Newbie questions about Dell order

Hello,
Newbie here, and got some newbie questions regarding my Dell order. Just placed an online order for Inspiron 9300, WUXGA.

Do you recommend that I call up Dell after placing the online order, to confirm specifications of various components, for example, the GPU, etc ? I read somewhere, that Dell occasionally messes up the specs of various components. Hence the question.

Is there any way for us to specify that we want a specific make of the LCD, such as the one by LG or Samsung? Or is it something not at all in our control.

Would appreciate your answers a lot.

thanks
~sean

 

Hi Sansin,
Welcome to our site....

I seriously doubt calling Dell would help you find out the specs. Reason is that they will just pull up your account order (which you can view on dell.com) and just read you the specs from there. In my opinion, it would be easier to wait until you receive your laptop and verify everything is correct at that time.

As for the LCD, I've never heard of Dell allowing you to request a specific make of the LCD.

SG

 

Can't hurt to try. Worst they'll do is say no.

 

you should receive a confirmation email that tells you what specs will be coming with your new rig.

those specs are fwd'd to the factory in malaysia that builds your machine.

if there is a discrepancy (i've never heard of such a problem), there's not much you can do because the rep you talk to is just reading off a script that you, the rep, and the person(s) building your machine are reading off of. this means that if there is a disrepancy (again, i've never heard of this happening), it's human error on the build line that calling in will have no control over.

however, if it helps you sleep at night, you can call. you will get a rep reading the script off to you repeating to you what the specs you ordered are. you will go to sleep thinking all is ok.

good luck.

 

Folks, thanks for the reply.

I read a post at notebookforums, where the guy actually specifically requested a Samsung LCD and got it. I am giving it a thought, whether to take that approach, or just leave it to chance. Either make of LCD can be good or bad.

 

Can you buy a filter (such as a thin plastic film that you can place on top of your LCD) at, say, OfficeMax or Staples, for cutting the glare/gloss on the WUXGA Screen?

I ordered the WUXGA. But after looking at a UXGA VAIO screen last night at CompUSA, I am keeping my fingers crossed. I think the glare and sparkles on the WUXGA screen will indeed bother me. Just spoke to the Dell representative, but looks like its too late for me to change to WXGA+.

If anybody has had success with such filters, please do share.

thanks

 

nickspohn here, this is a staples link. Is this something what your looking for?


http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/s...ary&searchUnsumUrl=searchresults&fromUrl=home

 

None of those products from Staples are for notebook screens. Dell, however, does have some in their accessories: screen protectors

I'm sure other places (online at least) have something similar too.

 

hey i have a question...how do you guys know what kind of monitor i have. i went to my device manager and it shows plug and play and default monitor but it doesnt say what brand it is. is there a software out there or something that determines it? or am i just in the wrong place to look for it. thx.

 

I found out what my dell screen was by talking to dell chat portable online. Mine is a hitahi, i never would have guessed that

lgandg, that is not it either

 

How do you get that, Nick? The last four products on the page I linked to are antiglare screen protectors for laptops, which is what sansin asked for.

 

Tell me lgandg, sansin has a 9300 notebook. That is a 17 inch screen if i am correct. There is no anti screen glare for 17 inch screens.

NS

 

Ah, gotcha. But they're at least close. The 15.4" one would cover most of a 17" screen.

 

LOL. True lgandg

 

You can find out which monitor you got with your dell service tag number, this is once you have your system ofcourse. Go to dell support, enter the service tag number where requested and click on "original configuration" you will get a complete breakdown of the system and the manufacturer of the lcd panel, hard drive and optical drive.

If you do not like the WUXGA panel you can call them and tell them you dont like it, the text afterall is very tiny and get a matte finish wxga, which is what I ordered and very much prefer over the glossy screens, its very bright and ultrasharp.

As for sparkles, there are two manufacturers of the dell lcd panels, LG or Samsung, of the two I prefer the samsung for the following reasons: One, the samsung doesnt have sparkle so to speak, there is an anti reflective coating that is something like a transparent patterned sheen, not distracting at all, on the LG this anti reflective coating is a dusty metallic sheen, more of what people call "sparkle" Second: The samsung screen offers much better viewing angles than the LG, some say the lg has better color but this can be adjusted on the samsung screen to your liking but the lack of viewing angles on the LG is something you cannot adjust.

Whatever panel you get, use it for a few days to see how you like it as its a 50/50 love samsung love LG amongst users.

 

actually..it's people's own personal preference

 

conghelach,

thanks a lot for your very informative reply.

My order is in pre-production. I just ordered it yesterday, and its barely past 24 hours. Is there any way I can request DEll to give me a Samsung LCD? Can I go a step ahead and request a specific model # ? I know the second one is stretching it too far, but at least, can I call up Dell Sales and ask for Samsung?

thanks much.

 

within how many hours of placing the order can you change the order. I am thinking of changing the LCD to WXGA+.

 

How do you get the Win XP installation CD? Does Dell ship the original CD with the product? Or do you have to ask for the CD?

They have an option for the Win XP Backup CD. I have selected that option. But not quite sure if that is the original installation CD.

Can someone please enlighten me?

 

Is the 9300 WXGA screen matte or glossy? It says ultrasharp on the seb site, and I thought that meant their glossy style screen...

 

well...there's ultrasharp and then tere's ultrasharp with trulife...the 9300 WUXGA (ultrasharp w/o trulife) is a matte screen...and the 9300 WUXGA with the trulife is the glossy screen..i have the matte screen and i love it

 

This is a little bit off topic from this thread, but yes you will get your own cd. There will be a small box with your laptop shipment that will contain all of your additional CDs . The CD is an OEM version. Meaning that you can only install it on Dell computers and it will give you a clean install (no junk software). There is additional CDs that you can request from Dell that will have all of the junk software. If you need more information, see my sticky titled "Step by Step to Clean XP Install"
SG

 

I have been reading in other posts that DELL does NOT normally ship Win XP installation CD with the notebook? Is this true? Do you have to ask for this separately in order to get it? Are you supposed to pay any additional price for having the the OS CD shipped to you?

Please let me know ASAP, as I my machine has been shipped, and I need to contact Dell to have the OS CD shipped as well.

 

it is true that dell does not ship with winxp or any of the drivers anymore. but you are able to burn them out with because the cds are on one of your partitions on the hard drive. and 2 you dont have to spend any extra shipping or anything like that because technically you already payed for win xp and all the drivers. its just they are cheap and dont give you the cds. hope you get your dell soon

 

Aha! Another reason to get a Latitude instead of Inspiron--all the CDs came with my system--OS, apps, drivers & utilities.

 

You can check this info at dell support with your customer number and so forth.