My mom has a Dell laptop and yes, it has had quite a few problems. I'm so glad that I have a Mac. It's wonderful.

Get an Acer and install Avast (it's a virus program). I've had my Acer for over 3 years and it's the best computer I've ever had! The only problems I've ever had with it stemmed from viruses that I had gotten through a stupid mistake (my friends turned off my firewall at a LAN party and forgot to turn it back on =>.<=) but then I installed Avast and it has run amazingly ever since! Best part is, Avast is totally free if you're running it on a personal computer.

That's true, Avast it's great! I haven't had any virus problems since I have installed it. I have an Acer too, but Vista F**** it all, now I have to buy an expansion soon because I almost don't have any more memory to run the system nicely.

Yes, I've noticed the quality of Dells aren't the best. At both my different schools in the past couple of years, we were donated Dell laptops, and they've SUCKED!

So this year when I got my Gigi, I picked out a Toshiba. They're really nice! >.<

vista is a rushed version of windows7.

Originally Posted by IkuAki

I have a Dell laptop and Vista and no problems really.. well besides the usual Windows problems. Haha. The battery is completely dead, however, and seeing as how I don't really use it like a laptop I haven't gotten a new battery for it. I heard the battery only lasts for about a year anyway; so I just save my money. The only thing that really bothers me is I plugged headphones into the jack and after I took the headphones out my speakers stopped working. I can't plug headphones into the jack and listen that way either. -sigh- But other than that, it's been a decent reliable computer.

Find the sound settings for your pc in your control panel. You may just need to reset the sound mode back to the pcs speakers.

I am unimpressed with the longevity of computers in general. Almost every computer I've seen in use for a year or more ends up slow, glitchy and problematic. Ironically, the best two I've witnessed are laptops. One HP and one Dell.

One thing I'd like to add to my previous statement is, it wasn't actually the screen that was giving me the problems that I sent the computer in for. The actual problem was that I spilled soda on the laptop (which is a long story in and of itself that involves me tripping over my kitten and knocking a cup of soda over that was on a completely different table, which flew across the room and in a horrible twist of fate landed on my laptop), but not only did they repair the damage from the soda (which probably involved a lot of work since they didn't lose ANY of my files), they also replaced the screen which was having very minor problems closing. I know it was a new screen because they actually sent a form that listed all of the repairs that were made, and in addition the screen still had that plastic covering that you're supposed to peel off. And I guess my insurance covered all of that, because I wasn't charged a thing for any of the services that were provided.

So yes, I'm very pleased with the Dell company. In fact, the desktop computer I'm on currently is a Dell, and it's the best computer in the house.

*hugs* That's a factory Lemon...I'm soo sorry it happened to you.

I have a friend who has had dell computers and they last for many years. I thought they were one of the better computers out there.

My friend has a dell and I don't think she likes it either. My husband has an acer and my sister-in-law has an HP. They both seem to like the quality of theirs good.

Mine sucks, too. It's the very next model after the ones they made that were recalled because their batteries exploded. It runs very hot, and that worries me sometimes. Plus, we all know that running hot means that things will break faster.

I guess I shouldn't complain, though. It's lasted me almost four years, and the only major problem is that the cd drive stopped working randomly one day. And the bvattery doesn't hold a charge anymore. It just runs really slow and the screen "blinks" a lot.

I know what you're going through. Except for me and family it was Gateway. For us it wasn't just the laptops but Desktops as well. Are first Gateway was back in 2000. We had constant problems with it, having use the recovery disk on it several times. It eventually died and we couldn't anything to fix it. We replaced it with another Gateway; we had several problems with that one as well. At one point, we had to get a new hard drive. Then came my laptop. My dad worked for a company that got a discount on Gateway computers so that's what I got. From the beginning, it had a problem with a driver that was incompatible with the sound card. It was fixed. Later, I had more problems with the driver but was able to fix it with a recovery disk. For awhile this computer worked, until I had yet another problems with the driver, I took it a computer place and they fixed it. After this power cord wouldn't properly connect to the computer. We had to have the needle that connects the power cord to the computer replaced. After this I had several smaller problems with it and decided that I had enough with Gateway.

I don't want to jinx myself but my Dell laptop has been a saint. The only negative is the fan is really loud but that's only because its the 17 inch and larger laptops are generally louder regardless of brand.

I think everyone at one point in their life deals with a brand that is the bane of their existence. Mine is Gateway yours is Dell.

I always have had apple, and my last laptop lasted around five years before it had any problems.