NEVER buy a Dell Laptop(Warning long read)

[Chronictank]

Bought my laptop a couple of months ago for near a grand, when playing daoc its fine for a while but eventually the cooling fans come on and the laptop grinds to a halt usually meaning the account ld's

Contacted customer support (who seem to be based in India yay for offshoring :/)
Filled in customer support form with the following:

Problem: Video Adapter
Operating System: Windows XP
Problem Description:
n/a

The graphics seem to slow down on all games when the heat sink kicks in, before
it does the games run smoothly but as soon as the heat sink comes on there is
severe fps (frames per second) slow down.

I purposfuly upgraded my Ram to 1 gb, and chose the more expensive Radeon 9700
mobility so i could run games smoothly.

Thank you in advance
Adil

Tried turning off all power saving feature, switched graphics to lowest,
upgraded drivers for video card, upgraded BIOS to no avail.

Reponce:

Dear Dell Customer,


Dell's e-mail software interprets your message as a request for help with a Dell
notebook computer touchpad.  

If your message is not about a touchpad problem, or you need further assistance,
please just click [Reply] to this document, and a Dell e-mail agent will read
and answer your message.

________________
Table of Contents
================ 

1. Cursor drifting
2. Erratic movement and touch pad sensitivity settings
3. How to disable the touch pad
4. Download drivers

==================
1. Cursor drifting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Occasionally, the cursor will begin to drift for a while and stop. The cursor
drift is a normal feature of the pointing stick. If you apply pressure in one
direction for a length of time, the stick will calibrate its position as the
centre position. Thus, once you release it and it returns to its true centre, it
will think you're pushing it and it will drift for a bit until it recalibrates.

Disable the pointing stick if you don't need it and the problem should stop. The
Dell Knowledgebase article found at the link below explains how to disable the
track stick:

   http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?DN=1043246



================================
2. Erratic movement and touch pad sensitivity settings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If mouse sensitivity is set too high then the cursor can move erratically or
even by itself. Even if you don't touch the pad while typing, if your thumb or
fingers get close it can still respond. To remedy this try decreasing the touch
pad sensitivity in the Mouse properties in Control Panel. The following article
will show you how if you need help:

  http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?DN=1013669



===============================
3. How to disable the touch pad
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To disable the touch pad:

* Restart the system.
 
* As soon as text or a picture appears on the computer screen, press and release
[F2] every 3 seconds to enter system setup.

* If your computer boots to Windows, repeat this procedure again.

* Once in the BIOS, toggle to either the "Pointing Devices" or "Internal Touch
Pad" section and change the setting to "PS/2 Mouse" or "Auto Disabled"
respectively. Follow the instructions at the bottom of your BIOS Setup screen
for changing pages and device settings.

* Save changes and exit the BIOS.

This will disable the touch-pad when an external mouse is connected and allow
the touch pad to work only when you do not have an external mouse attached the
computer.



===============================
4. How to disable the track stick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes, over time, the keyboard places pressure on the track stick, causing
erratic cursor movement.  It is possible to correct this problem by disabling
the track stick and using either the touch pad or an external mouse for cursor
movement.  First, determine whether or not your notebook has a track stick.  If
it does, the track stick will appear as a small button looking much like a
pencil eraser near the centre of your keyboard.

* If your computer is running Windows 2000:
	1.  Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
The Control Panel window appears. 
	2.  Double-click the Mouse icon.  The Mouse Properties window appears.
	3.  Depending on which version of the Synaptics Touch Pad drivers you have, you
will have a tab labelled Touch or a tab labelled Device Settings.  Click on
whichever of the two you have.
	4.  If you are on the Touch tab, click on the drop down menu and choose
Pointing Stick on PS/2 Port.  If you are on the device settings tab, highlight
Pointing Stick.
	5.  Check the selection to Disable the device or pointing stick.
	6. Click OK

* If  your computer is using Windows XP:
	1.  Click the Start button, and then click Control Panel on the right side.
The Control Panel window appears. 
	2.  Double-click the Mouse icon.  The Mouse Properties window appears.
	3.  Depending on which version of the Synaptics Touch Pad drivers you have, you
will have a tab labelled Touch or a tab labelled Device Settings.  Click on
whichever of the two you have.
	4.  If you are on the Touch tab, click on the drop down menu and choose
Pointing Stick on PS/2 Port.  If you are on the device settings tab, highlight
Pointing Stick.
	5.  Check the selection to Disable the device or pointing stick.
	6. Click OK



===================
5. Download drivers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
To download a new driver from our Web site follow the instructions at this link:

      http://support.euro.dell.com/ie/en/kb/document.asp?DN=TT1090180&tag=

* Check for downloads for Input Devices and click [GO].

