text:
Dell's battery malfunctions
If you own or use a Dell laptop, you'd be more than a little worried by these recent reports about self-immolating computers.
Okay, these are three reported incidents out of, what, how many millions must they sell?
But remember, these are not simply reports of overheating. We're talking about full on explosions, flames, molten plastic and the lot.
Two of them happen after the bettery recall last December and it's unclear whether the Singapore incident reported in our story today was one of three cases Dell referred to when they announced the recall.
Already there's been suggestions that the problems were more widespread than Dell first admitted.
Earlier this month, the CRN website, quoting an unnamed source, reported that Dell "grappled with apparently severe overheating problems in scores of notebooks for at least two years before it announced a recall of 22,000 notebooks last year, according to a source close to the company".
More disturbing is the suggestion that the incident in Illinois that came to light last week, happened when the computer was in standby mode.
(Because this post has been heavily hit since it was cited last week, the images are not appearing. You can see a copy of one of the images here.)
Certainly the owner of the destroyed laptop was not using his computer at the time it went up.
Time for a full and frank disclosure.
By way of background to our report, the man in Singapore whose Dell caught fire did not contact us about the incident - at least not directly.
He posted a comment in our travel blog and we chased him up about it.
He supplied us with these images of his desk showing burn marks on the table top and of the laptop, a Latitude D410 model, showing extensive damage to the underside of the computer consistent with a traumatic malfunction in the battery area.
Perhaps, as still another drastic cost-reduction measure, some technologically ignorant suit specified a REALLY low cost battery module. I pity Dell.
- Posted by: thomas on July 31, 2006 2:25 AM
It looks like that Dell laptop has a non genuine battery in it!
- Posted by: steve on July 31, 2006 4:41 AM
What does the brand name on the case really mean, in reality it means that you're buying a Dell lable and support?. This machine is a standard sweatshop product, sold under many different brands. acer, compaq owners should also be concerned- they are also the proud owners of sweatshop laptops.
- Posted by: Simon the Likeable on July 31, 2006 8:03 AM
Actually, it is a D610 if you look close enough. The D410 didn't look like that. The other affected units are all D600 series from last reports.
Ed: Actually it's a D410. We have a hi res photo that shows the model number.
- Posted by: BDJ on July 31, 2006 8:17 AM
I wouldn't be worried... I have been using Dell for years and so has the corporation i work for. It's funny how one in a billion incident can scare people so much. This can happen to any brand notebook. Dell at the least has better support and service than any other brand should an incident like this happen.
- Posted by: Sanim on July 31, 2006 9:10 AM
How can you tell that the laptop has a non genuine battery? Methinks stevo is a Dell employee excercising a little damage control.
- Posted by: les on July 31, 2006 9:18 AM
One in a billion, maybe a million. Either way it might not sound like much but that one in a million is enough for aviation authorities to consider banning the transportation of laptops by passengers, or the surrender of batteries for special storage pre-flight. If your on a plane over the Pacific and one catches fire you might tend to agree!
- Posted by: JPH on July 31, 2006 9:44 AM
I was about to buy a Dell laptop since it was quite cheap...Disappointed.
- Posted by: A Rohinie on July 31, 2006 9:56 AM
Never ever buy Dell - even those cheap printers they sell. They give away stuff for nothing and then really hit you with massive costs for the cartridges.
Sounds like everyone respondng here works for Dell.
- Posted by: vicki on July 31, 2006 10:20 AM
I believe the issue here is Lithium batteries. It is well known in the Radio Control world that you have to be very careful charging Lithium batteries. Apparently Lithium burns at about 3000 degs. A number of things can cause them to combust including discharging too fast. They also need a battery charger specifically designed for Lithium. But Lihium has a number of great advantages including excellent capacity and high current discharge rates. Lithium cells are also unique among dry cells in that they can be paralleled up - hence they can be designed to supply virtual any current requirements.
- Posted by: Adam from Lihir on July 31, 2006 10:20 AM
Imagine, I have been using my DELL on my Lap (Laptop) while travelling. The damage done to the table is bad enough to burn my lap and nearby area real bad.
- Posted by: george on July 31, 2006 10:33 AM
I wonder if the batteries are original. By looking at the colour of the batteries, they don't seem match the colour of the laptop.
I don't work for Dell, but have bought 4 Dell laptop in past 3 years.
By looking at the current one that I have, the colour of the batteries is the same as the colour of the case.
