Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge

Well, I never - I just checked my status and it has gone into delivery today. I'll probably have it tomorrow or Thursday! The original estimated delivery date was 12th of December. Now, I reckon I've gone to delivery so fast for 2 reasons:
1) This is to replacve a faulty machine which I'd had for a while
2) VAT has been reduced in the UK, and maybe they are worried I'd cancel and reorder saving myself some cash....

Anyway, I'll post pics when I receive it. I'm sorry for the guys who ordered beofre me and are still waiting. On the other hand I'm delighted it is coming.

 

RE-UPDATE: Now Customer Service says it will ship today, and I'll receive it tomorrow, yet the order status still says "In Production". I'm thinking that either the answer depends on who you talk to, or I'm just illiterate when it comes to understanding Farlish (farsi-english).

I should start an office pool on this one. I'm taking tomorrow, 2:30 PST because I'm choosing to be naively optimistic.

 

come on boxing takes at least a day after reading some of these post, ill take after thanksgiving late afternoon, i assume you got next day service, if your lucky you may get it thanksgiving day, if they deliver that day.

 

VAT a passthru - they really don't care one way or the other -- it does not impact their profits. They still get the same $$$$ regardless

 

Yeah, it is a passthru as you say, but it still may mean cancellations and reorders for them.

 

Hey everyone

I have had an eye on the Covet since the day I saw it. Hottest laptop I have _ever_ seen.

What scared me a bit was the pricetag and the delivery issues.

Waiting over a month for a piece of hardware that expensive?! No way. That would drive me crazy, like a little boy waiting for christmas

Guess what. I placed my order today, and the sales guy told me they have all the parts and that I should receive it in about 14 days.

He had some problems with their order management system, so the order has not been placed yet. But he has contacted the support department, and they are working on it.

Well... Having read this thread, I will not be too optimistic, but I am keeping my fingers crossed

If they manage to deliver that fast I will get it around the 9th of December and the 13th I will pick up the cutest little puppy (Golden Retriever). Talk about a merry merry christmas

 

RE-RE-UPDATE: Just received a standard email from Dell.

"At Dell, our customers are our top priority and we regret when we are unable to ship our products by the original estimate provided. Although we anticipated being able to ship your order sooner, we are experiencing an unexpected delay and have adjusted the estimated ship date as reflected below"

And below it reads: 12/4/2008.

A new hour, a new date.

 

That's why I'm ordering my system "as is" and not reinstalling OS, etc.

I'll wait until things settle down and when the 500GB 7200rpm are available I'll re-evaluate.

 

The Covet is very nice. Be aware that it is very much a glossy screen, despite whatever the sales reps tell you. (I've been checking up on them... It's really funny to log on their sales chat and ask if it is glossy or matte, and be told over and over that it is matte, while looking at my reflection right next to their window!)

I'm having some issues I think trace down to the fingerprint reader. If you're just looking at a fingerprint reader for extra nifty points, I would pass on it. It's managed by a software called "Dell Wave", which starts up before login. The problems:

1: It insists you set a bios password and register fingerprints for bios login, which means you have to swipe your finger once before boot and once to log in. Slight annoyance, but funny to think of a crook or a prankster looking at the scary white text-mode screen asking for biometrics. :-D

2: When the Vista login sound plays, it stutters badly. If the normal sound is "Baaaaa, dah daaaah, dling", this is what you hear:

baaad-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-daaaaa, dah daad-d-d-d-d-d-d-dah, dliiiid-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-diiiiing"

Other than that fingerprints work, but it makes everyone else in the room think my new Covet is a broken POS when they hear it boot.

If you're thinking of using the default config, check and make sure you get a DVD burner with that. I'm not sure if this model can replace the optical drive... It comes with a super-thin slot loader by default.

 

The worst thing would be a matte screen under a glass plate! Then we had the bad contrast of a matte screen + the reflections of a glossy screen. Can you make a very close photo of the screen, or tell if you see something like a matte screen under a glass plate??