They did create value, utility for the consumer. Especially in the pre-internet age. 1. Parts selection/research, time in general. time is money is value If you have built your own PC, you have most likely spent loads of hours researching whether to get an AMD, Intel, how powerful of a GPU you need and which processors are severely underclocked and offer a lot of bang for the buck. If you can afford a computer, you also most likely have a job and that time spent researching parts can be spent doing something else, like doing something fun, having additional training or education to further your career, literally anything else. While I do understand alot of hobbyists enjoy that sort of thing, a sizable amount does not. Also assembling a computer takes time which if you did it yourself also takes out a considerable chunk out of your own free time. Time is money and it accumulates. Especially in corporate settings when you need 40 computers. Ordering 40 computers from Dell beats having your IT team assemble 40 computers from scratch in every way. Also a lot of people don't give a shit. I own a self assembled desktop myself but I can see how some people can't be bothered to and it's not wrong or anything. 2. Their savings are your savings = value Dell doesn't just buy hardware at retail price and mark it up for the consumer. They dont have huge warehouses and only order what's needed but they don't just walk into a best buy and get 10 intel cpus for shelf price. As a big buyer, they go directly to sales of intel and get it cheaper cause they buy shittons of other intel products. They don't have to make a profit by reselling hardware to you at a mark-up so price-gouging is minimal. Dell's added value in this case is not as tangible in terms of cold hard cash but there is merit and value in these middlemen. I'm not saying it can't be abused but here goes: Time saved (Research, Building), Needs appropriately catered to which prevents overpaying. Bottom line tho these middlemen do add value, just not enough to computer enthusiasts to make them pay more for the service they provide.
miiiikku People don't want to do it they just want to buy it and it works. Yeah you and me may love building them but just like everything else its not for everyone.
Clint, An epic and truly positive Tech Tales. Well done Sir! My vote/suggestion for another edition of LGRTT would be Toshiba. I have heard it has something to do with five guys eating pie in a college dinner prior this tale being etched into PC history.
Dell! My first PC as a kid was a Packard Bell. First serious PC was a Dell and it was awesome. I remember being so excited watching that little personal intro video of Michael Dell saying hello. The only Dell product I still use today is this 2407WFP widescreen monitor I'm looking at right now as I type this and its still the best monitor I've ever used.
I remember our first Dell, a pentium 2 450 with 64 MB Ram and a 10 Gb HDD. I played so much TFC on that thing. As a child of an IT parent, my mom was always bringing home the coolest new optiplex and latitude business machines, which were always a lot nicer looking and sturdier than their home counterparts. I eventually worked at that company too, can’t tell you how many dells have been through my house. We have a closet full of desktops and notebooks to this day.
My family's first computer was an IBM and we still have that thing and must i say, It is an absolute tower and monster. I still remember being little and playing games on that thing every morning. Than we went to a windows XP made by non other than HP. The game i played with that was roller coaster tycoon for years.
Read an article on him when I first visited America. I read that 1 in 3 PC's sold at one point - was a Dell machine. Unreal isn't it? XD I've owned over 100 of them since then, kept a couple. The Dimension Dual Slot 1 Pentium 550Mhz machine was amazing. Onboard SCSI (it came with two 8.9GB Ultra Wide Quantum Fireballs) and an AGP 2x slot, that PC was a joy to work with. I got a few of them and sold the extra ones to friends so we could play Forsaken and Quake on LAN. I wish I had kept them now... I think I upgraded mine to dual P3 700's, 512MB RAM and a Geforce 2 GTS before it was finally decomissioned for a P4 2Ghz.
I'm back to using a Dell Demension E520 inbetween bulds, the case itself is a work of art. Big recessed grille in the front, good airflow, cable managment , easy use hard drive caddys Came with a decent 19 inch monitor.
I remember the shared dell dimension 2400 we had in the early-mid 2000s. It was bought to replace our older compaq presario we had, that I got to keep for myself.
Outstanding video! I LOVE technological history! Every time I go into any office, and even my Church, they have Dell PCs. However, I have heard that their customer service is still terrible, although I haven't dealt directly with them.
I remember my dad and I ordering our second computer (first dell) at the local mall’s dell kiosk with all the options we wanted and a flat screen which was so freaking exciting at the time. It was a dell dimension 8250 with a pentium 4 512mb of ram and a nvidia mx420 chipset for graphics. I played the crap out of Medal of Honor allied assault and call of duty on that thing!!
I have one of Dell's Inspiron laptops, can't remember exactly which one, but it's worked great for casual gaming, i've had it since 2013 and haven't had any issues except from the battery pooping out on me a few days ago, but that's the smallest problem you can have. I had no idea the company was as old as it is, it's very impressive that they've managed to stick around!
I was there starting in 1991 and saw all of this happen in person. The growth of the company when I was there was beyond crazy. I was there until 2001 when there were massive layoffs. The weird thing is that DELL refused to acknowledge the term "layoff" since they have never laid people off before. They used the term "RIF" which meant Reduction of Force. The layoffs were handled in a very unprofessional manner. I will not go into details here, but if you are interested in knowing more about that, let me know. This video was accurate. Nice job!
Loved my IBM Aptiva, Compaq Presario, Dell Optiplexes 745 and now my mid range PC someone gave me a Dell Optiplex 990. With a GTX 710 graphics card. Both LP and LP.
