<p>We bought my son a laptop before his freshman year. He just finished his 2nd year and has been having all kinds of computer problems recently. He finally called Dell customer support and after walking him through all kinds of diagnostics they sent a tech over to our home who replaced the motherboard and the heatsink, so everything seems fine now. I was surprised, no… shocked… that we would receive that kind of support at all, let alone for a 2 year old laptop. Might have helped that we bought it through the university’s deal they had with Dell.</p>
<p>I bet this had something to do with the nvidia video card burning up the motherboard. The same thing happened with a Dell xps 1330 that we own. It happened about 2 months after we purchased the Dell. Dell came to the house within 24 hours and replaced the motherboard and whatever else they needed to do. The nVidea video card heat issue was not limited to the Dell brand.</p>
<p>Sound like the nVidia graphics problem where Dell (and most other computer makers) extended the warranty on laptops for an extra year or two. Essentially nvidia shipped a ton of defective chips which would fail at some point and require a motherboard replacement. It happened to so many people that notebook manufacturers were forced to provide additional warranty coverage. Manufacturers and nvidia took the financial hit to replace the motherboards.</p>
<p>Perhaps it is still under warranty. I bought a 4 year warranty through Dell on my laptop and in 4 years I’ve had the keyboard, LED screen, motherboard replaced so it is almost a brand new computer. I’ve had friends telling me it was a waste buying warranty for my laptop.</p>
<p>Same thing happened with my D’s Dell laptop about 5 or 6 years ago. They sent a tech to our house to replace either the motherboard or the keyboard - I don’t remember which. I guess it was still under the original warranty because we hadn’t bought any additional warranties. I was impressed. The laptop has been fine ever since and it is now 7 years old.</p>
<p>Piece of advice: buy a policy. I bought a full replacement policy from a company called NSSI. When one of my girls had her laptop screen destroyed, they paid the $600+ repair bill right away. The cost is under $150 a year and it means you don’t have to report anything on your homeowner’s policy.</p>
<p>We bought the extended warranty for my daughter’s laptop. Well worth it. The nearest tech lives 100 miles away (our town is what a friend called ‘centrally remote’ - in the center about 100 miles from 3 largish cities). He came out twice and was excellent. I think she had a new keyboard, motherboard and a new top/lid (whatever it is called). Almost a whole new computer. Unfortunately the warranty is now expired and her computer will not work with a battery in place so she has to keep it plugged in to use it (not a battery charging problem - won’t work it the battery is even in there when it is plugged in). Looks like we may be taking advantage of the new rule allowing 529 account funds to be used for computer purchases.</p>
<p>I have been very impressed with Dell service. That caused me to buy another Dell when I bought my laptop. I nearly bought a very pretty HP but kept reading really bad things about their service.</p>
<p>In August 2007, I got a laptop from Dell (I’m a 17 year old HS senior- my parents purchased it for me). In March 2008, I was having problems with the power or something- first they sent me a new battery; that didn’t work, so a tech came to my house and replaced the motherboard.</p>
<p>Then, last month (April 2009), my computer uh… stopped working (it was on April 1- possibly the Conflicker virus?). I spent several hours on the phone with tech support and I did have to pay for some “premium service” (which wasn’t cheap- I think it’s called Dell On-Call?) because “regular” tech support couldn’t fix it. Eventually, I had to reinstall the OS- it would’ve been a nightmare, had I not used Dell Connect (the technician basically accesses your computer desktop remotely and does the work- it makes it so much easier).</p>
<p>I must be doing something wrong because I have generally been dissatisfied with Dell customer service, especially where laptops are concerned. It is unusual for the companies to send techs to the computer since a laptop is so easily portable. With the exception of one horrible Dell purchase a few years ago of a computer my D just had to have, we have moved away from Dell products. For the past few years, we have been very happy with our HP laptop and desktop and my D is now largely a MAC user.</p>
<p>Dell used to be #1 in computer sales but ran into stiff competition from HP. Dell flailed around for several years in which their product quality and service suffered quite a bit. I would say that they’ve bounced back from their severe quality days but they, as are other producers of cheap consumer goods, constrained by thin margins.</p>
<p>The nVidia problem is unique in severity and the number of people affected and Dell probably felt that they should provide on-site service instead of tying up a machine for two weeks.</p>
<p>When you buy a Mac, some of the hardware price pays for a high-level of carry-in service. I also appreciate the high level of service at the Apple Store and am a big Mac fan for laptops now.</p>
<p>Is the nvidia problem just for laptop cards? Or are desktops affected too?</p>
<p>Desktops are also affected but desktops have much better heatflow and stronger cooling fans than do laptops. With a desktop, if you lose your graphics card, you just replace it. The discrete graphics in a laptop is soldered into the motherboard so you have to replace the motherboard which is a much more expensive proposition.</p>
<p>For the kids - we always buy the complete care on notebook computers. When they are at school the poor computers get a real beating. The Dell complete care just replaces anything that goes wrong. We have been very happy, 24 hr turnaround on parts, next day on at home tech. Worth it. We even had 24 hr replacement on the hard drive with the university’s software loaded.</p>
<p>My laptop, bought in December of '03, went a bit crazy- nothing was working right and it looked to be only good for future service as a doorstop. I had tried everything, and was even having trouble reformatting it since the thing was so non-responsive, so, what the heck, I gave Dell a call thinking that perhaps they could point me towards a web site or a local store who might be able to help. Instead, I connected with the nicest,kindest man ever! He spent hours, 4 of them, on the phone with me, helping to get to the bottom of the problem, and then it came time for him to leave work, but the laptop wasn’t working yet. We set a time for the following day, and sure enough, after another few hours (this time he stayed on past “Quitting Time”), all was working and I was able to connect to the wireless network again!! Oh, he heard me tell him that a key kept falling off and the next morning, the Fex Ed truck pulled up and delivered a brand-new keyboard and instructions for replacement!! A wonderful company and an employee who did himself and his employer, proud. I’ve sent a note to his supervisor lauding his service and I’ll be sending D off to college with her own Dell this fall!</p>