What Do You Think Of Dell Outlet Products?

I think that Dell Outlet is a great idea to score some powerfull machines for a fraction of the price in my opinion I was luck enough to see my M1530 before I bought it...

IT WAS IMMACULATE!!

I could believe that I bought such a kool system that had nothing rong with it!!

What do you guys think of the Dell Outlet System...

Do you love it or think its an evil way for Dell to make money twice on a product?

 

It's certainly is an evil way for dell to make money twice on a product. But as long as I'm saving and some other sucker's the one paying a lot, I'm happy with it.

 

How does Dell make money twice selling an Outlet computer?

They probably lose money on Outlet sales compared to a new one. The Outlet Latitude notebooks have to go half way around the world and back from Malaysia one and a half times. A trip here when new and one round trip on a refurb.

Two weeks ago I ordered but canceled the next day a refurb D430. Somewhere in the invoice/shipping info I saw that it was currently in Malaysia. That is why it often takes Dell a week before it actually ships an Outlet computer from the DHL hub here in the USA.

Most of the outlet computers are returns from customers. You have 30 days from the invoice date to return a new computer to Dell for any reason. 21 days for an Outlet one. So if you return a computer Dell gives you your money back less the original shipping unless it was their screw-up.

Try returning a Lenovo, Sony or other brand notebook computer for a refund from e-Retailers like Newegg, Mwave, etc. If you don't like a Dell new or refurb just send it back for a refund in the 21 or 30 day window.

 

well, dell can't have so many returned systems taken apart to use as parts... so they sell it as outlet..

 

They aren't making money twice on the products.

I've purchased a few systems from the Dell Outlet and have been satisfied each time.

 

I purchased a xps m1530 last month from the outlet and it was nothing but trouble from the moment I got it. It didn't start for 10 minutes of button pressing and then I had to reinstall windows because there was all kinds of problems going on. After the reinstall I noticed the fingerprint scanner had been cracked and pushed in and unusable. I called to get a tech out and it took them almost two weeks to get one available. I decided to return it before my 21 days was up and wait till I could afford to buy something new.

 

About 3 weeks ago I bought a XPS m1330 from the Dell outlet site. It was classified as "Refurbished".
I did a little research and generally people seemed to be getting pretty good condition notebooks from Dell outlet.

Not so for me. As soon as I took it out of the box I noticed it was unusually dirty.


--COSMETIC--

-Excessive finger prints and smudges all over, including screen.
-Dirt/dust/grime around touchpad edges, around media control buttons, and randomly around seams and vents.
-Small scratches throughout, especially near touchpad and keyboard.

After further inspection, it looked like the laptop was assembled (re-assembled) very hastely. The molding around the screen was loose, as well as the plastic piece over the power/ media buttons. What bothered me the most was the two small pieces that covered the hinge screws. They were both extremely loose, falling out several times each during transport.

After I cleaned off all the dust/dirt more scratches and scuffs became visible.


--TECHNICAL--

After plugging it in, I went to start it the 1st time....

White screen...after turning it off/on about 5 times it finally showed the Dell logo and booted. While setting up my user profile in windows setup, it froze before completing the final step.

Re-booted...again white screen, this time followed by slightly less white screen with washed out color around the edges. I decided to just leave it on, after about a minute I heard the windows vista startup sound, but the screen had not changed.

Did some more research and discovered the cooling on these laptops was horrible, also saw that a new BIOS ver A11 was available, which said it fixed thermal control issues in the description.

After the BIOS update the laptop seemed to function normally, so I assumed the BIOS had fixed the white screen / freezing issues.

I decided to install XP after about a day of using vista. To my surprise as soon as I inserted my XP CD it ejected automatically about 5 secs later. As well as every other CD/DVD I put in the drive.

Contacted Dell and they sent a tech out to fix the drive rather quickly. He also seemed to put the computer back together a little more solidly, then it was when I first received it.

Managed to install XP and all the drivers, everything seemed to be running great for about a week or so. Then one day it randomly rebooted as I was browsing the web. I figured this was due to the third party nvidia drivers I had installed, so i found Dell XP nvidia drivers. Installed, rebooted and BAM! White screen again. After a few power button presses it finally booted normally. During the week it continued to ramdomly freeze/reboot sometimes it would reboot to a white screen. When it rebooted to a white screen I would let it cool down for about 15mins and then restart even then the white screen would be completely random and cooling it down seemed to have no affect.


I expected the laptop to be in better shape cosmetically. It seemed more like a "Scratch and Dent" then a "Refurbished" model.
Despite the cosmetic imperfections I thought it would at least be in good working order, it was not.
I returned it for a full refund within the 21 day period.

I blame the cosmetic imperfections on Dell Outlet, because I was indeed expecting a "refurbished to like new standards" laptop.
I blame the technical issues on Nvidia. As it seems many Nvidia based m1330 even new, have these issues.

--BOTTOM LINE--

If you want a cosmetically/technically good condition notebook, dont buy a Dell outlet notebook unless you have the option to personally see it before.

If you just want a almost working laptop for less money and dont care how it looks and you have the time/patience to sit on the phone with Dell support, buy a Dell outlet notebook.

 

My 1520 was brand new when I received it. The 1420 was broken and Dell sent me a new replacement.