Attention All Dell Inspiron 8200 Users, Are You Sure You Haven't Been Cheated?

[MC Webster]

This post is for all Dell I8200 users who have a 40GB 5400RPM drive. Are you sure you have this type of hard drive and not a 4200RPM model? I was, until my friend opened up his computer to get out a spring that had fallen inside. Quite clearly on the drive it said "4200 RPM". When he told me the problem, I checked my computer, which I bought at the same time as him (late June) to discover that I also had the 4200 RPM model. Now I have to deal with Dell. After getting passed from Customer Care to Technical Support to Sales I still have no answer. The reason, no one at Dell understands what the heck a 5400 RPM hard drive is, nor can they tell me what hard drive I have. But I can certainly tell them, and I will. Has anyone else had this problem? If not, are you sure you don't have this problem? Here's a heads up.

 

[Booster]

No company even produces 4200 rpm drives, it's a mistake. I recall there were these notorious extra slow drives, Quantum LCT, not so long ago, they had only 128KB (!) of cache and spun at 4400 RPM, and had capacities of up to 20GB, AFAIK, but no desktop drive revolves at 4200 RPM that's for sure, and Quantum is no more.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Booster
No company even produces 4200 rpm drives, it's a mistake. I recall there were these notorious extra slow drives, Quantum LCT, not so long ago, they had only 128KB (!) of cache and spun at 4400 RPM, and had capacities of up to 20GB, AFAIK, but no desktop drive revolves at 4200 RPM that's for sure, and Quantum is no more.

Never say never. Large OEMs like Dell often have mfgs. make specialty equipment to requested spec. Wouldn't surprise me if they struck a deal with one of the larger makers for lower speed HDD's.

Chiz

 

[Booster]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: Booster
No company even produces 4200 rpm drives, it's a mistake. I recall there were these notorious extra slow drives, Quantum LCT, not so long ago, they had only 128KB (!) of cache and spun at 4400 RPM, and had capacities of up to 20GB, AFAIK, but no desktop drive revolves at 4200 RPM that's for sure, and Quantum is no more.

Never say never. Large OEMs like Dell often have mfgs. make specialty equipment to requested spec. Wouldn't surprise me if they struck a deal with one of the larger makers for lower speed HDD's.

Chiz

Sorry, for the heck of what? I doubt a 4200RPM drive costs cheaper than a 5400RPM one. In fact, its costs should be higher b/c these slower drives would require alterations to the manufacturing process of 5400RPM ones.

 

[mcveigh]

you all are thinking of desktop hard drives.

MC Webster is referring to the Inspiron laptop from Dell. the standard for laptops is still 4200RPM, while a few high end models have 5400RPm drives. faster = more power used, and more heat generated, both bad for laptops.

I would b!tch royaly till the issue was resolved:|

 

[Adul]

Originally posted by: Booster
No company even produces 4200 rpm drives, it's a mistake. I recall there were these notorious extra slow drives, Quantum LCT, not so long ago, they had only 128KB (!) of cache and spun at 4400 RPM, and had capacities of up to 20GB, AFAIK, but no desktop drive revolves at 4200 RPM that's for sure, and Quantum is no more.

this is a laptop hard drive not a desktop. fastest LAPTOP HD is 5400 RPM, they are normaly slower then this.

anyways ask PAB if he can help you, he has a few contacts at dell

 

[GT1999]

Wow, nice catch. I'll have to ask a friend here at work if that happened to him as well. He recently purchased a P4 1.7 8200.

 

[Booster]

Originally posted by: mcveigh
you all are thinking of desktop hard drives.

MC Webster is referring to the Inspiron laptop from Dell. the standard for laptops is still 4200RPM, while a few high end models have 5400RPm drives. faster = more power used, and more heat generated, both bad for laptops.

I would b!tch royaly till the issue was resolved:|

Sorry, I was misleaded. I didn't get it was a laptop... Forget what I said...

 

[Chesebert]

The last thing I expect Dell to do is cheat its customers. The good day of looking forward to my next dell is over, the best I can hope for is alieanware or falconNW. Dell is too big!

I would write to someplace like PC magazine, or similar magazine if continually calling give zero result

good luck!

 

[John]

Originally posted by: MC Webster
After getting passed from Customer Care to Technical Support to Sales I still have no answer. The reason, no one at Dell understands what the heck a 5400 RPM hard drive is, nor can they tell me what hard drive I have. But I can certainly tell them, and I will. Has anyone else had this problem? If not, are you sure you don't have this problem? Here's a heads up.

MC Webster, please stop trolling.

 

[SteelyKen]

Is he trolling? What is the REAL story here???

 

[MC Webster]

First of all, what is trolling? I don't think I'm doing it, but you'll have to explain to me what it is first.

Second, sorry about the confusion, I forgot to mention it was a Dell laptop.

Third, how do I get a hold of PAB? At the moment I will continue calling Dell. I trust they will resolve it, and hope that this error is a rare occurance, but in the event that I have any problems I would appreciate some help.

What bothers me is that I trusted Dell. I specifically paid $300CAN extra to get the 40GB 5400RPM hard drive and did not receive it. Everyone who orders a Dell laptop should not have to look inside their laptop to see that they have received the right parts. But I had to look inside to discover that I did not get what I paid for.

What bothers me even more is how no one at Dell seems to understand a thing about hard drive speed, and they hardly understand my complaint. It would appear that Dell no longer offers a 40GB 4200RPM drive with their I8200, as it is no longer an option on their website. The performance between their 4200RPM drive and 5400RPM drive is very significant too, a change of 8ms in seek time.