So I think those problem batteries may not be originally from Dell.
- Posted by: Martin on July 31, 2006 10:35 AM
Has anyone been watching that series on TV where the plane crashes on a deserted island? I think it's called "Dissoriented" or "Unfound" or something. Any way, I think that this may have been the cause and the FAA should look seriously at it.
Pablo Forensic
- Posted by: Paul on July 31, 2006 10:47 AM
Dell notebooks are cheaper than the competitors' models but that comes at a price. It is as if thier products are manufactured to go wrong after the initial warranty period is over. I bought a laptop 2 years ago. Now the CD drive does not work. (It does not open) The ethernet connector is faulty and the connection keeps dropping out. They also use proprietary components rather than generic ones so when it comes to part replacement you have to go with them.
- Posted by: Tarkan on July 31, 2006 11:07 AM
"How can you tell that the laptop has a non genuine battery? Methinks stevo is a Dell employee excercising a little damage control."
Do you think the genuine battery would be a different colour to the notebook case?
- Posted by: Morpheus on July 31, 2006 11:33 AM
Martin - the batteries are scorched, theres no way to tell what colour they were originally.
Think before you jump to conclusions.
- Posted by: asdf on July 31, 2006 11:38 AM
The problem with Dell is their main focus is quantity of sales not quality. The old addage of "you get what you pay for" goes a long way in this case. Solution: Buy yourself a new Apple Macbook. They can now run both Windows and OSX software without a problem - and in all truth run the windows software faster than any PC based platform! Plus you get the worlds best operating system and technical support.
- Posted by: Davo on July 31, 2006 12:16 PM
Maybe someone with a Dell laptop can correct me, but it seems to me that the batteries shown in the photos are soldered together, meaning they would be integral to the motherboard rather than accessible to the user. It that's the case, it's pointless arguing that their colour has anything to do with whether or not they're original.
Which battery failed, the main power battery of the backup cells that maintain the system when the main battery is removed? The photos above seem to concentrate on the latter.
- Posted by: MarkG on July 31, 2006 12:21 PM
Compared to other notebook on the market the Dell machines are easily the best value. I do not believe that this problem is a recuring one. All the Dell machines i buy are fully certified by the relevent bodies, the same as tochiba, Hp, IBM and the likes. I have never seen a problem with my machines.
- Posted by: Mr Shane Smith on July 31, 2006 12:23 PM
I wonder if the batteries are original. By looking at the colour of the batteries, they don't seem match the colour of the laptop.
Don't forget to set fire to your batteries before doing the colour comparison.
- Posted by: Mark Chovain on July 31, 2006 12:42 PM
I do not think Steve works for Dell because he is wrong. That is a Dell D410 and the colour of those batteries is black, so by the looks of the picture it is a genuine battery.
- Posted by: computer user on July 31, 2006 12:52 PM
D410's are two-toned. That's the correct battery colour.
- Posted by: Michael on July 31, 2006 12:53 PM
Looks like a blow torch was taken to it as the burn is consistent with heat been applied externally rather than from the inside out. Have you asked any experts?
- Posted by: scott on July 31, 2006 1:00 PM
"One in a billion, maybe a million. Either way it might not sound like much but that one in a million is enough for aviation authorities to consider banning the transportation of laptops by passengers, or the surrender of batteries for special storage pre-flight."
* Posted by: JPH at July 31, 2006 09:44 AM
Poker machines have worse odds than that, and millions of peole still choose to play them!
- Posted by: dude on July 31, 2006 1:06 PM
The problem is not the laptop!
Did you notice the name of the owner .. a Mr. Uri Geller? ;o)
- Posted by: elZee on July 31, 2006 1:07 PM
Company I work for are one of the biggest IT resllers. Lets see, do we sell any Dell?? Nope, I wonder why. Yes the battery incident/s are a concern but the product itself is poor. 8 out of 10 Dell customers call us up wanting something realiable and with better Warranty service.
- Posted by: Koz on July 31, 2006 1:10 PM
Saw this just in time I am about to look for a new computer. I know what not to buy now.
- Posted by: alan on July 31, 2006 1:12 PM
vicki - whilst your comment about inkjet printer is kinda correct... this does not apply just to Dell - but ALL printers.
And NO I don't work for Dell or know anybody that does.
- Posted by: Steve on July 31, 2006 1:24 PM
How the hell can people on this blog comment that "oh it looks like a non-original Dell battery as the colour doesnt match the case". The thing has just been FRIED at an amazing amount of degrees. I recon it might be a tad hard to be sure what the original colour of the batteries is, don't you think?
