I purchased Dell XPS M1210 2 years ago. I didn’t stop by to warn my fellow mouthshut members at that time. Apologies for that. To make up for that.. here is the review.
The product is a supposed be a premium product from Dell. Its the first XPS system to be available in India. I got it because I thought Dell is a reputed brand and I can relax after the purchase. Also I was looking to buy a small laptop so I can carry it easity.
But my decision was a wrong one. Right from day one, the graphics card (NVIDIA GEFORCE 7400) gave me problems. It gets over heated and crashed. But windows will recover it and come back to life. So I didnt care about this issue. But it kept on occurring at regular intervals.
Inferior product part # 1: Battery.
My nature of job involves working on the laptop 24/7. I may also work from home on weekends. So I take my laptop wherever I go. The 3 hours backup was very useful. But slowly the battery started failing me. The 3 hours became 2, 1, 30 min, 15 min and now its totally dead. Dell will not replace it as they dont cover battery under warranty.
Inferior Product support #2 Extended warranty.
Just to be on safer side, I wanted to purchase an extended warranty after 1 year. But they sent me quotes for Inspiron laptop. Though I insisted them to send me quote for XPS, they gave excuses that they dont have templates for XPS. But its the same warranty. I was not confident and did not rely on them. So I didnt buy the warranty. Thats one good decision which saved me 5000Rs.
Inferior product part #3 Graphics card.
The heat exhaust from the processor is designed such a way that it passes through the Motherboard to the vent. So the graphics card gets heated up easily. Normally graphics cards are processors on their own and they too generate heat. But the GeForce 7400 used in the laptop is not able to withstand the heat and it breaksdown often. After exactly 2 years and 20 days, the graphics card crashed completely.
I called up the technical support and they accept the design fault and tell me that Dell has extended the warranty to another year. So I get 2 years warranty and as I am 20 days over it, I will not be covered. Why was I not informed about this, when I tried to purchase an extended warranty?
Ok I dont care about the warranty. When Dell make a design mistake and use inferior parts in their products, they must replace it. Warranty or No Warranty, inferior products must be taken under the company’s responsibility. If they had used a better design and better parts, I would have been a happy customer and would never worry.
This problem has been experienced by many Dell Laptop customers across the globe. I was shocked to see this, when I googled for solutions.
I would advice everyone to double think and do a lot of research before buying a Dell Product. Enquire on the spare parts they are using. Read user reviews and user stories. Interact in forums and then finally make a decision. What appears to be a good product during purchase, may be the worst product from the stable after a few years.
Spend your hard earned money wisely. Dont let the Big Wig Corporates to steal it.