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> -----Original Message-----
> From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu]On 
> Behalf Of Tony Smith
> Sent: 25 April 2007 11:19
> To: 'Microcontroller discussion list - Public.'
> Subject: RE: [OT]: Another reason not to buy a Dell
> 
> 
> > > There is an increasing number of Dell boxes being delivered here at 
> > > work,
> > one thing that makes dells very very attractive in a 
> > corporate setting is that they are very quick to get things 
> > like drives out of, particularlly if you keep your spares 
> > already fitted up with rails. I think the same may apply to 
> > some other big brands too.
> > 
> > whiteboxes by comparison tend to use the cheapest cases on 
> > the market which can be far more work to maintain.
> 
> 
> I'd disagree with part of that.
> 
> Dells are great in corporations, where you can order replacements and get
> exactly the same machine again, something you can't do with whiteboxes.
> Unpack, image, and you're good to go.
> 
> As far as 'keep your spares already fitted up with rails', Dell changes
> designs with every model (dunno about rails).  I  don't think 
> I've ever seen
> two Dell PCs with the same motherboard (never mind they had their 
> own 20-pin
> power connector wiring standard for a while).  Compaq were the same.
> 
> As Russell (almost) said, old Dells are junk as you can't upgrade 
> them
Hmm, you can't really swap the motherboard and sometimes you are screwed if a previous owner lost the rails or special screws or whatever needed to add more drives but everything else seems pretty standard.

Adding a second hard drive to my old P3 optiplex (bought second-hand at a computer market) was also a bit of a pain as while there was plenty of space above the existing drive there was no mountings there (i ended up adding some homemade metal peices to join the new drive to the existing drive)

> Most of my time with Dells is spent trying to figure out how the catches
> work.
right because they are intended for people who have to take dells apart frequently be they dell maintinance guys or corporate IT support so the time cost of learning how the catches work is more than made up for by the time saving each time they dismantle one.

> 
> Oddly enough, Dells are a great study in how to do something properly,
> little things like the badges (stamped metal, 2 tabs to bend to 
> hold it in)
> have the tabs are different sizes so you can't put it in upside-down.
Hardly surprising really, look at any mass produced product and you will find this sort of thing. The less error prone you make assembly the less time and money you will spend fixing errors.

> Dell - yes for corporates, maybe for domestic, no for nerds.
mostly agreed.
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