* Follow the instructions on the Download page.

I was ok... automated and irrelvant no matter i wait for the real responce hopefully it will be better.. but...

Dear Mr. Dean,

Thank you for contacting Dell e-Support & Services.

We appreciate this opportunity to assist you. 

My name is Ganesh and I will be assisting you with your Dell
INSPIRON (Svc Tag 91H3H1J)

I apologize for the delay in answering your mail. We answer email
in the order they come in and we have seen more growth in the
amount of people using e-Support than we anticipated. We are
working very hard to insure more timely responses.

I understand from your message that you are having issues where
the games are not running smoothly.

After reviewing your information, I have come up with the following
steps to find a resolution to this problem. Please do note that
every step has significance in arriving at a satisfactory resolution,
therefore please provide the result of every step.

Update the bios to the latest version:
------------------------------------------*

Please down load latest bios version from the below link, which
also has the instructions for updating it.

http:
//support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&release
id=R93239&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_9200&category=1&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=8164&devlib
=1&fileid=121357

Release date: 07/02/2005.

Use the HTTP option to download.

Update the graphics card drivers:
---------------------------------------*

Below is the link from where you can download the latest video
card drivers which also has the instructions to update it:

http:
//support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&release
id=R91865&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_9200&category=6&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=6434&devlib
=6&fileid=119690

Release date:09/02/2005

Use the HTTP option to download.

After updating the bios and the video card drivers, if you still
experience the same problem then please get in touch with our
advance software support for further help
You can contact our advance software support on 0870 3664026(UK)
or 1850 200421
(Ireland)

Thanks for your co operation and have a nice day.

Kind Regards,

Ganesh R.
Dell E-Support and Services

If responding to us, please use the ***REPLY*** function of your
email program in order to keep the SAME SUBJECT or our response
to you may be delayed or lost.

Click here <http://support.euro.dell.com> to access

Status updates on service calls
All Drivers & Files for your system
Answers to Technical Queries

Omg..... so i reply

As i stated earlier i have already upgraded the bios and driver's to no
avail, i am not very satisfied as the responce i find very
patronising.
I will re-iterate the problem, after prolongued gameplay
the heatsink on the graphics card starts and the fps(frames per second) are
reduced to a unplayable rate.
Awaiting your responce,
Thanks,
Adil

\o/ he gets the problem and advises the following:

Dear Mr. Dean,

Thank you for writing in. I hope you are doing fine.

I apologize for the delay in answering your mail. We answer email
in the order they come In and we have seen more growth in the
amount of people using e-Support than we anticipated. We are
working very hard to insure more timely responses.

I have read your message and understood your concern.

There are couple of games such as Helo 2 and Sims 2  that might
have these kind of problems because these games are extremely
high graphics intensive games and needs high configuration systems
to play them like video card with 256 MB video memory, at least
1GB memory Etc. These games are certainly not meant to be played
on a laptop but should be played on a high end Desktop.

However, assuming that you are not playing any of the above games,
there are certain things that we can try.

1)	Maximize the video memory for the system in the bios.  The
graphics card on your system will support up to 128 MB video
memory, Load the system to the bios and increase the video memory
to maximum.
2)	Increase the video card hardware acceleration to high. To
do that right click on the desktop and select properties,  on
the display properties screen select the setting and click the
advance button, and then click on the troubleshooting tab and
make sure that the hardware acceleration is set to Full. Also
make sure that monitor setting is set to 60 Hertz.
3)	Make sure that the screen resolution is set to 1440X900 and
the color quality is set to highest (32 bit).

Also please conform, after using the system for how long hours
the FPS will stats reducing and does it happen with all the games
or with any particular game.

Please check all the above steps and hopefully the issue will
be resolved.

Kind Regards,


Ganesh.R.
Dell E-Support and Services

I may not be a techinical genius but turning the settings up is suppose to slove the problem? Tried it anyway no change so e-mailed back

It happens with all games after prolongued usage , when the fan comes on to
cool the gfx card.
 I can only assume its a problem with the PSU resulting
in the gfx card not getting enough power
Adil

Yes i assumed, prolly isnt the problem but thats what i thought it might be at the time;

Dear Mr. Dean,

Thank you for writing in. I hope you are doing fine.

