are the xps systems really that bad

I'm happy with my XPS 600.

I purchased one XPS 400 and only had one network question that the support people helped me with and I haven't any other issues.  I purchased another XPS 400 system two weeks later and have had no problems with that one.  Both were refurbished and I felt I got a really excellent price.   I review the posts frequently and have learned a lot from reading other problems and solutions.  It appears that many people just post to complain, while others just need a little help.   Good Luck. 

My XPS 600 is refurbished.  Good price and if there was anything wrong it was fixed (that was my opinion).

I sent my XPS back and now am awaiting arrival of my Velocity Micro.

That's not right SCREAM.  Call Tech Support.  I remember back about 4 years ago when I bought my 4400, everyone who bought the 8200 or 8100 had fan problems.  Anyway, there was a lot of fan problems with one machine because the fans were from a different manufacturer.  A friend had one.  They tech came the next day and replaced it.  Her's was so loud you could hear it if you left the room.

I love my XPS 600.  There is no comparison between the first one and the second one.  The first went back.  The second has had a couple glitches, but nothing that this forum hasn't been able to help  me fix.  With the exception of a Kodak easy share issue, which I basically don't care about anymore, this system is every bit the upgrade that I wanted from my Dimension 8250.  I would even recommend one to a friend or family member.

So far I have not had  to call tech support at all.  In fact 30 days after the second system arrived I received a very nice call from Dell asking me how I liked my system and if I had any questions.  I told that since  he called me and asked I was suffering from a case of being at a loss for words.  We talked about how hammered tech support got during the previous month.  He agreed that the BIOS revision and dumping MacAfee helped alot.  I mentioned that I come to this site for help and he told me that this was probably my best bet.  That surprised me as well.

Anyway I would say that the XPS system from a hardware standpoint is AWESOME, it's some of the software that comes with them that causes the problems, and that will all be worked out.  And then you can always ADD/DELETE anything you don't want.

 

Also, I even think the tech support in India is pretty helpful and not so bad. 

FYI!   I recently found out that 1 of my 7800 GTX cards is not running properly. Reason being: I thought that once you enabled SLI that you are really running in SLI, but you aren't until you go deeper into the advanced settings and change single GPU mode to Multi GPU mode, or SLI antailaising mode. I first noticed that when i changed to multi, or SLI mode that I would get a tearing effect i.e artifacts and pixels. Note I would only see this in specific high end games like Doom,Quake,BF2,...games that have the ultra quality ability. Please note I am not expert at utilizing nvidias presets, so I know some of the settings will only be used with a specific game. Main point is that my dual sli setting does not work. So I advise XPS 600 people to enable there SLI atailaising and run a game that will utilaze this technology and make sure that it works fine because mine dosen't and i'm not sure if it ever did. I am currently waiting for a replacment card. I will let you all know what happens.:smileywink:

There may be a lot of grumblers here, but let me tell you, the XPS400 is the worst PC I have ever tried to use, had to redo it all myself before I could get it to work half way right, still hate it, wish I had never heard of Dell , they have the most Rude Rude customer service I have dealt with and the the techichan's know very little unless you happen to get lucky and get ahold of one you can understand and does know a little about PC's.The Techichan's will put you on hold and never come back also if they try 4 or 5 times and get help from this one and that one , then they never come back on the phone. This is the worst I have ever been treated in my life with any item I have ever purchased.

I really think it takes a DUMB Customer Service Rep. to put someone on hold , never tell them they are on hold for 20 minutes and all at once, the phone says, call cannot go through.

In my opinion a E Machine from Walmart would have been better than this thing and maybe even had some Customer Service that had some sense and would not just put you on hold for 20-30 minutes and then hang up.

The technicians do try and say no problem, that is a joke, each time they worked on my by phone , it would not work at all when I hung up, had to call back again and again.

There is no way to even e-mail Dell to tell them what you think that I am able to find, if someone knows an email I would appreciate your help. I think someone at Dell needs to know how their customers are being treated.

The first bad part of mine started with the salesman, who knew nothing about a Dell, as he told me so , he had a Gateway. He did nothing right on my order, which I did trust that he did , but no.

I may be a grumbler, but it would take a very very patient person to put up with what I have been going through since Christmas 05 with this junk Dell Computer.

 

I must have lucked out. I bought an XPS 400 the end of November. Aside from a minor glitch involving Dell not sending all the software they were supposed to, I've been quite satisfied with my machine. I also formatted the hard drive completely; I accidentally eliminated my recovery partition, but it's all good. It would restore all that useless bloatware. I've been using "Wintel" machines for almost six years now, after many years the Mac side (don't ask, it's a work thing ), and this is the second one I've owned, after a Gateway. I also own a Dell Axim PDA, and no worries there either at this time.

This Dell is no better, no worse than my old Gateway. Of course, anything can happen and I am still within the warranty period. So far, so good.

I thought about getting an eMachines, but a friend in the know said I'd be better off with a Dell, at least one in the XPS line.

The one gripe I do have is the difficulty of understanding some of the techs, when I get one from India.

This is definitely an example of YMMV.

DocMalk

BSOD! Too many of them. For $3500 I want to use the machine not troubleshoot it.

I also got an XPS-400 in late November. Set it up, cleaned out what I didn't want, installed my favorite utilities, and it's running quiet, fast, perky, and trouble free. I've owned Dells since 2001 and I don't know what those "techs" in India sound like. Never needed them. I still like to know what percentage of problems people have are self-inflicted - and count on Dell techs to fix it over the phone.

On a lighter note, I keep thinking what it would be like if the automotive industry's customer service was like the computer world.... OK ma'am, carefully jack your car up, then loosen up the bolts holding your transmission.... yes, I'll hold.