ljkelman

Hi,

After months of dithering I finally took the plunge today and ordered an Inspiron 1501 for my kids. Not the priciest available by any means but perfect for all their needs.

No more annoying MSN interruptions for me now!

According to Dell it should be here by July 11th so I'll expect it by Christmas

Slainte.

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Lawrence J Kelman

Jogga

An excellent choice! I hope that your children will be suitably grateful.

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ljkelman

Originally Posted by Jogga

An excellent choice! I hope that your children will be suitably grateful.

Thanks Jogga but there's not much chance of that!

Slainte.

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Lawrence J Kelman

ironguy

DId you get it?

I hav a 1705 and love it!

thekefren

My girlfriend bought the 1501...

Took 15 min for it to boot vista... I told her what she needed but she opted against my advice

AMD Sempron 1.8
512mb ram
160gb hd

Looked at her task manager, was running 75 processes, 75! on that!? no wonder it was so slow, gave msconfig a little visit and now start time is about 3 min and boots with 37 processes


and they better be grateful! i was so pumped when my dad bought me my Gateway 400VTX when i was in 8th grade

if they complain about speeds though, just check out the msconfig though worked wonders for her

ljkelman

Originally Posted by ironguy

DId you get it? I hav a 1705 and love it!

It came on Wednesday - a day late. I went off the deep end with Dell about having to make sure that someone was in on a second consecutive day and they are phoning me on Tuesday to discuss "compensation". I didn't ask for this - they offered - but I won't be holding my breath. I suppose I could ask for a free x51v!

There is a major problem with the laptop though. On two occassions, while doing nothing more taxing than browsing the net and opening the media player, the screen went completely black except for a small 1 inch square box containing vertical coloured line. The computer was completely locked up and needed to be switched off at the mains. On booting up it then unsurprisingly asked if I wanted to open up in safe mode etc... Also there is a second fault. As Vista is loading the screen flickers on and off 3 times. I contacted Dell technical support, who I must say were really helpful and accommodating, and after updating the video drivers from Dell's site and from ATI's site and updating the BIOS I was told there was a problem with the graphics "card". I didn't argue even though there is no card as such. Anyway, even though I have a RTB warranty they are sending an engineer to my house to fix it on Tuesday.

My kids are over the moon though and it is still perfectly usable except when the screen freezes although thankfuly this has not happened again.

Tuesday here we come!.

Slainte.

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Lawrence J Kelman

musicetime101

Anything that perfect for your kids is the best choice .

Truth

Rwise Fwrom Your Gwave!!!!

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Organized Religion is BUNK!

kenneth11414

i have the 1705 and i love it =] its the best gaming machine for its class =] im deff going to mod the case to make it like the m1710 =]

ljkelman

Eh.....

Unfortunately the 1501 was a disaster. Basically it went like this:

The screen problem I mentioned before was terminal

Engineer was booked to come to replace motherboard.

He didn't arrive.

2nd engineer did arrive, replaced motherboard but no change. The 1501 appeared dead. He then proceeded to muck about with the memory chips whilst not being earthed. I asked him to reassemble the computer and then kindly leave my house.

I was given a £30 refund as a goodwill gesture

3rd engineer booked to replace motherboard and memory.

Didn't arrive.

4th engineer did arrive and after 2 hours of replacing boards and chips he concluded that the 1501 was dead.

I contacted Dell to advise them that I wanted my money back and after a quick review of my case they agreed.

They picked up the 1501 within 3 days.

It took 7 weeks and 6 days for them to refund me my money but they kept the £30 they gave me as a goodwill gesture as I was no longer a customer.

The only point in the whole process that was pleasant was the phone call when I bought the computer. Everything after that was decidedly unpleasant even allowing for home visits rather then RTB. That was Dell’s decision.

At the end of the whole process there had been an exchange of 226 emails, 5 letters that I sent to Ireland and America and which remain unanswered and a total phone bill to me of £68.21 ($140).

I appreciate that I am one of the very few unlucky ones who received a faulty computer but that does not excuse the behaviour of Dell detailed above. That kind of service is despicable.

I bought the kids a 17” Fujitsu-Siemens Li 1818 which they love and which has caused not one single second of bother.

Thanks Dell for helping me buy the right laptop after all but please don’t make anybody else go through what I went through and at least have the common courtesy to respond to recorded delivery letters.

Slainte.

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Lawrence J Kelman

lipripr

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DotanCohen

Originally Posted by thekefren

My girlfriend bought the 1501... Took 15 min for it to boot vista... I told her what she needed but she opted against my advice AMD Sempron 1.8 512mb ram 160gb hd Looked at her task manager, was running 75 processes, 75! on that!? no wonder it was so slow, gave msconfig a little visit and now start time is about 3 min and boots with 37 processes and they better be grateful! i was so pumped when my dad bought me my Gateway 400VTX when i was in 8th grade if they complain about speeds though, just check out the msconfig though worked wonders for her

I've been running Ubuntu on my Inspiron 1505 for a year this week. I never booted into the XP that came on it, and never redeemed my coupon for $10 Vista. Ubuntu absolutely flies on this thing. A few weeks ago I saw the exact same machine running Vista, and he also complained of long startup and shutdown times, as well as the inability to suspend. I won't get into Vista's useability issues, as his complaints in that regard are not specifiv to the Inspiron, but apparently Vista does not play well on this hardware.

priji

1705, I Love it.

twmiller

Originally Posted by ljkelman

Eh..... Unfortunately the 1501 was a disaster. Basically it went like this: The screen problem I mentioned before was terminal Engineer was booked to come to replace motherboard. He didn't arrive. 2nd engineer did arrive, replaced motherboard but no change. The 1501 appeared dead. He then proceeded to muck about with the memory chips whilst not being earthed. I asked him to reassemble the computer and then kindly leave my house. I was given a £30 refund as a goodwill gesture 3rd engineer booked to replace motherboard and memory. Didn't arrive. 4th engineer did arrive and after 2 hours of replacing boards and chips he concluded that the 1501 was dead. I contacted Dell to advise them that I wanted my money back and after a quick review of my case they agreed. They picked up the 1501 within 3 days. It took 7 weeks and 6 days for them to refund me my money but they kept the £30 they gave me as a goodwill gesture as I was no longer a customer. The only point in the whole process that was pleasant was the phone call when I bought the computer. Everything after that was decidedly unpleasant even allowing for home visits rather then RTB. That was Dell’s decision. At the end of the whole process there had been an exchange of 226 emails, 5 letters that I sent to Ireland and America and which remain unanswered and a total phone bill to me of £68.21 ($140). I appreciate that I am one of the very few unlucky ones who received a faulty computer but that does not excuse the behaviour of Dell detailed above. That kind of service is despicable. I bought the kids a 17” Fujitsu-Siemens Li 1818 which they love and which has caused not one single second of bother. Thanks Dell for helping me buy the right laptop after all but please don’t make anybody else go through what I went through and at least have the common courtesy to respond to recorded delivery letters. Slainte.

Wow! What a mess!!! I hope you find a laptop that you like.