Dell Purchase Advice

Adaleon

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Feb 22, 2011
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Hey all,

First time posting here so take it easy on my lack of knowledge for posting my question, may be in the wrong location. Basically I was in dire need of a laptop after my hp pavillion dv5 series of two years died "again" so I went straight to dell cause I had heard some good reviews and consumer reports had been fairly uplifting as well but after purchasing my laptop last night dell then uploaded their new line of laptops and components with sandy bride core i7 processors and frankly I feel I may have been a little cheated so I am thinking of changing my order and wanting to ask for knowledge of which direction to go from all of you. Here is the specs of the one I purchased.

XPS 15

Intel Core i5-560M 2.66GHz / up to SC 3.2GHz / 3M

6GB,DDR3,2 DIMM

NVIDIA GeForce GT 420M 1GB graphics with Optimus

640GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

15.6 FHD TLF B+RGLED LCD L501X

8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)

JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3

92 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Those are the main components not including extras that I bought. Here are the specs that would change if I purchased again

XPS 15

Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz

NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M 2GB graphics with Optimus

15.6 FHD B+RGLED TL (1920x1080) and Skype-Certified 2.0MP HD Webcam

JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3 + Creative SoundBlaster X-FI MB 1.2

In reality the only things that will be changing are my CPU my GPU and the sound a little bit, I don't believe the changed monitor names means anything since it said they were both 1080p. But I am trying to fit this to my needs and that is where you all hopefully come in! I am planning on using this mainly as a School PC and come november and maybe sooner I plan on using it for Diablo 3 and some photo editing and maybe some steam games as well. I know the GPU would make a huge difference but on the previous system I ordered the 2gb was not an option but for my uses that I plan am I sincerely going to miss the sandybridge processor if I choose the I5? and then also what kind of difference in power consumption be since I know the "sandy" has a TDP of 45 on Benchmarks where as the i5 has a 35 TDP. Any suggestions and help are GREATLY appreciated thanks everyone! I have been out of the tech side of PCs for a bit so a lot of this is new to me. Naturally I want the biggest bang for my buck, but the newer version is close to 500 dollars more! but at the same time I want efficiency and a laptop that is not going to constantly give me issues and heartaches like this damned hp has...especially battery issues!!! plus overheating cause of the poorly designed AMD Turion...this thing gets so hot lol. Thanks again!

-Joe
 
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This topic has been moved from the section Opinions and Experiences to section Laptops & Notebooks by Grumpy9117
 
I'd return for refund if possible, for exchange if its your only option.

If ya can get refund, I'd buy an Asus or Clevo unit. If your immediate reaction is you never heard of them, well you never heard of the people who made the XPS 15 Dell unit either, cause Dell didn't, they don't build any of the laptops they sell. Depending on model, it was actually made by Quanta, Compal, Wistron, Flextronics or ECS.

US based vendors fro Clevo and Asus include Prostar, XoticPC and many others. For more info see:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/91510-clevo-guide-v2-0-faq-reseller-info.html
http://promos.asus.com/wheretobuy/US/new/index_us.html
 

vvhocare5

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Mar 5, 2008
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I buy lots of Dells and Im not entirely happy with their quality lately - seems to be going down. But I would probably buy them over ASUS and the others simply for the warranty coverage. I can get them fixed anywhere in the country, even while traveling.

My experience with the others has been to mail them in and wait for a return. Maybe thats changed.... but that coverage is worth something....
 

warren024

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Feb 16, 2011
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It's worth something if you need a repair... but the only laptop I've ever owned that ever needed a repair was... you guessed it, a Dell.