The technician came yesterday and replaced the motherboard and hard-drive on my XPS M1330 …but he had the wrong back-cover for my machine. So a technician came today with the correct cover and after installing it discovered that my fan isn’t working. He didn’t have the parts or the authorization to fix it. The only things that haven’t been replaced on this lemon are the DVD drive, the keyboard and the monitor.
I talked to a Dell supervisor and the best they can do for me is send me a replacement machine. It will be here in a few days and I’ll let you know how it works.
Wait a minute. The FAN wasn’t working? AFTER they replaced THE MOTHERBOARD?
At least with the Latitudes, I know they ship the boards WITH THE FAN.
Hmm… Well, Lee, if you can throw a couple million a year in business toward Dell, I guess they’d treat you better.
In the meantime, take the thing down to the disposal center, eat the cost, and go get a Sony. I’m personally not a fan of the Sony laptops, but that’s in a business environment. For personal use, that’s a whole other matter.
Lee,
ditch the Dell already. Otherwise, you’ll probably get the thing back and something else will be wrong.
I have only had the computer a couple of months and I am not ready to flush $2000 down the toilet. If the replacement machine sucks, then I will probably wait and get myself the Macbook Air…but that means making a significant investment beyond simply buying the laptop. I talked to an Apple salesman yesterday, and I will need to buy software, a detached DVD drive, and replace my existing wireless setup (which, apparently, is incompatible with the Mac) with the Apple version.
I switched to Apple computers about 4 years ago and have never regretted it, despite the expense involved in making the change. I got my parents to switch a year ago and they are thrilled with their Apple desktop & laptop as well.
If Dell is as bad as you say, I think it’ll ultimately spell doom for their business. A few years ago, I worked in an office that used computers from Gateway. The machines were so bad and the customer service so horrendous that I vowed never to buy from Gateway, and to discourage anyone I knew from doing so as well. I heard similar tales from other people, and now they’ve bitten the dust (the company was bought by Acer for a relative pittance last year). I’m sure anyone who reads this blog will think twice about buying a Dell!
MacBook Air
–eeeh. I’m not opposed to it, but research it first. My understanding is it doesn’t even have a CD or DVD drive–no drives, just USB and firewire ports, which you would have to attach a CD drive to.
It’s built on flash memory, which isn’t a bad thing, but I want at least a DVD drive on my laptop built-in.
I’m just sayin’…
>”I talked to an Apple salesman yesterday, and I will need to buy software, a detached DVD drive, and replace my existing wireless setup (which, apparently, is incompatible with the Mac) with the Apple version.”
Lee,
None of that is entirely correct.
While it’s true that the Air doesn’t come with a DVD drive, both the regular MacBook and MacBook Pro do. So you could get one of those and not have to buy an additional drive.
Also, as I noted in the other Dell thread, you can run Windows (XP SP2) on a Mac via Boot Camp. So you will not have to replace all your software right now. Eventually, when you upgrade, you’ll probably want to “cross-grade” to a native Mac version. But for right now, all you have to buy is another copy of Windows. (It will have to be a full version, not an upgrade, but now that Vista’s out, you could probably find a full version for around $200. And you might even be able to find an OEM version for around $100.)
And lastly, the AirPort Extreme (802.11n) is backwards compatible with existing 802.11g and 802.11b equipment. Yes, it’s true that you will not get the additional benefits (i.e. speed) of 802.11n, but it will work (at the current connection rate). You do not have to replace anything unless you want the additional benefits of 802.11n. Again, eventually, sure, upgrade. But you do not have to buy all new stuff right now.
Mark
My sister had a similar issue and they sent her a new machine. Now, after having the new machine for only 2 months, she has yet another issue with her hard drive and is frantically offloading all her data. Something with Dell and Vista. After having been forced for years to use Windows machines at work, I am glad I now have a job where I get to use a Mac for both work and play. Good luck with the computer woes. It’s a real time drain, not to mention wearing on the nerves.