Poll: DELL 20% MSN rebate thread #4: HOT upgrade to WIN 2k for free

[Dx-treme]

Thread # 3 is reaching 200 replies and still some of us have not got rebate email confirmation yet. I am sure however everyone already got their laptops. I am personally very dissapointed with DELL inspiron series (review at bottom).

I know this topic has been covered before, but i just confirmed this myself. SO, here goes.

I call up Dell and needed help on win2k and the I 8000. I reinstalled win2k myself as WIN Me really blows ! Guess what, Dell only spport the original OS that comes with the computer !

NOw the good part,

Dell said, within 30 days we can have the OS upgrade for FREE ! Now they will send me a new HDD with win 2k installed as well as all the cd's.

FOR I8000 owner or anyone with the upograde 3 year service

DELL will:

1) overnight delivery a new HDD with the new OS
2) overnight delivery all new cd's (drivers, restore ....etc)

YOU will:

1) use the new HDD box and put your old HDD and cd's
2) CAll the carrier and they will come and pick it up from your house ! how Cool

YOU must:
1) return the old HDD within 15 days or they will bill you.


ALSO if you call and ask to return the DELL computer, they will give you incentive in the form of $$$ or merchandise. I got a free 8X cdrw which retails for $ 300 from dell. Again do it before the 390 day is up.


------------------------- DELL REVIEW ------------------------------

I was so dissapointed on the DELL Inspiron series overall quality (i ordered the Inspiron 8000),

1) The case is extremly Flimsy ! If you squeeze the laptop just little bit the thing (laptop base) CREEKS !!!!!

2) Take out the battery and just look at the laptop base material. The plastic case is about 1/4 thick !!! I can see the case be broken in so many ways.

3) The DVD drive is so loud that sometimed i think the laptop is getting ready to fly. Combined this with the HDD sound, it almost makes the laptop rattle.

4) The keyboard quality is worst than lower range sony or even compaq laptops.

5) WIn Me crashed more than win 95 on the I 8000 !

6) If you think dvd playback is gread on 32 meg ati 4X AGp and PIII 800 mhz, think again. A hardware decoder is the only way to go.

7) The screen is also more inferior to other laptops that i owned. YOu can see patches of lights from the top of the lcd (like your local cinema spotlight on the curtain effects)

8) DEll service is the worst ever. If you ever want to upgrade to the different OS you are basically screwed ! DELL would only trouble shoot and provide phone technical service with the original OS in your laptop. Not to mention unknowledgable, when i request the exchange this technician guy told me "oh do you know that win 2000 is absically the same as WIN me, I dont think it can help you much !" pathetic.

I am seriously thinking of returning this piece of Junk back to DELL and build a new desktop. The I8000 is definetly not worth the retail $2600 before rebate. Even the $999 IBM thinkpad i series are built better.

FOr those that are sticking to the Inspiron, just be very very careful anfd fragile with it.:|

 

[peeps]

Sorry to see all the disappointments for Dx-treme, but there's something to be learned. Don't be too quick to shell out for technology that you haven't seen with your own eyes.

Ultimately, I can't see how Dell is at fault here. Sure Win ME sucks, but you ordered it that way. Etc. Etc. Etc.

 

[Dx-treme]

I agreed with you but that is the current situation with high end priced electronic products.

IBM A and T thinkpad series (best laptop if you have the $$$) are mostly available mail order. you cant get it via local best buy or circuit city. They only have the cheap IBM i series. The only higher end laptop available in b&m is SONy, but i would not touch that thing with a 20" pole.

Only gateway has an b&m stores where you can go in and actually touch their laptops (gateway laptops are worst though, i had to worked on it a lot because of problems).

The only reason i ordered WIN me is because i have my own WIN 2k cd and i wanted to save money. Once i installed win2k a ot of features on the DELL wont work !! (dual monitor support, dvd player, ATI ....etc.) even with updated drivers from DELL's website.

Overall, the built quality and DELL cuastomer service policy are the worst ever. The Dell Inspirons are assembled in Alambama or Tennesse and it is a sham eto say my IBM thinkpad 770 assembled in Mexico is far more superior.

 

[shadowman]

For those that ordered the I3800, does your exhaust fan every turn on? I had my laptop on for 4-5 hours straight and the fan never kicked on??

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

I have to agree with Dx-treme on the flimsy feel of these 8000's. Creaks galore, and my base wobbled before something on the bottom "popped" into place. One of my mouse buttons is partially collapsed as well. And then there's the bad pixel. Very poor, and definitely not what I was expecting, especially after my 4000. That felt very sturdy, and besides initally having a very noisey DVD-Rom, had no problems at all. I'm already a good bit disappointed with the 8000 and I haven't even really played around with the thing that much yet. If Dell doesn't send me another that doesn't feel like it was slapped together by a drunk teenager then I'm going to return it outright, and wait on Toshiba to start kicking out their GeForce GO models.

