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Geek Culture / My Dell notebook woes.

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Jonny_S
22
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Joined: 10th Oct 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 28th Jul 2007 16:33
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I had a dell inspiron 630m for my 18th birthday (which was a year and two months ago). After 3 months the screen started playing up so they came out and had to replace it. At that point I thought it was just a bit of bad luck but the service was excellent so there were no problems. However then the touchpad button broke so they (eventually) came out and replaced that and since then there have been no problems...up until now.
I noticed about a month ago the usually sturdy screen had become extra wobbly so I was assuming the hinges were loose and since my warranty was now up I saw no problem with opening it up and tightening them (I'd installed some new ram a week before so I was fairly confident I could do it). However after doing a google search I find that you can't tighten them yourself without really dismantling the whole thing, so I'm stuck with a wobbly screen.
Then today I notice my touchpad button had broken again, so now I'm stuck with a wonky screen and dodgy left click. Is it me or after a year and 2 months have I experience a stupidly large amount of issues with my laptop? The cost of replacing a touchpad is quite high (since you have to replace the entire lower panel of the laptop) and to pay for someone to tighten my wobbly screen is even more. Do you think I have a right to complain? The problem is the laptop is no longer under warranty so I can't see them doing anything.

So whatever happens I'm never buying a dell notebook again.

I finally changed the bad spelling
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GatorHex
19
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Location: Gunchester, UK
Posted: 28th Jul 2007 16:37 Edited at: 28th Jul 2007 16:39
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Just flog it on e-bay. It's amazing what people will pay for a wonky laptop. Then use the money to buy a new one.

Trust me it's cheaper than paying to have it fixed and you get a better one at the end of the day

Taking your laptop is a big no-no. Most of them have like a million screws to remove and a complex sequence to follow to pull down and build back up. You realy need the maintenance manual.

DinoHunter (still no nVidia compo voucher!), CPU/GPU Benchmark, DarkFish Encryption DLL, War MMOG (WIP), 3D Model Viewer
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Jonny_S
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Posted: 28th Jul 2007 16:45 Edited at: 28th Jul 2007 16:47
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I've taken it apart before, the manauals are online on the dell website and its surprisingly easy to do (up to a certain point). Also the point isn't that its falling apart, its the small amount of time it has taken. I feel like I've been completely ripped off, this is the third (well fourth) problem I've had with my laptop in just over a year. Thats disgraceful considering I've got a 10 year old computer still working right next to me and my sister had her laptop 4 years before the she had any problems (and trust me that thing was a cheap pile of crap).

I finally changed the bad spelling
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GatorHex
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Posted: 28th Jul 2007 16:50 Edited at: 28th Jul 2007 17:03
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I've got a Dell Inspiron 1300 which I've used every day for 2 years and it's still going strong.

You have been unlucky or dropped it I think.

There was supposed to be some EU legislation on electrical goods that said you have a 2 year warranty as standard. If you're not happy i would look it up and give 'em hassel

I think it's like the bank laws no-one in the UK wants it to go through the courts to set a legal president.

DinoHunter (still no nVidia compo voucher!), CPU/GPU Benchmark, DarkFish Encryption DLL, War MMOG (WIP), 3D Model Viewer
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Jonny_S
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Posted: 28th Jul 2007 17:00
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Its never been dropped, its my baby! I use it everyday though quite heavily (its my main pc). Most of my friends have got dell laptops and they've had no problems either, I have been the most unlucky person ever, but still I will never buy a dell again.

I finally changed the bad spelling
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GatorHex
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Location: Gunchester, UK
Posted: 28th Jul 2007 17:04 Edited at: 28th Jul 2007 20:01
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http://www.gkh-law.com/content.asp?page=articles&article=Minimum_Warranty_Requirements

Well you might have to prove it wasn't normal wear and tear and is the result of bad workmanship/product design fault.

Your argument would be that it's not reasonable for a laptop fail in this way in less than 2 years concidering how much it costs.

Quote: "The cost of replacing a touchpad is quite high"


This is why people buy broken laptops off ebay, just for the parts.
You can buy one with say a broken screen for £100, take the track pad to repair yours, then break it up and sell the hard drive, keyboard, motheboard, memory, drives, cpu, speakers and stuff to get you £100 back

DinoHunter (still no nVidia compo voucher!), CPU/GPU Benchmark, DarkFish Encryption DLL, War MMOG (WIP), 3D Model Viewer
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Bennet
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Location: Malta
Posted: 28th Jul 2007 17:32
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A piece of keyboard from a laptop... wow

Bennet Vella.
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UnderLord
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Posted: 28th Jul 2007 19:13
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My dell XPS 1210 works great had no problems with it, except it BSOD on me once, but that was my fault stupid drivers....fixed that in literally under 10 minutes and KAZAM no more problems, ever....

But thats just me.

"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
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Dazzag
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Posted: 28th Jul 2007 22:04
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Quote: "I have been the most unlucky person ever, but still I will never buy a dell again"
So how does that equal never buying a Dell again? Personally I have bought a lot of PCs over the years, mainly from PC makers that get the best reviews. Personally went with a Dell laptop because it had a fantastic deal. Had it for about 3 years and nothing ever went wrong with it.

My bleeding edge award winning Evesham went wrong several times (requiring several hardware changes including the graphics card that basically melted after no mucking about by me), my top of the range Mesh has had one or two problems etc etc.

Not saying Dell are great or anything just that a lot of other makes also go wrong. Just most of them don't get bought in such bulk as Dell, so you don't hear so many complaints. My Evesham didn't even work when I got it as the hard drive had come loose and a pen was rattling around inside it. Nice. So much for £1900 worth of "best PC of the month" in about 5 magazines at the time...

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
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Jonny_S
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Posted: 29th Jul 2007 00:35
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Quote: "So how does that equal never buying a Dell again?"

Because I've had a bad experience, and with most bad experiences you don't want to take the risk of having it happen again. The fact the mouse has broken twice in the space of a couple of months to me says the guy either didn't fix it correctly or I've had the bad luck of having two faulty pads. Either way that kind of service is going to put me off dealing with them again for a while.
Quote: "My Evesham didn't even work when I got it as the hard drive had come loose and a pen was rattling around inside it. Nice. So much for £1900 worth of "best PC of the month" in about 5 magazines at the time..."

Well that just proves the point I'm making, you had a bad experience and from the sounds of it your not to hot on evesham now either.
I'm not saying this doesn't happen with other companies and I'm not advising anyone else to stop buying from dell, I'm just saying I will not be bothering to go through all this again.

It should be clear that this was a rant to let off steam, I am still going to contact dell though and see what they say.

I finally changed the bad spelling
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JerBil
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Posted: 29th Jul 2007 02:41
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They may respond to a polite approach, and any documentation about
the repairs you had to have done to this point..

Ad Astra Per Asper
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Dazzag
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Posted: 29th Jul 2007 10:25
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Quote: "from the sounds of it your not to hot on evesham now either"
Not saying that at all. They still get best PC awards all the time. And it was a very good PC. All I'm saying is you can be unlucky with anything really. And IT equipment is right up there with things that can easily go wrong for no major reason.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
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