Aldi laptop worth it?

blues2

Is this good value? I hope I have posted in the right location

http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/special_buys3_13683.htm

Multimedia Design Notebook MEDION® AKOYA®

each €579.99 *
For more details about this product please click here

• AMD Athlon™ X2 P320 Processor (2.10GHz)
• ATI PowerXpress™ technology
• ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5470 DirectX® 11 graphics processor with 512 MB memory and digital HDMI audio/video output and ATI Radeon™ HD graphics processor
• Now with fast and energy-efficient technology 3GB DDR3 SDRAM
• Large 320GB S-ATA high-performance hard drive with lightning-fast access to data and applications
• Fantastic sounds – high-definition audio with 2 speakers Dolby® Advanced Audio certified1
• Latest wireless LAN 802.11n-standard technology with up to 300Mbit/s, IEEE 802.11b/g compatible2
• 8x multi-standard DVD/CD burner with DVD-RAM and Dual Layer support3
• Illuminated MultiTOUCH pad
• Ergonomic keyboard with numeric pad for fast, comfortable data input
• Digital HDMI audio/video out
• Network controller Gigabit LAN (10/100/1000Mbit/s.)
• 6-cell Li-ion high-performance battery
• Comprehensive software package with original Windows® 7 Home Premium (32 Bit) (OEM versions)

jpl888

Well I recommend Dell to my customers and I've been in the business 14 years.

At the end of the day any laptop is only as good as the parts that are in it and the support you can get under warranty.

I know someone with a Sony VAIO and the webcam broke in a few days. The lip of the laptop screen was very flimsy, which obviously contributed and it has broken again since. Added to that she had corrupt graphics on boot up which then inexplicably went.

It took 2 weeks to even get the laptop sent back the first time. Dell will come out to you within a day or two and though they might not look as nice they are well built with good quality parts.

The biggest downer with Dell is the language barrier with their telephone support. Having said that it has never stopped me getting the job done.

jd83

Aldi laptops are pretty good, my parents have one and never a problem. However each store will probably get at most 10 laptops and there will be a queue. So get there early. Its actually a bit of a joke as they advertise the things so much in the papers and then you turn up and there are none left as they barely had any stock to begin with.

Dell are a joke. Their laptops are as bad as their telephone support so id just stay away.

jpl888

Perhaps you could post some justification before you posit that "Dell are a joke".

I have been supporting businesses for the last 14 years and Dell have fewer problems versus other manufacturers.

HP are a good second best.

danjo-xx

Dell are a joke. Their laptops are as bad as their telephone support so id just stay away.

No personal experience but a friend of mine who's laptop was just out of warrenty when screen developed problems and all Dell would do was to look at it... charge €100...charming.....

jpl888

danjo-xx wrote: »

No personal experience but a friend of mine who's laptop was just out of warrenty when screen developed problems and all Dell would do was to look at it... charge €100...charming.....

I haven't heard of much discretion in the industry where "just out of warranty" is concerned. The big manufacturers all offer a standard fee to fix out of warranty products no matter what the problem. Dell and HP are around €300.

gbee

jpl888 wrote: »

HP are a good second best.

I'll run with you on HP, but I knew as much, if not more than the Dell engineers, had laptops, PCs & one server ~ difficult to make them understand that I knew what was wrong and just give me the part and I'll fit it myself.

My oldest piece of gear now is five years old ~ once reinstalled ~ no physical problems or clashes ~ it's a HP.

So now I'm on HP and Panasonic Toughbooks for my lappies. For the cost of the Pannies, poor enough but massive build quality.

jpl888

All of my customers pretty much run Dell. A room full of the machines at one customer are Optliex GX280's that are 7 years old and only a couple of them have failed.

I normally start telling people to replace at 7 years, they are pretty slow for today's requirements.

jd83

jpl888 wrote: »

Perhaps you could post some justification before you posit that "Dell are a joke".

I have been supporting businesses for the last 14 years and Dell have fewer problems versus other manufacturers.

HP are a good second best.

Ive ordered 2 dell machines on separate occasions and they have been faulty. Getting it fixed and eventually my money back was a pain in the ass. Ive had friends with similar problems. Where I work they replaced all the dell machines with hp desktops due to constant problems. They are just cheaply thrown together overpriced pieces junk. You either must be extremely lucky with your purchases or else they must provide better builds to business users

jpl888

If that's the case maybe home users should buy the small business machines?

I personally have an Inspiron 1750 and Mini 10V. Recently purchased a Dell Poweredge T110 for customer. No problems with home kit and haven't had a server failure in 5 years.

Last failure on any customers Dell less than 3 years old was at the start of the year. Out of a hundred odd PCs that's not a bad stat.

And as I said apart from the language problems and having to jump through hoops to get them out (I have that with all the manufacturers) when they do agree to come they come quickly and sort it out pronto. Maybe it's just me.

Nononolan

A friend of mine works in a Sony centre and he was telling me roughly 70% of hardware faults on vaio's are harddrive related....lots of hdd failures within warranty. Fair enough it's covered under warranty but the big killer with repairs is the wait whilst the items in transit....it's the same with most brands, unless you take the fault direct to the manufacturer. My friend told me a horror story where a laptop he arranged to send away ended up in France instead of the uk for repair, it took a google translator and numerous phone calls to get it back repaired...all in all just over 2 months wait for the customer. For the most part straight forward repairs should be back in a week including transit!
Those things aside, I still like vaios...overpriced though like most Sony stuff. Dell just get a hardtime of call centres, but anyone I know with one seems fairly happy.

jpl888

Maybe you should be giving the Aldi computer equipment a miss, see here:-

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055983166

Johnboy1951

I have been considering the Medion .... have had very good experience with any of the electronic gear of that make I have bought.

