Positive Outcome: XPS m1530 and the NVIDIA GPU

As a long suffering m1530 user (with an 8600m GT and several motherboard replacements due to overheating and graphical defects) I have come to expect the worst from customer support, being told the problem does not exist, I am an anomaly, no one else had any issues.

I bought my system in April 2008 and have had 3 and a half years of hassle with it (still in warranty until April 2012).

Well, today I was very pleasantly surprised.

I'm in the position where the motherboard needs replacing again, I stated I was unhappy due to the repeated repairs and poor performance. I'm told someone will call me back in 2 hours.

When they call back I'm offered a great deal in my opinion:

1) Pay Dell £250

2) They will send me an XPS l502x with the following spec:
CPU - i7-2670QM
LCD - 15.6" FHD B+RGLED True-Life (1920x1080)
RAM - 6144MB (1x2048 + 1x4096) 1333MHz
HDD - 750GB (7200RPM)
GPU - 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
DVD Drive
Backlit Keyboard
TV Tuner
Intel Wireless N & Blutooth

3) This includes next day in-home warranty for the next 4 years

4) When I get the new system, they will give me a few days to transfer everything then collect my old system

I've had this all confirmed in writing by email and am just waiting for a call back to make the payment.

There was no argument, no unpleasantness, they apologised for my experience and offered me a great deal.

I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

 

Hrm you shouldn't have to pay for a new system replacement if you are still in warranty...unless the 250 is for upgrades that the M1530 never had (high resolution screen, additional RAM, HDD space, etc).

 

It's a huge spec increase, and they are giving me another 4 years warranty.

So the new system will be covered for any repairs till 2015.

Original config was:
m1530
Core2Duo 2.1GHz
NVIDIA 8600mGT
1440x900
2GB RAM
250GB HDD

Paid £740 for it in 2008

The system offered comes to around £1200 on their website today.

 

Outstanding!

 

yeah.. go for it

I would

 

Just off the phone with them, payment all done - should be here in 2 weeks!

 

really nice upgrade dude... hoping my m1530 stops working now

 

what exactly did you say to them to get this offer, i've been suffering from the same problems for 3+ years as well and have always been told that theres nothing wrong that the laptop is fine etc, right now even the laptop fan is going 24/7 and the underside is hot enough to burn me, not to mention the graphics issues.

every time i call dell they either say nothing is wrong or send someone to replace the motherboard yet again which never seems to result in anything so any tips as to what you told them would be much appreciated

 

I just told them I was unhappy I had needed so many repairs and that their technicians either did not seem to know about the inherent design flaws with the GPU or were lying to me.

When challenged as to whether not there was an actual problem with the GPU I referenced their own blog post about it at community.dell.com:

Blog Post

They said "let us replace the motherboard again, give us one more chance etc" I said that they had not been able to repair it previously and asked if there was anything else that could be done. They weren't authorised to do anything apart from the motherboard swap and said I would have to speak to someone else who would call me back later on.

When the guy called back he was very polite asked what problems I had faced (several failed repairs, overheating and poor performance over 3 years). He apologised for all the trouble I had experienced with the system and said that yes there were some problems with the machine but the new motherboards had fixed it for the vast majority of people.

He asked what I used it for and what I needed from a laptop (high res screen, dvds, work stuff and a little gaming), then he suggested we go for an XPS l502x and made the offer above.

He said the reason for the £250 payment was because I was going to get an up to date modern system, that I had been able to use my m1530 for at least some of the time I had it over the 3 years and that £80 of it was to cover the warranty for the next 4 years. I thought this was completely fair and that he was being very reasonable. I didn't haggle with him at all over the specs and went with what he suggested.

It didn't sound like they had a set policy in place for dealing with ongoing issues, it was up to his digression based on the problems I had faced.

I guess that leads to what problems are you having at the moment and how many repairs have they done for you?

In my experience the m1530 has always run very hot with fans on all the time regardless of whether the performance was fine or not. If it is just the heat and the fans going I doubt they will do anything.

Mine's had a variety of symptoms with the different motherboards. On some occasions it's completely died and I've just had blue lines all over the screen, others it would appear to run fine, but get so hot that it would just turn off by itself. After each replacement it has worked ok for a short time but become significantly worse after a couple of months.

Off the top of my head these are the repairs I remember:
4/5x motherboard (and it was needing another one now)
3/4x heat sync & fans
1x HDD
1x LCD

Also small progress update, the new laptop shipped today - very quick!

 

I've had a tech over to fix my xps1530 at least 12 times :\. Need a frequent customer card but every time I complain to them they say that it is a known issue with the 1530 model and they will do the best to resolve the issues. They do eventually replace it but it is crap that I have to keep getting the machine serviced.

 

well i have xps m1530 bought in 2008 as well....... still going strong (did hell lot of gaming on it too, now being used as home pc).....
i just hope i don't get the problem as i am long out of warranty.......