Is there anything bad with this Dell laptop purchase?

[Jake_Barnes]

I might tend to trust dell on this. Even if you don't, order everything from them from the business sector. My dad's business runs on dell computers and when he calls for support 90% of the time the person speaks fluent english and actually sounds american. Any way, to the OP the dell system does look like the way to go. Also, keep looking on the web for dell coupons you might find one for more than 20%. Just google dell coupons.

For about $280, Dell will sell you the standard business 3 yr support plan with gold tech support - gold tech support is US based, for the most part - but not at night always.

I resent that Dell asks it's US customers to buy the right to speak to US based tech people. If you don't pay up - you're in India or the Philippines, or God knows where - on hold.

 

[killernotebooks]

Actually Jake is right. I happen to know the person that developed the "assett tag" tracking system and integrated it into DELL's support system. He is part of a boutique system builder firm and the stories that guy could tell you about the flags and hooks built into the DELL support system phone & database are UN-REAL.

Support for business customers is better because DELL doesn't cut them these outrageous deals, they tell you they do, but there is a reason that the S.B. department at DELL rarely puts out a coupon, and if they do it is meager.

Even at INSTITUIONAL corporate level, the prices suck. I have a friend at MetLife and they have a HUGE account, and the prices he got were higher than if I went to the website and configured it myself, but of course, that INCLUDED the support that you couldn't strip off his order. Like Jake said, when you PAY for gold level support, they are there.

The person who started this thread though knows he can come to Tom's Hardware and I will pretty much support his DELL anyway so he isn't sweating it.

 

[Floydage]

Not sure about the Biz site. I only deal with Consumer sales. On the consumer side when you pay for an extended warranty it just covers your hardware for a longer period of time it does not give you access to a different tech support line. Dell is moving all U.S. calls back over here due to the enormous amounts of complaints they have recieved. Also, we aren't telling everyone that, so it's hard for it to be propoganda if noones knows about it. Not hear to argue, just tryin to let everyone know there is a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us..... I call the same support line you do and deal with the same crap. Also, Jim, take that quote to a Dell Kiosk and tell one of the reps to beat that price and at over 1600 bucks he can take another $75 off the order at the very least. That will atleast cover some of your tax. Take care all =-)

 

[Jake_Barnes]

On the consumer side when you pay for an extended warranty it just covers your hardware for a longer period of time it does not give you access to a different tech support line.

Look it, if you work for Dell, you know that anyone can order from Small Business and buy that 3 yr standard business plan with the (US based) Gold Tech support. Dell doesn't care if you run a small business out of your back bedroom or not - if you get to that "site" (tab), you'll find "free shipping" is common + the $248 warranty that includes, not just hardware, but an expedited tech support line that connects (much of the time) to the US tech people. You can buy just a 3 yr hardware warranty that leaves you at the mercy of where ever Dell wants to send you - and you can bet your sweet a$$ that it's India or the Philippines.

I'm always sceptical of claims of future improvements down the road just before an anticipated major sales season. I believe Dell moved all tech support back to the US several years ago, only to go back to India sometime later.

My 1st computer (years ago) was a Dell - this was my experience and I know, 1st hand, that it's true.

If Dell is going to move tech back to the US - then they should announce it before the holidays and not rely on seeding forums and boards with rumors.

 

[killernotebooks]

Hey DELL rep, can you take a memo for me to DELL corporate?

Dear Mikey DELL,

One of your reps came on the Tom's Hardware forums saying you were moving your support back to America. True or False (circle one).

Aside from Alienware stealing the Assassin model name, you adding the T7600 unlocked G processor months after Killer Notebooks offered unlocked processors, you sending 15 notebook covers to the K|N custom shop so you can duplicate the custom skinning process; are you now sending reps to Tom's Forums to do "damage control" at the grass roots level? YES or NO (circle one)

Are you going to keep cheating off my papers? YES or NO (circle one)
You and your puppet Alienware have NO ORIGINAL IDEAS and STEAL everything you can to try to portray yourselves as innovators when DELL sells more low-end systems globally than any computer company, making it the Goliath of the industry.