- Posted by: Paul T on July 31, 2006 1:25 PM
What do you expect.... these are manufactured to a 20 percent component tolerance. The other brands out of the same factory include Clevo and Excel. They are garbage and should be avoided. If you buy any of this type of laptop you obviously don't have the intelligence to use a computer anyway !
- Posted by: Webnut on July 31, 2006 1:31 PM
Dell's Apocalypse Now "I love the smell of a burning Dell in the morning...smells like victory (for IBM)"
- Posted by: B Karkie (aka Capt Killgore) on July 31, 2006 1:39 PM
non-genuine battery.
May as well blame Ford when one of its goodyear tyres bursts as well.
- Posted by: james on July 31, 2006 1:42 PM
Can SMH issue a clarification as to whether or not that battery is a genuine Dell battery?
A lot of comments have been made suggesting it isn't genuine, and it's really quite relevant.
Ed: Don't know, sorry. But our informant told us that it was a company issue machine and Dell replaced it, no questions asked. Problem is, he never got an explanation about what happened.
- Posted by: Rhett on July 31, 2006 1:44 PM
To avoid this, buy a MacBook or a MacBook Pro.
- Posted by: Apple on July 31, 2006 1:51 PM
That green in the photo is the coating of what was a cell within the pack.
I type this on a dell laptop - not by choice though.
- Posted by: GM on July 31, 2006 1:52 PM
Great, I cannot wait to sit next to someone on my next flight while they furiously type away on there DELL LAPTOP THAT CAN EXPLODE.
- Posted by: Phill on July 31, 2006 1:53 PM
I am a proud owner of a Dell Laptop...I am yet to hear of a lap top combusting killing anyone, However nobody made a fuss about the chocolate bar recall...everybody still eats chocolate! i would be more concerned about something i eat poisoning than a computer that catches on fire. I'm sure these people were offered replacements...in which case, who is complaining?
- Posted by: Amanda on July 31, 2006 1:53 PM
The system in question is a Dell Latitude D410 with a standard battery. The batteries for these systems are black and not grey in color. Refer to the following link: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latD410/en/sm/system0.htm#wp999507
- Posted by: Ronald on July 31, 2006 1:55 PM
maybe the battery doesnt look like a dell battery cos its burnt!
- Posted by: bilb on July 31, 2006 1:56 PM
Watch out for Dell's PR consultants...comment is never free.
- Posted by: Adrian on July 31, 2006 1:58 PM
a quick google using dell+prison+labor might clear things up a bit.
- Posted by: pug on July 31, 2006 2:01 PM
I know 3 people that have got fed up with the heat and size of their Dell laptops and got a refund. I mean 6-9 months after they bought it. Complain long enough, and about things that can't be fixed (heat, size), and they will give 80% back.
They all went on to buy Apple laptops that ran far cooler. Someone even told one of them that "Apple laptops have no fans", but they do - they just run so cool you never hear them turn on.
- Posted by: CK on July 31, 2006 2:03 PM
I bought a Dell printer & Laptop once but both heated up so much that I was worried they would combust. I wouldn't go near Dell products of any kind. Unless you want to start a bon fire.
- Posted by: Stephen Skehan on July 31, 2006 2:11 PM
True someone said, its only a brand name, it all came from the same factories other brand name laptop comes from. I personally dont think Dell makes bad products at all. A while ago Nokia made phones and the battery exploded... so what? So many people still use Nokia... Would you rather an explosion from your head or lap? Just my 2 cents
- Posted by: CK on July 31, 2006 2:12 PM
Looks like everyone got scared from one isolated excident. We are using Dell laptops for years and we never ever come acros to any extraordinery problem. Actualy I can tell you that all the people that I know they are happy with the Dell laptops and the support they are providing. Unfortunately I can tell you thet recently we move to Acer and me and the others are realy disapointed. Not only the quality but the response time and the service. Well for now i can say that we'll stick to Dell. If there is some sugestions about better brand I would love to here and test. Thanks.
- Posted by: Nick on July 31, 2006 2:18 PM
That is in fact an authentic Dell battery for the D410. My D410 has the same one (a black one).