The three year warranty is maybe a tipping point ...... when comparing it to this
http://elara.ie/products/detailsfullbdl.asp?productcode=ECE2012564#

That is a Toshiba of similar specs ...... the main difference being the Tosh has 1GB extra RAM and 64 bit Windows and is a few quid dearer ........... but only 1 year warranty.

I have to make my mind up very soon ......

(off topic a bit ... my experience with dealing with Dell is that the business service and products are much better than the consumer stuff. I would recommend the business products but not the other)

regards.

uxvox

Use Dell machines for 15 years and have to say never had any problems with them and the support is great. I'd stay away from Aldi and stick with major suppliers for after-sales support, and so on. Who knows the origin of the Aldi efforts anyway. Hardly built to order.

michael999999

and you know the origins of dell---poland.

softdancomputer

toshiba or hp for build
dell or medion (aldi) for price
toshiba, hp, dell, medion for support after sales...(in this order)

alex73

jpl888 wrote: »

Well I recommend Dell to my customers and I've been in the business 14 years.

The biggest downer with Dell is the language barrier with their telephone support. Having said that it has never stopped me getting the job done.

Well Let me tell you a story about Aldi customer care for their computers.

Got a new desktop (2nd in 6 years) from Aldi. Sunday morning and would not turn on.. Fished out the customer care number from the box.. Did not expect to get an answer. Rang the number, answered in good English in 15 secs, The German Guy told me to unplug the desktop and to hold the POWER key for a minute then to plug back the computer and presto all ok. They give a 5 year warranty and they really mean it. I have to say I would never buy a DELL after buying from Aldi, Guy in the store told me bring home the computer, if you don't like it bring it back within a week in original packing for a refund.. Aldi knows how to sell computers, they work well and they give excellent 24*7 customer service (I have only rang once in 6 years)

I bought a DELL PDA and don't get me started on getting support from their call centres... Its nauseating in the extreme.

alex73

uxvox wrote: »

Use Dell machines for 15 years and have to say never had any problems with them and the support is great. I'd stay away from Aldi and stick with major suppliers for after-sales support, and so on. Who knows the origin of the Aldi efforts anyway. Hardly built to order.

My experience would say the opposite. Aldi gives far better customer service, you can always bring the computer back to the store (and they do refund). If you have a problem with Dell you have to convince the rep on the other end of the phone of the problem before they will send someone to collect the computer, fix it and replace it. And Dell only give 1 year warranty.

Dell does employ still a lot of Irish in Ireland, but Aldi gives a far better service, that is my personal experience.

As far as computers go, Dell or Medion(aldi) not major diffences, just that Medion gives the 5 year warranty for free with the price and their call centre is very easy to call.

Macers

alex73 wrote: »

My experience would say the opposite. Aldi gives far better customer service, you can always bring the computer back to the store (and they do refund). If you have a problem with Dell you have to convince the rep on the other end of the phone of the problem before they will send someone to collect the computer, fix it and replace it. And Dell only give 1 year warranty.

Dell does employ still a lot of Irish in Ireland, but Aldi gives a far better service, that is my personal experience.

As far as computers go, Dell or Medion(aldi) not major diffences, just that Medion gives the 5 year warranty for free with the price and their call centre is very easy to call.

Just to add my 2c.

I have owned both Dell and Medion laptops in the past 2 years. Only issue I ever had was with the Dell where a motherboard was faulty. Dell collected - repaired - and returned with in a week. No complaints from Dell support - never had to contact Medion a support.

Recommend either although I think Medion is good value for money

GerardKeating

michael999999 wrote: »

and you know the origins of dell---poland.

Not for laptop, they all made in China

jpl888

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I have been considering the Medion .... have had very good experience with any of the electronic gear of that make I have bought.

The three year warranty is maybe a tipping point ...... when comparing it to this
http://elara.ie/products/detailsfullbdl.asp?productcode=ECE2012564#

That is a Toshiba of similar specs ...... the main difference being the Tosh has 1GB extra RAM and 64 bit Windows and is a few quid dearer ........... but only 1 year warranty.

I have to make my mind up very soon ......

(off topic a bit ... my experience with dealing with Dell is that the business service and products are much better than the consumer stuff. I would recommend the business products but not the other)

regards.

The warranty doesn't count for that much if you are left without the laptop for weeks or months at a time like my daughter was with her Sony.

Toshiba laptop quality is pretty good. I have had several customers who have bought them. One has a 2003 Satellite M30-604 that the hard drive only just gave up on and it's till going strong with a gig of extra memory, so it looks the better option of the 2 to me.

Hank Scorpio

jpl888 wrote: »

All of my customers pretty much run Dell. A room full of the machines at one customer are Optliex GX280's that are 7 years old and only a couple of them have failed.

I normally start telling people to replace at 7 years, they are pretty slow for today's requirements.

Iv had around 200 GX280s returned to me with faulty mobos and fan issues.
Its a well known issue with that particular model.

On the bright side if your laptop is in warranty dell are top notch for fixing it.

jpl888

nuxxx wrote: »

Iv had around 200 GX280s returned to me with faulty mobos and fan issues.
Its a well known issue with that particular model.

On the bright side if your laptop is in warranty dell are top notch for fixing it.

Of the couple that have failed since 2007, I think that was the issue. I certainly remember the racing fan anyway. Whether there is a design fault/inherent flaw with them or not any PC that lasts 7 years is doing well.

Expanding or leaking capacitors huh, who would've thunk it.

Apparently it isn't just an issue that affects or has affected Dell. http://news.cnet.com/Bulging-capacitors-haunt-Dell/2100-1003_3-5924742.html

And in fairness most of my customers run Dimension or Vostro so that explains why I haven't seen that much of it.