Dell
 

How difficult is it to fit normal components into a dell, because i've heard that dell are particularly evil when it comes to components.

Re: Dell
 

best thing to do would be find out the motherboard in the computer you wish to buy and do some research on it first, or ask someone who has a dell. When i was living at Uni my mate had one which i found was ok to upgrade but you have to be careful

Re: Dell
 

we have several dell pc here at the company, and the older ones are easy t o upgrade, you have to be carefull with ram etc. cause of the special timings etc. but if you follow the rules and look at the existing hardware. a certain level of upgrade should be no problem...
( we have tried add. ram, graphic, ethernet without problems )

Re: Dell
 

It very much depends on the model. Last night I was doing some work on a couple of Dell PC and they didn't have a spare PCI slot, or an AGP slot (at all). Broadly their ultra-cheap models seem to offer very little room for expansion whereas their slightly higher range models are a bit better.

Having said that, the cases of both machines were very easy to open, the main parts were easy to get at, there were no screws, etc. I did notice the other side of the case appeared to be bolted on (as were a couple of other bits) so I imagine replacing something like the PSU could be a bit nightmarish.

Re: Dell
 

The experience with Dell PCs I've had so far was one machine that required a special screwdriver to open (A electrical drill, a little force and a little dexterity did the trick as well, but it wasn't designed to open that way obviously). Once opened, that machine was fairly easy to upgrade.

In the other PC, it was easy to open, impossible to upgrade...

Re: Dell
 

The new ones, especially the cheaper new ones, are useless.
The things they can't possibly lock off because it would cause them too much hassle (like pci/agp/pci-e, sata, pata and memory) are left open, but many other things are tied down.

For example, the processor heatsink mounting is proprietary, as is the duct above it and (last time it was a problem for me anyway) the fan mounted inside that. If any part of that assembly goes, you're buggered. Similarly, if you want to transfer the motherboard to a new case/different machine, you can't as you can't mount a heatsink other than the dell one, and the dell one is designed to work with thier duct system.
They also have used non-standard ATX connectors in the past, and for all I know they still do - so when your cheap crap dell PSU blows up, expect to pay the kind of money that would get you a decent Antec or Seasonic unit, just to be shipped out another crap dell one.

In short, if it's something in a predefined slot which it would be expensive for Dell to mess with (ram, the processor itself, graphics etc), it won't be messed with. If it's something that can easily be messed with (heatsink mount, connector plugs) it probably will be.

Re: Dell
 

I'll never buy a computer from Dell out of choice. Last time I had to change a hard disc in one at work, admittedly 'a cheaper new one,' I had to take pliers to the case. What's really great is that they seem to put great thought into giving you new obstacles to upgrades with each new machine.

Ironically, most other manufacturers consider accessibility etc to parts as a dimension of quality not a means by which to inconvenience me and make more money out of idiots.