 

[erikistired]

go to www.maximumpc.com click on contacts and email the watchdog. they follow stuff like this and would to know about it.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: MC Webster
This post is for all Dell I8200 users who have a 40GB 5400RPM drive. Are you sure you have this type of hard drive and not a 4200RPM model? I was, until my friend opened up his computer to get out a spring that had fallen inside. Quite clearly on the drive it said "4200 RPM". When he told me the problem, I checked my computer, which I bought at the same time as him (late June) to discover that I also had the 4200 RPM model. Now I have to deal with Dell. After getting passed from Customer Care to Technical Support to Sales I still have no answer. The reason, no one at Dell understands what the heck a 5400 RPM hard drive is, nor can they tell me what hard drive I have. But I can certainly tell them, and I will. Has anyone else had this problem? If not, are you sure you don't have this problem? Here's a heads up.

Which drives? On some tests the current fastest Fujitsu and Toshiba 4200 rpm drives are FASTER than the lower end IBM 5400 drives, and use less power. Indeed, one might prefer a 4200 rpm drive in certain circumstances.

That said Dell has screwed over more than one person I know.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Quote

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Originally posted by: MC Webster
After getting passed from Customer Care to Technical Support to Sales I still have no answer. The reason, no one at Dell understands what the heck a 5400 RPM hard drive is, nor can they tell me what hard drive I have. But I can certainly tell them, and I will. Has anyone else had this problem? If not, are you sure you don't have this problem? Here's a heads up.
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MC Webster, please stop trolling.

would you mind explaining JUST how he is trolling??

the way i see it, UR the troll

 

[MadRat]

I've seen Dell desktops shipped using 20GB drives which were spec'd for 40GB drives. Don't let it slip or they'll keep on doing it.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: MadRat
I've seen Dell desktops shipped using 20GB drives which were spec'd for 40GB drives. Don't let it slip or they'll keep on doing it.

Yeah, a colleague had a PIII spec'd and they shipped him a Celeron in his laptop. When he complained they reshipped another with a PIII immediately, but it sure didn't impress him. Plus it was a big waste of his time too.

 

[Spicedaddy]

All you had to do was check the drive model number in Device Manager and google it, instead of opening the whole thing... Honestly, it sucks, but I carefully checked my laptop when I received it to make sure it had everything I paid for.

I really don't think Dell would try to screw you on purpose, but out of all the systems they ship, some errors will happen.

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: MadRat
I've seen Dell desktops shipped using 20GB drives which were spec'd for 40GB drives. Don't let it slip or they'll keep on doing it.

Yeah, a colleague had a PIII spec'd and they shipped him a Celeron in his laptop. When he complained they reshipped another with a PIII immediately, but it sure didn't impress him. Plus it was a big waste of his time too.

Do you really think that in the thousands of orders per day they receive it would be implausible to have a few errors?

I had a laptop (p3-450) that was NOT shipped at all due to some order mistake. After a few weeks of waiting, I called dell and they confirmed it, and they shipped me a P3-600 laptop next day air.

 

[majewski9]

Yeah Dell will rip you off any chance they get apparently. Especially when only actually benching the drive would you know that.

 

[MadRat]

dexvx-

Dell outsources their equipment assembly just like all the other OEMs. It has everything to do with profit and nothing to do with human errors. Most likely some low-level stockboy was under pressure to get as many orders out that they just shipped what they had available, knowing it was the wrong parts. These OEMs have extremely tight control of their supplies and can be 100% accurate because the entire process is under scrutiny. It is more work for Dell to screw up an order than it is to just ship the right product; they either customized an order and shipped the leftovers or they simply didn't do the custom swap of parts. If you let them get away with even the slightest degree of slack they'll take you for as much as they can.

 

[Derango]

Originally posted by: majewski9
Yeah Dell will rip you off any chance they get apparently. Especially when only actually benching the drive would you know that.

Nope. There is a DEFINITE difference in real world speed between the 4200 RPM drives and the 5400RPM laptop drives. I switched my 20GB 4200RPM drive out for a 40GB 5200RPM drive, and My laptop is much zippier now, booting windows, loading programs...stuff like that.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: Derango

Originally posted by: majewski9
Yeah Dell will rip you off any chance they get apparently. Especially when only actually benching the drive would you know that.

Nope. There is a DEFINITE difference in real world speed between the 4200 RPM drives and the 5400RPM laptop drives. I switched my 20GB 4200RPM drive out for a 40GB 5200RPM drive, and My laptop is much zippier now, booting windows, loading programs...stuff like that.

I agree on that.

Im no frequent lappy user, but when I do use them, what constantly bothers me is the slow HD's, and going from 4200->5400 should provide a pretty decent boost in both STR and access times.
I'd be happy to sacrifice some battery life for that.

And I'd be plenty pissed if I got a 4200 RPM drive instead of a 5400 one.
But as others have said, once in a while there will be a slip-up, though if both you and your friend got the wrong drive...that's less than good, and if Dell can't even find a single person that knows enough to help out, that's bad.

 

[Grminalac]

Dell tech support sucks.
I recently had major troubles with a DELL server running Novell 5.1. Upon calling tech support several times, running through their mindless tech rep scripted techs and half going out of my mind, and having DELL send out a repair rep to install the motherboard. I called back demanded a supervisor and got a tech who was laughing stating that 90% of the machines used for Novell on that RAID boards current firmware have that problem, he emailed me a year old firmware which I flashed, now no problems. A critical server was down for 3 days. Nobody knew what was wrong and then i get a guy laughing at me, cause the fix was so simple.

 

[Vegito]

Aren't they producing 7200 notebook drives soon also ?