Dell is garbage...

Got my XPS 1330 worked on by a Dell tech at home, supposed to replace the mobo to help the CPU whine disappear but the mobo was dead on arrival. Also replaced keyboard which turned out well except the top half of it IS STICKING OUT from the rest, which I didn't notice until he left and I went to shut the laptop and it won't shut all the way now. The bezel also has several loose parts now, wow, thanks Dell, thanks. Just wanted to fix small problem and now I have a few larger ones. What do I do? Go for the full refund, ask for another tech, ask for a new unit, or what? I chose this 1330 specifically for the fairly cheap solid-state drive. Are there any laptops that can compare to this in that area?

 

Sounds like you should just get a replacement system.

Why come here and ask us to make your personal choices. Its up to you wether you want this laptop or you want your money back. We dont know you, your situation at all.

 

How long have you had it for? If the Dell tech screwed up the keyboard and put in a dead motherboard I would definately demand a new system.

 

I'd suggest, given your attitude - obvious from the title of your thread - that you just return the machine, get your money back, and buy a computer from a different company.

 

Whats so great about a SSD when you have that crap video card.

 

Sound advice

 

I agree cause it seems that no matter if you get a working machine you will still be upset

 

Get a new system from them.I think they will give one.

 

Nah, if you think that strongly about Dell computers, save yourself the effort and buy from another company. I've never had a problem with them though so I'll keep my M1530.

And Lucanesti has a point, I'd much rather wait a few more seconds for my games to load than for my frames to load.

 

I once had a dell tech person come to my house to fix a desktop computer.
He didn't know beans about computer hardware.
He came to replace my mobo.
When he did this he didn't know how to configure the bios. I ended up doing it right in front of him lol AND NO I'M NOT JOKING

I bet it would be easy for me to get a job at dell even though I'm still somewhat limited when it comes to computer hardware

BTW I do know how to replace a mobo, but the computer had 3 yr gold next day service(or something like that) so it didn't cost me anything. And if I had done it myself and broken the new mobo I would have to pay for a second.

 

Yeah...the majority of people who own a 13 inch laptop arent using it for, and could care less about, gaming there bud

 

Don't be a dick. I told you my situation. It's not a personal choice, my main question in there was if I could get a similar laptop from a different company or not, I'm only 19, I would have assumed your level of knowledge concerning these topics would be greater than mine but obviously you're too arrogant to read my post all the way through and decided to criticize me rather than help. Way to go. Negged.

I stated why I strongly want to stick with Dell, the SSD, what other laptop in this form factor has a 500 dollar 64GB SSD?

What in the world. Are you for real? When did I EVER say I was doing any gaming on this thing? And since when does the 8400M GS become a bottleneck in everyday tasks that have nothing to do with video editing, gaming, or picture editing?

And no I would rather have a dead quiet, low heat, .1 ms application launch time, 5 hour battery life on a 6 cell, than a noisy battery draining 7200rpm hard-drive.

 

Hey, I'm really sorry that you are so upset.

Why, not just call Dell and firmly ask them to replace the system? It, seem's like they really should.. given, all your circumstances, and all.

I mean, it sounds like you do like the 1330, yes? If not, then perhaps..you may want to ask for a full refund and visit another brand/model...

Deep breathes, here...everyone K. ?

 

Oh, brother . . . where to start?? the sarcasm? the irony? Negged? (you can't neg anyone at this forum) that you stated strongly (lol) that you want to stick with Dell? (No you didn't.)

 

After this post, I wouldn't expect any of the knowledgeable people to even bother trying to help you.

It's a little bit of Kettle calling the Pot various things when you have to audacity to say "Don't be a dick" to someone else, and then continue on as you did.

It *IS* a personal choice as to how you want to proceed. IMO, most Dell techs (as I use that term VERY loosely) don't know their ass from their head and after the one tech screwed up my laptop, I replaced the remaining parts myself. So, you need to decide if a) you want another tech working on your laptop, b) you feel confident enough to work on your own laptop and just request parts, or c) feel it necessary to try return your Dell and go with another manufacturer.

IMO, people are falling into the "I must have a SSD to get maximum performance" pit due to a few scattered benchmarks (which always show best case scenario rather than REAL WORLD). Why anyone would spend an ungodly amount on a severely size restricted SSD is beyond me. The only explanation I can come up with would be anal retentiveness. Give me a fast 7200 rpm 320gb HD ANY DAY over an SSD right now.

If you're seriously looking for a "dead quiet, low heat, .1 ms application launch time, 5 hour battery life on a 6 cell" laptop, you really should be looking somewhere other than the m1330.

 

I attempted to call them earlier but I was on hold for half an hour, not sure what was going on with that. Thanks though.

I never said I stated strongly. I said I stated I strongly wanted to stick with Dell, if you can't read then don't bother posting. I thought that was clear considering the SSD fact. And my apologies that this board doesn't support the neg option when all others that I post on do, guess that's my fault genius?

Audacity is when I have no right whatsoever to call him on his attitude, however, he was being blunt and very unhelpful. So therefore don't bother on that topic. If he wasn't going to help then he shouldn't have posted, it's as simple as that and you know it. I don't need an attitude in a reply when I only asked for advice. End of story.

And no I didn't get an SSD for "scattered benchmarks", I got it for the a.) battery saving capabilities, b.) OS loading time capablities, and yes c.) application launch time. Which I had tested myself before even purchasing this laptop. Yes it is "dead quiet, low heat. .1ms application launch time, 5 hour battery life on a 6 cell", so please enlighten me on what you were thinking when you posted that considering the 1330 is in the top 5 laptops two years running from what I've read. It is significantly faster than my friends 1330 with a 7200rpm drive. Booting Vista is between 18-20 seconds. Obviously you've never owned one.