Would love to see some stuff on Gateway or Packard Bell. We had early Packard Bell and Gateway computers in the house, and that's where I found my love of tech and gaming.
Really enjoyed this! I work for a computer store which pretty much do anything for Dell. Over half the computers we sell are Dell and even some of our locations have a Dell store were whole little section of the store has nothing but Dells and sales men who only sell them. So was interesting to learn little about Dell, tho im still myself type likes to build my own computer lol
![What Happened to America Online? [LGR Tech Tales]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/A3DudqwsRPw/mqdefault.jpg)
Here's something I was pleasantly surprised about Dell: I work as a technician in a large university, when we were replacing all our public service machines (Well over 600 PCs), the tender went to Dell. I was initially sceptical, but looking back we have had hardly any failures. But when PCs did fail, we would fault diagnose and Dell sent an engineer the next day to replace the part! Excellent service, excellent machines!
I made similar experiences as responsible student for computer infrastructure in my working group at a university. (Although with just some tens of Dell PCs. ;-) ) I started with a rather sceptical image on Dell, whose personal market PCs were usually more expensive than competing systems from other manufacturers. What first surprised me, was how easy maintenance and upgrades could be done due to the clever designed Desktop cases. I can also confirm, that our Dell PCs were more reliable compared to other computers used in our group. (The Precision series used in our department, even featured ECC ram!) Also, I never had any driver issues, even on systems that were officially not supported anymore. Even for a 10 year old device, you may just enter its serial number on the support website and get a list of most recent driver options. Once my Dell laptop broke down due to a mainboard failure. Two days later, a technician exchanged it on-site. I didn't even need to waste time on reinstalling my OS and setting up my feel-good environment again. Consequently my latest PC at home is a refurbished Dell, bought as used device from a company. :-)
We had the opposite experience at the college where I work in the IT department. We had tons of failures with Dells, we have now moved to HP and have had way less failures. The motherboards always seemed to go on our Dells.
RAM modules used to go bad all the time with me and other people i knew
I used to hang out in the computer labs at my high school and became something of an assistant to the IT director, along with a friend of mine. We came in over the summer to help replace every computer in the school with brand new Dells in 2001.
They were decent machines for the time that I remained in high school, but I graduated in 2002, so I didn't get to see them for their full lifespan. The customer service at that time was great, though. The IT staff at the school was extremely capable, so we only had to call customer service a couple of times.
My younger brother said that they replaced in 2004, which is pretty standard for a public school system. They were replaced with a new batch of Dells.
Them having drivers readily available for pretty much every system they've ever made is especially helpful, as my dad isn't a gamer or anything, just needs a computer for office and TH-cam use. I can just grab him a refurbished office Core 2 Dell off Amazon for £30 or £40, stick a GT 710 in it for hardware 1080p video decompression and he's good to go. I can easily find all the drivers on Dell's site.
Great video, Clint! My first computer was a Dell. It's crazy how fast they took over the PC market.
***** Thanks dude!
***** My first was a Dell as well
cool cool
Lazy Game Reviews do you take donations? I have a copy of twisted metal 2 for the PC which is pretty rare. Interested?
Hey aren't you the angry video nerd?
wow i hadn't seen that Packard bell logo in over 20 years. my family's first computer was a Packard bell back in 92 or 93 it ran windows 3.1 and had something like 4 megs of ram and a 400 MB hard drive. my parents held on to that PC till almost 1998 man it sucked being a tech lover when i was a kid because my parents refused for the longest time to let us use it for gaming and refused to upgrade even long after the machine had become obsolete. fortunately my grandparents had no problem with gaming and actually enjoyed playing adventure and puzzle games with me like Myst and the sierra adventure games and would let me play them at their house. I still have fond memories of spending the weekends with my grandparents playing kings quest with my grandpa or Myst with my grandma.
Sorry for the ramble it just reminded me of some old memories.
I'm staring at a packard bell logo right now! It's on my monitor though. It would be interesting to see how the Products made by these old companies would look like if they were still active today.
PuffyRainbowCloud PB is still sold in Europe. Would be nice to know just what happened to them here. Seems they faded out pretty fast after buying out NEC. Had their all-in-one Spectria 200CD. That thing was a pain to work on. The monitor went to crap and it got canned.
You know of course that the popular nickname for them before they went Chapter 11 was "Packard Hell."
Funny story; I used to find PCs (often Dell computers) that people tossed out or donated to thrifts, then I would wipe the drives (or restore them), replace any worn parts and clean them, then sell them for between $50-$100 online.
This was very easy when I found Dells because I have a bunch of legal restore disks for the Dell computers, ranging from Windows 98 up to Vista 32-bit. And I can use them on virtually any Dell computer as long as the OS works with the hardware (the Dells almost always have a CoA when I find them).
Hell, I even found a Dell quad-core from 2009 that was in a fire; the owners threw it out because they thought that the soot damaged it. I took it, cleaned it off and out, then used the computer's own restore partition to make it work good as new.
It's currently my arcade computer.
Dell still have the 3rd largest PC market share, only behind Lenovo and HP so they're doing quite well actually
I own a Lenovo ThinkPad T410 (golden oldie) and have owned a Dell Optiplex 780 (3GHz Core 2 Duo, Nvidia GT 710 GPU) desktop PC. Both are pretty dang solid.
I think, as the video implies, that's due to corporate contracts. Which is good for Dell, but it also means they're probably just the lowest bidder when looking to purchase 1,000 desktops.
