Dell computers

Are the Dell computers advertized in Sunday circulars pretty cheap any good?  I'm happy with what I have and have always had an HP, but hubby says it's old and he's afraid it's going to give up the ghost any day and wants to get me one of the cheap Dells?  Any advice?

• Dell computers - Rosey
  • Right now I have a Dell, HP, and Toshiba laptop - me
  • Our 2 previous Dells are now our random computer parts replacement pile. No more Dells. nm - Caesar Augustus
  • I've got about 5 Dells right now too..Because when one dies, - SoontobeexDell
  • We like Dell. Go online and check (sm) - anon
  • I just got my 5th Dell---have 2 laptops and 3 desktops - sm - XXX
  • Dell - jlynn
    • I have had Dells for years and never had a problem. (nm) - JA
      • thanks - Rosey
        • That puter with a D is OK if you don't have to call (India) service n/m - me2

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

I just started a job using voice files and not a dictaphone as before.  I tried every set of earphones in the tower part of the computer that has a space for earphones next to the space for the footpedal.  I only out of one ear.  Is there another place to plug them in or what earphones do you use.   These earphones are made for this. 

Make sure you get the extended warranty, again, MAKE SURE YOU GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY. And, here is why.

My first laptop went out on my, though it was a couple of years old.  Because I had the extended warranty, a service tech came to my house, replaced motherboard, hard drive, heat sink, and keyboard.  He was able to back up everything first and restored it once all the new stuff was in place. 

One of my PCs kept giving some weird blue screen error and I couldn't get to go even in safe mode. I called up Dell, told them the problem, they looked up my extended warranty and they sent someone out to repair it.

Overall, I have been happy with Dell products.  The only drag is that everything Dell sells regarding accessories is proprietary and you have to order it through Dell.  No generic accessories will work.  My suggestion is if you decide to buy a Dell laptop, make sure you get the car power supply and you might even get a 2nd regular power supply because I have been known to leave town and forget the power supply at the house.  Now, I have everything in my laptop bag for when I go out of town and can just throw my laptop in the bag and know everything is there.

Lastly, some Dell laptops require a special aircard to connect to the internet.  I ended up getting a 2 cabled USB air card and I'm glad I did because 2 USB plug ins give better reception than one.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. I'm happy to help.

was a piece of junk, so I'm not the one to ask if you should buy a Dell.   I'd get at least double that processor speed.  My computer is about 10 months old and I have 5 times that, which means that there is probably something faster out now, or soon will be.  It is more than I need for work, but I also use computer to download music/pictures, and a bunch of other stuff.   The Dell I had had 650 mHz and it was slow and that was almost 6 years ago.   You may have to customize anyway to get XP unless you buy one previously owned, which you can also buy from Dell.   It is always a good idea to buy bigger than you need currently just to allow for updates to any software or new software you may add.    You need to also think about tech support.  I know Dell has tech support in India, which can be extremely frustrating.  I don't know that other computer companies don't offshore their tech support, but that would be a question I would ask and find out if there is a locally authorized dealer to handle warranty repairs or if you need to send off the computer.    I would not recommend a Gateway computer and I would not recommend any computer that has a Celeron processor.   They tend to be in all the lower end computers. 

I have LOTS of peripherals on both my laptop and desktop Dells and they certainly didn't come from Dell. You've been misinformed.

I love my Dells.

I think this is why EMR has become popular.  My daughter has been typing on the computer since she was 4-years-old.  My son is a pretty quick typist at 12 years of age. 

My PCP uses his computer, but a lot of times PCPs do not use transcriptionists at least in my state/experience.  It is mostly specialists.  I have noticed the bigger the practice/facility, the larger the transcription company.

Part of an ortho practice I transcribed for went with C-Bay because they wanted to go digital and have 24-hour TAT; however, three out of seven physicians were older and still used tapes.  It all depends on the circumstance and preference.

Just curious. I was sitting here doing my spell check and using my Expanders and remembering when I used to type the notes on sticky paper on a typewriter , using white out for errors, and then cutting out the individual notes and peeling and sticking them in the charts. UGH!

Of course the doc I worked for back then had a computer, but only for billing, and was too cheap to buy another one. So I sat in a little corner with an old IBM selectric and a dozen bottles of white out.

At the risk of really making me look old,  I'll mention I took typing in high school and in college on a MANUAL typewriter.

For all you younguns' out there, that means it had no electricity. 

i think that is an unwritten doxie law - am trying to get mine to learn to type but she just doesn't want to do it - would rather I throw a ball or something, haha

This is something I have never seen posted anywhere and I'm thinking it is not even possible but thought I'd ask just to see.  I know a lot of companies supply your computer and transcription equipment.  There are other companies that are set up where you can just load their program onto your personal computer.  Has anyone ever heard of a company that has a type of program that has computers available for purchase?  I know some places take a deposit on the one you use for them and then when you quit your deposit is returned.  How about if you want to buy it?  For instance, the company I work for has a program in place that allows you to purachase books from the company at a discounted price and then you can have it payroll deducted over several pay periods.  I was just thinking it would be awesome if I could do this with a computer purchase.  Okay, I'm pretty sure I'm dreaming with my head in the clouds but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask.  TIA. 

I have 2 separate computers connected by a router.  My primary computer has ExText.  The other one doesn't.  Both receive the Internet.  I do my work on the one with the ExText and Internet searches on the one without even though I can still get Internet on both computers at the same time. 

The modem for the Internet connects to the router.  A separate cable goes from each computer into the router.  Works great. 

I need to figure out a way to hook up two computers to one monitor and one DSL connection where I can just easily switch back and forth between the two computers.  I know this has been discussed before, but I can't remember how you all do this.  If someone could explain what I need to get and what I need to do, I would be very appreciative.  Thanks for any and all info you can give me. 

One of the things that everyone with a computer can do as part of our ownership responsibilities is to have an inventory of just what components our computers have been built with (or added afterward).  Having this information can be a big help when upgrading, maintaining and repairing your system.

Unfortunately, some manufacturers seem to treat this information like a state secret.  In other cases we might never have had or have lost our original documentation.

There's a free product called "Belarc Advisor" (see the link below) that in my experience does an excellent job of doing an inventory on your system and reporting a ton of information about not only your hardware, but also your operating system and certain software installations.  I recommend that when you have a bit of spare time you download and run this application, and print out the report it produces so you have it handy.  Then, run it again whenever you make changes to your hardware or operating system - again, keeping the report.  And, yup - it works just fine with Vista, XP, 2000, etc. 

It will make any tech support person scream for joy (and amazement) if you have this information in hand when you need to resolve technical issues.

I should also address another issue that always seems to come up whenever a free utility of any kind gets mentioned.  There's a load of excellent free software of different kinds available but some always seem to be suspicious of anything that is free.  Belarc makes their money by selling the "corporate" version of this software to large companies that need a server-based way to inventory the hundreds or thousands of computers that they own.  They've decided as a service to the individual computer owner to make this single-system version available for free.  It's that simple.