1)	Can you please let me know how many hours when you say prolonged
use?
2)	What happens when you play 2 DVD?s back to back and does the
performance of deteriorate while playing the 2nd DVD.
3)	What is the screen resolution set when playing games?

Please revert back with the answers to these questions.

Also you may want to download the Catalyst 5.4 for the graphics
card.

http://www.ati.com/products/catalyst/index.html


Kind Regards,


Ganesh.R.
Dell E-Support and Services

Im begining to get irritated how many times am i supposed to tell him i have the latest drivers... anyhow

> >1)	Can you please let me know how many hours when you say prolonged
> >use?
> 1-5 on AC Power, but this is irrelevant as the problem only occurs when 
> using graphic intensive games
> >2)	What happens when you play 2 DVD?s back to back and does the
> >performance of deteriorate while playing the 2nd DVD.
> No, performance was fine (2x 1hr 30 DVD's)
> >3)	What is the screen resolution set when playing games?
usually the lowest setting possible (normally 800x600)

And then i get the repsonce:

Dear Mr. Dean,

Thank you for writing in. I hope you are doing fine.

Laptops are not meant to be used for prolonged periods of time
(5 hours) while running graphics intensive games. As you have
already confirmed in your reply that the display works as designed
with out any problems when playing 2 DVD?s back to back, the
system hardware, in this case the video card is working as per
design and is not faulty. Also as confirmed in your earlier mails,
this issue is game-specific, so it clearly confirms that the
system Hardware is not at fault.

Most of the games used specific display resolutions which are
meant to provide optimal viewing performance which might not
be suitable for the video card or the display on your system
because of which noticeable degradation of video performance
might be noticed over prolonged periods of intensive use. 

The resolution suggested for your system?s display as per the
User Guide or Owner?s Manual is meant for Optimal Viewing Performance.
When the resolution is changed by the settings in-built in the
game, the changes might not be suitable for the display.

As advised earlier the system Hardware is working as designed
and is not at fault, thus this matter lies beyond our purview.



Kind Regards,


Ganesh.R.
Dell E-Support and Services

Despite is specifically saying on the website this system is "designed for high-rescoure applications such as video editing"
It cant even run a game which is 3 years old.

The saga continues ..


Edit: sorry just realised where i posted it, can it be prodded to off topic plz

 

[Gibbo]

Never buy anything with Dell on it imo

 

[Xajorkith]

Chronic, what you're experiencing is I suspect is "by design", I have the same issues with my laptop.

Laptops can't expel heat like a desktop so when the fan comes on, it's going to drop your CPU stepping to help expel the heat.

In my bios I can stop the laptop reducing the CPU cycles by changing the "Throttle Duty Rate" which by default is set to 50%. I set this to 0% and all is well, ermm except I'm frying my laptop and I have to wear oven gloves to play

To make matters worse I think Windows XP throttles back the CPU too, I can’t remember too much about this, I read an article on Intel’s web site about SpeedStep which is now incorporated into XP.

This may well not be an option for you, but I took the laptop apart, ground the CPU a bit, applied a better thermal compound, and cleaned all the vents. I situated the laptop for maximum airflow and tried to make sure the laptop doesn’t suck up too much dust, basically keep it cool.

You can also buy a base for the laptop that has additional cooling fans; a while back http://www.tomshardware.com/firstlook/20040322/index.html had a review of a couple.

 

[Chronictank]

Chronic, what you're experiencing is I suspect is "by design", I have the same issues with my laptop.

Laptops can't expel heat like a desktop so when the fan comes on, it's going to drop your CPU stepping to help expel the heat.

In my bios I can stop the laptop reducing the CPU cycles by changing the "Throttle Duty Rate" which by default is set to 50%. I set this to 0% and all is well, ermm except I'm frying my laptop and I have to wear oven gloves to play

To make matters worse I think Windows XP throttles back the CPU too, I can’t remember too much about this, I read an article on Intel’s web site about SpeedStep which is now incorporated into XP.

This may well not be an option for you, but I took the laptop apart, ground the CPU a bit, applied a better thermal compound, and cleaned all the vents. I situated the laptop for maximum airflow and tried to make sure the laptop doesn’t suck up too much dust, basically keep it cool.

