Dell Dimension E521

February 22, 2007 07:16
Mediocre
1.0/5
I ordered a Dell recently. It seems like an easy enough process. They lost my order, they replaced with a different more expensive model. I spoke to customer service from different countries (terrible communication and bad customer service). It was hard to cancel the order. The customer service rep told me that it's only a few dollars difference, I should just be okay with it. I never want to deal with Dell again. I hope that Michael Dell fixes his bad customer service. Disappointing.

- robster24

March 2, 2007 01:12
Good
1.5/5
I just returned two Dell Dimension E520's, the same as this system except with Intel inside in lieu of AMD. I had to call in numerous trouble tickets. I originally purchased the system with Windows XP and Office 2003 Pro December 31 (to come off of last year's taxes), with free upgrades to Windows Vista Business and Office 2007 Pro. They sent Office 2003 Business instead, which did not include MS access, and the service tag did not work on the Dell Windows Vista upgrade website. I was told the site had not yet been updated, but to give it a week and it will work. After 3 weeks and it still didn't work, and I still did not have MS Access, Dell agreed to take back both PCs and ship 2 new ones with Vista Business and Office 2007 Pro pre-installed (after much haggling).

The next problem involved a lack of memory, so Dell sent me 4 new GB of memory (the original 2 were to be returned, even though they were the same) which I installed with Tech Support on the phone. The machine would not start after installing the RAM, so Tech Support had me change configurations (e.g. 3GB of new, 4 GB of new, a mixture of 2 old and 2 new). Only after going back to 2 GB, would the PC again start. Dell Tech Support diagnosed this as a bad motherboard, and told me they would ship a new one this past Monday. I was contacted by their service tech on Tuesday, and we scheduled installation for Wednesday afternoon. When he arrived, he came in with a box that read "REFURBISHED" in big bold letters! I called Dell and told them that was unnaceptable, and that I had finally had enough. They gave me an RMA number, told me to write this number on all of the boxes, and asked whether I wanted UPS to pick up the boxes Thursday or Friday (today). I told them today. I went to lunch, came home, and saw the UPS truck leaving the neighborhood, and asked if he had stopped by my address and picked up the shipment. He said no, that Dell did not provide him any service tags to do so. I had to call Dell back, and learned that Andrew in Customer Support made a mistake and did not send this info to UPS, so they're now re-scheduled for Monday. There were many more other problems with the order, but the above should be enough to give you an idea of what I have gone through. I hope Michael Dell sees this so he can get things fixed, otherwise, Dell has a troubling future.

- Kingdaddy2000

March 3, 2007 06:08

4.0/5
I have had this system, up and running, for about one month. I added 2GB of RAM for a total of 4GB and it performs very well. The original unit Dell shipped me was DOA and it really was sad to try to deal with Dell to analyze and eventually replace the Dimension E521. I do not mind trying to help people but trying to teach English to Dell CSRs was silly. I honestly love Dell computers. This is the fourth one I have purchased and will probably buy again. I just hope that it works so I do not have to talk to customer service ever again.

- ed graham

June 2, 2007 03:58
Mediocre
1.0/5
I won't bore you with everything that's gone wrong with this machine, or how much time I've spent with Dell support when I could've been doing interesting, fun things, but here are a few highlights from my Dimension's short career:

First problem : My internet connection would mysteriously just disconnect even though I was using the same ISP I'd always used. Dell support didn't know what the problem was, but offered various dubious solutions which didn't work. I quickly learned that Dell support techs know less about computers than I do. I finally just replaced the modem with and old cheap one I had laying around. That fixed it.

Next problem : half the time when I started up the computer, the machine would come to life but the monitor would remain black. If
I shut it down then started it again, eventually it would work and everything came on. This was not a problem with the monitor, as eventually, if the machine booted correctly, the display was fine.

After that, the computer just crashed. Pressing the power button would make things whir for a few seconds, then nothing. Dell had to come out and replace the motherboard. Now it's up and running, but now the DVD drive won't burn...

