Dell's laptops under fire again

raindog:

I've always felt, sweeping generalisations, and condemnations based on limited exposure is likely to make the authors of such statements appear foolish.
The battery issue is real but it is not an across the board condemnation of all Dell notebook product.

Anonymous:

yes it's true dell had a battery recall that was advertised but that was due to a particular sony battery cell they were using and if you investigate further you will find ibm, apple and a few other company's had the same battery recall, ibm still post the add when you ring there warranty service department. I own a dell laptop no problems I've worked for the warranty agent and fixed them and they have better back up service than most. I work with a person who has a dell and she spilt softdrink in it and they fixed it under warranty with the complete cover you get as part of the standard warranty try getting that from another manufacturer

Leo:

I own 5150, it is the worst purchase I have made as a computer literate.

It is very hot, the fan never slows down and parts are never working fully. LCD went dead twice, motherboard went dead twice. I begin to suspect that Dell provides low grade parts for systems without extended warranties.

Leo:

To elaborate my story; The very first issue was within the 1 year warranty period that came with the system, the LCD was dead preventing the system from proper booting, it was replaced as promised, though wasn't the smoothest process but no complaints.

Then, the mainboard was dead after the expiry, though the issue started very early out and was worsened over time; when I press the power button, sometimes it doesn't boot, only shows a flash of power on light then immediately off (like a car engine in the depth of winter), eventually this issue became more frequent and towards the end of its life, I had to power it up while pressing down on the palmrest strongly (weird I know, I have opened the system and couldn't make out the connect between the 2 actions). Now, the mainboard has totally ceased working, had to get the mainboard and the palmrest/chassis replaced at my own cost, even though the issue begin almost at the very beginning.

Half a year later, LCD stopped functioning again, I found out the PCB (transformer) is burned out, well DELL doesn't sell that part, they sell the screen as a whole, as a poor student, I had to get someone in China to get me that PCB. Installed and worked at 1/10 of the price ($700 for the screen if bought from Dell, the PCB was only $70), lucky me.

Concurrently, the NEW mainboard has the same issue but I gave up on calling DELL on this issue, however, ever since the installation of the new board, the battery stopped working, Dell said the battery is dead (it is now more than 2 years old), but I am had no money and I didn't need to travel back then so I saved money by not immediately buying a new battery. Last month I had to go overseas, so I bought a new battery, but that still didn't work, now Dell says its the problem with the mainboard and now it is out of 90 days of its warranty so the only options once again is to either buy a new board or extend the warranty.

By the way, the system fan never slows down as it is always hot. Elaborated story with 5150, you bet!

I fell sorry for the Indian call centres, they have to take crap from us - customers (and cheap labour exploited from certain perspective) because DELL didn't set them up properly.

Rad:

I own a 5150 and have had problems with the fan constantly going and eventually had the laptop shut itself down through a inbuilt safety mechanism which stops the machine damaging itself. After a seach of the internet found that dust accumulates in the heatsink fins that the fan blows over. There should be a healthy thrust of air coming out the back of the machine when the fan is operating, if not then the machine can not cool and therefore the fan keeps going in a vain attempt to do so. The solution is to take the keyboard off and clean out the dust (search internet for directions). Once I did this the problems dissapeared and the machine has behaved as you would expect.
A simple access cover to the fan area would be a very simnple solution to the problem.

Leo:

My fan blows well, not enough dust there yet, but it just won't slow down. I have take the laptop into individual components before (I had to find out what was wrong with the pressing down on the palmrest). So I can say I know my laptop inside out :-)

But still I had 3 major issues with Dell, and the legacy lives on.

Dave:

I have had no end of trouble with my 5150. If it isn't problems with the motherboard, its the vidoe card. I ended up having to get both parts replaced by a local computer dealership, not through the Dell service as it was infuriating trying to deal with them because the product was out of warranty. I will never purchace another Dell product again.

Daryl Dart:

I and my collegues, family and friends own Dell notebooks and have had nothing but positive experiences. Currently have a Inspiron 6000.

I am also a senior IT professional working in large enterprises that have used Dell notebooks, these have proven to be very reliable.

Anonymous:

I got an Inpsiron 8000 a few years ago; it was very expensive at the time (~1600 GBP). It was a complete disaster. It was obvious early on that there was a problem with the LCD, which showed streaking and shimmering. I spent hours on the phone to India, and Dell eventually collected it. I gave very explicit instructions and a test program (I'm an engineer), and they replaced the *controller* rather than the LCD. Irritatingly, my test program now showed no shimmering. Over the next few months I found other images that caused the LCD to fail, but I'd have lost the will to live if I'd called Dell again, so I didn't. Towards the end of the 3 years warranty the power circuitry failed (not Dell's fault). They arranged to send a technician to swap the m'board. I stood over this guy as he took the laptop apart. He'd never seen an 8000 before, and didn't know how to do it. He screwed up badly, and the machine started making nasty noises. It wouldn't boot with the new m'board. He 'upgraded' my BIOS with one from the *wrong* model. We reloaded the OS. It still didn't work, but he had a job to do, so he went.

Over the next few weeks I spent many hours on the phone to India. This was *completely* pointless. They barely spoke English, and gave me stupid instructions like re-installing Windows, downloading new drivers, loading the drivers in a different order, and so on. I've been designing computers for 25 years and this was particularly irritating. Eventually we found out that the techie had given me the wrong BIOS. I got the new BIOS, re-installed Windows, again, and then found out that the battery was now unusable. I can only use it when it's plugged in. I can't remember what happened to the noise, but it's gone now. The 8000 is basically a paperweight now.

Moral? (1) Dell is a waste of space. Pay the extra money; it'll be worth it. (2) Never, ever, waste your time with an Indian call centre. In my case, I occasionally managed to get through to an Irish call centre by shouting loudly enough, and they were infinitely better.

Lt.Shinta:

I always felt that Dell cut the costs of production by a bit to much. They do have some good ideas but as this shows, not a lot.

tin:

I've always felt Dell laptops were flimsy and prone to failure. Never really understood why anyone would buy them.

Darrell:

I have been involved with the purchase and administration of more than forty dell laptops, mainly Inspirons but also some Latitudes and have found them to be in general very reliable, well performing and excellent value for money. The Dell support service is second to none that I have seen with rapid, often same day repairs. They allow for the owner to replace parts with a quick exchange service if they wish and usually have no quibbles with repairs. The large name brand notebooks that I have dealt with have rarely had anywhere near this level of service and never the same value for money.

Anonymous:

i got dell inspiron 510m. i had it for a while around 2 yrs. i haven't had any major problems yet. i used it everyday.

devaski:

I am using 510M for 18 months now.

the performance is good, but the overheating is major problem i am facing since the day i bought.

the left hand side always generates more heat sometime very hot.... may be i can try an egg half boil. :)

Anonymous93:

hmmm...these 5 models all share the same chassis design and parts, differences being only with mobo features, CPUs...

there's...a...trend...here...

Jo Scheiffers:

I have had this laptop now for well over three years. It is used daily. Never had any issues with it all. Original battery still gives 3.5 hrs use. Very happy owner.