You can also buy a base for the laptop that has additional cooling fans; a while back http://www.tomshardware.com/firstlook/20040322/index.html had a review of a couple.

did a bit of browsing on my make (Dell Inspiron 9200), the laptop picks up the cpu temp wrong, so starts the fan early i have downloaded a piece of software to reduce the speed when needed with a nice little cpu temp monitor.
Hopefully that will do me

Tbh i feel cheated it was advertised as a high end system but is far from it, will be writing to the uk complaints about this whole ordeal and about how they are falsly advertising the laptop. May make me an asshole but im also gona include that fcker who said it was suitable for gaming on the sales line in the whole thing

The tech support was a joke i forgot to timestamp everything but it took 1 week per e-mail approximately just to get a reply

 

[DocWolfe]

except dell monitors awesome.

I hope you didn't buy from PC world where everything is a superfast pentium 4 with groundbreaking HT technology... what a load of bollocks.

 

[Chronictank]

except dell monitors awesome.

until something goes wrong and you got some retard on the other end who is telling you to install the latest drivers while you tell him that the power cable is missing

 

[Tierce_]

Just bought a Dell Inspiron 5000 ;x

Good luck to me.

 

[Cozak]

My old desktop was a Dell had problems with it when I first got it which was 5 years ago or so and the customer service was a joke back then... you think by now they would have improved it =/

 

[Kami]

Run cats on Dell D600, never had a problem with the support but then again I actually call them and talk to them - emailing is retarded, you'll never get the right answer!

One thing I've noticed with all dells, compaqs and apple macs that I've worked with it they heat up a shitload when playing anything particularly intensive. So I bought a laptop cooler, works fecking ace.

Dell customer service is fantastic if you call and get an IRISH guy, if you get an asian (not being racist here btw) I find that the support is awful. Perhaps it's my scottish accent but I hate having to repeat everything just to be told to "switch it off and back on again please sir"

Incidentally if you want to talk pish support, need I mention apple?


I'd highly recommend getting a laptop cooler to anyone running DAOC on one, it DOES help a lot and keeps mine nice and chilled:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000BVYTV/qid=1117153265/026-8318708-5890059

 

[Kami]

My name is Ganesh


^^^^^^ not very irish sounding = shit support

 

[gervaise]

i have purchased things from Dell and also dealt with their customer support - we got a neighbours laptp delivered to us as well as the one we ordered. Neighbour was no help but Dell support - when it kicked in (and on the first pass it didn't) was fine. A lot of the initial responses are 'standard' - hope you are doing fine, make sure you have the latest drivers etc. As I said the neighbour was 'very unhelpful and abusive' which we mentioned this to Dell - they took full ownership even though the delivery service had dropped the ball and gave us a 60 pound 'reward' - which we used on an extra.

Persevere

As for laptop performance well the one I have is an Inspiron XPS which is basically faster than a desktop and doesn't get very hot (only has a couple of fans inside). Quick plug for www.tomshardware.com The NVida card is awesome - Halflife2, whatever .. no problem. (I did opt for the 7200rpm harddrive which no doubt helps).

Other things: the Creative Labs ZX2 plug in card will reduce the load on the processor which may help if the processor is having to pick up some of the graphic's load. Adding memory - suggests that the memory may be shared

As for heating - cooling trays ?

 

[Chronictank]

i have purchased things from Dell and also dealt with their customer support - we got a neighbours laptp delivered to us as well as the one we ordered. Neighbour was no help but Dell support - when it kicked in (and on the first pass it didn't) was fine. A lot of the initial responses are 'standard' - hope you are doing fine, make sure you have the latest drivers etc. As I said the neighbour was 'very unhelpful and abusive' which we mentioned this to Dell - they took full ownership even though the delivery service had dropped the ball and gave us a 60 pound 'reward' - which we used on an extra.

Persevere

As for laptop performance well the one I have is an Inspiron XPS which is basically faster than a desktop and doesn't get very hot (only has a couple of fans inside). Quick plug for www.tomshardware.com The NVida card is awesome - Halflife2, whatever .. no problem. (I did opt for the 7200rpm harddrive which no doubt helps).