- Posted by: toad on July 31, 2006 2:26 PM
The battery in this laptop is not a genuine battery. All of Dell's batteries match the case color. I am a former Dell employee just to stop you guys from guessing. There is also a hack for the Dell BIOS that bypasses the safeties on the batteries. It extends the battery life but could well cause the described combustion. The safeties on the batteries should not be overidden for exactly this reason. I have nothing to gain from this statement like I said, I am no longer employed there. I really do not think that consumers have anything to worry about here from Dell's side, I know how well these things get investigated first hand.
- Posted by: Cortana on July 31, 2006 2:42 PM
Couple of people saying it looks like a non-genuine battery... not so.
The D410 factory battery is black as in the photo and the insignia on the center of the battery matches the genuine. (checked the dell website for tech specs and it shows photos).
Variations come about between models (Lat vs Ins) as well as between versions of each model. Different case colours vs battery colours are not terribly uncommon.
- Posted by: Kevin on July 31, 2006 2:43 PM
Dell lap tops are great. We use them at work and have done for a while. No I do not work for Dell, just trying to point out like others that these are 3 reported incidents out of millions sold.
- Posted by: MB on July 31, 2006 2:55 PM
my work issued PC is a Dell D410 and it has the original the battery and is the same colours as the one in the photo.....so hard to guess if the distroyed D410 has a non genuine battery
Minor bit of concern regardless
- Posted by: Matt on July 31, 2006 2:56 PM
the motherboard on my bf's dell laptop overheated 1 mth after the 1 yr warranty and the whole laptop died. same thing happened to my lecturer.
they are cheap but i would rather pay more for a better made laptop.
- Posted by: lyn on July 31, 2006 3:00 PM
Man is *Not Perfect*...
Why would anyone think what man made would be??...
- Posted by: Keith L. Dick on July 31, 2006 3:02 PM
Spend Peanuts get Monkey's
I have never had a problem with any aftermarket battry used in a good laptop, only crappy laptops and poor after sales support, GO DELL....
- Posted by: billy on July 31, 2006 3:07 PM
Buy a Mac.
- Posted by: Jay on July 31, 2006 3:17 PM
go with Toshiba.
- Posted by: KHE on July 31, 2006 3:23 PM
it is like unusual case; I have owned 4 desktop and 3 laptops; nothing happened after the warranty was expired; then I sold my laptops to my friend in my country; everything still goes smoothly; nothing is perfect; don't ever tell me you never slip when you are walking
- Posted by: simon on July 31, 2006 3:44 PM
i'm continuosly having to change dell motherboards at work because the caps keep bulging.
That's why I have both a mac and a toshiba laptop ONLY
- Posted by: hrmph on July 31, 2006 3:47 PM
I got a good laugh out of the guy who reckoned that lappies should be banned off planes. I mean, your sitting in a pressurised tube hurtling through the air with tanks full of explosive gas relying on [i]thousands of components[/i] that could fail plunging you to your eventual screaming death and your worried about a laptop exploding...?
Come on, there have been a few notable accidents but do you see thousands of Dell users coming forwarded with the war wounds to show that their laptop decides to pull an Osama on them? Every time I go on a course/conference/whatever, I see people dragging around Dells for the most part. They are cheap, reasonably affective, have a broad service base and are for the most part, thoroughly reliable.
Seriously, worry about heart disease more, it's much more likely to kill you than a Dell.... (and I hear stressing out over things is a great way to start down that path ; )
- Posted by: Asmo on July 31, 2006 4:01 PM
Lyn (31/7) said "the motherboard on my bf's dell laptop overheated 1 mth after the 1 yr warranty and the whole laptop died. same thing happened to my lecturer."
Sorry to hear your lecturer died. Maybe s/he needed a new pacemaker battery.
- Posted by: Tony English on July 31, 2006 4:02 PM
Why would you want to buy a laptop thats probably made in someone's backyard!
Yeah go Dell......they are awesome
- Posted by: big al on July 31, 2006 4:10 PM
Definitely not a Dell battery - problem fixed.
- Posted by: Frank on July 31, 2006 4:10 PM
Dell is crappy anyways. Go to their website and it's like impossible to contact them by any means. People are saying 3 out of millions....think about it. It's not like the damn thing just over heat and stop running...it over heat and explode. No don't recall any laptop I ever owned exploded, and I've own quite a few of them since 1996. I've owned Sony, Dell, HP, and Compaq and so far, the dell I owned is a piece of Sh*T. Hard to get their support like drivers after the warrnty is over.
- Posted by: one piece on July 31, 2006 4:33 PM
I am the owner of a Dell D600 for three years. I am yet to experience the reported problem with my PC.
