Dell sold "faulty computers"

[Revy]

This (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/technology/29dell.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=business) is something to think about when you ponder the planned obsolescence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence) of high-tech products....


After the math department at the University of Texas noticed some of its Dell computers failing, Dell examined the machines. The company came up with an unusual reason for the computers’ demise: the school had overtaxed the machines by making them perform difficult math calculations.

Dell, however, had actually sent the university, in Austin, desktop PCs riddled with faulty electrical components that were leaking chemicals and causing the malfunctions.

“The funny thing was that every one of them went bad at the same time,” said Greg Barry, the president of PointSolve, a technology services company near Philadelphia that had bought dozens. “It’s unheard-of, but Dell didn’t seem to recognize this as a problem at the time.”

Documents recently unsealed in a three-year-old lawsuit against Dell show that the company’s employees were actually aware that the computers were likely to break.

A study by Dell found that OptiPlex computers affected by the bad capacitors were expected to cause problems up to 97 percent of the time over a three-year period, according to the lawsuit.

[Hiratsuka]

I bet the UT Math Department will be looking into Toshiba or HP very soon.

[khad]

Probably Teapo or Fujyuu caps. It's not so much planned obsolescence as simply using the cheapest components available. If dell can shave 3 cents off the price of a unit, they would do it.

[The Fighting_Crusnik]

lol, not surprising... most of the dell systems that I've used are horrible and they do not hold up to time at all... my mom's 2 year old laptop is in horrible condition after just 2 years, and that thing is just pathetic considering what she payed for it.... but she did refuse to listen to me even though I'm the one who everyone that my parents know look to when they have computer issues....:D

[AK]

All my school's computers are Dell :laugh:

[danyboy27]

Dell selling shitty computer?

in other news, the sky is blue, coming up, we breathe air, can you believe this shit!

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

They (it manufactures) all use planned obsolescence, from the suspicous Red Ring of Death on early Xbox 360's just after the warrenty, to Apple's Ipods which virtually all fail after around 2-3 years (sometimes sooner).

[AK]

They (it manufactures) all use planned obsolescence, from the suspicous Red Ring of Death on early Xbox 360's just after the warrenty, to Apple's Ipods which virtually all fail after around 2-3 years (sometimes sooner).
Aww. Mine's 2 and a half years old :blushing:

[Blackscare]

I know planned obsolescence exists, but I've been lucky :)

My ipod is like 4 years old, my phone has been put through HELL for the last two years with no problems (as was my first phone, a razor that I had for longer than that, and those things were notoriously quick to break), and my computer of 4 years still kicks ass (which admittedly I built, and I run Linux so it's still pretty fast and responsive).

[AK]

I had the same computer for 8 years... and I threw my phone into the ocean because I got bored.

[GPDP]

I can personally testify on this issue. My dad buys computer equipment in bulk, and there is a specific Dell model (the Optiplex GX270 desktop) that is known to us to be EXTREMELY problematic. Well over half of GX270s we have ever checked out (and I'm talking hundreds of computers here) have had leaking capacitors which render the whole thing useless. There have been times when, upon buying an entire network of GX270s, virtually all of them were junk.

Interestingly enough, the GX240, GX260, and GX280 models rarely ever arrive faulty, at least not in this fashion. Looks like Dell just decided to be cheap for that one model.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Well my Dell is 8 years old. Perhaps I'm lucky!:)

[CommunityBeliever]

My first thought is that if they sell a computer with Windows on it that makes it faulty :lol:


will be looking into Toshiba or HP very soonThat is not going to do them any good, all these corporations use planned obsolescence and other mischievous tactics in their pursuit of profit.

[anticap]

My first thought is that if they sell a computer with Windows on it that makes it faulty :lol:

http://www.dell.com/ubuntu

[CommunityBeliever]

http://www.dell.com/ubuntu (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.dell.com/ubuntu)

Well at least there not all faulty then :thumbup1: