Don't buy Photoshop, (or any downloadable software), from Dell

[JeffS7444]

I've been thinkin' of goin' full-scale retro & hooking up a TTY with current-loop interface

You know, if that thing has an RS232 port, you could probably go online using WiModem232:
https://www.cbmstuff.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=59_66

 

[JeffS7444]

On a lark, I recently looked into dot matrix printers. In the day, you could pick one up for next to nothing. Panasonic, Okidata, and others. Mine used a carton of fan fold paper, and you could run off pages and pages of print on the cheap. When I checked, there are only a few made, they are expensive as hell, and everyone complains about the printer to PC interface, and lack of functional Windows drivers. LOL

Now hold on a minute, you must not have checked out an auto-repair place or medical lab lately, because part of the world still runs on multipart forms, and yup, those need impact printers! The last time I bought a new Epson dot matrix was only a few years ago. For legacy printers which only have a parallel port, I'll bet a working solution can be had by adding a ethernet/wifi print server.

 

[Propheticus]

Don't buy anything from Dell period!
When I saw a lot of Dell's equipment behind a "game developer" studio in new Matrix it became obviously... not real.

A grunch (BIOS exploits in the paste along with many disappointing peaces of equipment and they fail rate [including but not exclusive to inflated battery's in their laptop lines recently] and cetera), probably yes.

The exception in my opinion being their Ultrasharp monitor line. Relatively affordable (LG) IPS panel displays with high (enough) colour-accuracy for enthusiast or semi-pro photo editing needs. They consistently test/review well too.
Inherent downsides to IPS ofc. being lower contrast than VA or OLED and the infamous 'IPS-glow' on blacks from an angle or even straight on in the corners when sitting close to a large screen.

disclaimer: still using my Dell U2311H as a second screen

 

[ZolaIII]

The exception in my opinion being their Ultrasharp monitor line. Relatively affordable (LG) IPS panel displays with high (enough) colour-accuracy for enthusiast or semi-pro photo editing needs. They consistently test/review well too.
Inherent downsides to IPS ofc. being lower contrast than VA or OLED and the infamous 'IPS-glow' on blacks from an angle or even straight on in the corners when sitting close to a large screen.

disclaimer: still using my Dell U2311H as a second screen

They had some interesting monitors couple years back. If you want calibration buy Eizo/Panasonic. Anyway I tell people to search for MVA Sharp panels in LG TV's instead their IPS ones but that's me. Purely subjective I had to deal with loads and loads of their broken gear as IT so I will preserve the right for my self to wish them all worse.

 

[ZolaIII]

New Dell BIOS Bugs Affect Millions of Inspiron, Vostro, XPS, Alienware Systems

A set of newly disclosed critical vulnerabilities in Dell BIOS software affect millions of Edge, Inspiron, Vostro, XPS, Latitude and Alienware series

thehackernews.com

To be completely entirely honest two or three of those CVE's were found and patched in AMI UEFI (both AMD and Intel MB's) around month ago so didn't be alarmed about it.

 

[Chromatischism]

The exception in my opinion being their Ultrasharp monitor line. Relatively affordable (LG) IPS panel displays with high (enough) colour-accuracy for enthusiast or semi-pro photo editing needs. They consistently test/review well too.
Inherent downsides to IPS ofc. being lower contrast than VA or OLED and the infamous 'IPS-glow' on blacks from an angle or even straight on in the corners when sitting close to a large screen.

disclaimer: still using my Dell U2311H as a second screen

I find that even though VA has better blacks and contrast on-axis, IPS still looks better most of the time because there's little to no gamma shift with angle, so the whole screen is uniform. Most of the time you just won't see the benefits of VA unless you're backed up a couple of feet watching a video so there are no angle issues that occur when you're up close, which is probably why it works for TV screens.

 

[iMickey503]

This make me a Sad Panda.
Their Small Business division seems to be doing okay with IT departments over HP last time I consulted with a company that went from HP to Dell.
Love their Business line of Laptops.

Adobe Software?

 

[ZolaIII]

Let's just hope that Think Pad legacy will continue to be there as it is (Lanovo) and it's nice that Samsung returned to laptop space.

 

[Ler0ck]

Dell is low quality now, used precision 55xx series, I’m using their monitor now but never notebook anymore

 

[Grumpish]

I wouldn't buy anything from Dell. Full stop. On a deployment of 2000 laptops, around 20% of them came in with at least one fault. on another site I got four months work supervising the replacement of hard disks on 1500 desktops.

 

[iMickey503]

My last one was so good? My former probation officer stole it. That series was a knockout! And at a 8,000 price to get it full speced with all the bells and whistles, Upgraded 4G modem, etc. I get it.
I have not yet tried their new line of business laptops. But I don't plan to purchase anything but the framework in the future when need arises. I had the E6540

Fully specced out 16GB RAM, Nvidia GPU with Every option checked minus the POTS modem. AND.. Custom LED backlight KEYBOARD! No kidding! It was the FLAGSHIP of FLAGSHIP laptops. Even a upgraded 4G modem and a many customizations for the work I did at the time.

The only problems I had was a Fan going out. And a over time the trackpad buttons got a bit loose. Other then that? Its one of the most solid Windows 7 laptops I have ever had the pleasure of using. Fully on highest CPU spec with upgraded thermal pastes etc.

Yea, I had to get a new battery every year or so. But I was fine with that. Its the only laptop that I had that I could use on 100F hot days in california, and not break a sweat. Got it Brand spanking new.

The Keyboard was nice to use. And lots of space. Was going to upgrade to a touchscreen? But it was only 1080P, so skipped that. Besides. I never used the touch screen function that much when filling in work forms, or going over a buildings blueprints.

Its sad to hear that these issues are on their pro line on deployments. Mine was rock solid and could deal with anything.

Hopefully, they get their stuff up to snuff soon. Heck, after a CAP refresh? My OLDY "SERVER" that was a Pentium from 2001 timeframe was still working when I pulled it from service after an uptime of 4 years that used a Windows XP modified kernel. I think I had close to 23 drives hooked up to that thing and EVERY single port populated that could be as well as every Combo add in card I could get my hands on.

Maybe they just made them better back in the day I suppose. Lord knows I won't be going to Windows 11. Windows 10 only made it here due to my son's gaming computer. Another Dell Xeon machine.
I did have to replace the Mobo on that one.

Other then that? Dell's been pretty good for me. But I stick to their Pro line and only buy the top end machine since the old adage of paying more now, means you pay less later. So I never bothered with Budget stuff unless it was for the kids. I swear... Keyboards and mouspads need to be IBM Duke grade for that to last a year. But it would help if kids knew NOT to eat and drink around their laptops.

 

[ZolaIII]

@iMickey503 try Panasonic Toughbook line.