Other things: the Creative Labs ZX2 plug in card will reduce the load on the processor which may help if the processor is having to pick up some of the graphic's load. Adding memory - suggests that the memory may be shared

As for heating - cooling trays ?

wasnt out when i got mine
i got 1 model down from what you have, what plug are you talking about?

 

[Mojo]

did a bit of browsing on my make (Dell Inspiron 9200), the laptop picks up the cpu temp wrong, so starts the fan early i have downloaded a piece of software to reduce the speed when needed with a nice little cpu temp monitor.
Hopefully that will do me

Tbh i feel cheated it was advertised as a high end system but is far from it, will be writing to the uk complaints about this whole ordeal and about how they are falsly advertising the laptop. May make me an asshole but im also gona include that fcker who said it was suitable for gaming on the sales line in the whole thing

The tech support was a joke i forgot to timestamp everything but it took 1 week per e-mail approximately just to get a reply

Dells kick arse IMO, i am about to buy my third, I have 2 inspirons and am going for an XPS, they run games fine, I have now 8 friends who also run the 9200 and 1 who has an XPS, none have had any problems thus far (except with delayed orders), I have had some minor issues but they have been resolved just fine.

If you get fed up with offshore support then ask to spk to someone in ireland.
it sucks that you have had a bad experience, doesn't mean dell suck entirley tho, I am one happy reapeat constomer.

and all lappys speed step no point having a 3gig machine that runs for 25 mins when u have no mains etc, and I think the inspirons and now xps are sold as mobiles or mobile desktops not "laptops" ?

and btw I think the XPS is the first True gaming mobile as advertisd by Dell

 

[Alan]

Played DAOC all the time on this Toshiba M2 - its 512MB memory with a GForce-FX, so not the most ideal but ran pretty well.

Personaly id take DELL up on this part of the last email

The resolution suggested for your system?s display as per the
User Guide or Owner?s Manual is meant for Optimal Viewing Performance.
When the resolution is changed by the settings in-built in the
game, the changes might not be suitable for the display.

As advised earlier the system Hardware is working as designed
and is not at fault, thus this matter lies beyond our purview.

So hes saying if you change from the "optimal viewing performance" as indicated by the "Owners manual" then its not as designed and not their fault.

Ok, so run DAOC in windowed mode - then report back saying you are using the system in its optimal viewing performance and its still crashing.

Theres no reason for Dell to wash their hands of this - its just poor shoddy support, and they are hoping you go away.

Personaly, id reply asking to have the contact of his supervisor or line manager.

 

[Job]

No probs using a Fujitsu Siemens Amillo, 512mb, Radeon 9700-128, 3.4 AMD 64.

Plays as smooth as a button at full GFX level, but the hardrive is waaay to slow at 4200rpm so inc lag is huge.
Gonna throw in a 7200 drive and 1GB ram when I can be arsed to order one and take it apart.

Well excpet that it's not a laptop unless you're the freakin Hulk, more of a portable desktop.

 

[Aithe]

games such as Helo 2

Teehee

 

[rvn]

dell support is extremely poor, they couldnt even cover a ram memory replacement for my laptop (had warranty).

they said i had to run their automatic problem-finding program (wich ofcourse couldnt run cause the laptop couldnt boot with the ram memory that was broken...)

had it replaced out of my own pocket, and will never again have anything to do with dell.

Their monitors are pretty sweet tho...

 

[Rookiescot]

Ah another "Working as intended" reply.

Now where have I heard that before.........

 

[Sarumancer]

Your laptop has a hot processor in it, hot ram, hot cpu and a hot hard drive...

its trying to vent heat and circulate cooler air through its innards with a 40mm fan

guess what, it isnt going to work, its going to get hot under load and either throttle the cpu, which will make daoc shit itself, or get so hot it thermal overloads and shuts off

thats how laptops work, if you thought it would be ok, boy are you deluded.

Solutions

get a 'laptop cooling pad', its a surface you rest your laptop on that actually cools the base of the unit and effectively bleeds off the heat causing the issue, kinda expensive and its not portable, but it works.

figure out how to duct bigger fans into blowing cool air into the intakes on the side/back of the laptop and hope its enough

remove the floppy/cdrom etc etc when not playing and have as much air flowing over the laptop as possible, set it on some rails so there is an air void underneath it, this is essential for it staying cool, think 'ground effect' on a race car, you NEED to get air going under and around the lappy pronto


and if all else fails, demand a replacement, get on the phone and make an arse of yourself til you get escalated to management level, (michael.dell@dell.com by the way), and work with them, they need to stand by their guarantees. Failing that, demand a refund and go get a REAL gaming laptop, or for gods sake build a 2nd small pc for the purpose.

