Many customers are now asking when we will start shipping the Vista Upgrade. Dell expects to begin shipping the upgrade in the latter part of February. The upgrade availability for some systems like the XPS 710 and 710 H2C will take longer. Like I mentioned in a previous post, we’re still validating some drivers for high-end graphics cards and gaming peripherals, and still testing compatibility with some gaming software. When we have updated information for XPS 710 and 710 H2C customers, I’ll blog about it in a future post.
In addition to the Vista upgrade disc, all customers will receive the Dell Windows Vista Upgrade Assistant DVD. Dell designed this tool to walk you through the upgrade process, assisting in the removal of incompatible applications and the installation of Dell-provided drivers.
We’ll focus on shipping orders based on when they are processed. If you’re not sure whether your order was processed, please revisit www.dellvistaupgrade.com and click on Order Status. If your order was not processed, please return to the home page at www.dellvistaupgrade.com and resubmit your order.
Update: Several Direct2Dell readers like Nick are asking what “Pending” status means. Basically, pending means processed. In other words, if your order status shows Pending, you don’t need to do anything else.
If the Dell Vista upgrade site does not recognize your service tag number, even though you meet the upgrade requirements, please submit a comment letting me know and be sure to fill in the e-mail field. In that case, I will have Customer Care contact you to determine next steps. Many of you have done this already… however, some of you did not include your e-mail address. We need some way to contact you.
Customers who have purchased a system after October 26 or before Vista launched on that system, should go to https://www.dellvistaupgrade.com, before March 31, 2007 to redeem their upgrade.
Lastly, Direct2Dell readers like StevenD asked when we will be selling Vista on OptiPlex desktops and Precision workstations on the Small Business section of the Dell website. We start offering them today. We also now offer Vista as an option on Latitude notebooks for small business customers.