Precision M4800 disappointment

To start off, the M4800 looked to be a great workstation. The best in its class in terms of processor, RAM, Graphics et al. I read a lot of reviews and everyone who reviewed it said it was the best in its class. So I decided to order one and the ordering process went mostly well. The guy who confirmed the order failed to mention the Dell Advantage Program to me and so I didn't qualify for the 5% Gift Promotion. This fact I found out on the final page of my order form. After hours of talking and being on hold with Customer Service to somehow let me be eligible for the 5% back promotion, the best solution I was suggested was to return the order and reorder the same thing again. So I decided to do that and called the resolution department who were very understanding about the situation and gave me the 5% back offer instead of me doing the entire ordering process all over again. The entire process of getting the laptop to me was a tad bit slow. The manufacturing process took over 10 days and due to the holiday season, it only arrived on January 4, although I had ordered it on December 18.

But the delivery wasn't in any way the main problem. The first thing I saw on the screen when I turned on the laptop said that the 180W AC adapter was not a compatible power supply for the laptop. It said that it wasn't the optimum adapter for the system although it would still work. Now I couldn't have changed the adapter even if I wanted to while ordering it as the customization page doesn't have options on adapter. Again, this wasn't the major issue. I figured my battery wouldn't be charged as fast, not a big deal.

The major problem came when I closed the lid of the laptop and opened it again. I had selected the "Choose what closing the lid does" settings to "Do Nothing" on both the on battery and plugged in options but when I opened the lid, the screen did not turn on at all. I pressed the power button, which was set to hibernate and once I made it wake up, the screen lit up again. I tried multiple settings and still couldn't get the screen to turn up once the lid was closed and opened again. I tried updating the BIOS, updating the Chipset drivers, the Nvidia Graphics card drivers, Windows updates to no avail. I called Dell Tech Support and for his part, the guy who was helping me did everything. He did the remote DellConnect diagnostics and tried a lot more stuff than I did. The only time the screen did turn on after closing and opening the lid was when he went to safemode and somehow disable the graphics card. He suggested that either they would replace the graphics card for free or I could exchange the laptop that I had for a new one. So I chose to get the laptop replaced. The replace and return policy of Dell has been excellent though. I don't know if that is because I had ordered the 3 year accidental warranty along with the 3 year basic warranty but the people at Dell have been very understanding about my problem and approved the return immediately.

After deciding to get it replaced, I tried to turn off the laptop but it took over 15 minutes of the Shutting Down page and a Blue Screen of Death to appear to finally shut the system down. I turned on the laptop and somehow, the touchpad drivers were corrupted and the touchpad was disabled. So I decided to put the system to factory default settings and it was during the factory reset process that I got the second BCOD. I turned on the laptop and finally got the system set to factory defaults.

I waited for the replacement laptop to arrive, which this time round, only took 10 days. I wasn't sure what to expect with the new one but as soon as I turned it on, I saw a dead pixel on the screen. Once Windows was setup, I tried the lid thing and to my utter disappointment, this one had the same problem. I googled Dell Precision M4800 problems and the first few results described exactly the same problems I was having, with the lid and the BCOD. I called Dell support which put me on hold for over an hour with no reply. So finally, I called the resolution team, which put me on hold for about half an hour, and had the entire orders get cancelled for a full refund.

After exactly one month of ordering the laptop, I now have two laptops that are going back. I have had the experience of being on hold in total for over 8 hours on the phone and have no proper functioning new laptop to show for it. My faith in the Customer service of Dell and the overall quality of Dell products have been extremely lowered. As much as the technical staff and the customer service staff have tried to help me, and they have tried a lot, they have not been able to figure out how to solve the problem. For two laptops to have the same problem, and the two laptops going to the same person, either there must be some huge problem with the model or that person must be very unlucky. I hope Dell solves this problem very soon. As for me, sadly, I will not recommend Dell products to anyone anymore just because of the huge disappointment I had to face.