@@TheThingNG Dell does a lot of good things in the enterprise environment that HP and Lenovo don't. While their consumer focused stuff is pretty shit their enterprise partner systems come with a very clean Windows install, solid and easy to service systems, and their ProSupport stuff is top notch.
When did Lenovo get big?
@@decfairlight3228 I have a Dell Latitude 7480 that came with a 3 year warranty with on-site repair service. Very convenient!
I half-expected the close-out of the video to start with "see, not *all* of these Tech Tales have unhappy endings!".
michael dell is the kind of guy that, when you hear his story really makes you feel like crap by comparison
+mrdsv99 I wonder how he kept up with his classes, since pre-med is not an easy thing to pursue and leaves students with a heavy workoad.
well he did stoped before finishing, so maybe he was not the most dedicated stundent in that regard
+mrdsv99 well, when you start earning the same as you would leaving the school, you may want to drop out.
EANTY Crown I have always suspected that there was at least an element of retroactive myth creation with Micheal Dell's success story, and indeed with those of many others.
Hey you're cooler than he is, I never seen him leave a TH-cam comment
I bought my first ever widescreen LCD monitor from them about 10-12 years ago, but I never go near them as they've always been ridiculously expensive for what they are.
Which is why I found them buying Alienware ironic.
the first monitor I ever bought with my own money was a 17-inch Dell CRT monitor, which remains to this day the only Dell component I've ever bought
I remember my first dell. It gotnfried when my house got struck by lightning. Best accident in my life
I bought a Dell 2405FPW when it first came out. It didn't have a dead pixel, it had a bright flickering pixel. So much time spent on the phone, trying to get the "Customer" service people to understand what I was saying. Dell would only replace it with a refurbished one. No value there. I've never gone back to them. Now that I look at the calendar, that's 13 years I've avoided Dell.
I bought a 2407WFP as my first widescreen in 2007 and have used it every single day since then. It's what I'm looking at as I type this to you. At this rate it already owes me nothing, and it's still going strong.
Is it just me, or does that old picture of Michael Dell look like Jason Alexander/George Costanza wearing his wig?
+May “A-T” Sparkle
Yea he kinda did.
He does ! The one PC Unlimited ad reminded me so much of that one episode with Llyod Brawn. The whole aspect of Dell thriving in the phone based PC market reminded me of that episode so much. Costanza and sons.
spot on! what i thought too
Serenity Now! Serenity Now!
P L O T T W I S T
L
O
T
T
W
I
S
T
Dude, you're getting a DELL
* high five *
facepalm...
dude really?
Rayann Jaffe
Lol.
*****
Hab Soll' Quch
+Rayann Jaffe Watching this on a HP
Dell is making a bit of a come back these days. The higher end XPS laptops are pretty nice and the company has made some small gains in market share.
Yeah, the XPS line of laptops are a good alternative to other ultrabook devices, namely HP's Spectre or Envy lineup. I can't say Microsoft's Surface lineup is a rival to XPS as those devices are on another level in terms of form factor.
Nowadays, Dell often is at the top or near the top whenever you read a review on laptop brand quality. Alienware also has become more down-to-Earth and some models are very competitive with premium models in terms of price
JoeStuffz Using a Dell Precision 7710. This laptop was considered a slight bit of a lemon (which is why they're affordable used so I could afford one), but even then it's a beast. By far the best made computer I've ever used, and I've used a MacBook Pro 15 inch back in their heyday.
JoeStuffz if you're into CAD, Dell is really hard to go wrong with. Get a low-mid end Dell Precision workstation with a good screen option and it'll treat you well. If you're a baller, a Xeon with 64 gigs ram and M5000M can be had for only a little more than similarly specced new gaming laptops, minus the overheating thing bc Dell Precision laptops are a bit overbuilt.
I got last year's Alienware refurbished, and it was a pretty good deal (Gefore 1060). I liked being able to skimp on the RAM and storage and upgrade those later. Here's hoping it'll last
My first AGP machine was a Dell! I still have its hard-drive inside this box, right now. And you're right about Dell's quality going down. I taught in a computer lab filled with Dell machines with bad video drivers.
Ooh, when do we get a show on AGP? ISA? Microchannel? And all the insanity of busses?
Great show!
Still using my Dell Studio 17 laptop. It is getting old, but still working perfectly and the time I've had to deal with their warranty was the best warranty repair experience I've had so far.
***** I had a Dell Studio, it gave me a ton of trouble. The motherboard died in it twice and they had to replace the hard drive. The repair work they did as well, they put the shell/case back on badly and the ethernet port is blocked. Also I had a lot of issues with the wireless card causing blue screens, freezes, and not connected to the internet at my school usually. Maybe I just got a bad one? It's hard to tell. I've vowed to stay away from Dell from here on out. After an experience like that, I'd rather not go back.
TheGuyWhoIsSitting This sounds like the early days of the Xbox 360 where half of the consoles shipped ended up with the RROD pretty quickly, and the other half were usually built to stand the test of time.
***** yeah, you really need to use their warranty alot! with most other brands you wont ever need to send it back, but luckily Dell has a 4 year warranty, in wich you will probably have to send it back at least 4 times! but their service is really good! they always repair it! almost every year when you send it in! :P
TheGuyWhoIsSitting that's why i buy asus, way better motherboards
***** Back in February my 5 year old Dell Studio 15 died. Cause of death was the GPU failing. I loved that laptop, it was amazingly reliable and I had no real trouble with it until the GPU started failing. I would've liked to replace it with another Dell laptop, however their selection didn't provide what I wanted in my price range. So I went to HP. Unfortunately , I've already had to send it back to be repaired after only 2 months! I'll always miss my Studio, it was the best laptop ever.
