RANT: Maintainability of some Dell laptops

On Thursday, May 1, 2014 4:03:53 PM UTC-4, Bob_Villa wrote:
On Monday, January 27, 2014 12:19:29 AM UTC-6, Ben Myers wrote:

If Michael Dell and his cohort, now out of the scrutiny of Wall Street and investors, are looking for something to do, they need to take a very close look at exactly how serviceable and maintainable their newer laptops are, and maybe figure out why they aren't selling so well. Yeah, yeah, I know. Windows 8 is toxic, plus tablets and other fondleslabs are all the rage.. But try to repair some of these laptops. Me, oh, my.



Last of all we have the wonderful Inspiron N5010 and N4010, and, so you want to put in a larger hard drive or an SSD? Yep, tear it down, remove the motherboard, flip over the motherboard, replace hard drive.





Ben...I just worked on an N5050 (bought it for $40) and there are 16? screws on the bottom (only 2 being different from the rest), remove the keyboard, 2 more screws, 2 palm rest connectors, pop the palm rest off...slide the HDD over and it's out!

I don't know if I would have gotten it for 40 if it was 2 screws to get it out! ;^)

Exactly. Well, take solace in the fact that the N5050 is an improvement over the previously lamented and lamentable N5010 and N4010. At least you didn't have to pull the motherboard out. Maybe enough people bitched about the N5010 and N4010 early enough? Who knows? But still not as easy as popping two screws... Ben

On Monday, May 5, 2014 9:47:34 PM UTC-5, Ben Myers wrote:
On Thursday, May 1, 2014 4:03:53 PM UTC-4, Bob_Villa wrote:

On Monday, January 27, 2014 12:19:29 AM UTC-6, Ben Myers wrote:



If Michael Dell and his cohort, now out of the scrutiny of Wall Street and investors, are looking for something to do, they need to take a very close look at exactly how serviceable and maintainable their newer laptops are, and maybe figure out why they aren't selling so well. Yeah, yeah, I know. Windows 8 is toxic, plus tablets and other fondleslabs are all the rage. But try to repair some of these laptops. Me, oh, my.







Last of all we have the wonderful Inspiron N5010 and N4010, and, so you want to put in a larger hard drive or an SSD? Yep, tear it down, remove the motherboard, flip over the motherboard, replace hard drive.











Ben...I just worked on an N5050 (bought it for $40) and there are 16? screws on the bottom (only 2 being different from the rest), remove the keyboard, 2 more screws, 2 palm rest connectors, pop the palm rest off...slide the HDD over and it's out!



I don't know if I would have gotten it for 40 if it was 2 screws to get it out! ;^)



Exactly. Well, take solace in the fact that the N5050 is an improvement over the previously lamented and lamentable N5010 and N4010. At least you didn't have to pull the motherboard out. Maybe enough people bitched about the N5010 and N4010 early enough? Who knows? But still not as easy as popping two screws... Ben

I worked on a Toshiba A665 that was one screw to remove the HDD...any who, I like the N5050 and I'm keeping it! 8^)

On Sat, 17 May 2014 07:18:55 -0700 (PDT), Bob_Villa
wrote:

On Monday, May 5, 2014 9:47:34 PM UTC-5, Ben Myers wrote:
On Thursday, May 1, 2014 4:03:53 PM UTC-4, Bob_Villa wrote:

On Monday, January 27, 2014 12:19:29 AM UTC-6, Ben Myers wrote:



If Michael Dell and his cohort, now out of the scrutiny of Wall Street and investors, are looking for something to do, they need to take a very close look at exactly how serviceable and maintainable their newer laptops are, and maybe figure out why they aren't selling so well. Yeah, yeah, I know. Windows 8 is toxic, plus tablets and other fondleslabs are all the rage. But try to repair some of these laptops. Me, oh, my.







Last of all we have the wonderful Inspiron N5010 and N4010, and, so you want to put in a larger hard drive or an SSD? Yep, tear it down, remove the motherboard, flip over the motherboard, replace hard drive.











Ben...I just worked on an N5050 (bought it for $40) and there are 16? screws on the bottom (only 2 being different from the rest), remove the keyboard, 2 more screws, 2 palm rest connectors, pop the palm rest off...slide the HDD over and it's out!



I don't know if I would have gotten it for 40 if it was 2 screws to get it out! ;^)



Exactly. Well, take solace in the fact that the N5050 is an improvement over the previously lamented and lamentable N5010 and N4010. At least you didn't have to pull the motherboard out. Maybe enough people bitched about the N5010 and N4010 early enough? Who knows? But still not as easy as popping two screws... Ben

I worked on a Toshiba A665 that was one screw to remove the HDD...any who, I like the N5050 and I'm keeping it! 8^)
All this is why I find most Dells, when they start to misbehave,
become "the dell from hell" in short order.

On Saturday, May 17, 2014 11:21:51 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Sat, 17 May 2014 07:18:55 -0700 (PDT), Bob_Villa

wrote:



On Monday, May 5, 2014 9:47:34 PM UTC-5, Ben Myers wrote:

On Thursday, May 1, 2014 4:03:53 PM UTC-4, Bob_Villa wrote:



On Monday, January 27, 2014 12:19:29 AM UTC-6, Ben Myers wrote:







If Michael Dell and his cohort, now out of the scrutiny of Wall Street and investors, are looking for something to do, they need to take a very close look at exactly how serviceable and maintainable their newer laptops are, and maybe figure out why they aren't selling so well. Yeah, yeah, I know. Windows 8 is toxic, plus tablets and other fondleslabs are all the rage. But try to repair some of these laptops. Me, oh, my.















