Dell Latitude Z series

You'll like the MBP and unless Apple has fixed the issue with the newest models pray it doesn't freeze on you in Windows. I like my MBP and I believe I fixed the freeze up issue but per Apple it's an Nvidia thang, anyway I digress I have an MBP and am in need of a secondary machine and had hoped the Z would be ready for prime time, I think if I do order it I'll forgo the wireless dock and charger, don't really want them anyway.

Just waiting to see if they get their you know what together.

 

Wow, just logged into my account at Dell to verify they have cancelled my Z order and it states my account is no longer valid and to call Dell for more information.

No email, nothing...

So, I call Dell, their IVR is broken once again and of course it can't locate my account number, but hey, not to worry it will transfer me to an account rep! Isn't that dandy? What does it do? It hangs up, each and every single time.

How in the hell does this company manage to sell anything and actually get it out the door?

So, I called Dell small business, got someone in India who asked me for all the information I can't provide because my account was closed so kept asking what was my issue was, I kept telling him my account was cancelled, transfer me to someone who can help, this retard kept going to script.

Finally after 15 minutes he transfers me to yet another sales department who then tells me I CALLED THE WRONG NUMBER!!!!!!!!!

He transfers me again right back to the same IVR that hung up on me 5 time previously. BUT, this time I get through to... you sitting for this? An IVR that states, the department is closed for a STAFF DEVELOPEMENT MEETING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Incompetence, thy name is Dell...

 

I just read the first 8 pages of this thread with much amusement! All I have to say is what a bunch of dumb asses some of you people are.

'If I ain't seen it, it ain't so'

'buncha first posters spreading spam'

Year right! LOL

 

Hi there Waltz.

First off. Check when the thread was created, and when this laptop was released.

Second, read the Forum Rules. No insulting nor offensive posts are going to be tolerated.

Third. Take into consideration how this all started as a mere rumour and tons of newcomers posting, so it didnt seem possible by then.

Forth. I suggest you edit your post or delete it, nobody here wants to be called like that.

Fifth. Talking about spam. Your post does not contribute to this thread, nor does it help, nor is it related. That is called spam.

Thank you

 

Yeah right, because that never happens huh? We see first-time posters posting rants and other crap pretty often, only to never even see them again.
It's easy to see it like you do after it all happened.
And, like said above, you really should keep it at the amusement next time and keep other remarks to yourself in you don't really have anything to say.

 

Update to the saga, I called Dell yesterday and reached a person who seemed to know what he was doing. This was at Dell DFS, he explained that Dell seperated the My Account page from the Dell Financial Services page so people wouldn't get confused.

My response, yeah, why have all of my information in one place when you can make it so confusing by spreading it to multiple pages all to make it less confusing. I asked him if they have actual meetings on how to drive their customers as crazy as possible, he laughed and said people like this way of doing things. Honestly, I know of nobody who likes to log onto multiple pages for his account info, that's just plain stupid. But at least he was helpful.

So, he transfers me to the business side so I can find out why my account there is blocked. I finally reach someone there and they tell me that when I cancelled my laptop order they just wanted to "verify some information" from me.

I said ok, what do you need? Her response, we mailed you the information that we need... oooook well how about we handle this now that you have me on the phone? "No sir, for security reasons it has to be by mail"... I said "if I'm on the phone, passed the security screening to talk to you to get this far, so you know who you're talking to you can't help me for security reasons, how does this make sense?

She tells me to wait for the mail from Dell and follow the instructions. So, that night my wife hands me the mail and there is the Dell letter that I was told about, what does this all important letter say?

CALL DELL TO VERIFY SOME INFORMATION!!!!!!!

My next call to Dell is to cancel all accounts... nobody can be this incompetent, stupid, insane and so many other words I can't think of right now... how is it possible for a company to be this friggin stupid?

I just called Dell at the number on the letter and am going through the transfer and get hung up on routine.. what fun.. really, I think asking someone to beat me with a stick would be more fun.

If I treated any of my customers this way I would have been out of business years ago.

 

I finally got the account worked out, too much to delve into but I can order the laptop anytime now, just don't know if Dell is worth buying from anymore.

Considering the removal of posts regarding the XPS 16 on their own forum and how poor their customer service has gotten, just don't know. Problem is, I don't like anything Asus puts out, same with Sager and a host of others including HP, how they can put out their top models sans backlit keyboards, beyond me and I can't buy from them if they don't have something that interests me.

Decisions decisions....

 

Hi, Nordic.

I have not checked this thread in a while. Sorry to catch up on your saga. I'd be frustrated too. If you do decide to go with the 1640, glad to help in any way I can. I'm not a sales guy, so I'm not soliciting. Just saying if you go with Dell, I'm here for any help you might need.

Really sorry for the hassle.

Edit-

Oh, about removed posts on the Dell forums, were those some of your posts, or are you saying it's a pattern? As far as I know, any time they remove a post, it's for violation of their terms of service, and the poster gets a copy of the original post in email so they can edit and repost.

 

Greetings,

Anybody been able to find a x64 flavor of the EdgeTouch software? I've searched Alps' site with no luck.

 

Scratch that question. I am returning the laptop.

I like the machine; it's small for a 16", keyboard is excellent, CPU is fast for business apps (plays Eufloria pretty well too), network connectivity is great, the 128GB SSD's have trim and are reasonably quick, battery life is adequate, build materials are fantastic.

What killed it was the lack of RAID 0 options for the two internal drives and the low resolution screen. The external CDROM was DOA, but that's not a huge deal for me.

RAID0 is part of the ICH9M-E chipset, yet Dell restricted it to only allow IRRT (RAID1). I'm sure there is a way to update the Intel Option ROM to allow for this, but it would be a hack and potentially kill the warrantee. I got some traction on this mod HERE, but killed it. Can't think of one good reason why Dell would remove the option. Perhaps licensing with Intel, but that's lame for a $3k device.

The display isn't the worst I've seen and I thought I could live with it, but a 16" with 1600x900 is silly. Needs to be 1920x1200 at that size.

Lastly, the maroon/purple color is not flattering. Took exactly 20 seconds for my friends to ask me if it was a Barney Edition laptop. Not sure why you would make this the only option for a business laptop. You either love it or hate it.

Fortunately, I didn't have the return problems listed above. Called into the business support line, had a case opened, transferred me to a state-side rep, got an RMA and UPS label shipped to me while on the line. Just need to box it up and drop it off, although Dell offered to send a courier to pick it up.

I paid with cash, or rather via Paypal, so it was all straight forward. Dell FS is an abomination and I will never finance with them again. The simple return transaction I just had compared to the saga above cements this for me.

They also told me they were waiving the 15% restocking fee, which is great. I think I got lucky here. The external CDROM was DOA and I gave them the transcript of the live chat session I had with Dell about the RAID 0 option being part of the chipset but being administratively disabled.

The transaction isn't complete until the cash is back in my account, which I expect will take a better part of 30 days with the holiday insanity all PC makers are going through, so we'll see.

Dell, you have a great form-factor in the Z. I will seriously contemplate another purchase if you can:
1. Put in a higher-rez display and make it thinner. Take Sony’s lead here (some flex is OK)
2. Drop the EdgeTouch. Too gimmicky. Go full multi-touch like the T400s, the screen is thick enough (see above). This might keep the last few CTO’s not using Macs from defecting.
3. When you move to Calpella, don’t neuter the chipset. Recommend against something, don’t disable it.
4. Put the keyboard from the Z in everything you make. It’s absolutely brilliant, but don’t shy away from adding a few more keys.