Treated myself to a new laptop for VAG-COM etc as the other trusy old Dell was getting a bit long in the tooth.

Ordered myself an Inspiron 1501 -

Turion LT50 Dual Core

1gb RAM

80gb HD

Wireless

256 ATi Video

Vista

Nylon Carry Case

6 Cell Battery

90 Day Collect and Return

Plus the usual other toys.

Sounds like you did well. I hear a lot of good things about their laptops.

It's a shame the general public have to put up with their call centres in India. It does make explaining problems so much more difficult than it really is. Quite frustrating for the customer. It seems they reserve their local centres for the corporate section only.

Good job you got it sorted out in the end though, looks like you got a bargain!

Hmm, upgrades on lots of the bits - you did well there.

But does it make the car go any faster ?

Well if mine turns up tomorrow (is with the couriers) I'll be impressed as it was only ordered Thursday night.

my spec

Inspiron 9400 Core 2 Duo Processor T5500 (1.66GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache)

Wide Screen 17" WUXGA (1920x1200) Display with TrueLife

Memory Dual-Channel 2048MB (2x1024) 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Hard Drive 120GB Serial ATA (5400 RPM)

Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive

Battery Primary 9-Cell 80W/HR LI-ION

Graphics Card 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 PCI Express x16 with TV + S-Video output

And god knows what else, can't wait.

I really like the Inspiron I have here, been using it tonight and it seems to work ok at the moment. Battery seems very good especially compared to my HP P4 widescreen that'll do 20 mins on a good day!!!

It's a shame the general public have to put up with their call centres in India. It does make explaining problems so much more difficult than it really is.

Unfortunately we usually get the customer services we deserve...everyone's willing to flock to Dell because they're so cheap, but to do this they need to cut costs somewhere - and customer services is usually the first casualty.

Rob.

I really like the Inspiron I have here, been using it tonight and it seems to work ok at the moment. Battery seems very good especially compared to my HP P4 widescreen that'll do 20 mins on a good day!!!

My Inspiron 510m has been good, its had a few faults and just kinda died but it has been used every day without fail for 2 1/2 years so its had a good innings.

I think once the HDD is cleared I will sell it for parts.

Unfortunately we usually get the customer services we deserve...everyone's willing to flock to Dell because they're so cheap, but to do this they need to cut costs somewhere - and customer services is usually the first casualty.

Rob.

Yep, very true and unfortunate.

I think Dell do make good machines though. My Latitude D610 has been rock solid for over a year now, and I've not had any issues with the 100's of Dells I've bought for work. Well saying that, an LCD packed up in of the D610's at work on Friday, but Dell sent an engineer out this morning to fix it... Not bad I thought.

I think Dell do make good machines though. My Latitude D610 has been rock solid for over a year now, and I've not had any issues with the 100's of Dells I've bought for work.

Would agree with that, they're not cutting costs on the hardware and are on a par with the other big players in the market.

And the "100s of Dells" explains why business customers get the UK call centres...

Rob.

And the "100s of Dells" explains why business customers get the UK call centres...

True again.

My old Dell was a Latitude CPx PII 450 cost me £1k when I bought ita few years ago and that was used price as well.

I was lucky to get caught up in one of the battery recalls and ended up with 3 batteries for it.

Still working well when I sold it on a couple of weeks ago.

The last time I ordered some stuff from Dell was to get some decent screens 4lots of 20inch 1600x1200.

Deliberately uhmed and ahhed. Eventually, they called me back. Damn are the persistent little blighters, trying to get you to sign on the line. In similar fashion to Stu, I just said "well, it sounds like a fairly decent deal, but I'm still undecided" (of course, was a good price really "What can we do more sir to get you to order?" was the following question. "Just offer me your best price and I'll either take it now or forget it forever". You can just keep on turning the screw and they'll eventually fold.

The saved money in labour with having Indian call centres sure soaks up the diminished profits at selling stuff discounted from their published price. But a pain none-the-less when you're fustrated and they can't even understand you / you can't understand them :(

I love Dell

Had trouble free 5 years from a Dimension 4500, until I replaced it at Xmas with an XPS 210 with Dual Core. It's compact, quiet, and does what it says on the tin

I love Dell

Had trouble free 5 years from a Dimension 4500, until I replaced it at Xmas with an XPS 210 with Dual Core. It's compact, quiet, and does what it says on the tin

I wish I had the money for one of the XPS

I wish I had the money for one of the XPS

In fact here it is...

Ahh, I went for the 20" widescreen. Quality is amazing.

Woa, have you got that amazing thing that looks like a DIY desktop? It

Oh, I thought you meant one of those ginormouse Lappys that Dell do. Nice looking PC all the same:thumbup: . What'll she do mister?

Woa, have you got that amazing thing that looks like a DIY desktop? It’s ‘uuuge and very impressive spec on it too. There must be good money in chips then:D

It is a good spec with a few upgrades . Cost wasn't too bad really, considering if it last 5 years like the other one did. Was £1300 iirc. Last one was £300. Hmm.

Pictures from the Canon look great on the monitor

Dual Core 6600 2.4 ghz processor, 2gb ram, 320 gb hard drive, memory card reader, 20" digital monitor, and whatever else is in there. I have an external 250 gb HD too, being greedy, and an upgrade to Vista in the post somewhere.

My 5 year old desktop cost

I'm on my second Dell laptop now, my old one was an Inspiron 5150, had it for 3 years but the MB failed about 3 months out of warranty, spoke to Dell and they collected it, changed the MB along with the keyboard and entire top palm rest/trackpad.

I've had an XPS M1710 for about 4 months now and it's ruddy superb, SWMBO went for one after mine was delivered as well.

Dell seem to get alot of stick but I can't fault them APART FROM the stupid bloody call centres that make sorting out a warranty issue similar to ordering your Saturday night curry.