Last of all we have the wonderful Inspiron N5010 and N4010, and, so you want to put in a larger hard drive or an SSD? Yep, tear it down, remove the motherboard, flip over the motherboard, replace hard drive.























Ben...I just worked on an N5050 (bought it for $40) and there are 16? screws on the bottom (only 2 being different from the rest), remove the keyboard, 2 more screws, 2 palm rest connectors, pop the palm rest off...slide the HDD over and it's out!







I don't know if I would have gotten it for 40 if it was 2 screws to get it out! ;^)







Exactly. Well, take solace in the fact that the N5050 is an improvement over the previously lamented and lamentable N5010 and N4010. At least you didn't have to pull the motherboard out. Maybe enough people bitched about the N5010 and N4010 early enough? Who knows? But still not as easy as popping two screws... Ben



I worked on a Toshiba A665 that was one screw to remove the HDD...any who, I like the N5050 and I'm keeping it! 8^)

All this is why I find most Dells, when they start to misbehave,

become "the dell from hell" in short order.

Don't tar and feather all the Dells with the same brush. I can easily tear down and get at the important insides of most any Dell Latitude in a matter of minutes. I can't speak favorably for many other Dell laptops. The designs are all over the map, evidently managed by different product managers with different Dell engineers and other personnel involved with the original manufacturers, Foxconn and others.

I absolutely had to pick on the ghastly Inspiron N5050 and the other Inspiron N-series laptops.

So I'll continue to repeat and repeat and repeat...

ALL the so-called computer "manufacturers" sell different product lines to businesses than to consumers. In selling thousands of laptops to a business or govt agency, Dell and others do not have the luxury of selling cheaply designed computers made out of even cheaper parts. The risk of significant financial loss is too great because either the lousy products will be returned for not performing properly or the company will not be invited to bid on the next computer refresh cycle.

Now consumers are different. A consumer buys a computer that turns out to be a piece of garbage, and the consumer buys another brand next. Loss of sale of one computer. What's the monetary loss? Maybe $100 for a high end laptop?

So I tell people to buy business-class laptops, I sell them some or they buy some elsewhere, and they are all happy campers because they took my advice. But I willingly repair most any computer when I can get the parts and repair instructions to do it.

For Dell, Latitude generally equals good quality. For Lenovo, it's Thinkpad. For HP, I dunno. HPaq has been schizophrenic ever since they bought Compaq.

I have an Acer here that I took in to replace a $10 part. I had disassemble it completely. Guess what? The screen was attached to the carcass anchored in flimsy plastic, and it simply broke off once I had removed the palmrest. I don't think the owner will go for another $70 part (bottom chassis) plus the cost of my time to put it back together, crossing my fingers while I do so. Did you ever have to put a computer back together with all your fingers crossed? It ain't easy.

You wanna buy an Acer, or, as I call them, Acer-eGateMachines? Good luck! Toshiba, idem. Sony computers, R.I.P... Ben Myers

On Sun, 18 May 2014 18:39:57 -0700 (PDT), Ben Myers
wrote:



For Dell, Latitude generally equals good quality. For Lenovo, it's Thinkpad. For HP, I dunno. HPaq has been schizophrenic ever since they bought Compaq.

The change started way back when they bought Pakard Bell.

I have an Acer here that I took in to replace a $10 part. I had disassemble it completely. Guess what? The screen was attached to the carcass anchored in flimsy plastic, and it simply broke off once I had removed the palmrest. I don't think the owner will go for another $70 part (bottom chassis) plus the cost of my time to put it back together, crossing my fingers while I do so. Did you ever have to put a computer back together with all your fingers crossed? It ain't easy.

You wanna buy an Acer, or, as I call them, Acer-eGateMachines? Good luck! Toshiba, idem. Sony computers, R.I.P... Ben Myers

On Monday, May 19, 2014 11:42:23 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Sun, 18 May 2014 18:39:57 -0700 (PDT), Ben Myers

wrote:







For Dell, Latitude generally equals good quality. For Lenovo, it's Thinkpad. For HP, I dunno. HPaq has been schizophrenic ever since they bought Compaq.



The change started way back when they bought Pakard Bell.



I have an Acer here that I took in to replace a $10 part. I had disassemble it completely. Guess what? The screen was attached to the carcass anchored in flimsy plastic, and it simply broke off once I had removed the palmrest. I don't think the owner will go for another $70 part (bottom chassis) plus the cost of my time to put it back together, crossing my fingers while I do so. Did you ever have to put a computer back together with all your fingers crossed? It ain't easy.



You wanna buy an Acer, or, as I call them, Acer-eGateMachines? Good luck! Toshiba, idem. Sony computers, R.I.P... Ben Myers

Right. Packard Bell got such an awful and deserved reputation in the US, that it went either Chapter 11 or Chapter 7, then liquidation. Today, Acer courageously carries on the Packard Bell brand name in Europe. What a grab bag is Acer!

Back in the day of Pentium II computers, Acer towers were really nice. Sturdy and reliable. They blew it by going low end, especially with the acquisitions of PB for Europe and eMachines (via Gateway). Today, Acer "Veriton" business class desktops seem to be taking over the crappy weird designs that Sony favored so much... Ben Myers