Oh, and although I recieved the initial rebate confirmation a couple of days after I ordered, I still have yet to get an updated one. Or any replies to my last to e-mails to their promotions and sales department, which were sent over a week ago.

 

[John]

Mine came with Win ME installed and I wiped it out last night and installed Win 2K.

1) installed the i815 chipset drivers
2) ATI mobility M4 video driver
3) sound driver
4) ran windows update and got ALL of the items available
5) installed Office 2K pro and ran the SR1 update
6) installed Win DVD 2.3 mulit-channel
7) installed Nero 5.035
8) installed Winzip (heh)

The only thing I cannot get to function is the "multimedia / hot" keys to the right of the power switch & the (2) inline speaker volume buttons. I am sure Dell will release a Win2K patch for it sooner or later

Everything is running rock solid, and DVD playback is crisp and smooth. The DVD drive is fairly quiet, but the CDRW is a little noisy. It sounds like a jet engine.

I had a dead pixel but I massaged it out.

i8000
P3 800
512MB PC100 Samsung
8x Toshiba DVDROM
8x4x24 Sony CDRW
32MB Rage M4
15" SXGA+
mini PCI 10/100 & 56K

I am very happy with the purchase so far.

shadowman, my fans kick on under heavy usage (UT, DVD movies) quite frequently. I would monitor you system and possibly give DELL a call.

* I am calling DELL now about the "free Win 2K OS swap". I don't need a new HDD w/ software but I would like to have the original CD's since they add value to the system.

<update> The tech put me on hold for a few minutes &quot;No problem John, I will send you Win 2K. May I have your Win ME product code.....&quot;

Dx-treme, I apologize for doubting you the other day.

 

[spycatcher old]

WinME is a disaster on my I4K. It's constantly locking up so that Control-Alt-Del doesn't do a thing. Resources draining away to nothing, etc.

I was also told by a Dell tech the BS line that Windows 2000 &quot;is not any better&quot; and &quot;is meant for servers.&quot; Is Dell hiring Christmas temps for tech support or what?

I told him he was living in the 90's with NT or something so he offered me Windows 98. I told him I wanted a modern OS and he said it couldn't be done with my system.

So I called to return it, and got them to give me Windows 2000 with full support. But I don't know if it's a Dell restore disk for the I4K, a HD swap, or just a copy of the OS.

Can anyone else tell me about Win2K on the Inspiron 4K's?

 

[ken2]

Hey guys I finally got my rebate confirmation. This after someone from Dell promotions called me up to confirm some information. Perfect timing. Now I can relax with Christmas coming and all.

 

[John]

BTW, the poll should have a &quot;yes&quot; option....

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

The bad pixel on mine refuses to massage out. It's stuck on freakin white. Dead altogether would have been preferable. Tech support said I was pretty much s.o.l. on getting the display or computer replaced outright. Unless I took a chance on getting stuck with refurb'ed LCD that could very well be worse off than this one. With the creeky case, broken mouse button, wobbly base, and dead pixel, this entire machine comes off like a refurb already. They did offer to have somebody come by and repair the mouse button though. How nice, I'll have to return the favor somehow. Maybe I'll offer to ship this sucker back sideways so it will be ready out-of-the-box for them to stick up their asses.

 

[Braxus]

Well opened the I8K up today found the clock generator and such. Examined the video card, looked at the CPU (very tiny), and did some other things. Will post more later on. For those that are wondering, yes the I8K does use a 133MHz compatible clock generator that can be controlled by SoftFSB. Just need to make the PLL file for it (shouldn't be too hard... I hope.). From looking at the datasheet on the clock generator, it supports the following bus speeds:

FSB/DRAM CLOCK/AGP-F/PCI-F

66.7/100/66.6/33
70/105/70/35
73.3/110/73.3/36.6
80/120/80/40
100/100/66.6/33
105/105/70/35
110/110/73.3/36.6
120/120/80/40
133.3/100*/66.6/33
140/105**/70/35
146.7/110***/73.3/36.6
160/120****/80/40

* can also be set to 133 MHz
** can also be set to 140 MHz
*** can also be set to 146.7 MHz
**** can also be set to 160 MHz

Basically the ones in bold are your safe settings that keep the RAM/AGP/PCI frequencies in normal spec. The ones that are in italics are speeds that will underclock your CPU. The underlined one is what all I8Ks are currently running at.

 

[RTFMMonkeyboy]

Gonad: If you are so unhappy with the system why don't you call Dell and get a refund instead of complaining about it? JEEEZ!!!

Not sure why anyone would want to run Window M.E. on a system in the first place, I would much rather run Windows 3.1.1 instead. Or better yet just install Linux. You do know you can get a system with no OS installed, right?




