Sent e1705 into Dell for 7800/7900 swap, got crap back...

Well, I can't say I'm suprised, but I am irritated. I got my first version of this laptop back in April or something like that and I liked it quite a bit until my CPU fan died, forcing me to replace it with a new one. The new one doesn't appear to have fan problem, but the 7800 GPU got way, way too hot - I couldn't play my games for long before things got chunky. By this time, the 7900 was out and I'm well aware of the differences... I had read of other having success in getting Dell to replace the 7800 with the 7900, so I figured that so long as they may have to replace my GPU, they may as well replace it with a 7900.

I contacted customer service and they referred me to tech support and so forth... After submitting a complaint to the resolution center, I was asked to remove my hard drive and ship the unit to the depot for "repair". They did not state that they would replace my GPU with a 7800 or a 7900, but I expected them to fix it regardless. They sent me a shipping box, but with NO RETURN LABEL! That slowed the process of getting it to the depot. After about a week (good turn-around time), I got the laptop back.

First off, they swapped the 7800 for another 7800. I haven't had time to test it fully yet - maybe they solved the cooling problem? I'll find out soon after some extended playtime. What irks me is that I got it back and the plastic clip above the keyboard (where the power button and WiFi lights are located) was half attached. In addition, the keyboard was improperly mounted, so I can actually lift up the bottom right corner of it about 1/8 of an inch - the tab that should be inserted under the body is on top of the body... WTF?

This could be unrelated and just coincidence, but after plugging my HDD back in and booting up, the Intel Wi-Fi app had "lost" the Wi-Fi profile due to a "database corruption" or something and wouldn't allow me to connect to my home network anymore. Both the Windows XP and Vista Beta apps were able to connect, however.

So now I'm looking at this laptop that has given me much more headache than joy and I just don't feel like dealing with it anymore. I contacted the service guy again and he said they'll have to arrange another service shipment or something, and I really don't want to send it out again if I can avoid it. I want to have a laptop, but I'm at the point now where if I have to ship it out again, it will be as a return. What should I do?

 

After my second ordeal with the 7800 Go, I sent my back as a return and got my money back then ordered a brand new one with the 7900 GS. Third time was the charm.

 

most likely you just got a crappy tech guy who didn't hook the WiFi wires back up or put on the keyboard right. If you talk to Dell long enough, eventually you'll talk to the right person who will send you a free 7900 GS like they did for me. I just had to install it myself and ship out my 7800 GO which was actually a very easy process though it looks very daunting.

 

Send it packin man - its given you way too much trouble. Either return it, order a new one and hope for the best or go with another manufacturer ...cough*ASUS*cough....

 

ASUS is it really better then dell? in turms of quality! not once in a while things not working

 

I'm will be going to bat after work today with Dell and try to get my money back. I can use that money for other stuff or save it up and build a super Conroe-powered gaming rig once DX10 graphics cards hit the market... Bah, I'm torn, I want and like my laptop, but it just doesn't work right and it's too hard/expensive to change parts or mod it... Meh.