In other words, buy a Dell, and then have to pay for decent support - support that should be provided as part of the purchase. No thanks. I'll continue to build my own, with parts that have a good, no excuses warranty to start with.
Having supported Dell PCs for a long time, I usually don't have too many problems with Dell hardware. So you're still getting what you originally got - a PC with a predefined amount of time for hardware support. That doesn't change - you're not having to pay anything extra. Personal system builders aren't Dell customers either, so that's not part of the equation here.
This new level of after-purchase support seems to be both advance warning of failing hardware, if detectable, and post-sale software support. If they offer support for cleaning malware, then $39 per year is a bargain for consumers. A trip to the local computer repair place to fix malware will run 2x or 3x that price, at the minimum. Somehow I think malware detection/removal will not be a "supported" option for this Premium Support.
For "desktop" PCs I surely agree. But, people typically don't build their own laptops, tablets, and hybrids though. And it's not really all that possible, even today. Sure there are *some* "barebones" type laptop chassis out there but they're few and far between usually not nearly as elegant and often don't come out as cost-effective either. For the regular Joe, who needs "support", this is a valid option for those that value such service and are willing to pay for it. Yes, it's true a lot of people don't need/want it, but then we're the minority of buyers/users.
Personally, I also think "support" is for the birds...from any manufacturer. But then I know what I'm doing, most people buying computers typically have no idea what they're doing.
Furthermore I think you'd have to be nuts to buy a brand new laptop or tablet because the resale in the used market is so poor, that's where all the deals are. People buying $2k+ laptops are nuts, IMO. Wait six months to a year and you can easily buy it for about half that, in near-new condition, on eBay, etc.
In fact, my recommendation for people buying laptops is always the same... Buy a Dell Latitude that's ~1yr old because those things drop in price like no tomorrow due to so many coming off various leases. Despite the fact that Latitudes have arguably come down in quality over the years, they're still better than the vast majority of mass-market "consumer" laptops. My current Latitude which I bought about a year after the model was released, cost me just $300 with an SSD included and was about 95% new looking. At the same time I could build the exact same laptop on Dell's site and it came out to over $1500, lol. Even with Dell sales I never would have gotten even close to what you could get a lightly used/off-lease one on eBay for--around $300. A lot of these laptops even have warranty and/or support still valid on them (though sometimes transferring is difficult) but I've never used it and have bought a few Latitudes over the years like this, both for myself and on behalf of others. At $300 though I couldn't care less if I had a warranty or not, on a laptop worth 5x that much bought new. I've had it for like 3 years now too, still going great.
Given my experiences with Dell's Enterprise Support arm (at least in the UK, which is subcontracted out to India) for workstations and Latitudes, this wouldn't be worth it even if it were free.
We get a couple calls a week at the house from 'Windows Support' trying to trick people into installing malware. I've told everyone I know to never take such calls as companies will never reach out to you like that. That if they get such a call it is a scam. This kind of offering in the consumer space will only confuse things and be immediately taken up by the scammers to trick people. It's a horrible idea. An IT contact at a company has the sense to know who he is talking to and if they are full of crap. The average home owner really doesn't. Not for something like this.
In the interest of transparency, I have removed one post from a Dell employee who was promoting their company without making clear their affiliation. Unfortunately the child posts of that offending get removed as well (sorry guys).
The actual testing methodology here was pretty terrible. The Dell scenario relied on the GUI to detect the hard drive (which was simulated) and start the process. With the competitors, they simply removed the hard drive entirely. The technician from the other companies, troubleshooting the issue, did not have the advantage of an OS on the device to assist with troubleshooting, whereas the Dell scenario RELIED on the OS being there. Shoddy, misleading work.
I noticed it too. You also have to know that this is a laptop with REMOVABLE hard-drive, that is less and less the case (Apple have just one model with removable hard-drive actually), and on the same way, it's strange the Apple case didn't used the integrated Diagnostic tool instead reinstalling, because it's a valuable tool to diagnose any Mac.
Used to work for Dell couple years ago. This is just the Gold/Pro Support they already offer businesses.
Ignoring the software end of it all and I mean all Dell machines have a diagnostic set built into the bios going pretty fair back and it gets more elaborate each generation.
So if I customer called in with a failed drive my steps were this :
Blah blah thank you for choosing dell Verify account Machine cant find drive? Hold down the FN key and press power for me Error code for failing drive or drive not seen. Verify Address Onsite Tech or no Tech? Blank drive or imaged drive? Maybe send mobo if drive wasn't sent. Send email Done
Calls were maybe 4-6 six minutes and chats were close to two minutes. Also you can do all of this from the website without even dealing with a person. Yes i'm aware some of the techs on the phone are less than intelligent and take longer but eh.
So I agree their chart is ridiculous on the other companies the time frame is about right for what they are now selling to consumers with or without the new fancy system tray thing that I wouldn't trust.
I have Premium Support on my new XPS 15. I've had blue screens for over 7 months and watched Dell Premium Support attempt to fix it from India. No fix even after totally reloading Windows 10, and watching over 15 different techs spent a total of 25 hours tooling around remotely on my computer. This Premium Support service seems to be more of an excuse to not fix hardware than a true support service. I have found ways to do other things while they do remote work but at some point their 20+ hours of time will be much more than the cost of computer.
