Recieving replacement question.

Ok so basically i got a replacement computer which was a refurbished m17x R1 and the screen didnt work on arrival. I called dell to fix it and we ended up frying the motherboard during a bios update. Then a tech guy came out to replace it and broke three things on the computer including the glass on the screen so after talking to dell and them telling me to send it in for repairs i asked them about getting it replaced. He told me that he would check into it. Eventually he told me they would replace it and with a brand new non refurbished computer to boot. I thought that was awesome. Oh btw hen i got home with the "repaired" computer i got ac adapter warnings which eventually led to it turning itself of nonstop until my motherboard quit Again.... So two days after that i called to confirm that i was getting a non refurbished new R2 model without the invidia motherboard and with a core series processor. He said yes to all things. What did i end up getting? A refurbished m17x R1 with nvidia cards and no core processor.....

So i called them immediately and have been talking with a manager for about a week now about what i was promised vs what i got and he told me that he now has the authority to place the order for the new computer. Now they are saying that my new service tag is not updated with my warranty information and that that needs to be updated before the order can be completed so it has been suspended for the moment. Whatever as far as that goes because that will be taken care of.

However i did ask him if he knew the specs of the computer i was getting. He told me hed check and ended up telling me this information..

He said it was an m17x MLK edition which he said was the Revision 2(R2)

I asked him what processor it was and he said either P or T9600 and i said so is that a core procesor? and he said yes its an i7 but as far as i know there is no such model.... This concerns me because both of my refurbished computers have had the T9600 and one mentioned above was unusable and the other has Horrible latency issues, like 67000-130000 microsecond spikes...

Now as far as i know, the MLK edition is..... well im not that sure. Someone said it was the UK version of the R2. If that is true then it must have a core i5 or i7 processor correct? I know that on the configure.euro.dell site there is NO option for a 9600 anything, and all options are core series processors.

Could he possibly have meant 960? I know there is an i7 960 processor but is that available in an m17x?

Any insight here would be greatly appreciated..

Oh as far as the other things he mentioned it had a blu ray player(burner? dont know)

4gigs 1333 ram

didnt tell me about the HDD

But anyway lemme know what yall think

 

so about 45 minutes after i talked to the guy i got this in my email.
i know the guy said blu ray player... oh well im totally fine without it. What do you guys think of the setup though? Im still a tad worried that he said 9600 but we shall see once i get it.

This is the configuration requested:



Processor:

Intel® Core™ i7 620M 2.66 GHz (3.33GHz Turbo Mode, 4MB Cache)



Operating System:

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English



Video Card:

Dual 1GB ATI Radeon™ Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX™



Display Panels:

17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)



Hard Drive:

250GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD



CD ROM/DVD ROM:

Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)



Sound:

Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio



Bluetooth:

Internal Wireless Bluetooth® 2.1 with EDR



Wireless:

Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-Card



Power Adapters:

240 watt Adapter



System Color:

Space Black - Anodized Aluminum

 

You have a much better laptop (R2) there

The RGB LED Display is a definite upgrade.

 

That my friend is an R2 nice config for your bad lappy.
Hope you enjoy!

 

There's definitely no "9600" in the Core i ? range of processors. If I were you, I'd make sure that you have the new system config in an email from Dell. That way, if you get another R1 you'll have something to fall back on.

Aside from that, the spec you have listed isn't bad at all. You've got some headroom for later upgrades (HDD, RAM, CPU, optical drive) should you need them. The dual 4870s are good for graphics muscle, and you've got the all-important RGB-LED screen.

I hope that they manage to sort the warranty stuff out for you ASAP so you can get a nice shiny new toy!!!

 

@nzgeek Ya thats what i was thinking as soon as he said it but i just kinda went with the flow.. as far as the email, i just copied and pasted those specs from an email which the dell manager sent me so i have some definite proof here of what i am supposed to get. I am very excited about getting this laptop! As much as i hate dealing with dell(5 hours plus on the phone) i love their warranty and their willingness to *eventually* give you what you want. I mean, with my warranty i went from a dell xps m1710 with a core duo to a brand new m17x R2 i think that is pretty awesome. Im typing this from the second R1 that they sent me and man this freakin latency crap is driving me crazy.. im so happy that as far as i know this is taken care of in the R2. Once i get it ill post back here and let you guys know how everything is!

 

Dont know if it would be an option for you to swap the cpu (620m) but personally, i would be looking for a 740qm or 840qm....if you are shopping from the UK, they are available and have just been released.

Depends what you plan to use it for i guess but i was told that the quads are better than the 620m which is dual core with multi threading which will give you 4 virtual cores as opposed to the others which would give you 8 virtual cores.
The 620m is faster "in a straight line" but the quads would beat it in other areas.

620m would be easier on your battery as it has a lower TDP of 35w whereas the others are 45w.

I think MLK is a suffix for UK systems or Europe systems - i got mine in the UK and it is "MLK"

I would also try and get the Intel wireless LAN 6300 as its not that much more and is far better.

All of these would be "requests" i would make but its your system, see what you can get !!

 

I love the RGBLED screen! You got a great machine there, my friend.

 

I had a really good experience with Dell replacing my broken M1730 recently.

After my +$4000 M1730 from april 2008 broke down (still within warranty) and I called Dell tech support, they led me through a series of tests and fixes on the phone which didn't help and then sent an engineer to my house next morning.

Unfortunately he couldn't fix the issue even after replacing both the motherboard and cpu so next day they sent another tech that tried again - with no result.

