A certain percentage of cars will need new engines at 4 years, and many likewise won't be covered by warranty. All mechanical things break, some sooner than others.
But would you buy that car again? I think most would respond.... no thanks. Oh well, my loss, Dell will sell many more computers. It appears that many have had similar problems with batteries and the Inspiron line, based on the posts here.
You may be correct regarding the manufacturer of the laptop, I am not up on these things. How the issue is handled is what seperates one company from the rest. Maybe computers are so competitive now that costumer satisfaction is no longer important. I hope I get lucky with the next company, if not, I'll try somewhere else. Just have to keeping plugging away.
The problem with notebooks is that you may decide you want something other than another Dell next time, only to find out that you're just unknowingly bought a notebook from the same company that made the 8600 for Dell. That company is the second-largest notebook maker in the world, and makes notebooks for Apple, Gateway, Sony, Toshiba, Dell, HP, Compaq and many others.
The best defense for any notebook is a minimum 3-year warranty. Dell notebooks aren't exceptionally unreliable - or exceptionally reliable. On average 20% of all notebooks needs a major repair during its useful lifetime - that's 1/5 of them, and that's pretty much independent of the name put on the system before it left Compal (or Quanta, or Wistron) assembly.
If you're expecting a company to honor a repair on an out of warranty system, you'll be disappointed with all of them. The margins on computers systems are too thin - no one will do that.
Next time, get a minimum 3 year warranty up front, no matter who you buy from.
Why don't the makers sell a life insurance plan with their systems while they are at it? How about making a better product or at least making after warranty parts available at a reasonable price so the repair can be done by an outside source? When I asked if I could just buy the motherboard the response was "you would not want to do that because we charge $430.00 for the motherboard alone, and you would not have our service people look over you entire system and replace what is necessary and return your computer just like new". I know that trick from the plumbing, heating and cooling industry. No thanks, let me have the part at a reasonable cost markup and I'll make sure everything is done correctly myself. If Dell charges $430.00 for just the part, they charge way too little for their labor to do the job for $500.00. Something doesn't seem right I think you would agree.
The manufacturers sell what consumers will buy - and most consumers won't pay extra for extra durability. If Dell raises its prices to cover better engineering, HP will sell more systems.
As for the price of replacement parts, it's built into the system. Price a headlight assembly for your car (which is generally single-source, manufacturer only) and then price a part like a brake rotor, which is available from many sources.
The cost of a board for any notebook is about that - no matter who made it. One of the reasons notebooks are cheaper now than they've been is that everything is integrated onto one board - lower cost to manufacture, higher cost to repair.
You're not going to find the situation any different with any other vendor. Two companies make upward of 70% of all notebook computers, and a small handful of other companies make the rest. All are based in Taiwan, China and South Korea, and all of them produce comparable products reliability-wise.
As for that "life insurance" policy, it's called an extended warranty. Consider the cost of a mainboard replacment when you are asked to pay another $100-200 at purchase time for the extension of the warranty.
Extended Warranties or designed to increase company revenues, period. They are priced higher than the average cost for a company to perform repairs based on statistical analysis. On average, the company selling the warranties will be better off than the consumer. I know your reply will be that had I purchased the extended warranty, I would have won in this case. I don't know what the extended warranty cost in this case but I'm sure that the cost to the company for this repair is lower than the cost of the warranty. Motherboards are not that expensive for a company the size of Dell. I have priced and sold extended warranties, I know the game.
I will simply add that if you decide to buy from another company, that you check their replacement parts prices before buying.
Most of the other consumer-line notebook vendors offer a basic 1-year warranty, and if you think Dell's motherboard prices are bad, you haven't asked Toshiba, HP/Compaq, or Sony what they charge. Some of them make Dell's $400-500 price look like a bargain by comparison.
I've just had this happen to me for the second time; the first instance was covered by warranty but this time it is not...
The problem is a DC power jack failure. More specifically, the part that needs to be replaced is clipped or soldered onto the motherboard and looks like this:
http://www.computekinc.us/Jacks.JPG
Now here's the fun part: DELL DOESN'T SELL THIS PART. I'd be perfectly happy to pay the ridiculous markup for this dinky little adapter, plus pay for the shipping, but apparently that's not profitable enough since the only thing Dell will sell to help me fix my problem is another motherboard. Gee thanks.
I understand things break/malfunction due to no fault of anyone in particular, but when something does happen, I don't expect to be screewed in the process.
Oh and to finish the car analogy, what's broken is essentially a battery terminal which prevents the car from starting, but the corrupt mechanic is making me(us) buy a new battery and alternator instead of a three dollar part.