2:46 Tech Support in 1986..."Did you try turning it off and back on again?" So different than today. Very informative video, well done!!
You should be a teacher...
I mean, you are incredibly good at explaining thing.
He'll be able to reach FAR more people doing this tho than being a teacher. A teacher might reach several hundred students a year. On the Internet tho he will reach millions a year.
He already is in a way for IT/computers on TH-cam. XD (It was unexpected to see you commenting on one of my favorite channels)
It was unexpected that youd find my youtube account.
And yeah, i learned quite a few things from this channel.
I had a DOS machine almost all throughout the 90's. We couldn't really afford a new Windows machine and neither my mom or grandmother knew much about computers in general. WELL, my uncle (my grandmother's sister's husband) had stock in Dell in the late 90's, and luckily enough he talked my grandmother into getting one for the house, anyways, shortly after we moved in with her. I was so excited I even remember the day it came in.
Summer '98 - I had been swimming at a friends house when my grandmother called me to let me know it came in. I had such a bad headache but my excitement took over everything and I immediately told her to come get me. I remember the moment I walked in the living room to see all the boxes stacked up. I immediately went to work hooking it up. It was a Dell Dimension XPS R400. Man I loved that thing at the time. It wasn't long after I attended my first LAN party and a friend gave me a better video card to put in it, which is where I started learning how to upgrade and mess with hardware. So it was also my last pre-built PC as I started building my own computers only a few years later.
You make some of the absolute best PC related content on youtube, keep it up man!
thehaysta Trying my best :)
My grandma totally had that exact tower at 4:40! It was my fist real encounter with a computer when she bought it in 2001. She didn't have the foggiest idea how to use the thing, but it was all the rage, therefore she had to have one. I, however, was determined to Understand it and its ilk.
Which is why I'm watching LGR on some website 23 years later talking about computers.
Dell also makes some of the best monitors on the market which have a reputation of just never dying. I've got 1 from the Pentium 4 days that still works perfectly along with the Dell PC it was sold with. Almost all my keyboards are Dell and even 1 of my mice is the one shipped with the Pentium 4 machine. Add to that my Optiplex 760 used as a low end gaming rig and these things just don't die. I even got a Pentium 4 Optiplex that has all it's parts fully stock except the ram which I upgraded running well enough for my girlfriend to use through Linux software. Plus didn't they make one of the 2 best high end monitors on the market? An 8k resolution thing or something? Wow this makes me sound fanboyish, but no. I still prefer making my own. Just credit where it's due.
Yes, I still have a 17" VGA monitor for a vintage system. I've had it for well over ten years & bought it used for about $70. Not a bad deal, Dell.
I've re-watched this classic LGR video many times.
👍✨📺
I have literally 3 dells, an XPS 400, Latitude E5500, and a Dell Inspiron, this is why I love them. They are a great company
Yep, I’ve got a 2020 XPS 8940 desktop and 1999 Dimension XPS T450, love them both!
I didn't think you'd metaphorically have 3 Dells, 'literally' is redundant here.
We have a 2009 Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop that we used to use for EVERYTHING. watching movies on car trips, edu-tainment games, email, school projects, etc. and I Loved it.
Fantastic video, LGR!
Old checkmark
There's just something about that "intel inside". Even after all the "dead inside" spoofs and the like, it's just so nostalgic. Man, I love these Tech Tales!
Easy as Dell? is it a punn on easy as hell?
Clint .Beastwood Nothing gets by you, eh? :P
Clint .Beastwood
Eazy does it
I love these tech tales.
I have a Dell studio XPS which I handed down to one of my kids, showing its age but still ticking after a couple of years.
"PC'S LIMITED"
ARGH that rogue apostrophe!! It annoys me.
Jimmy De'Souza *Face melts into a Salvador Dali painting*
baxopoka98 Actually, that is the correct usage of the apostrophe. It's there so you know the "S" isn't part of the acronym.
Jimmy De'Souza That's what I was taught too. Also in the UK! No apostrophe for plurals, but acronyms seem to be a grey area.
baxopoka98 yeah, it bugs me to. Is "LIMITED" a thing owned by "PC"? Or does it mean "PC IS LIMITED", meaning it was actually warning people that technology is not infinite. :P
Damian Freeman See, this is why grammar is important!
This is why I watch your videos Lazy Game Reviews Nostalgia just pops up and all retro tech reviews are very satisfactory. Not only educational, but immensly entertaining. Keep up the awesome work bro!
-fan
While my first computers where DELL, by the time I got my 3rd DELL I was done with the company, i hated that their quality was poor, and that you basically couldn't upgrade anything with most DELL PC's. After my 3rd and Last DELL I went on to build my first Desktop PC from a Compaq case I had from my 4th computer (after that 3rd DELL, a Dimension e520 died a year after I bought it)
Matt Brine *were
Recently I've acquired a 2008 Dell laptop and I must admit it's a pretty operational and very robust piece. LGR, thanks for the story!
Dell makes some damn fine monitors, too. The UltraSharp series is awesome.
