Solved Why do Dell owners have so many problems?

kelper said:

This thread was supposed to be about Dells, not Linux! GRRRRRRRRRRR.

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OK. Back to Dell.

Perhaps a good reason I don't have a problem with Dell is what I buy and how long I keep them.

I use only laptops and I only buy premium XPS models with premium specs. When I buy, I always add three years of Dell Premium Support. I never keep a Dell past its three-year premium support period, so I never have a Dell that's more than three years old.

Not everyone can afford a premium model, let alone extent the Warranty. Here in Greece we get two years minimum by Law. Acer used to be a value for money option. Of course we didn't expect the quality and support of Dell or HP. We just wanted to do our job. Some of the old bloatware I remember was trial Office, almost anyone would uninstall it and install some standalone Microsoft Office version. Trial McAfee antivirus. Hardly anyone would pay to activate it. Most would just remove it after it expired and install some free antivirus like Avira or Avast.

I dont think Dell has more problems then other OEM brands, HP, Asus, Acer.
I have had both Dell laptops, desktops and server.. and they all worked great.

I think the main problem can be that Dell might popup do to many have Dell's and its either user related problems... or it is low end models of Dell that has less reliable hardware.
This also goes for HP Asus etc etc. all brands has low end models to be able to reach those that hasn't a quadzillion dollars to spend on hardware.

Marie SWE said:

I dont think Dell has more problems then other OEM brands, HP, Asus, Acer.
I have had both Dell laptops, desktops and server.. and they all worked great.

I think the main problem can be that Dell might popup do to many have Dell's and its either user related problems... or it is low end models of Dell that has less reliable hardware.
This also goes for HP Asus etc etc. all brands has low end models to be able to reach those that hasn't a quadzillion dollars to spend on hardware.

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I think it's because Dell does things differently from other manufacturers and has non-standard firmware. But is just might be because they sell so many computers. I think Dell is probably outsold by cheaper brands today.

But Dell is mentioned far more often than all other brands together, in these forum threads.

kelper said:

I think it's because Dell does things differently from other manufacturers and has non-standard firmware. But is just might be because they sell so many computers. I think Dell is probably outsold by cheaper brands today.

But Dell is mentioned far more often than all other brands together, in these forum threads.

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Probably mostly because of some Dell software or drivers not working as expected, not because Dell hardware is not as good as other brands. The solution is simple. Use only the drivers, uninstall any Dell software you don't need.

spapakons said:

Probably mostly because of some Dell software or drivers not working as expected, not because Dell hardware is not as good as other brands. The solution is simple. Use only the drivers, uninstall any Dell software you don't need.

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My Dell System One was delivered and set up April 29th. It's run totally error free since. I never uninstall any included Dell software. I actually use all of it.

Apparently the top manufacturers of laptops are not the likes of Lenovo, HP, or Dell.
More than half the world's laptops are made by just two companies:

There is an interesting paradox in the laptop industry: the brand that consumers care about most is often the least important part of the product.

A laptop's CPU comes from Intel or AMD, GPU from NVIDIA, screen from BOE or LG, RAM from Samsung or Hynix, storage from WD or Kioxia,
case from some stamping factory, and finally assembled on a production line at Quanta or Compal. What the brand really does is industrial design,
software optimization, quality sampling, marketing, and after-sales service.

Of course, these tasks are important. A good brand can deliver a better experience on the same hardware. But when you see two brands with
identical specs and a 30% price difference, you need to ask: does that 30% pay for better design, better after-sales, better quality control - or
simply a louder logo?

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TraderGary said:

My Dell System One was delivered and set up April 29th. It's run totally error free since. I never uninstall any included Dell software. I actually use all of it.

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Each of my systems are heavily modified, per machine. Any rig I’ve built utilizes ASUS mobo and Nvidia gpu, Intel cpu and GSkill ram. SSDs are either WD or Samsung. Never had any issues, nor do I use any manufacturer bloatware. Aside from going down the Microsoft rabbithole, that’s the best part of PCs.. that there are different strokes for different folks.

dacrone said:

Each of my systems are heavily modified, per machine. Any rig I’ve built utilizes ASUS mobo and Nvidia gpu, Intel cpu and GSkill ram. SSDs are either WD or Samsung. Never had any issues, nor do I use any manufacturer bloatware. Aside from going down the Microsoft rabbithole, that’s the best part of PCs.. that there are different strokes for different folks.

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Absolutely. I'm mobile most of the time so my requirements are premium laptops.

TraderGary said:

Absolutely. I'm mobile most of the time so my requirements are premium laptops.

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Used to use a surface pro 9 but now just stick with MacBook Pro dual boot with windows. MBP are hard to beat for quality.

spapakons said:

Probably mostly because of some Dell software or drivers not working as expected, not because Dell hardware is not as good as other brands. The solution is simple. Use only the drivers, uninstall any Dell software you don't need.

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Admittedly I'm not an IT but I have worked on my fair share of Dell PCs and lap tops. I have found that if I just stick to the Dell drivers and software and avoid the generic stuff things generally work out for the better. Rarely have I ever had a Dell PC returned to me that I have worked on and for the most part they're much easier to work on than other brands. Of course things may have changed as I'm accustomed to working on PCs five or ten years old (or even older). For my personal use I prefer using my own builds, but once again I'm referring to older hardware and for the most part I'm happy with it.

As with any proprietary builds, Dell, HP, Acer, etc. it generally is a good idea to remove the bloatware. One way of doing this is to simply remove the drive with the OS and put it in a safe place for a rainy day. (Make sure to label it first.) Then just install your OS on a separate drive and download the proprietary drivers from Dell. To the best of my knowledge it still accepts the original activation key. This approach worked perfectly for me when I set up a Dell Studio XPS 9001 (tossed in a dumpster for recycling). I later popped in an old MSI 1050Ti GFX card and I was good to go. I'm enjoying documentaries and videos on it practically every night and likely will for some time.