How far you have fallen from your days at University of Texas when you were hiding the computers you built in your shower when your parents came to see you.
Since I totally hate your guts, I'll meet you to fight after school at 3:15. Are you gonna be there? YES or NO (circle one)

Tough year for the soft-spoken Texan who founded the world's largest PC maker. Shares of his Dell Inc. down 60% in past 12 months, putting his 9.4 million stock options underwater. In August company recalled 4.1 million computer batteries after a video of an exploding laptop set Internet ablaze. Company overhauling customer service division after struggling with complaints. Also lowered PC prices, dropped Intel-only policy.

You better put on your game face DELL, cause this ain't gonna cut it at the bike racks: You should turn on some Ozark Mountain Daredevils, If you wanna get to heaven and practice tappin' today.

I wanted to let you know I tried to order an MP3 player the first week of November for my girlfriends birthday. The order process was simple, right up until I got an email saying you couldn't get me an iPod until the second week in December!

I replied to the email and half and hour later it bounced back telling me the email address you sent my order confirmation from didn't accept emails. There was no other address on there to cancel the order.

I tried to call, and after 20 minutes of voice mail maze fun and holding I got to a rep. They couldn't do anything to cancel the order so I got transferred, waited another 15 minutes and finally, after talking to a person in India, got the order cancelled.

I wish I could say that all I had to say was, "Please cancel this order", but I actually had to explain WHY about 3 times and go through what I considered the 3rd degree to simply cancel an order that YOU couldn't fulfill in any sort of a reasonable time frame. I bought the Apple iPod at MacMall for cheaper, with custom engraving, and I got it in 3 days.

 

[JimSpaza]

Actually Jake is right. I happen to know the person that developed the "assett tag" tracking system and integrated it into DELL's support system. He is part of a boutique system builder firm and the stories that guy could tell you about the flags and hooks built into the DELL support system phone & database are UN-REAL.

Support for business customers is better because DELL doesn't cut them these outrageous deals, they tell you they do, but there is a reason that the S.B. department at DELL rarely puts out a coupon, and if they do it is meager.

Even at INSTITUIONAL corporate level, the prices suck. I have a friend at MetLife and they have a HUGE account, and the prices he got were higher than if I went to the website and configured it myself, but of course, that INCLUDED the support that you couldn't strip off his order. Like Jake said, when you PAY for gold level support, they are there.

The person who started this thread though knows he can come to Tom's Hardware and I will pretty much support his DELL anyway so he isn't sweating it.

KN,

You are so right about that. I know that I can come here and definitely get accurate information and answers to problems that I cannot solve myself. Why would I pay for Dell support packages, and possibly not ever get the right answer, when I can come here and talk to the experts?

Besides, there are few parts on a laptop that cannot be replaced for nearly the same price or cheaper than it would cost for an upgraded support package. I'll take my chances.

 

[Floydage]

lol ... Ok guys forget I said anything. I was only trying to be helpful. I only work as as rep at one of the kiosks in the mall. lol As far as Killernotebooks are concerned, I think you have great notebooks and I would love to have one if I could only afford one. =-/ If I could pass that memo on I gladly would. Alas, I am just a lowley kiosk sales rep. SO sorry if you got the wrong impression from me and to the origional poster.... Sorry your thread for help got hijacked with anti-Dell arguements. For the record I don't own a single Dell computer only monitors and tv's. I build all my own computers for far less then any online system builder. I"m sure you will probably yell at me about something else due to this post so .... /Flameon !

 

[killernotebooks]

It isn't about you dude,
You ever see at the end of a UFC fight when they beat on each other for 15 minutes then after the fight it is "nice fight".
Nothing personal, it is more power to the people against "the MAN", and "the Establishment" not the rep.
Like you said, you're just some guy who fell into the anti-DELL snake pit on accident.

Keep posting here!

I bet you have funny ace customer stories.

 

[JimSpaza]

I might tend to trust dell on this. Even if you don't, order everything from them from the business sector. My dad's business runs on dell computers and when he calls for support 90% of the time the person speaks fluent english and actually sounds american. Any way, to the OP the dell system does look like the way to go. Also, keep looking on the web for dell coupons you might find one for more than 20%. Just google dell coupons.