Exactly the same problem on my 8600, it's becoming increasingly difficult to get it to hold any charge at all due to the amount of fiddling required to get the terminal to recognise that the power cord is plugged into it. Have tried a few replacement adapters without any luck so it's definitely this same part which is malfunctioning for me.
Any chance you can pick it up from an outlet someplace and replace it yourself? I'm not afraid to get out a soldering iron if necessary, because $400 or $500 to replace the board is not an option, Dell knows very well that you might as well buy a new PC for a bit more money...
Doesn't look like it's for the faint-hearted though, and may need a new power adapter to charge properly so I'm still weighing up whether it's worthwhile :(
Add me to the list... Inspiron 1100 won't recognize my power adapters anymore. The jack appears to be connected firmly to the motherboard, so I would guess something has burned out. :-(
ejn63
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March 11th, 2006 19:00
MadMan847
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March 11th, 2006 23:00
MadMan847
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March 11th, 2006 23:00
ejn63
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87.5K Posts
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March 11th, 2006 23:00
The best defense for any notebook is a minimum 3-year warranty. Dell notebooks aren't exceptionally unreliable - or exceptionally reliable. On average 20% of all notebooks needs a major repair during its useful lifetime - that's 1/5 of them, and that's pretty much independent of the name put on the system before it left Compal (or Quanta, or Wistron) assembly.
ejn63
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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March 11th, 2006 23:00
Next time, get a minimum 3 year warranty up front, no matter who you buy from.
MadMan847
5 Posts
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March 12th, 2006 13:00
ejn63
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87.5K Posts
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March 12th, 2006 13:00
As for the price of replacement parts, it's built into the system. Price a headlight assembly for your car (which is generally single-source, manufacturer only) and then price a part like a brake rotor, which is available from many sources.
The cost of a board for any notebook is about that - no matter who made it. One of the reasons notebooks are cheaper now than they've been is that everything is integrated onto one board - lower cost to manufacture, higher cost to repair.
You're not going to find the situation any different with any other vendor. Two companies make upward of 70% of all notebook computers, and a small handful of other companies make the rest. All are based in Taiwan, China and South Korea, and all of them produce comparable products reliability-wise.
As for that "life insurance" policy, it's called an extended warranty. Consider the cost of a mainboard replacment when you are asked to pay another $100-200 at purchase time for the extension of the warranty.
MadMan847
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March 12th, 2006 16:00
ejn63
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March 12th, 2006 20:00
Most of the other consumer-line notebook vendors offer a basic 1-year warranty, and if you think Dell's motherboard prices are bad, you haven't asked Toshiba, HP/Compaq, or Sony what they charge. Some of them make Dell's $400-500 price look like a bargain by comparison.
mranonymous
1 Message
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March 13th, 2006 04:00
The problem is a DC power jack failure. More specifically, the part that needs to be replaced is clipped or soldered onto the motherboard and looks like this:
http://www.computekinc.us/Jacks.JPG
Now here's the fun part: DELL DOESN'T SELL THIS PART. I'd be perfectly happy to pay the ridiculous markup for this dinky little adapter, plus pay for the shipping, but apparently that's not profitable enough since the only thing Dell will sell to help me fix my problem is another motherboard. Gee thanks.
I understand things break/malfunction due to no fault of anyone in particular, but when something does happen, I don't expect to be screewed in the process.
Oh and to finish the car analogy, what's broken is essentially a battery terminal which prevents the car from starting, but the corrupt mechanic is making me(us) buy a new battery and alternator instead of a three dollar part.
To summarize, F all that.
ownfivelaps
3 Posts
0
March 16th, 2006 12:00
What is the purpose of the third connector ?
dj_ricochet
4 Posts
0
March 18th, 2006 02:00
Exactly the same problem on my 8600, it's becoming increasingly difficult to get it to hold any charge at all due to the amount of fiddling required to get the terminal to recognise that the power cord is plugged into it. Have tried a few replacement adapters without any luck so it's definitely this same part which is malfunctioning for me.
Any chance you can pick it up from an outlet someplace and replace it yourself? I'm not afraid to get out a soldering iron if necessary, because $400 or $500 to replace the board is not an option, Dell knows very well that you might as well buy a new PC for a bit more money...
dj_ricochet
4 Posts
0
March 18th, 2006 02:00
... and voila (thanks mranonymous):
http://www.computekinc.us/dell_project.htm
Doesn't look like it's for the faint-hearted though, and may need a new power adapter to charge properly so I'm still weighing up whether it's worthwhile :(
KeefeJohnson
3 Posts
0
March 24th, 2006 07:00
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZkaj_enterprisesQQhtZ-1
Pete06073
8 Posts
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March 28th, 2006 19:00