Have used most major brands in large Corporate environments with tens of thousands of laptops and desktops. Every vendor has issues of one kind or another bar none.

As far as having a lot of BIOS updates being bad, I'd rather have that than an abandoned laptop or desktop that is a cheap starter model and will never again see a BIOS update because the industry has moved on. So you're saying that Google Chrome that now updates almost every week should stop fixing bugs and simply ignore them and stop updating?

Most large vendors on the business class and higher end consumer class will still give you at least 3 years of BIOS support for updates. Some will give you updates for 5 years on a very popular high end business class system. So yes, what you pay for also matters.

I personally don't find enough evidence in my decades of supporting various vendors

Doing a bit of online research it would seem that my own experience showing no clear winner works out in public records too.



I don't believe there are any verified, systematic, comparative public records that establish one major PC vendor has meaningfully more BIOS/UEFI bugs, errors, or BIOS issues than any other. If you're aware of such verified records please share.

Most quantified reliability sources measure overall hardware faults, RMA rates, or warranty claims, not BIOS, or bugs in their software

Consumer surveys (e.g., Which? UK laptop fault rates after 1/3/7 years) place Apple and Samsung lowest and show Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and ASUS clustered higher and similar to one another


Puget Systems Most Reliable Hardware of 2025 (not vendor full systems)


U.S. Electronics Warranty Report

No clear ranking of higher RMA rates by specific systems (laptops vs. desktops, consumer vs. enterprise) emerges from the available corporate warranty claims data

Key recent absolute claims figures (approximate, calendar year style aggregations from the reports)

2023: HP Inc. ~$876 million; Dell ~$873 million; HPE ~$208 million; IBM ~$83 million; Super Micro ~$38 million.

2024: HP Inc. ~$907 million; Dell ~$891 million; HPE ~$185 million; IBM lower; Super Micro higher (~$55 million in one summary)


Lenovo is actually the #1 selling vendor but there are no public RMA rate


Gartner and IDC data for 2025 full-year and early 2026 quarters show a stable top order:

Lenovo: Consistently #1. Full-year 2025 shipments roughly 70–73.5 million units (≈25–27% share). Quarterly figures in 2026 have been in the 16–19+ million range.
HP Inc.: Solidly #2. Full-year 2025 ≈57–57.5 million units (≈20–21% share). Recent quarterly shipments around 12–15 million.
Dell Technologies: #3. Full-year 2025 ≈41–42 million units (≈15–16% share). Recent quarterly shipments around 9–12 million.
Apple: #4, roughly 23–28 million for full-year 2025 (≈9–10% share), with stronger recent growth in some quarters.
ASUS and Acer: #5 and #6, typically 17–20 million (ASUS) and 16–17 million (Acer) for full-year 2025, or 4–5 million per quarter.

TraderGary said:

I never keep a Dell past its three-year premium support period, so I never have a Dell that's more than three years old.

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Wish I could afford to do that.

If a computer really needs three year's of premium support, what does that say about usability and reliability?

kelper said:

If a computer really needs three year's of premium support, what does that say about usability and reliability?

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Who said it needs? Some models have only 2 years and you pay extra for another 3 years Warranty. That doesn't mean the manufacturer can always fix it inside that period. If they cannot repair they might trade it for a similar model. Once my friend had bought a motherboard which was an older model (not current), and a few days later it had some issue. He returned to the shop and because they could not repair or replace it, they traded it for a newer and better without price difference! Major stores don't care because they have a large profit margin. Also they will never refund your money, they prefer to trade the faulty component or give you a discount coupon for your next purchase. It is their policy. They will only refund if you make too much noise and you insist you don't want a trade or discount, but your money back. Very few do that since they will have to buy another part anyway and chances are they will pay more in another shop, so they accept the trade or discount.

Kind of like Car or Home insurance. One rarely ever needs it but if something catastrophic does hit and you don't have insurance then you're in trouble. The same with a computer. In most cases it will easily out live 3 years, but if something does happen, you have the support contact to get it repaired or replaced.

kelper said:

If a computer really needs three year's of premium support, what does that say about usability and reliability?

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For a Dell 1 year of Basic Support is included, anything more than that would need to be purchased as an add-on.

Dell Care Plus and Dell Care Premium are available as optional add-ons, offering expanded support options.

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kelper said:

If a computer really needs three year's of premium support, what does that say about usability and reliability?

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It's just something I've always done, whether it needs it or not. When buying directly from Dell, which I always do, there's a very small extra cost to tack on the extra premium support. The premium support adds accidental damage replacement and that's something I HAVE used.

Bree said:

For a Dell 1 year of Basic Support is included, anything more than that would need to be purchased as an add-on.

Premium Support Suite for PCs | Dell US

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In EU, including here in Greece some manufacturers try to push the 1 year Warranty, but most know we must get 2 years by Law. Anything extra is Warranty extension, but 2 years are minimum. If anyone tries to play smart, we simply buy from another manufacturer or file a report in the Consumers Protection Institute.

TraderGary said:

It's just something I've always done, whether it needs it or not. When buying directly from Dell, which I always do, there's a very small extra cost to tack on the extra premium support. The premium support adds accidental damage replacement and that's something I HAVE used.

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Yes, I have seen ads like "we cover it even if you accidentally spill coffee on it (user liability)", I don't remember if it was by Dell, but I didn't believed it. I thought it was just a marketing trick to buy and then they would find a way to say it was your fault and declare the Warranty void.