The problems are endless (I haven't mentioned all of them) and have been since I bought the thing in November. I have programs that hang all the time when I try to close them, granted that may be Windows messing up, but that's still part of the system Dell sold me.

Thinking of buying a Dell? DON'T. I cannot warn you strongly enough. Surf over to the Dell User support forums and you'll see I'm not alone with my problems. Do NOT waste your money, like I did.

- frakkalakka

March 23, 2007 02:57

4.5/5
I don't like Dell. I dont care for their laptops (have owned several through work and home), I think HP are much better. I did get this computer for a very good price though so I hoped it would work out. It came with the Athlon 64X2 4200 chip, Nvidia 7300LE graphics card and 1g ram. I kept getting video card crash errors playing games like World of Warcraft. I added 512k of ram and the errors and crashes stopped. The 7300le is a nice little card, makes no noise at all. I did upgrade the card to an ATI 1300pro which made a big difference in games. What i really like about this computer; I know nothing about computers or how to upgrade one. I order the ram and video cards online. The mini-tower itself has a handle that allows the sides to pop-off with no tools. I spotted the 7300le and popped it out with no problem. The new video card was in even faster with no tools. Upgrading the ram was a breeze. Both upgrades where done and the the mini-tower sides where back on in less then five minutes. Dell did a great job in the layout of this PC. It also makes very little noise when running. Hope this helps.

- ct1615

January 30, 2007 01:31

4.0/5
Bought system through Dell(11/06)
Same setup except video card(Geforce7300LE turbocache)256MB(128MB deadicated) Dell set it up with 512MB total video RAM
Waiting for my express upgrade to see how it is with Vista
Note: DELL VISTA UPGRADE PROGRAM is a joke.
Found out today(1/30/07) will not receive upgrade for 6-8 weeks. Should of waited to buy, would have had it with Vista installed next week if I had waited and not trusted DELL.

- kpo6969

June 6, 2007 06:27

5.0/5
I've added a GeForce 7900 GS Graphics card. 550 watt power supply, now she's perfect, both cores run well for multitasking, Music and moves. Games now run absolutely amazing, this thing never gets hot, and system never vibrates or sounds like an airplane.
I think Dell made the right choice to add AMD to there lineup, Great running machine and runs both XP and Vista well. I suggest 2 gigs if you plan to run only Vista, tends to lag down when you use Media center. With two gigs its quick and fast and never lags.
AND Athlon 64X2 4600, 250 gig HD, 2 gigs of ddr2 ram. All around from Gamer to everyday tasks this PC can do it all whit the upgraded Graphics card and power supply, blazing fast cpus and nice system all around, Ive had mine for 5 months now and dont regret buying it. Bounced around in shipping for a week and shes still rock solid. For the price you cant go wrong.
Mine was $1200, came with the 20 LCD

- fusion25

April 1, 2007 08:54

4.0/5
I had to endure a lot in the first week...McAfee techicians I could not understand, had to buy a new keyboard and mouse to replace the one that was shipped late. Dell did give me $200 credit for the problems.

Having said all that, the system is now running great. I am overwhelmed by the power of a great monitor coupled with the best graphics card I have ever experienced. I am keeping this computer.

- jkeenanj

February 7, 2007 02:26
Mediocre
1.0/5
If you purchase a Dell and it actually continues to work after 1 week, Hurray! More then likely, your entire experience will start as a nightmare and only continue to get worse until you are ready to throw in the towel on the entire PC world in order to escape from ever having to come in contact with Dell again. If you see a Dell, RUN! Save your money and keep that blood pressure in check.....Buy from someone else

- Nikita1818

February 2, 2007 11:12

4.5/5
Got it for $520 with 256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE, 160GB HD (and my own monitor). This is a great basic system for a non-gamer. Too bad they changed the HD options and preloaded Vista (which will strain the basic config).

- Pete666