Thats my .0005 cents. Bring the flames. I got about 3 pounds of burger to cook up.

 

[taquim]

Wow such hostility towards the I8K. I bought the I4K myself and am fairly satisfied. Only thing I've been annoyed at is the top two rows of my keyboard clank when I press them; it feels like it's not screwed in correctly or something. I called tech and someones coming to replace the keyboard.

I'm probably gonna upgrade to a 3-year warranty. I'm very wary of the quality of Dell's laptops now. I need that peace of mind, because you guys sure haven't helped on that level...hehe not that I'm blaming anyone.

And just a reminder, it's closing in on the 30 day policy for most of us. I called up dell the other day and went to get my free scanner since it doesn't look like they are lowering their prices soon or anything of the sort.

 

[Braxus]

RTFMMonkeyboy,

You can't get a machine from Dell without an OS installed. I tried it and they wouldn't let me.

 

[Clocker]

Shadowman it does turn on. But I am really dissapointed with the inspiron's battery life. The CS rep said it would last at least 2 hours but that is a joke. I get about 60 minutes at best.

I told the repa I wanted to be able to see a 2 hour movie on the battery alone he said that it was ok.

Can I do something about this guys.

Clocker

 

[fong718]

i got the i4k, and the regular battery, at fully charged, only last me about an hour just sitting there and not touching it, sometimes less, also, my dvd drive has problems, it wont read movies past 1hour and 10 min, so they are sending me a new one. should i call in to get win2k instead of this ME crap that keeps freezing?
thanks

 

[apologetic]

I got my 4k about a week ago, no complaints from me. The top right side of the keyboard feels loose, but nothing else to complain about. I got the &quot;better&quot; battery, and it runs for about four hours before needing a recharge (just surfing the internet)!

My only worry is the rebate, I still don't have a confirmation for it yet. I've called three times about it.

For those that ordered when the free dvd upgrade was going, are you calling back to see if you can get in on the free scanner option? If I'm not going to get my rebate, I might as well get a free scanner out of them.

 

[jcalvert]

I need some help with the Win2K swap.

I called Dell twice and the first tech knew nothing of the upgrade. He mentioned that there was one a few months back that offered a OS upgrade certificate for certain users.

The second tech said that I would need to call sales to get the swap since there was a price difference.

If somebody could tell me which department I should actually contact, and what to say, I would really appreciate it. TIA!

 

[RossMAN]

fong718 - should i call in to get win2k instead of this ME crap that keeps freezing?

Yes, I would definitely request that your new Dell Inspiron come with Windows 2000 Pro pre-installed. Just remember that Windows 2000 Pro loves at least 256MB RAM. Also support for games isn't that great on Windows 2000 Pro but it's a lot more stable than Windows ME is. I would only get 64MB or 128MB from Dell then buy the rest from Crucial.com directly (they were offering 15% off, 5% eBates and free shipping - search the hot deals forum for the word Crucial).

apologetic - I'm also quite pleased with my i4000 as well. I'm so glad I paid the extra $50 for the &quot;better&quot; 53w battery. It's worth every penny. Also the internal mini 56k/NIC is quite nice as well. I got a killer deal, my loaded i4000 for only $1600 after rebate.

 

[luv2chill]

Hi everyone--

Just for the record I recently got off the phone with Tech Support. They're going to send me a Win2k CD for free, but I will have to send back the WinME disc and product key sticker. I had the opportunity to get an HDD already loaded with it, but my tech recommended not to (and I agreed). For one, getting an HDD pre-installed will have all the other &quot;crap&quot; that Dell puts on the system. I'd be much better off installing it myself. That way I wouldn't have to load things like MS Works (ughh...) on there.

But the other reason to not request a replacement HDD is that they're all refurbished. This came right from my tech's mouth. He said &quot;just so you know, if we send you out a new drive it's going to be refurbished&quot;. He then gave me the option (probably sensed that I had the knowledge and expertise to be able to install it myself) of just sending out the CD.

The only thing is that he said I probably won't have it until next week some time. I asked him about overnight and he rattled off some BS about how it might go overnight but it has a lot of &quot;paperwork&quot; attached to it and might take longer.

But oh well, at least I'll be getting a legit copy of Win2k and I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that I don't own a copy of WinME--a terrible, terrible OS.

And for those of you whose techs don't know about this exchange program, just call back. Mine was familiar with it right off the bat. I just told him that I'd tried to install Win2k because WinME was freezing and giving me program faults constantly (parly true, but I made it sound worse than it really was). I said that I'd been told that Dell would only support the preinstalled OS, but that I could get a new hard drive preinstalled with Win2k. I mentioned that I had the 3 year warranty but the tech said that it had nothing to do with the type of warranty, that it's just a program Dell offers. But he said that I would have to tell him exactly the situation and what kinds of programs I had installed, etc. I had to be very detailed about what was installed, what kinds of errors I was getting. He eventually said that he would go ahead and replace it. Since it's a cross-ship, they will want your CC number to hang onto in case you don't return the originals.