 

[Melachi]

I had the same problem with the laptop overheating, but my solution might not help you since I only have a Inspiron 5150 and I didnt play daoc on mine because it only has 256 ram which means 1hour loading times

I played Natural Selection (Half Life 1 mode) and after about 20 minutes of playing it would every 20 or so seconds drop the framerate to about 10fps for a few seconds which was really frustrating.

So what I did was place my laptop on stilts to get more air at the vent and it worked, no more slowdowns

I used little toy bricks I played with as a kid, but Im sure anything will work just dont let your dog at them(fifth pic) hehe

Also I was told theres a small partition on all Dell notebooks that has all the fan software, but i deleted it when i was reformatting to solve this problem.

 

[Bellona]

I got an Inspiron 8600, only problem I ever had was the dvd drive that didnt work, called Dell, and the next day a guy from UPS came with a new drive, problem solved.

mate of mine, from school, with same laptop as mine, had his powersupply changed, took 2 days for them to deliver a new one.

so I can only say good about dell's service, never had a laptop as stable as this :wub:


and yeah, and if you like me dont spend too much time cleaning, its a good idea to clean out the heatfan once in a while

 

[Bellona]

Also I was told theres a small partition on all Dell notebooks that has all the fan software, but i deleted it when i was reformatting to solve this problem.

the 40mb partition, is for the self test OS, it has nothing to do with controlling your computer when your running windows etc.

 

[Ctuchik]

My name is Ganesh


^^^^^^ not very irish sounding = shit support

yeah sure. and the guy could have been born in ireland but have migrated parents who wanted to have a name from their homeland...

nice stealth rasism there.

 

[Fafnir]

Bought a dell two years ago, for some reason it was delivered without hard drive. Called them up explained what had happen, they saw it on the invioce, sent out the drive double the size of the one ordered, and a 512 memory stick. Took a while to install everything thou And i'm very happe with my comp, only need a new gfx card now.

 

[Gamah]

Bought a dell two years ago, for some reason it was delivered without hard drive. Called them up explained what had happen, they saw it on the invioce, sent out the drive double the size of the one ordered, and a 512 memory stick. Took a while to install everything thou And i'm very happe with my comp, only need a new gfx card now.

Lol that made me laugh irl

"So this PC ready to go for Mr Fafnir?"
"Yep"
"You Checked its working right?"
"OF Course..I know how to do my job"
"OK, Well you sent the last PC out without a motherboard"
"I TOLD you someone must of stole it"
"Yea Right"
"I Check all of my PC's right though, whilst talking on the phone and reading FHM FYI"
"..."

 

[Coolan]

and all lappys speed step no point having a 3gig machine that runs for 25 mins when u have no mains etc,

thats not true, my packard bell laptop, which i only paid £250 for is a p4 3gig ok so the battery life is only 1hour 30mins but it dosnt use speed step, its a real laptop, permently runs at 3gig.

 

[tris-]

firstly how have they advertised it wrong? they included video editing as a high end application. they didnt include games . they may well be something somewhere that states games are not classed as such, by them.

and also - asking to spk to the line manager? lol, makes me laugh everyday at work. what do you want a manager to do? make up some crazy solution just to suit you? they are obviously given procedures from dell, and thats what they follow.

 

[Jiggs]

i have the same problem with my dell.

 

[Dreamor]

I bought a Dell and had numerous problems just trying to get it delivered. The Dell-Delhi helpdesk kept putting me through to dispatch in Germany. They then finally said they could not deliver my laptop on time due to it not being in stock or something. I called, cancelled and they then said its too late. Called the bank and cancelled any direct debit from the company. Got hate mail from them /ignore

I would never ever ever buy a Dell, but agree on the monitors though. Think they are Philips hardware though. Like IBM is usually Samsung or Sony.

Bought myself a Sony Vaio and its trually awesome, the screen resolution is amazing and I can play stuff like PlanetSide and DAOC for hours without it lagging out (through gfx slow-down)

Get a Sony, great support and quick delivery.

 

[Hawkwind]

Never buy anything with Dell on it imo

Or Compaq!