My 3 1/2 year old Dell Latitude keeps churning along. It's been through more scanners, dropped, tossed about, in the cold, in the heat, in the humidity, dangling from ship sides, on trains than most computers. It still keeps going. I wouldn't say I love it, but I certainly commend it for its efforts.
All of the computers in the video game F.E.A.R. were made by Dell. When a firend of mine played through that game, he'd had some rather unpleasant experiences with their products, so he made an effort to blow up all of the computers in that game.
Ryan Rardin that game was originally made to those dell xps "gaming" ps:s
Growing up with Dells was awesome. An old eggshell tower in my dad's office, eventually buying my own Studio XPS 13 for college. That's still one of the most beautiful laptops ever made... Great brand.
Seriously, they should show this video in Dell training classes instead of the boring stuff they where showing 10 years ago. Great video (as always!)
Still using an Dell XPS system these days myself!
You know, all my friends are says Dell is shitty as hell and convinced me to buy a Macbook, But I don't listen to them. XD I got Dell Inspiron 13 7000 series convertible. After a year and half of using it. it still do all the things i needed it to do. Sure. it get lag and buggy over time. but to my personal thinking. atleast it better than The New Macbook which have only a FRICKEN' ONE PORT. like seriously? what are you thinking Apple? XD
The newest MacBook is more of a note/netbook, though. It's meant to be really easy to just pick up and type something out on. I agree that having at least one regular shaped USB-port would have been very beneficial and a SIM-card slot for portable cloud syncing would have made it more useful, though. On top of that it is heavily over-priced and if I may state my opinion, I don't think anyone should buy it.
Almost 3 months after posting, My Dell had some problems... It's gyroscope that make screen auto-rotating seems to gave up... but hey, after calling Dell they offer a on-site motherboard replacing. So atleast I know I still getting some help from them 😉 (Luckily it's still in the 2-year warranty. 😂)
LGR, thank you for keeping the history of computers alive and well. Your videos are a blessing to the entire PC community.
I love seeing those old prices on gear. Man have we come a long way. Great video !
Once again your making me feel old !
Michael Dell is someone that makes me proud to be from Houston. This man founded a multi-billion dollar company out of his dorm room. Much respect goes to this dude.
His family must've had some money. Apples IIs weren't exactly cheap in the early 80s, much less having some around to "take apart".
His parents were immigrants. He washed dishes for a living at age 12.
The guy just worked hard.
Bonswally _The son of Lorraine Charlotte (née Langfan), a stockbroker, and Alexander Dell, an orthodontist, Michael Dell attended Herod Elementary School in Houston. In a bid to enter business early, he applied to take a high school equivalency exam at age eight. In his early teens, he invested his earnings from part-time jobs in stocks and precious metals._
They don't sound like poor immigrants huddled in rags at Ellis Island, and how many dishes do you think you'd need to wash to decide you had earned enough to start investing in stocks and precious metals?
He worked hard and deserves what he has.
Bonswally How do you know how hard he worked? Maybe you are a relative or childhood friend and personally witnessed him washing dishes over extended periods of time so he could save money to invest in precious metals?
Ok, he fell ass backwards into immense wealth and a computer empire.
Round Rock, Texas represent!!! (One of the Dell Campuses is located there, which is about 20 minutes from Austin. :)
That Milinda track is fantastic.
appelelle THANKS :)
One of my mentors told me the story of the key that lead to Dell’s dominance. The key was Michael Dell making tons of relations overseas with computer part manufactures. Gaining these connections constantly on the phone, he founded PC’s Limited selling parts cheap for healthy profits which lead to him making his own computers with the hardware he was buying cheaper than anyone could get it. This was the ‘Dell Magic’. Just at the right place at the right time with enough money and good connections. I feel this is an accurate assessment; said mentor was working for IBM in Austin at the time running in the same social circles as Michael. Apparently Dell was notorious for late night drives in his black Acura NSX, the irony of the VMware product is awesome.
I'm actually using a Dell Optiplex to watch this video. Coincidence or conspiracy? I'm actually too lazy to conspire, so it's a coincidence.
Michael Wolfe
feels so damn good using one of those refurbished i5/i7 Optiplex machines
I've got three Optiplex machines in my room, including the one I'm using right now (9010 w/ i7). Here's to older machines businesses phase out and put on the used market.
I've never owned a Dell computer but all my monitors are Dell, I like the swiveling stands, the minimalist design, their integrated USB hub and the IPS panels.
I watch daily and this is the best video. Your content is unique and amazing. I also love the production.
zackary roach Thank you!
I enjoyed watching this on my Dell Dimension 8400 running Linux Mint 17.3. In fact, I've had rather good luck with Dell computers. Aside from a stint of strangely proprietary power supplies and a few production years marred by faulty caps, on the whole I've been very pleased with the performance and longevity from the Dell Computers I've used and worked on over the last 20 years. Kudos!
“Dude! You’re getting a Dell!”
Hell no dude! I'm getting a Mac lol
Just lately Dell become the best again.
Look at XPS 13 for example, they are superb.
Yeah XPS 13 shows they're back on track
Sadaki I've been really happy with my dell 1u servers for my colo hosting. feature packed, well engineered, and reasonably priced.
I did a lot of research before buying a dell xps 13, and it's seriously impressive for the price.
Sadaki how can you even say this? the xps13 costs like 1300 dollar+ , yes it is very slim and sleek looking, but it doesnt even have a videocard! it uses stupid on-board graphics haha
i cant believe people praise that piece of shit... i bet its only because it has a quite nice CPU, and a cheap 250gig SSD....
raafmaat It's $899 with some deal it's even lower.