Dell called me the same day and told me that my machine would be replaced. Having read some horror stories about that I was expecting the worst but 2 days later I received an email with proposed specs for the replacement (a pdf all looking just like an official Dell order but with a zero price quote). We then negotioated a bit by phone because I wanted a better cpu and the led screen, which they made no problem off.

Dell confirmed my replacement order with a similar pdf by mail and within 7 days after that my old machine was picked up and new machine was delivered to my door in perfect working order. It has all the specs promised, is definitly not refurbished, works like a charm, and looks mighty mean

Nothing but praise for how Dell handled this.

Specs of the replacement below:

• Alienware M17x MLK : Base Space Black
• Processor : Intel Core i7 Processor 720QM(1.60GHz,6MB cache)
• Display : 17in WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 - Beyond HD (1200p) - RGB LED
• Memory : 4096MB (2x2048) 1067MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
• Hard Drive : 640GB (2x320GB) Free Fall Sensor Raid 0 "Stripe"(7200RPM) Dual HDD
• Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
• Graphics : Dual CrossFire 1GB ATI GDDR5 Mobility Radeon HD 5870
• Wireless : Europe Dell Bluetooth 370 Card
• Wireless : Dell Wireless 1520 (802.11n) Half Mini Card
• Keyboard : Internal US/International Qwerty Keyboard
• Operating System : Dutch Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)

Oh btw, my warranty has been transfered to my new service tag without problem and with the exact number of days remaining.

 

@mudbug Oh wow thats great ey. I just wanted to know what were the specs of your old M1730? I am in the same boat now.
Also I'm in Australia are you guys i the UK or something?

Cheers.

 

I think it was something like this:

• XPS M1730 CORE 2 DUO T9300 2.50GHz,800,6M
• 17.0" UltraSharp Widescreen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife with 2.0MP Web camera
• 4GB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x 2G)
• 400GB (7200rpm) SATA RAID 0 Stripe (2x200GB)
• Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software
• DUAL SLI 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GTX card
• Ageia PhysX Processing Unit Card
• Dell Travel Remote control
• European - Dell TrueMobile 355 internal Bluetooth Module
• Dell™ Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-PCI Card EUR
• US/International Internal Keyboard (QWERTY)
• Dutch - Vista Home Premium (32Bit OS)
• 3 Year Consumer XPS Premium Hardware Support

Also the Dutch Dell rep that handled it for me told me the actual replacement quote cames from a Dell sales rep in Poland which he never talked to in person and my new machine was built in and shipped from Shanghai. I guess you just need a bit of luck in the handling of your claim.

 

Oh cool thanks for the info. Cheers.

We had the exact same specs for the M1730. eheheh.

 

First off. I am in the U.S so I dont know why they'd be giving me an MLK i think he was confused lol. Anyway, i talked to the guy today and he thinks ill be getting the warranty crap figured out Monday. Also he said that they did say they were going to give me a Blu Ray drive so they will be giving me that. I also asked him if it was possible to give me the dual 5870's instead of the 4870's and he said he cant guarantee but he thinks they might be able to cause i am going to extend my warranty another two years. So now im pretty sure ill be getting a m17x R2 with:

core i7 620m processor(actually a pretty good one, better than some of the quad core i7's specially for gaming)

4 gigs ddr3 1333 mhz ram

ATI 5870's XF(hopefully)

250 gig 7200rpm(plenty cause i got like 2 TB external)

Blu Ray reader(not burner)

RGB LED 1920*1200 screen


Overall Quite the upgrade from my original system(in my signature)
Took a lot of work with them but overall i am extremely happy

 

Oh thats great news nahog99. Superb!!! That would be super awesome if you can get the Dual 5870s.

Technically if in your country's home dell webpage shows only the 5870s as the default GPU then you should be able to argue and get them for sure. I know they are here in Australia but not sure what options for the GPUs are still available in the US. Cheers.

 

In the US after yesterday at least, the offer: 1 ATI 5870 OR 2 4870's OR 2 5870's. They already offered me the 2 4870's so i asked em if i could get the 5870's instead since im droppin 438 bucks on an extended warranty.

 

Ahh i see i see. Yeh that sounds like a good way to go about asking. Hopefully they will do it for you. If not the 2 4870s are still pretty awesome.

Any news back from them?

Good Luck!!!

 

You should find that Dell are pretty good with replacement systems. My wife's Studio 15 laptop died earlier in the year. The upgraded unit had double the RAM, and a 1GB ATi 5470M instead of the useless Intel integrated graphics. It was a fair upgrade, and all free under warranty.

Considering that you're going from a M1730, you should get a good spec.

 

So its official, this is the order that was placed for me. It is NEW not refurbished.

Quantity Item Number Description
1 224-8107 Space Black - Anodized Aluminum
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install
1 313-8569 Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1 313-8792 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
1 313-8944 5.1 Channel Audio
1 317-3656 Intel Core i7 620M 2.66 GHz (3.33GHz Turbo Mode, 4MB Cache)
1 317-3663 4GB Dual Channel Memory (2x 2GB DDR3)
1 320-8856 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
1 320-8858 Dual 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX
1 330-6175 Standard Nameplate
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On
1 330-7841 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 342-0666 250GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp
1 421-1304 CyberLink PowerDVD 8.0 Software
1 421-1305 Nero 9 Media Burning Software
1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 421-1721 Soft Contracts,Banktec Care,Alienware
1 421-2261 Alienware Command Center, M17x
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
1 430-3688 Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini Card
1 464-7384 Exchange

 

Very nice spec's nothing to cry about here. Good job.

 

Indeed that is a super duper replacement right there. Congrats!!!