I couldn't find any Dell coupons with better than 20% off on the desired laptop. I'll take the current 20%. Then again, I may just wait a little bit longer and see if Dell gets a little more desperate for business as Christmas gets closer and drops prices even more.

Hey KN, I tried configuring a 17" notebook on the Killernotebooks.com website but couldn't reduce the firepower and cost to what I need. Let me know, via private message so as not to break the solicitation rules, if you can help or if I should just go with Dell.

 

[killernotebooks]

You know where I go to find the killer deals? Well of course where all the ghetto dogs go for the lowdown on deals, BensBargains.net, but for DELL coupons, and pretty much anything else you need, DealCatcher.

DELL should have some end of year/quarter/after Christamas sales or coupons coming out too.

 

[JimSpaza]

lol ... Ok guys forget I said anything. I was only trying to be helpful. I only work as as rep at one of the kiosks in the mall. lol As far as Killernotebooks are concerned, I think you have great notebooks and I would love to have one if I could only afford one. =-/ If I could pass that memo on I gladly would. Alas, I am just a lowley kiosk sales rep. SO sorry if you got the wrong impression from me and to the origional poster.... Sorry your thread for help got hijacked with anti-Dell arguements. For the record I don't own a single Dell computer only monitors and tv's. I build all my own computers for far less then any online system builder. I"m sure you will probably yell at me about something else due to this post so .... /Flameon !

Do worry about it. Given all the problems in the world today, the supposed hijacking of this thread is not in the top 1,000,000.

 

[Floydage]

Thanks for clearing that up for me KN. I do appreciate the clarification. I was actualky pretty depressed becuase I felt everyone was ganging up on me. I really have been a big fan of your notebooks and druel over your high end 17" C2D notebooks. Those are some SWEEET machines. As you can see by my number of posts I'm new to the forums but have been an avide Tom's reader since ... well as long as I can remember. The last thing I wanted was to be hated by the Tom's community. I love you guys!!!

Seriously tho Jim ... Take your quote to a local dell kisok and they can take some more off your purchase price.

Another nice thing Dell is doing is opening actual store fronts with one of each of our products as well as a Tech bay. People will finally be able to bring their machines in and have them serviced and talk to a tech face to face. The first test store launched this past fall in Texas and went over with overwhelming success. They have plans to open 100 more stores like that by 08'. This is of course just in my humble opinion ... but it seems.. atleast a little bit that Dell is start to pull their collective heads out of their A**es !!

Later all and I'll talk to you all soon =-)

 

[Strabo4]

In the tier 1 system builders, I think I prefer HP. Sure, they may have weak graphics, but they make excellent cheap notebooks. I'm typing this on one of their zv6000's as I write. It was an excellent desktop replacement a year and a half ago

I dunno what I think about Dell anymore. The last time I used their tech support (in June or May, I think I was trying to fix this CTD problem) they said they'd call back. We ended up reinstalling windows, and this install has been going strong since then.
Another thing about Dell-if you stick in another hard drive or another stick of ram, they tell you that you voided the warranty. However, they will still give you tech support.

Good luck with your new laptop, Spaza.

 

[killernotebooks]

It isn't like DELL will know if you pull the RAM and HD and replacce it with the originals.

 

[JimSpaza]

In the tier 1 system builders, I think I prefer HP. Sure, they may have weak graphics, but they make excellent cheap notebooks. I'm typing this on one of their zv6000's as I write. It was an excellent desktop replacement a year and a half ago

I dunno what I think about Dell anymore. The last time I used their tech support (in June or May, I think I was trying to fix this CTD problem) they said they'd call back. We ended up reinstalling windows, and this install has been going strong since then.
Another thing about Dell-if you stick in another hard drive or another stick of ram, they tell you that you voided the warranty. However, they will still give you tech support.

Good luck with your new laptop, Spaza.

Thanks.

After I buy this new laptop (almost certainly from Dell), I'll post my thoughts in this forum.