Well it's ultrabook after all, 15+ battery is require for lots of people.
Edit: $799 now www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd
Sadaki theres different models i guess, i see some for arround 800 yeah, but most are between 1300 and 1900, anyway, 799 is still rediculous for a laptop with no videocard, just the onboard graphics.... you are better off just buying any laptop with a nice GTX videocard, and then just add a SSD drive yourself (my epic 250 gig samsung SSD only cost like 160 dollar on sale)
They say to make it on TH-cam you need to have as solid and professional an identity as possible out the gate, and LGR is an exemplar of this. I legit could not tell this was from 6 years ago
use to work in a service center. we called them Hell
This is a great video series! Please make more I think there is a huge demand out there for tech history videos.
I think it would be cool if someone modified a 90s computer case to have more cooling and then made a gaming rig out of it. It would sure be a surprise to whoever saw it to see it run new games at 60fps
Cube Fish there was a guy who built an i7 rig in an old Ibm case. I wish I could show you, but I can''t find the video.
I did that with a Window 95 Gateway up until 2014 when the box was too small for the graphics card as well as the power supply needed for the graphics card.
+Cube Fish My first gaming computer was an HP Pavilion from like 2009 that I slowly upgraded over time (until finally building an entirely new system like 6 months ago). I still use it as a secondary computer. The only original parts are the case and RAM. Certainly not super old, but it's kind've a low-key gaming PC. +Nithor666 Yeah I had to cut away some of the 3.5 in. bay to fit the graphics card, and the PSU barely fits.
Nithor666 that's cool!
Malus1531 HP pavilion... reminds me of my old computer but it was a pavilion running xp made in like 2003 or something and it had 1gb of ram lol.
2:36 *Look at those prices!!! I bought upgraded ram for my HP clone back in 99'...64MB costed $165 from Future Shop at the time....I still have the receipt lol!*
Watching this on my DELL monitor and loving it! :D
v3g374 Haha, glad to see I'm not the only one. I absolutely love my U2312HM. Fantastic monitor for the price.
TheLORDMJ Same here. (y)
v3g374 Smae here, in my Dell U2413
v3g374 Dell monitors are so badass!
v3g374 Dell's always made rather nice monitors.
A few years ago when I was still in trade school, we had some of the dell bigwigs come down to our school to tell us a little about themselves and offer jobs and things like that. One of the most memorable conversations this particular big wig told us was about their current sales model. He told us that dell only makes about a 5% profit on the computers themselves. There were even times that they were selling computers at a loss just to keep up with current prices. Where they make ALL of their money is in customer support and warranties. Think about it, these extended warranties cost anywhere from 50 to 200 extra dollars on the price. With the quality of most electronics today, those warranties will never be used. Its pure profit for the company. They also make a lot of their money setting up and maintaining servers for small and medium sized businesses. Their business model is unlike most companies I have ever seen, where they worry more about full scale deployment to large businesses and schools rather than to the individual user. Pretty cool stuff.
My university replaced all the Macs with Dells, and I swear I had tears of joy :')
Stockholm Syndrome is like that. ;)
No.
Isn’t Mac OS a nightmare?
@@yeetyeet5079 in what way and by what standard? macOS is a stable and easy operating system
@@imelliam oh I just heard it was less intuitive than windows. Maybe it’s talking about how it doesn’t have as much software as windows or something
Nice video with the history for Dell, I found it quite informative. Never actually owned a Dell, but used them a lot at work. Seems a good example of the American dream for Michael Dell's story. Couldn't imagine making that kind of money at his age back then, to be honest I really cannot imagine it at my age now. Enjoyed the video.
Is it just me or do Mr. Dell look like a young George Constanza?
Great overview! Love this series. I'm typing this very comment on my Dell XPS 13 2015. Loving the hell out of it.
watching with a dell monitor
Yes, one of their best made LCDs of all time here, in the Dell 2408WFP 24" UltraSharp. ;) I believe that was just before they made the stupid decision to move to IPS in their UltraSharps, since this was probably the last cream of the crop of Samsung panels in a Dell monitor, iirc. LG might make IPS panels cheaper, but certainly not exactly what I would call the fastest technology along with keeping that sharp picture.
Watching on an S2716DG here. Great panel.
+Robert Morin Are you saying you don't like IPS? I switched from TN to IPS a few months ago and it's been amazing. I'm never going back.
I am actually using my 2408 still. Superb monitor still looking beatiful after 10 years
Watching this on my Dell Latitude 7480, and I've got a few more Dells laying around.
Very nice machines, and very easy to repair too!
Watching this on a Dell XPS 15.
Ah, 2015 model with Skylake or the current gen model with Kaby Lake?
Does it matter? It's still really good.
Gabriel Ignacio The 2014 model which is essentially similar to a 2014 MacBook Pro but runs Windows. But I have tried out the newer ones, they are really awesome.
@@StevenEveral You should have explained that in the original post. A lot of disappointed folks down here.
My experience with Dell has most of my life been through crappy school computers and the like. I always saw them as expensive yet uninteresting and kind of crappy computers. However when I needed a new laptop back in 2016 I suddenly realized that Dell had suddenly become very interesting, especially with their XPS laptops. Seems like this fits perfectly with Micheal Dell taking over the company a few years before. Impressive what good leadership can do to a company.
