Dell offers the strongest and most diverse lineup of PC laptops in the industry. From value-priced 2-in-1s to premium business systems and high-end gaming laptops, there’s a high-quality Dell for every need and budget.
Dell also has one of the industry’s best warranties, paying return shipping on even its least-expensive products. However, the company’s mediocre phone support leaves a lot of room for improvement.As part of its standard one-year warranty, Dell pays for return shipping on all of its laptops, no matter what they cost. If you have an Alienware laptop, you may also be able to get on-site service. You can upgrade your laptop without voiding the warranty.
If your Dell needs professional help, you can reach out via live chat, email and even the company’s proactive diagnostic tool. We only advise that you not try calling Dell, as the company secured the shameful title of Longest Average Call Time(40 minutes) in the most recent Tech Support Showdown. Dell reps accidentally hung up on us midcall and even advised us to roll back from Windows 10 to Windows 8.1, when the solution to our problem only required a single box be unchecked.
Our reviewers have praised Dell for the limited amount of bloatware on the company’s consumer notebooks this past year. A couple of notebooks, like the Dell XPS 13, came with a few stragglers like Candy Crush Saga and McAfee LiveSafe.
Several laptops, including Inspiron and XPS line, offered 20GB of free storage with Dropbox, which is 10 times the amount of free space you usually get without paying for the service. Dell Update keeps the system’s software modernized, and Dell Backup and Recovery will help ensure you don’t lose precious files.
Dell’s Alienware gaming laptops ship with plenty of useful utilities and no bloatware at all. The Alienware Command Center suite on the Alienware 17 and 15 lets you change lighting settings with AlienFX, adjust program-specific settings with AlienAdrenaline, tweak power settings with AlienFusion and make backups with AlienRespawn.There’s a Dell laptop for every budget and interest, from the$179 Windows-powered Dell Inspiron 11 3000 to the$2, 449 Alienware 17 gaming rig. The Texas-based company offers a wide variety of mainstream consumer laptops as part of its Inspiron line, a couple of industry-leading Ultrabooks in the XPS 13 and 15, and a compelling Latitude business lineup. Dell offers plenty of 2-in-1s, from its inexpensive, consumer-targeted Inspiron 11 3000 2-in-1 to the pricey Latitude 12 7000 for enterprise. Though marketed as a separate brand, the company’s Alienware laptops are among the best and most popular gaming systems in the industry.
MORE: Best Dell and Alienware Laptops
You can get some great values from Dell, but you may have to compromise on specs. The company’s low-end Inspiron 14 and 15 3000 start at less than$300, but offer shallow keyboards and dull screens and mediocre performance. The XPS 13 is a relatively good deal, at its starting price of$799, but for that price, you have to settle for a Core i3 CPU. We couldn’t find any Dell with a 1080p display for less than$799. Like Lenovo and HP, Dell allows you to configure some of its laptops to order, if you purchase them directly from the manufacturer’s site.