First thing that I plan to do is to reformat and repartition the hard drive and reinstall the operating system, thereby eliminating any crap that Dell likes to preload for its users like AOL nonsense. It will be fun.

 

[killernotebooks]

What I would do Jim, if you have the software, is use Partition Magic to createe a second partition on the drive and use Acronis True Image to image your current drive over there (say 8-10 gigs), then install your new OS to the existing partition and if there is anything by way of drivers etc. you can't find, you can always use Acronis to virtually image the old drive into a virutual drive on your system and you can get at all the old files / drivers etc.

 

[JimSpaza]

What I would do Jim, if you have the software, is use Partition Magic to createe a second partition on the drive and use Acronis True Image to image your current drive over there (say 8-10 gigs), then install your new OS to the existing partition and if there is anything by way of drivers etc. you can't find, you can always use Acronis to virtually image the old drive into a virutual drive on your system and you can get at all the old files / drivers etc.

Good idea. I think that I will take your advice but use the software and hardware that I already have. I'll ghost the laptop drive before I do ANYTHING else to my external USB hard drive using my existing Norton Ghost software.

The downside to this technique is that it demands that the laptop's hardware and operating system be able to use the laptop's USB ports during any problems. But, I figure that the chance of a problem knocking out USB access while leaving unaffected the laptop's hard drive is slim.

You know, with the laptop's hard drive being well over 80 Gb, I could ghost the original laptop hard drive image on both the external hard drive AND a special partition on the laptop's hard drive...just in case.

I've heard good things about Partition Magic, but have never used it. It sounds like it is worth the $50 at Newegg.com. You'd think that Microsoft would have created a nice partition utility within Windows by now, especially after they spent all that time on the eye candy effects in Windows Vista.

Thanks!

 

[killernotebooks]

Yea, the stuff is considerably less at LimeWire

What I like about Acronis is that once you have an image of a drive, let's say like your new drive from DELL, it will be (for the sake of arguement) 5 gig's, you have a small partition of the 5 Gigs (o 10 or whatever) and you have the image sitting in there as one file right.

Ok, then let's say you want something off of it. You go into Acronis and "mount" the drive as a virtual drive. It then will look and act like a E: or F:, or G: or whatever drive letter and you can access all your stuff off there just like if it was on a regular letteed drive.

It is tight! I haven't used Ghost, which was an excellent program when I used it, in a while, just a little too complex for my tastes at the time (and it probably has improved/gotten easier now).

Acronis is targeted at the "chimp level", where I pretty much like to hang out.

 

[JimSpaza]

Yea, the stuff is considerably less at LimeWire

What I like about Acronis is that once you have an image of a drive, let's say like your new drive from DELL, it will be (for the sake of arguement) 5 gig's, you have a small partition of the 5 Gigs (o 10 or whatever) and you have the image sitting in there as one file right.

Ok, then let's say you want something off of it. You go into Acronis and "mount" the drive as a virtual drive. It then will look and act like a E: or F:, or G: or whatever drive letter and you can access all your stuff off there just like if it was on a regular letteed drive.

It is tight! I haven't used Ghost, which was an excellent program when I used it, in a while, just a little too complex for my tastes at the time (and it probably has improved/gotten easier now).

Acronis is targeted at the "chimp level", where I pretty much like to hang out.

KN,

Limewire? Yes, I use it to evaluate software and see if I like it. But, I really don't like using any licensed software on a continual basis without paying for it. That Biblical verse about God seeing everything that we do in secret kind of gets to me.

Newegg has Acronic TrueImage at $20!!! That's an excellent deal. While my version of Norton Ghost allows extracting one file from an imaged drive, it doesn't have the nice virtual drive functionality which you said that TrueImage has.

And I thought of another good reason to have the laptop's original hard drive image in a special partition on that hard drive: when I have a problem and need to reimage the drive while I am not at home where the external hard drive is.

And I like anything that is no-frills simple and works when I need it. Glad to hear that you're at the "chimp" level. I graduated several months ago to "premordial primate" myself.

-Jim

 

[killernotebooks]

LOL