I ended up buying an expensive XPS 15. When I got it I found out that the speakers were loose. I called their support. I quickly got hold of an actual IT technician and after I explained the problem and what I had already tried to fixed it he just said "Well you have not purchased the (expensive) extra support service but since it is a brand new laptop we will send a guy to your house with spare parts to fix". This guy ended up coming 3 times and pretty much changed all components except for the screen and chassis. All for free. THAT is excellent service!
Who watched this on a dell?
me
Zach Ashton Yup....
Zach Ashton me
not me, dell is an overpriced piece of shit.
me
Terrific video, Clint! I'd say that Dell is making something of a consumer comeback recently with their XPS line of sexy low-bloatware laptops (especially the XPS 13 with the super slim-bezel display).
I'm watching this video with Adele.
howyoudurrinhunneh that sucks.
I feel sorry for you mate
Tech Tails is awesome. I still have a Dell I bought refurbished on ebay, and still use it.
Dell computers were cheaper than their competitors for a reason. You got what you paid for. I used to work as a computer tech back then and I can tell you that especially in the '90's during the "Your getting a Dell" era, those computers would be lucky to hold together a minute beyond that warranty if they even made it that long. And god help them if they were under heavy use. They just shoved the cheapest, crappiest parts they could get their hands on into those things.
BlackburnBigdragon You think Dells are bad? Try using an eMachines.
You know, after eMachine's initial foray into the Windows 95 market, their machines got better. Like... really fucking good. I still have a 98 machine I still use to this day, and that's more than what I can say for most other computers for its time. A few years after Acer closed out eMachines, people started to report that their eMachines were lasting longer than most other computers sold.
Gabe Weisdorfer
Dell is GARBAGE and they are the worst thing that happened on Alienware. If you think Dell is great you are tripping because they fucked up everything on Alienware after Dell bought them.
I bought a Dell PC in 2009 for personal use, and it served me pretty well. The only time I ever had a hardware problem with it had to do with bad wiring in the house I lived in which damaged the power supply (and some other things I owned like some christmas lights that sort of exploded), and even so that was five years later. And as far as I can tell, the rest of the parts still work fine! So I'm fairly satisfied with that. I knew pretty much nothing about the company's history though, so this is nice and informative.
Dell merged with EMC in 2016.
September 7, 2016 to be exact. A while after this video was posted, which is why it wasn't mentioned.
ik also did you get that hdd for the ibm 5160 pc xt?
Pokesanity no
yes
I worked a tech support job from the mid 90's to about 2010. Where getting a Dell was about as exciting as getting your teeth cleaned. But I also remember my first laptop, a dell core duo with XP. Thing was a tank I put 7 on it.
I never even understood why these companies that just put PCs together are so important. People recognizance brands like Dell or HP, but as far as I am concerned only companies like Intel or AMD make stuff that matters. Putting a computer together doesn't really add value and anyone can do it.
miiiikku Post that comment to their satisfied customers and you tell me. Still, Dell did had a fair share of dissatisfied customers in late 1990s.
mewletter Where is the added value these companies create? They didn't make the processors, they just put parts together, they are the middlemen
miiiikku There is a lot of skill involved in designing and assembling PCs that are both affordable and can last a long time. No PC company has consistently churned out perfect products, however, the companies that exist, exist because they perform well and they are marketable. PC companies are important because they put the product in the customer's hands- plug it in, turn it on- it's yours. I don't want to have to buy all the parts individually and then pay somebody to put it together. That is ridiculous. What is your alternative? What good is a processor without a way to use it??
miiiikku
They did create value, utility for the consumer. Especially in the pre-internet age.
1. Parts selection/research, time in general. time is money is value
If you have built your own PC, you have most likely spent loads of hours researching whether to get an AMD, Intel, how powerful of a GPU you need and which processors are severely underclocked and offer a lot of bang for the buck. If you can afford a computer, you also most likely have a job and that time spent researching parts can be spent doing something else, like doing something fun, having additional training or education to further your career, literally anything else. While I do understand alot of hobbyists enjoy that sort of thing, a sizable amount does not. Also assembling a computer takes time which if you did it yourself also takes out a considerable chunk out of your own free time.
Time is money and it accumulates. Especially in corporate settings when you need 40 computers. Ordering 40 computers from Dell beats having your IT team assemble 40 computers from scratch in every way.
Also a lot of people don't give a shit. I own a self assembled desktop myself but I can see how some people can't be bothered to and it's not wrong or anything.
2. Their savings are your savings = value
Dell doesn't just buy hardware at retail price and mark it up for the consumer. They dont have huge warehouses and only order what's needed but they don't just walk into a best buy and get 10 intel cpus for shelf price. As a big buyer, they go directly to sales of intel and get it cheaper cause they buy shittons of other intel products. They don't have to make a profit by reselling hardware to you at a mark-up so price-gouging is minimal.
Dell's added value in this case is not as tangible in terms of cold hard cash but there is merit and value in these middlemen. I'm not saying it can't be abused but here goes:
Time saved (Research, Building), Needs appropriately catered to which prevents overpaying.
Bottom line tho these middlemen do add value, just not enough to computer enthusiasts to make them pay more for the service they provide.
miiiikku People don't want to do it they just want to buy it and it works. Yeah you and me may love building them but just like everything else its not for everyone.
