** The Official Studio XPS 1640/45/47 replacement thread **

But they would never give you a L521x as a replacement for your 1640, not until the 521x has been out for several months.

 

Would they consider offering the L521X as a replacement for an SXPS 1645 with a quad-core i7 processor and 1080p display? It appears that the 720p display is the only option left for the XPS 15, and the 15z can only accomodate a dual-core processor.

 

They barely considered giving me a quad core L502x to replace my i7-720 1645. And since the L521x is so new, I can guarantee you that they won't be giving those out for a least a few months after release. The purpose of warranty unit replacement is to replace your current unit with one that is as close as possible, spec-wise, as your current unit. The other factor is "how cheaply can we replace the unit for this person if the specs don't quite match". Since specs are far from matching, the next best thing for Dell would be to compare your 1645 to a new XPS monetarily. For some dumb stroke of luck, your CSR seems to think that the XPS15z is not worth as much as a XPS15 L502x.

 

Okay, so I got my XPS 15z. There's this CPU whine issue very noticeable when the processor is on idle state mode. The Wireless N is also horrible that I have to switch it to Wireless G just to get a fast download speed! Time to do some troubleshooting then... =(

 

So, silly me, I spilled a massive glass of water all over my SXPS 1647 this morning. The display immediately starting flickering, then the laptop took on a mind of its own before ultimately shutting down entirely. Now nothing happens when I press the power button. (Actually, I put the battery back in and now the hinge light is lightly flickering orange every so often)

The laptop is still under a Complete Care warranty so I called up Dell and they offered are taking it into depot for service (sending me a prepaid shipping box).

What should I expect from this? It seems like pretty serious damage and the water was dripping out the bottom. Is this something that is repairable or should I expect a replacement? Anyone have experience with water damaged warranty requests?

 

IF Complete Care warranty covers Accidental damages; they will change what all unfunctional parts.
I was sceptical regarding sending it to depot (based on experience with Asus), but when I got it back I was amazed the way it looked, as new. They changed even the keyboard that was working fine...

With all these I still have some issues; some keys of keyboard are not flat and the palm rest aluminium bezel is off & still freezes and locks up, not as bad as before!
They offered me refund £360 for it, (this could be the real price of it) , too low compared with € 1170 + 150 warranty, I paid. They want to offer me a replacement. It seems that they do not want to make any repair to this laptop!

 

Hello everyone, I've been in contact with Dell about replacing my XPS 1640 that I purchased in May 2009. They offered the following replacement. Can you tell if it is refurbished or new?

 

Wow. Seems like you are getting quite an upgrade. I am currently in the process of getting a replacement for my xps 1702. I was going to ask what people thought I would receive. Do you think I can expect a replacement laptop similair to yours? Not sure how I feel about the thickness of an alienware but with those specs I would deal with it.

 

Hi this is my first post on notebook review. I've referenced this thread many times in the past, so I'd like to thank all of the people that have contributed to it over the years. And hopefully, there are still a few people out there that can chime in on this old thread. I bought a Dell 1640 back in early 2010 and have had never-ending issues with it. Constant over-heating and dozens of failed components. I'm not pushing this thing too hard either. Just internet and photoshop. This laptop is currently on its 5th motherboard, 4th LCD screen, 3rd heat sink, 3rd fan, 3rd palm rest and 4th keyboard. Just got it back from the depot for the 8th time and it was DOA, no bios, no battery light, just dead. I've babied this thing over the last 3 years, too. It never leaves the house, never has gotten wet or fallen off the couch or anything. I take care of my stuff, but this thing is a lemon.

