The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    very disappointing experiences + not sure what do to

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by bakastrawberry, Mar 30, 2013.

  1. bakastrawberry

    bakastrawberry Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    So I bought an alienware m17r4 last may, cost me about 3000 dollars after upgrading different components (I am a student, so 3000 dollar is a lot of money to me)
    I was expecting to get a prefect gaming laptop that can help me feel that "Victory has never felt so real", but I had so many issues with it and I don't know what to do anymore... :(
    *just fyi, I only brought this "laptop" out of my room for less than 5 times, and I treated it with extra care so I highly doubt that I made any physical damage to it

    And here is my story...

    After I opened the box, I realized that the keyboard isn't completely flat and I could feel the "bumps" on the sides of the keyboard, but it didn't really bothered me so I simply ignored it.

    Last December, when I was installing a windows update, the alienware crashed and I could not boost up the laptop anymore after the crash (I tried fixing it, but none of the methods worked), so I had to reinstall windows 7 to my alienware. Had some minor issues after re-installing, but I managed to fix them after a few hours

    This January, my dedicated graphics card stopped working (amd 7970m), and I couldn't play any games. After some testing with the customer support, they told me it was a hardware issue so I had to send my laptop back.

    Just yesterday, the sound from my laptop stopped working, I updated all the drivers and stuff, but it didn't help. Now sometimes the headphone jack works, sometimes it does not, and the speakers are completely dead :|

    So I am planning to call dell after the long weekend about this issue, and I bet I'll have to send the laptop back AGAIN...My warranty is going to expire in May and with this many issues occurred within the first year, I wonder how many more issues are going to happen after the warranty expires (This laptop had more issues than my mom's 500 dollar asus laptop she had for over 5 years...) . I am just very disappointed (and find this very ridiculous...a 3000 dollar laptop) and can someone tell me what to do now :( (and sorry for my bad english)
     
  2. MickyD1234

    MickyD1234 Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    3,159
    Messages:
    6,473
    Likes Received:
    1,165
    Trophy Points:
    331
    Sorry to hear man :(.

    Unfortunatly, the high cost bears little relationship to quality, it's more having premium (priced) parts, a big-name brand, and a dedicated support line. High-end components seem to have a higher failure rate probably because they are low volume :confused:

    Anyhoo, to your issue. You should be getting on-site from support. Unless they cannot identify the problem over the phone or a remote session. It might be that in your country (which?) it is not offered, in which case the waranty should have been cheaper. Check out your warranty using your service tag on the dell support site. It will list whether you have 'complete care' with on-site NBD.

    The rule of thumb they often use is 3 repairs and then a replacement is possible. I just asked after a series of probs with my R3 and got this one (sig) six months after I purchased it. I also asked for (and got) a fresh waranty since for most of the expired portion it had been unusable. A big yay for Indian off-shore support :D
     
  3. bakastrawberry

    bakastrawberry Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Thanks for the suggestion, I guess i'll call them and see what they can do (i mean...what else can i do) Hopefully their customer support can be nice to me (I live in Canada)

    High-end components seem to have a higher failure rate probably because they are low volume <- :|
     
  4. MickyD1234

    MickyD1234 Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    3,159
    Messages:
    6,473
    Likes Received:
    1,165
    Trophy Points:
    331
    You should be good there! They stick to the US service levels, unless your calling French speaking support in Tunisia (or Morocco) :eek:. No experience of them, or seen any bad things :)

    Good luck!