<p>I think you have a point about people not using 1/2 the features of an Apple products, and for the good reason that most loaded “features” are not worth using in the first place, especially the Apple software that is standard. The attraction of an Apple is that it is supposed to be as close as idiot-proof as possible. And that it looks good. The latter is true; the rest not so much. </p>
<p>As far as frustations, Apple hardly eliminates them. They simply think you should not attempt to do certain things. Things like trying to connect to a Flash website or connect to a Windows network. Apple believes in building little boxes nobody should ever open or try to add “stuff to it” aka upgrade. The Cupertino geniuses also believe that everything should be proprietary and different. Standard connectors? Yeah right! Change your batteries? Oh yes, let us laugh at you. </p>
<p>I own PLENTY of Apple products. I like most of them and do not resent having spent more money than they are worth. In the next days, I will spend several thousand dollars upgrading a number of my Apple products because that is the path of least resistance, but hardly because they are better and less frustrating products. I am even upgrading that original iPad that has become close to unusable because of inherent limitations.</p>
<p>OMG - can’t believe I didn’t see this thread earlier - we have had a horrific experience with Dell this summer. Ordered by son a Dell laptop through the Elon University website - they recommend a Dell or Apple product. Ordered 6/19 - original delivery date was 7/6 - was pushed back to 7/13 - when I was informed there was a problem with the chassis and I had to cancel and reorder - which I did. Finally received on 7/28. They did throw in free overnight shipping and a $100 credit against the price.</p>
<p>Then came the wait for the $200 e-gift card - which was part of the deal when buying through Elon. Just got that today! So - more than two months from start to finish. Elon was helpful - they put me in touch with the Dell rep who handles their account - and she was also helpful - but what a nightmare.</p>
<p>I would never, ever buy a laptop from Dell again.</p>
<p>Just hope you don’t have to deal with Dell tech support/warranty service. I had a horrible experience with it with S’s notebook this summer (for hard drive failure on a less than one year old computer). Finally fixed but took several weeks. Good thing he really didn’t need it–if it had happened during the school yeat it would have been real problem. I would not receommend that anyone buy Dell.</p>
<p>^^ HP’s support people, the ones based in India, have been terrible to work with as well. Sony’s aren’t that great either. Who knows? Maybe several of them are actually using the same outsourced call center company to do their so-called ‘support’. </p>
<p>For my next purchase I’ll first check where their support center is based and won’t buy from a company whose support center is outside of North America, even if I have to spend an extra 10 bucks or whatever.</p>
<p>We were lost in “Dell Hell” regarding a delivery that never happened. Will never buy a Dell again. One thing you could do is “like” the Dell FB page and then post about your experience. Sometimes the social media person responds when no one else in the organization will…</p>
<p>If you need to use a laptop for work or school and you can’t have downtime, have a spare available and backup your files frequently enough so that you can just switch to the other machine and keep working.</p>
<p>Apple can do a great job at turning around a repair (they’ve done them for me in under 24 hours), but any service organization can have a wait for parts or run into a busy period.</p>
<p>Wow, I am surprised to hear about all of the problems with Dell delivery and service.</p>
<p>We bought my son’s last computer 1.5 years ago, it was one of the refurb computers, and purchased a full extended complete service warranty with it. Of course delivery was not a problem, it was already made. But the warranty service has been excellent. We had excelent service on his last Dell laptop too. Maybe it is just the area that we live in, but we have no complaints.</p>
<p>The two times I know of that S2’s Dell had problems were when his hard drive failed right at the beginning of a semester and his screen failed during finals. He learned to back up everything after the hard drive failed, so when the screen issue happened he was able to use computers in the library to finish his papers. Both failures still occurred at inconvenient times. Now that his computer’s out of warranty we’ve suggested to him that he strongly consider getting a different laptop if any more problems occur.</p>
<p>An update–Computer showed up last week; eleven days before the new expected delivery date. So, a little late, but not as much as it could have been.</p>
<p>It seems great so far, especially for a 400 dollar machine. Fingers crossed it continues to work well. </p>
<p>I just got a new Dell about 3 weeks ago, shipped and arrived on time. Now, if they could work out the issue with Java not allowing access to the internet I would be happy. It’s a Java issue, not a Dell issue. Dell support did fix something on the computer so it works though.</p>
<p>Oh. Sorry thats happening, garland. DS#2 ordered a custom Dell back in the early spring and it came relatively quickly. Have you gone on any of the tecchie blogs/chat sites to see what part is slowing things down?</p>