That was incredible! I watched it on Patron first, but had to watch it again. Thanks LGR! I absolutely love your Tech Tales series.
AdoptedMike Thank you very much!
These days, Dell makes shit.
I still have my dell dimension 2350 and 4600, they work just fine.
+Dylan Klebold Function over form, function over form.
dell can't even put function into any kind of form reliably...
I wasn't sure I would subscribe before, but I started watching these tech tales, and I like this a lot.
Clint, An epic and truly positive Tech Tales. Well done Sir! My vote/suggestion for another edition of LGRTT would be Toshiba. I have heard it has something to do with five guys eating pie in a college dinner prior this tale being etched into PC history.
OMG that school picture of Micheal Dell, that is so awesome, it's like the perfect example of awkward school picture
Dell! My first PC as a kid was a Packard Bell. First serious PC was a Dell and it was awesome. I remember being so excited watching that little personal intro video of Michael Dell saying hello. The only Dell product I still use today is this 2407WFP widescreen monitor I'm looking at right now as I type this and its still the best monitor I've ever used.
I remember our first Dell, a pentium 2 450 with 64 MB Ram and a 10 Gb HDD. I played so much TFC on that thing. As a child of an IT parent, my mom was always bringing home the coolest new optiplex and latitude business machines, which were always a lot nicer looking and sturdier than their home counterparts. I eventually worked at that company too, can’t tell you how many dells have been through my house. We have a closet full of desktops and notebooks to this day.
My family's first computer was an IBM and we still have that thing and must i say, It is an absolute tower and monster. I still remember being little and playing games on that thing every morning. Than we went to a windows XP made by non other than HP. The game i played with that was roller coaster tycoon for years.
These tech tales are great. When I watched your videos before, I don't think you had a lot of these.
Read an article on him when I first visited America. I read that 1 in 3 PC's sold at one point - was a Dell machine. Unreal isn't it? XD
I've owned over 100 of them since then, kept a couple. The Dimension Dual Slot 1 Pentium 550Mhz machine was amazing. Onboard SCSI (it came with two 8.9GB Ultra Wide Quantum Fireballs) and an AGP 2x slot, that PC was a joy to work with. I got a few of them and sold the extra ones to friends so we could play Forsaken and Quake on LAN. I wish I had kept them now...
I think I upgraded mine to dual P3 700's, 512MB RAM and a Geforce 2 GTS before it was finally decomissioned for a P4 2Ghz.
I'm back to using a Dell Demension E520 inbetween bulds, the case itself is a work of art. Big recessed grille in the front, good airflow, cable managment , easy use hard drive caddys
Came with a decent 19 inch monitor.
Our first computer was a dell. It's because of it that I fell in love with computers. From Dell to building my own PC, time sure has flown by :')
I remember the shared dell dimension 2400 we had in the early-mid 2000s. It was bought to replace our older compaq presario we had, that I got to keep for myself.
Dell was my favorite Computer Company from Austin Texas. Even was still a private company for a long time!
Very interesting story behind Dell. I had no idea they rose from such humble roots. Thanks for the video.
Outstanding video! I LOVE technological history! Every time I go into any office, and even my Church, they have Dell PCs. However, I have heard that their customer service is still terrible, although I haven't dealt directly with them.
I remember my dad and I ordering our second computer (first dell) at the local mall’s dell kiosk with all the options we wanted and a flat screen which was so freaking exciting at the time. It was a dell dimension 8250 with a pentium 4 512mb of ram and a nvidia mx420 chipset for graphics. I played the crap out of Medal of Honor allied assault and call of duty on that thing!!
Great Tech Tales. By chance I think I will purchase my first Dell product ever, a Screen. They're still among the best in the market.
Favorite LGR Series! Keep up the good work Clint!
I have one of Dell's Inspiron laptops, can't remember exactly which one, but it's worked great for casual gaming, i've had it since 2013 and haven't had any issues except from the battery pooping out on me a few days ago, but that's the smallest problem you can have. I had no idea the company was as old as it is, it's very impressive that they've managed to stick around!
I was there starting in 1991 and saw all of this happen in person. The growth of the company when I was there was beyond crazy. I was there until 2001 when there were massive layoffs. The weird thing is that DELL refused to acknowledge the term "layoff" since they have never laid people off before. They used the term "RIF" which meant Reduction of Force. The layoffs were handled in a very unprofessional manner. I will not go into details here, but if you are interested in knowing more about that, let me know. This video was accurate. Nice job!
I remembe my fathers PC's Limited . Loved the lcd screen on the case.
Loved my IBM Aptiva, Compaq Presario, Dell Optiplexes 745 and now my mid range PC someone gave me a Dell Optiplex 990. With a GTX 710 graphics card. Both LP and LP.
Man, The Dell Dimension 8200 was my first PC. And I still have it with me. Its specs were pretty advanced for its time.
Would love to see some stuff on Gateway or Packard Bell. We had early Packard Bell and Gateway computers in the house, and that's where I found my love of tech and gaming.
I love my Alienware Dell laptop from 2012. Snobs and ignorants may hate it but the support and the build quality was solid. Still working hard today.
Really enjoyed this! I work for a computer store which pretty much do anything for Dell. Over half the computers we sell are Dell and even some of our locations have a Dell store were whole little section of the store has nothing but Dells and sales men who only sell them. So was interesting to learn little about Dell, tho im still myself type likes to build my own computer lol
Great episode, I remember Dell in 2000-2002, it was the craze!