So thanks insomniac and Dx-treme for this extremely helpful info! Now I can be legal and have a stable computer!

I love my 8000, but I will agree that the built quality is pretty poor. I noticed that the screenprinting (of the DELL logo, the multimedia button labels, etc.) isn't quite straight, and of course my latch still doesn't work. I also have the problem with audio feedback when I'm using the headphone jack. I mentioned this to my tech and he said to just wait until I had win2k installed, and if it still existed to call him back and they would send a tech out to replace the sound card (does this thing really have a separate sound card instead of onboard??). In any case, at this point none of these issues are severe enough for me to return the unit. Overall I'm very happy with Dell, their products, and their support. I think that I got an excellent deal on Dell's flagship laptop. Yeah, maybe a Sony or IBM would be built better but Sonys and IBMs also cost a hell of a lot more than this did.

But I would really recommend all y'all who don't want to get stuck with that lame-ass WinME to call Dell and have them send you the only Windows OS worth installing--2k.

l2c

P.S. Oh yeah! Everyone check the Startup tap in MSCONFIG. On mine both Norton and McAffee were installed and running!!! My tech said that he thought McAfee was installed by MSWorks, but that could be causing decreased performance at the least, and maybe even stability problems. Yet another reason I want to reinsall myself!!!

 

[gettinbranded]

Why does everyone think ME is so bad? I've NO problems with it on my 3800...and I haven't even upgraded the memory to 128 yet!

 

[RVN]

I've had my I8K for almost a week now. I immediately upgraded to 192 MB RAM. It froze up for no apparent reason four or five times. Is this symptomatic of Win ME?

RVN

 

[luv2chill]

gettinbranded--

This Inspiron is the only computer I've owned that has ever had WinME installed on it. I've heard lots of people say that it's worse stability-wise than Win98... though some think that it's more stable.

However, I could be called biased, as I run Win2k on both my home and work computers. I am pretty spoiled by Win2k's stability. I just love the fact that I never have to restart my machine (well, not never, but rarely). This compared to Win98, which I would have to restart at least once a day because it zapped my resources after moderate use--that is if a program error didn't bring my whole system down.

Fact is, Win2k is extremely stable (for me, and for most people). In the rare event that a program does crash, you simply open task manager and close it. Your system then returns to full use. In Win98 (&amp; ME) chances are, when you close a program via the task manager, a whole bunch of other stuff will crash with it, often requring a restart to get up and running again.

I don't know about you but I think that's extremely annoying, and I love the fact that I hardly ever have to do it anymore.

Granted if you're a hard-core gamer then you'd really have to weigh out whether it's worth the decreased performance, but then again we're talking about a laptop here (probably not your gaming machine). Add in the fact that Win2k was specifically engineered to run well on notebooks, and I can't see why anyone would prefer the Win9x kernel over NT. Unless you're gaming it's a no-brainer.

l2c

 

[Dx-treme]

Memory size is not the big factor in terms of windows freezing/crashing.

Win Me is essentially upgraded version of win 98 with more features. bad news. the more features = more bugs = more crashes.

Even my old win 95 crashes less often than WIN mw.

If you are keeping your inspiron laptop, be wise get the free win 2000 upgrade. I have been using win 2000 on my thinkpad for almost a year and the thing only crashed less than 30 times.

Also for your own sake, upgrade to 3 year warranty period. I am willing to bet $$ that DEll turnaround is high based on their built quality.

As for Me. i will return this darn thing to dell and i am staying with my old thinkpad 770 (Pii 266) and use the $$ for a desktop. QWuestion whould i plunge into a PIII 850 or wait for the P4 ?

------- off topic -----------
BTW, GOt 2 pcs of PS2 $299 from wal mart yesterday they have 3 boxes of new arrivals. I msut say, the PS2 is more hype than reality. Graphics are almost the same as the cheaper SEGA DREAMCAST. But on the longer run SONY will have far more games than the dreamcast.

i am gonna put up ads on local best buy, toys r us ...etc to sell these 2 PS2 babies off (egay is not working anymore for PS2). hopefully i get some $$$ for the new desktop

if you play console games, wait till next year and get the PS2 at $ 199

 

[RVN]

Just got off of the phone with customer service 877 773-3355 (66966), they're sending me Win 2K. The rep did not mention anything about having to return Win ME, nor did they ask me for a credit card. He said that Dell provides one and only one O/S upgrade to every buyer, so that if a newer version of Windows comes out that I would no longer be eligible to receive it. He wanted my ME product number and product code to change it in their database.

Is it okay to install Win2K over WinME?

RVN