Hi guys,
I was just wondering if I could get some opinions on my notebook... I apologize for the extremely long message/thread, but I just think I need to explain everything for the moment
I bought a Dell XPS studio 16, worth $1908... Prior to this I had a Dell XPS M1530, and paid nearly $1800 for it... within the first week of getting the M1530, I lost it for a few weeks because it had hardware issues, technicians replaced the motherboard, and the computer would no longer boot- it took them just over a month I think it was to get it working, and before I could get it back. Throughout the rest of its first year, it had the motherboard replaced at least 7 times (lost count), adapter replaced, RAM replaced, keyboard replaced etc. There was a lot of downtime etc. as you would expect... Just before the warranty expired, and there was another repair that needed to be done (surprise- they changed the motherboard) and the technician said I should have asked for a new notebook when I first had issues (with it being about a week old at the time).
Now, within a month of me getting this new XPS studio, I've had issues with the touchpad, the touchpad buttons, the adaptor and the screen. >50% of the time when plugging in the adapter (and >90% of the time when it has done it once) a pop-up comes up saying the adaptor is not recognised, the battery will not charge and the computers performance will be reduced- when this occurs, the computer seems to run about the speed of a celeron, and the battery doesn't charge (as it says). The touchpad often doesn't work when waking the computer up, and I need to restart to get it to work. When clicking and dragging to select something on the screen (e.g. in photoshop) it constantly 'clicks' and continuously re-selects whilst dragging. I contacted dell about these issues, and was told to update the touchpad driver and BIOS which I did- no improvement. I then followed the instructions to run a diagnostic on the computer, and during this the computer started to beep (about every 5sec or so), then the noise went continuous. I came back to the computer and the screen was messed up- the left side was completely blurred with vertical blue and white lines as if the text had been smudged, though some parts of the text on the right could still be read. I restarted (computer was unresponsive) and the screen started flashing different colour gradients, e.g. black/blue, black/green, black/red, black-white-black-white (rapidly), then light grey, progressively getting darker, and then the colour sequence would start again from the begining, and just keep repeating. I hooked up an external monitor to see if it was just the notebooks screen, and the external monitor showed the computer still worked, but the screen wasn't working (computer started up fine and windows start-up could be seen on the external).
Dell has finally said they'll send out a technician (after about a month of contacting them...) to replace the motherboard. Before I purchased this notebook I rang them and mentioned the problems I had with my first XPS, and they acknowledged them and said theyhad corrected them in the new model. I never believe a salesperson, but I was still told this. Some of these issues (faulty screen, touchpad and adapter) are identical issues to those I experienced with my first XPS. After my experience with my first one, I do not trust them, to be honest- the only reason I stuck with Dell for this new one is because I can customise the notebook, they have good service if you DO have a problem, and I asked many, many people about their experiences and noone else has had a problem.
So sorry for the long message, but what would you do? Do I just let them repair it, and possibly risk tonnes of downtime and frustration as I did with my first Dell notebook(if this one is anything like my other one, which I gave up with after a year), do I ask for a replacement, or simply try to get my money back? I'm extremely pissed off, as I do everything on my notebook (uni work, graphics work, internet, reading, occasional games etc.). I know Dell usually have good service etc., but this is rediculous.. my last notebook was horrible!
-note- I paid for a 3yr extended warranty on this notebook, so will be stuck with it for at least this long... I cannot afford to fork out nearly $2000 more just for another computer, and I cannot buy a cheapie because I need a high powered notebook (and desktops are out of the question- I take it to uni daily)
Any help/opinions/advice would be very much appreciated.
-Laura
I was just wondering if I could get some opinions on my notebook... I apologize for the extremely long message/thread, but I just think I need to explain everything for the moment
I bought a Dell XPS studio 16, worth $1908... Prior to this I had a Dell XPS M1530, and paid nearly $1800 for it... within the first week of getting the M1530, I lost it for a few weeks because it had hardware issues, technicians replaced the motherboard, and the computer would no longer boot- it took them just over a month I think it was to get it working, and before I could get it back. Throughout the rest of its first year, it had the motherboard replaced at least 7 times (lost count), adapter replaced, RAM replaced, keyboard replaced etc. There was a lot of downtime etc. as you would expect... Just before the warranty expired, and there was another repair that needed to be done (surprise- they changed the motherboard) and the technician said I should have asked for a new notebook when I first had issues (with it being about a week old at the time).
Now, within a month of me getting this new XPS studio, I've had issues with the touchpad, the touchpad buttons, the adaptor and the screen. >50% of the time when plugging in the adapter (and >90% of the time when it has done it once) a pop-up comes up saying the adaptor is not recognised, the battery will not charge and the computers performance will be reduced- when this occurs, the computer seems to run about the speed of a celeron, and the battery doesn't charge (as it says). The touchpad often doesn't work when waking the computer up, and I need to restart to get it to work. When clicking and dragging to select something on the screen (e.g. in photoshop) it constantly 'clicks' and continuously re-selects whilst dragging. I contacted dell about these issues, and was told to update the touchpad driver and BIOS which I did- no improvement. I then followed the instructions to run a diagnostic on the computer, and during this the computer started to beep (about every 5sec or so), then the noise went continuous. I came back to the computer and the screen was messed up- the left side was completely blurred with vertical blue and white lines as if the text had been smudged, though some parts of the text on the right could still be read. I restarted (computer was unresponsive) and the screen started flashing different colour gradients, e.g. black/blue, black/green, black/red, black-white-black-white (rapidly), then light grey, progressively getting darker, and then the colour sequence would start again from the begining, and just keep repeating. I hooked up an external monitor to see if it was just the notebooks screen, and the external monitor showed the computer still worked, but the screen wasn't working (computer started up fine and windows start-up could be seen on the external).
Dell has finally said they'll send out a technician (after about a month of contacting them...) to replace the motherboard. Before I purchased this notebook I rang them and mentioned the problems I had with my first XPS, and they acknowledged them and said theyhad corrected them in the new model. I never believe a salesperson, but I was still told this. Some of these issues (faulty screen, touchpad and adapter) are identical issues to those I experienced with my first XPS. After my experience with my first one, I do not trust them, to be honest- the only reason I stuck with Dell for this new one is because I can customise the notebook, they have good service if you DO have a problem, and I asked many, many people about their experiences and noone else has had a problem.
So sorry for the long message, but what would you do? Do I just let them repair it, and possibly risk tonnes of downtime and frustration as I did with my first Dell notebook(if this one is anything like my other one, which I gave up with after a year), do I ask for a replacement, or simply try to get my money back? I'm extremely pissed off, as I do everything on my notebook (uni work, graphics work, internet, reading, occasional games etc.). I know Dell usually have good service etc., but this is rediculous.. my last notebook was horrible!
-note- I paid for a 3yr extended warranty on this notebook, so will be stuck with it for at least this long... I cannot afford to fork out nearly $2000 more just for another computer, and I cannot buy a cheapie because I need a high powered notebook (and desktops are out of the question- I take it to uni daily)
Any help/opinions/advice would be very much appreciated.
-Laura
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