Anyway, Dell has FINALLY agreed to a system replacement. Considering how badly I've been abused and tortured by their customer service over the years, I'm expecting to have a difficult time getting them to replace the system with something suitable. I'll post specs as soon as I get them from Dell, and I'll probably need help from all of the experts here. Current specs below, I tried to delete the unimportant stuff for readability:

P346N 1 BASE (ASSEMBLY OR GROUP)..., NOTEBOOK..., CPEN, T9800, 1640
F804K 1 PROCESSOR..., T9800, 2.93, 6MB, CPEN, 35W, E0
D266K 1 MODULE..., DVDRW/BD-ROM, HITACHI LG DATA STORAGE..., XPS NB
F977H 1 Module, Card, Network, 370 Foxconn, Consumer Notebook Dell Americas
G019C 1 MODULE..., CARD (CIRCUIT)..., NETWORK..., 5300, INSPIRON...
H375M 1 MODULE..., SSDR, 256, S2, 2.5, PM800, ACROSS LINE OF BUSINESS...
H432H 1 Module, Information, Liquid Crystal Display, Full High Definition, Red/green/blue,
K478H 1 Module, Information, Liquid Crystal Display, Cover, Leather Black, 1640
P916C 1 MODULE..., DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE..., 4GB, 1066MHZ, DDR3, 2X2G
T703D 1 Module, Keyboard, 86, US-ENG, DellAmericas Organization, 1640
W108D 1 Module, Liquid Crystal Display 16, Red/green/blue, W/OTVTNR 1640

 

So I got my first offer from Dell, and it was for an Inspiron 15R special edition. Inspiron is "below" an XPS right or am I crazy? I told them no.

I told the guy that the two things that I really cared about were the screen quality and the blu-ray drive, and that I'd be really flexible on everything else. I use the laptop mostly for photo editing and for watching movies, and the main reason I bought an XPS was for the RGBLED, which is awesome. Yes i know they don't offer that currently on XPS, but can't they upgrade me to another line with better screens?
Next, the guy offered me an XPS 15 with a WLED and DVD drive, no blu-ray. The processor, and GPU were upgrades and I really don't care much about the HDD and RAM because I'd end up upgrading those myself pretty much regardless of what they give me. I'm really not trying to be a jerk, but he's downgrading me on the only two things I need. I've read a lot of reviews that all say that the WLED on the XPS 15 won't cut it for real photo editing. Am I being an or should I keep trying for a better screen on something else like an alienware? The color gamut on the alienware screens are all considerably higher than the XPS, even though they both use WLED.

I'm not trying to screw Dell over, I just want a laptop that fulfills the purpose I bought it for.
I've already been back and forth like 4 times and the guy seems like he's not budging with this XPS 15. Somebody help me out. what should i do?

 

Anybody? Also, if I accept the XPS 15 as a replacement, and see firsthand when it arrives that the WLED isn't going to cut it, am I stuck with it? Or can I email them back and try again for a different model. I guess my question is, can I reject a system after they've sent it? or will they tell me that the matter is closed?

 

Well a few years ago I had a Inspiron E1505, HDD failed, techs kept breaking things when they worked on it...it was eventually replaced with a refurbished XPS 1645, countless issues later, they finally gave me a brand new red XPS 1645 i7 256GB SSD..., this happened over the span of 6 months, I basically did not having a reliable working laptop during that, very frustrating process, but they made it right in the end and I got a nice laptop.

#1 ask if you are getting a new or refurbished laptop. I'm not sure you will get them to go for the alienware line, but you should certainly be able to get the blu-ray drive. Be persistent and when talking with the reps be polite but firm...if you aren't making progress ask to speak with a manager, sometimes they can make things happen...

 

I got the L521x from Dell yesterday, and god the screen is just awful. I'll admit I was probably biased before I even saw it from all the reviews I read, but this thing really sucks. The colors are so washed out and blacks and whites are extremely grainy. The only reason I bought the XPS to begin with was the RGBLED. Also I can't stand not having click buttons below the touchpad. Just because Apple does it doesn't make it a good idea. Only choice I have is to sell this thing. I will never buy a Dell again as long as I live.

 

I got a bad flash. Could anyone help me to recover its bios. I tried some instruction for 1645 and 1640 but it does not work with 1647. Iam unable to access the recovery mode, there is no led on the usb flash.