new xps 400, what should I expect?

Message Edited by paraboone on 01-10-2006 01:46 AM

paraboone,

They are nice machines "UNTIL" you need support.

I hope you have an advanced degree in computer science.... because if something goes wrong with your Dell XPS, the only one you can depend on to fix it is YOU !!!

Search the forum, and you will find a very troubling trend.... NO SUPPORT from Dell.

Too many complaints from people who can't get hold of anyone on the phone, and if they ever do get someone, it's someone with minimal skills with the English language and NO skills in troubleshooting computer problems.

Dell support is now located in India where Dell hires unskilled labor who can do no more than read down a flow chart trying to get "YOU" to figure out what your problem is.

Forget the fact that you have PAID for ON-SITE support.  I was recently instructed to dis-assemble my power supply to figure out why my DVD drive tray would not eject.

I don't know if you've ever had your head inside the guts of a computer, but for a neophyte, it's scary to open open the box and see a hundred wires runiing every which way and have a so called tech tell you to start pulling on this and re-plugging that when you can't identify the board you are supposed to be touching.

Hmmmm...  let's see.... you paid a couple Thousand for your computer,  several Hundred for On-Site support, and look who's fixing your computer..... YOU !!!!

Forget it.... buy a Gateway.

You will see some improvements in gaming from the ATI 8500 to the nVidia 6800 video card, and hardly no improvements in other normal programs from the spec's you gave on the other system.   Since you know something about computers, you may wish to uninstall or reformat and reinstall windows at a latter date to get rid of much of the Dell Bloatware that will slow it down some. 

I matched a Dim 4400 system, 2.6 ghz, nVidia 6600 GT card, 1 gb of memory, 7,200 hard drive, with a brand new Gen 5 Dual core, 3.2 ghz, 1 gb of memory, and the nVidia 6800 card and saw some improvement in the games I played, but no improvement in anything else.  If you decide to get the 7800 GTX card later, you will see a better improvement in games.  I sent the Gen 5 back because I did not see a WOW factor from my older system and the Gen 5 with the 6800 card for the money I was spending.  I will wait until something really good comes out later, then spend the money.  Just my opinion...  

Good luck with the new 400

Message Edited by waseechee on 01-10-2006 10:02 AM

ChrisM,

Thank you for the explanation of the On-Site service contract that Dell sells.

I guarantee that if Dell made it clear to purchasers, up front,  that they would  be expected to trouble shoot their own systems, and still be expected to get any replacement parts up and running themselves, that the sales of such contracts would plummet. 

Perhaps you can suggest to the powers that be, that they include "YOUR" explanation in large letters to any potential purchasers of the warranties.

Pity the poor owner who has his mother board or hard drive replaced by an On-Site technician and watches the tech walk out the door saying.... "Ok, now you have to figure out the rest yourself." 

I wish that the phone techs were as courteous and knowledgeable as you.

I know you have read that I talked to someone in Dell support who actually told me to dis-assemble my power supply in an attempt to trouble shoot my problem of the DVD tray not ejecting.

And in the past, even after trouble shooting a problem on an XPS system, I was shipped a new disk drive and told that I had to install it myself because they would not send a tech out to do such a thing.

Have there been recent problems with the XPS specialized support number?

You also state there is "Chat" support, when I have tried to get "Chat" support, I am alwasy told that the is no "Chat" support for the XPS systems.  Nor, any email support for XPS systems.... only phone support.

Sorry for my complaining, but it has been unbelievably difficult and frustrating trying to talk to anyone in XPS specialized support.

I do, once again, thank YOU for all of the help, assistance and guidance you give to people on these forums.

Tim

Message Edited by pratzert on 01-10-2006 09:23 AM

Dell should say:

"Our warranties are perfectly suited for the technically savvy and computer literate Do It Your Selfer"

                                                        or

"Our Specialized XPS support is perfectly designed for people who can decipher what a foreigner with an extremely strong Hindu accent is saying."

I had to take my XPS system to Best Buy and let their Geek Squad fix it.  It wasn't too expensive, and if I had saved my money instead of buying what I thought was a real warranty from Dell, I would have been able to pay Best Buy for the repair and still had enough money for several steak dinners.

It was really pretty expensive to buy these warranties.  If Dell had made it clear with a statement like the above, I FOR SURE, would NOT have shelled out the money.

Message Edited by pratzert on 01-13-2006 11:54 AM