 

After doing a clean install of Vista, and changing some start up programs... my 250gig 5400rpm drive boots Vista just as fast... maybe a little slower on starting SOME apps, but other than that not worth paying hundreds more. Anyways, just send for a replacement laptop.

 

You haven't stated anything strongly about anything except for your sarcasm, disgust with Dell, etc, etc.

Wrong

Geez, you're sarcastic, you call people names, accuse others of not being able to read, yet you can't keep straight just exactly what you HAVE posted, or in what order you've made your "remarks." You've posted nothing but negativity in each and every post in this thread.

You apologize that the forums don't support a negative option?? You should feel very grateful for that!

 

Okay sorry about the attitudes that I have been reading in this thread . My name is Ted and I am 17 . I will try to help you out as much as I can .

I may not have a laptop yet but I have worked on my friend's m1330 and 1530 in terms of upgrading and personal 3 hr experiences once every month since December 2007. It is quite surprising to me that dell would do a half baked job on working on your system especially from XPS support because I have called Dell XPS support for my friend to replace the keyboard and they seem to do a fine job. I would suggest trying to explain your grievances to the support and hopefully they will send another tech to you and check to see if they do a better job...or if you really want to not go through the whole tech thing again, ask for another replacement (granted it will take about the same time or less as it did to get your first system). Now in the worst case scenario, you run into problems again when you first get your replacement system...that is the time to get a full refund and try to see if you can get a laptop with an SSD configuration as close to the current config you have as possible.

Well, I guess this is about as much advice as I can give you with my knowledge. I hope you have a great day .

...and if your asking why I sound like a support rep from any place, I am going to college for Computer Programming and Information Systems and will most likely end up as a customer support rep as a temporary job or possibly a career. So I want to see if I can get as much "positiveness" in the forums from my help and give as much advice as possible. Rep for you juggernautica8173 for tolerating the negative attitudes in this thread and I really do kinda feel bad.

 

Why make an infantile statement like "Dell is garbage", when nothing in the post indicates that Dell machines are or are not garbage?

The 3rd-party technician (from QualXserve, most likely) that Dell paid to work on your system seems to have messed up.

The machines happens to not be "garbage" from any objective point of view, but you are, of course, entitled to your opinion. Since, if you took a poll, most people would strongly disagree with you on that, however, it makes your post that much more annoying.

So instead of calling Dell grade-school adjectives, call Dell on the phone and have them fix what the technician did.

Specifically, if it's a system you bought fewer than 21 days ago (I think), they should send you a new replacement, no questions asked, before you have to ship back the old one.

If it's older than that, you can still try asking for a replacement, but even if they only send you a "refurb", you're much better off than with a messed up system, and it will likely be as good or better than what you had before the tech showed up.

I'm sure you must be frustrated by the whole experience, but please post relevant information, not useless (and incorrect) invective.

 

There's your problem....you seem to believe everything you read.

The m1330 hasn't even been out a year yet. How do I know this? Read my next answer.

Actually I bought one as soon as they came out.

 

@OP - I don't want to sound like a ***** but some complaining. Maybe you can buy a AW and then have to pay a 15% restocking fee if you want to send it back.

Honestly, Dell is great. If you don't like the notebook, send it back. If you want to stick with them (your intent), then just get a brand new notebook.

Easy.

 

honestly here your dell bashing session needs to end, make up your friggin mind on what it is you want to do, because here is reality bud, you like your laptop, something happened to it and it went downhill, dell sent someone to fix it and that someone messed it up. now i realize that person is a representitive of dell. but they are not dell. and they are who your anger is targeted at, and then you like a jackass dont contact dell but get on this forum to rip everyone a new one like we were the ones who ripped your laptop to bits, call dell dude tell them what happened get your **** fixed. PERIOD!

 

Sorry for your bad experience. My advice is that you need to ask yourself if you like the machine(i.e. only thing that bothered me was the whine, but I can live with that). If you do, then ask for a replacement. If a lot of things bothered you(before the fixing) about the machine other than the whine, then I would try another manufacturer.

Looks like these kinds of problems have become very common with all manufacturers. The quality control standards have gone to crap. With Dell atleast, you get a more flexible return policy than most. This whole frustration thing with the laptops have become part of the game. Many people went through a lot of headaches to get their graney screens exchanged out. You might have to put up with similar headaches to get the machine you want. Good Luck.

 

@The Fire Snake - QFT man, too true. 15% restocking fee is a lot worse than 0%

 

Dell is not garbage.

 

From what I've seen, a Dell notebook keyboard is fairly easy for a semi-technical user to replace/re-insert (at least this was the case for both my M1710 and M1730). There's one keyboard bezel/plate to pop off and two screws that hold the keyboard in place. The only drawback is that you need a Dell plastic/teflon keyboard pick to avoid damaging the bezel during removal (or a plastic flathead screwdriver), usually included in a Dell keyboard replacement kit.

Dell XPS Premiere Support can easily schedule the tech to return and re-seat the keyboard (takes less than 24 hrs in my area). Just make sure that you talk specifically to Dell XPS Premiere Support... their regular tech support team doesn't have the same level of resources. Yolu will need the express service code to talk to them, and this code is found on a sticker underneath your laptop.

Good luck.