i have been trying to spread the word here about dell for awhile.

My best advise is try calling until you get someone that speaks english on the phone. we used to do dell service. I wouldn't blame your tech when he finally shows up. We had TONS of problems with dell not releasing calls to the field, not shipping parts or sending wrong parts. They are contractors from MANY companies. Most of the time the tech CAN get there within 48hours at the latest.

Call Dell. Ask for a supervisor. RAISE HELL. and don't take no for an answer. This is one case where the bitchy customer gets a priority. If the supervisor won't help demand HIS BOSSES email,AND PHONE NUMBER.

mike

I work for a International manufacterer of Business Machines. I can say that even though i am a bit biased, we have some of the best field support in the industry. I will say that sometimes things happen and 24 hour repair is not possible. I can say 99.99999% of the time we have parts next day in the morning worst case.  If your paying for it, same day.

I have worked on damn near every make and model of pc,server and laptop. NONE have the parts support and service we offer. I will be the first to tell you there are some products we build i wouldn't personally buy. Thinkpads are not among them. In fact if you ask around you might find IBM did or does the field service for LOTS of vendors around the country.

Keep this in mind about laptops. The entry models are built with an expected service life of about 3 years. They are generally falling apart by then. When you are designing a product with a short life things like cooling upgrade capability are non existant. If you pay retail price and buy the extended warranty. They win. Even you you need 2-3 service calls in that time frame. The 1.00 they save per unit on the missing fan or heat sink will MORE than cover the 10-20% of users that have the problems.

mike

oh and just for the record ALL laptops run hot. IBM has had their share of problems as well.

mike

Quoted: You will encounter this with pretty much any computer manufacturer now.

The business side of HP/Compaq is completely kick ass, I've been using their servers for over 5 years now, and I love the service.

Of course you guys were talking about home use, so don't mind me.

Quoted: Quoted: You will encounter this with pretty much any computer manufacturer now. The business side of HP/Compaq is completely kick ass, I've been using their servers for over 5 years now, and I love the service. Of course you guys were talking about home use, so don't mind me.

Just about every Company is that way on the business side. With the exception of laptops. IBM is light years above the rest in that area. Intel servers we have room for improvement.

mike

Quoted: To fix the 5150 overheating issue, get yourself a can of air and blow the vents out once or twice a month. It's caused by dust building up inside. There's a big thread on it over at the dell forums. You may consider removing your keyboard and blowing off the heatsink and processor if your can of air has one of those straws on it. Should take care of it. (dell inspiron 5100 owner here) same problems.

good start but the problem is an engineering  flaw with INADEQUATE cooling. Fans too small and inadequate air flow designed into the case. Ever opened up a laptop? VERY few have internal problem due to dust and debris in the heat sinks and air chambers. Most cases are a positve pressure design to keep just that from happening. Unless it is frequently used in a extreamly dusty or smke filled enviornment this is normally not a big problem.

mike