Done with Dell. Forever.

The sparknote version of my story is such:

From around last November until now, I have bought and returned 4 Dell XPS laptops.

Currently, I have 2 Studio XPS 1640s on hand. One I purchased for $999 from BestBuy, the other one is a replacement for it that just arrived today (after a 30-day backorder period).

So, during this... 5 month, I have had 6 Dell PREMIUM top of the line laptops. Each had to be/yet to be returned because of defects right out of the box.

Some of the ridiculous ones:
A XPS m1530 came right out of the box with a defective motherboard. Would not power on. (uhhh...didn't any quality control try to press the power button?)

The SXPS 1640 had a major black dot/scratch in the middle of the screen (inside), uneven keyboards, uneven edges, uneven speakers, uneven base.

The replacement SXPS had a DENT on one of the hinges. It does not only have one screen defect, but FOUR. Some look like scratches inside the screen. Very, very, very obvious ones.

----------------------

So in a nutshell, I am done. While I had fun switching to a new laptop every month or so. The XPS is the best and most expensive consumer product line Dell has (other than Alienware). If Dell can't make those right, what can it do right?

The sad thing is, I can't even find another laptop that I like better than the SXPS. HPs are fulgy, so are Asus and Toshiba. Sony way overpriced. And Apple is just a waste of money.

I wish this could've worked out. I really really did... *sad face*

 

have you looked at MSI?

xoticpc.com sells 'em

 

Actually, the Dell business laptops (Latitude and Precision series) are Dell's top-of-the-line laptops. It's a world of difference in build quality.

 

Man, sorry to hear your troubles.

I had a bad problem too with Dell: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=248972

 

My brother has both a Latitude and a Precision (for home and work)..and they are just awesome....and the Service and Support he receives on both is *the best*

I have an XPS, and I have had the luck of having great support on mine.

I'm sorry for the troubles you have had


Cin

 

I've had great support...returns and refunds with no problem. It's their quality control I am unhappy with.

 

Hmm....yes, your experience has indeed been bad. I am puzzled, your experiencce seems to indicate really really really bad QC; way worse than the average XPS QC

 

Like everyone says. The business laptops are the top of the line. I have a Latitude e6500 and it's solid.

You pay for the superior build quality.

 

I still wonder why people continuously tout the fact that they buy the "MOST EXPENSIVE" laptop or "top of the line" laptop and expect to get better service or they are owed something in comparison to the people buy lower end laptops.

Any one buying a product, whether it's Dell, Apple, Sony, Lenovo...etc...no matter how much you spent, you are equally as much of a customer as the next person who bought a higher or lower end model.

The only time where this treatment argument comes into play is if you continuously do business with a company...this is where it makes sense... continuously as in big business orders, not just some orders here and there.

Anyways, you've obviously had bad luck, but please take into consideration that if I was buying the SXPS 13, I'm just as much of a customer as you are...because you bought a bigger or higher end model, you do not deserve anything more.

 

No, thats incorrect. When you buy a laptop, you are also buying service.
A higher level of service entails higher costs for dell, and hence a higher price tag on the laptop.

 

i agree with wearetheborg,

when you buy an xps branded system from dell your service and support will be superior. this is why on the dell website the support phone numbers for xps systems are different from inspiron and so forth.

 

"Apple is a waste of money" - Depends if you value your time. I haven't had a single bit of downtime on my MBP, no viruses, no spyware, no disk defragmentation, no registry issues. I use it for programming work so time is money on it.

I've had no hardware trouble with the Dells I have bought for relatives, however they end up having issues because my relatives don't have the competence to maintain windows machines.