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mgilbert - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
In other words, buy a Dell, and then have to pay for decent support - support that should be provided as part of the purchase. No thanks. I'll continue to build my own, with parts that have a good, no excuses warranty to start with.romrunning - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Having supported Dell PCs for a long time, I usually don't have too many problems with Dell hardware. So you're still getting what you originally got - a PC with a predefined amount of time for hardware support. That doesn't change - you're not having to pay anything extra. Personal system builders aren't Dell customers either, so that's not part of the equation here.This new level of after-purchase support seems to be both advance warning of failing hardware, if detectable, and post-sale software support. If they offer support for cleaning malware, then $39 per year is a bargain for consumers. A trip to the local computer repair place to fix malware will run 2x or 3x that price, at the minimum. Somehow I think malware detection/removal will not be a "supported" option for this Premium Support.
ES_Revenge - Sunday, June 7, 2015 - link
For "desktop" PCs I surely agree. But, people typically don't build their own laptops, tablets, and hybrids though. And it's not really all that possible, even today. Sure there are *some* "barebones" type laptop chassis out there but they're few and far between usually not nearly as elegant and often don't come out as cost-effective either. For the regular Joe, who needs "support", this is a valid option for those that value such service and are willing to pay for it. Yes, it's true a lot of people don't need/want it, but then we're the minority of buyers/users.Personally, I also think "support" is for the birds...from any manufacturer. But then I know what I'm doing, most people buying computers typically have no idea what they're doing.
Furthermore I think you'd have to be nuts to buy a brand new laptop or tablet because the resale in the used market is so poor, that's where all the deals are. People buying $2k+ laptops are nuts, IMO. Wait six months to a year and you can easily buy it for about half that, in near-new condition, on eBay, etc.
In fact, my recommendation for people buying laptops is always the same... Buy a Dell Latitude that's ~1yr old because those things drop in price like no tomorrow due to so many coming off various leases. Despite the fact that Latitudes have arguably come down in quality over the years, they're still better than the vast majority of mass-market "consumer" laptops. My current Latitude which I bought about a year after the model was released, cost me just $300 with an SSD included and was about 95% new looking. At the same time I could build the exact same laptop on Dell's site and it came out to over $1500, lol. Even with Dell sales I never would have gotten even close to what you could get a lightly used/off-lease one on eBay for--around $300. A lot of these laptops even have warranty and/or support still valid on them (though sometimes transferring is difficult) but I've never used it and have bought a few Latitudes over the years like this, both for myself and on behalf of others. At $300 though I couldn't care less if I had a warranty or not, on a laptop worth 5x that much bought new. I've had it for like 3 years now too, still going great.
edzieba - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Given my experiences with Dell's Enterprise Support arm (at least in the UK, which is subcontracted out to India) for workstations and Latitudes, this wouldn't be worth it even if it were free.vasedgod - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Here's a link to the official report:http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Dell/Premium...
savagemike - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
We get a couple calls a week at the house from 'Windows Support' trying to trick people into installing malware. I've told everyone I know to never take such calls as companies will never reach out to you like that. That if they get such a call it is a scam.This kind of offering in the consumer space will only confuse things and be immediately taken up by the scammers to trick people. It's a horrible idea. An IT contact at a company has the sense to know who he is talking to and if they are full of crap. The average home owner really doesn't. Not for something like this.
Zak - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Yes, that the first thing that came to my mind after reading this.Murloc - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
good pointRyan Smith - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
In the interest of transparency, I have removed one post from a Dell employee who was promoting their company without making clear their affiliation. Unfortunately the child posts of that offending get removed as well (sorry guys).yt2005 - Thursday, June 4, 2015 - link
The actual testing methodology here was pretty terrible. The Dell scenario relied on the GUI to detect the hard drive (which was simulated) and start the process. With the competitors, they simply removed the hard drive entirely. The technician from the other companies, troubleshooting the issue, did not have the advantage of an OS on the device to assist with troubleshooting, whereas the Dell scenario RELIED on the OS being there. Shoddy, misleading work.iAPX - Friday, June 5, 2015 - link
I noticed it too. You also have to know that this is a laptop with REMOVABLE hard-drive, that is less and less the case (Apple have just one model with removable hard-drive actually), and on the same way, it's strange the Apple case didn't used the integrated Diagnostic tool instead reinstalling, because it's a valuable tool to diagnose any Mac.Kraszmyl - Saturday, June 6, 2015 - link
Used to work for Dell couple years ago. This is just the Gold/Pro Support they already offer businesses.Ignoring the software end of it all and I mean all Dell machines have a diagnostic set built into the bios going pretty fair back and it gets more elaborate each generation.
So if I customer called in with a failed drive my steps were this :
Blah blah thank you for choosing dell
Verify account
Machine cant find drive?
Hold down the FN key and press power for me
Error code for failing drive or drive not seen.
Verify Address
Onsite Tech or no Tech?
Blank drive or imaged drive? Maybe send mobo if drive wasn't sent.
Send email
Done
Calls were maybe 4-6 six minutes and chats were close to two minutes. Also you can do all of this from the website without even dealing with a person. Yes i'm aware some of the techs on the phone are less than intelligent and take longer but eh.
So I agree their chart is ridiculous on the other companies the time frame is about right for what they are now selling to consumers with or without the new fancy system tray thing that I wouldn't trust.
Kraszmyl - Saturday, June 6, 2015 - link
Seen* and my punctuation makes me sad......sleep time.BSmi - Tuesday, January 31, 2017 - link
I have Premium Support on my new XPS 15. I've had blue screens for over 7 months and watched Dell Premium Support attempt to fix it from India. No fix even after totally reloading Windows 10, and watching over 15 different techs spent a total of 25 hours tooling around remotely on my computer. This Premium Support service seems to be more of an excuse to not fix hardware than a true support service. I have found ways to do other things while they do remote work but at some point their 20+ hours of time will be much more than the cost of computer.