I have only had one itermittent problem with the network card which was rectified immediately by DELL.
So far happy with response times & service from DELL, particularly with the follow up, keeping me in the loop & providing a single point of contact.
A couple observations:
1. Rest pad on LHS of keyboard does get extremely hot - I attribute this to the HDD.
2. I have abit of an IT background & thus am able to pre-diagnose problems which expedites any solution. I would imagine that there would be some toing & froing in the absense of this.
- Posted by: 海人 on July 31, 2006 4:59 PM
People who buy computers from Dell don't have a clue about computers. They are second only to Apple buyers for a lack of IT knowledge.
- Posted by: WoW on July 31, 2006 5:11 PM
Koz, the reason your reseller company does not sell Dell is because Dell sell direct - they do not use resellers.
No, I do not work for Dell.
- Posted by: computer user on July 31, 2006 5:13 PM
Ahhh same as a Ford - they both blow up when you least expect it.
- Posted by: Drof on July 31, 2006 5:15 PM
just 2 months after my 1 year warranty was over, my monitor died... I called Dell and they told me they can't do anything about it... I hassled them over and over again and they finally sent me a new one... I guess you really have to fight for what you want!
- Posted by: Fred on July 31, 2006 5:36 PM
As much as I love Apple computers (and I'm quite a fan of Dells as well), all those who are been Apple fan Boys on this blog should take a look at this: http://wcco.com/consumer/local_story_148150249.html
- Posted by: Andy M on July 31, 2006 5:36 PM
I can't wait for mine to blow up.
I have the world's most boring job, and it would go a long way to spicing my day up.
- Posted by: John Rooter on July 31, 2006 5:41 PM
"People who buy computers from Dell don't have a clue about computers. They are second only to Apple buyers for a lack of IT knowledge."
Wow (pun intended)! Someone woke up and took an "I'm bitter at the world" pill today. IT knowledge? Errr.....most 'peeps who use computers could give a fat rat's arse about all things IT. Let me guess.....you graduated from IT Tech? What do they call you guys now.....server janitors? Ever heard the expression, "the woman doeth protest too much"? Keep saving up the money you earn from your paper route and you'll be able to buy a Mac one day. :-)
- Posted by: Steve on July 31, 2006 5:48 PM
I noticed the Mac fans spouting forth the gains of thier laptops. But then again, mac's have been on the hotlist for a while too.
- Posted by: Krusher on July 31, 2006 5:50 PM
I am the proud owner of a Compac Contura 486.
A little old the poor bastard, but it never bursted into flames and I still playing the DOS based game of Wolf3D.
Nothing else seems to work but who cares?
Computers are sooooooooo boooooring!!!....
- Posted by: Marcos on July 31, 2006 6:22 PM
I've got a D600 and it gets hot so I have it on a wire mesh on my wooden desk (about 3cm above the desk) and I leave it on 24 hours a day - I guess I'm heading for an insurance claim against DELL?
I've seen metal fan plates for around $30 that do the same sort of thing - maybe DELL should send one of them to every laptop owner :P
If I use the laptop on my lap it gets too hot for me to leave it there.
Heh - so I guess I better watch out for it catching fire now also.
AND I wish the DELL employees would stop lying about the battery.
It's obviously a DELL battery.
- Posted by: nemo on July 31, 2006 6:33 PM
I'm replying on my dell inspirion e1705. It's on my stomach as I lay in bed. I really hope it doesn't blow.
- Posted by: Spencer on July 31, 2006 7:34 PM
I can tell you that not only Dell laptop got fire. I bought a compaq v2000 series laptop in Singapore almost 2 years ago. just 3 days after 1 year warranty period over, it stop working and has smoke and cracking sound around the DC in plug area. I was lucky it was not burned as in this Dell laptop. HP refused to repair this by warranty. I am totally disappointed with HP as well in this case. Now I use other brand's laptop , ASUS W3N series, probably not a famous brand name in Aussie, but with 2 years international warranty period.
- Posted by: TBJ at UNSW on July 31, 2006 7:36 PM
Well said Asmo.
I personally have not had any problems with Dell. Sony is a great brand and I have found HP support the most helpful. I have a dealt with a number of problems on Toshiba's.
Like most things in life everyone's pc / laptop experience is different.
- Posted by: Di on July 31, 2006 7:49 PM
I love my latitude notebook. I dropped it and broke the screen and dell replaced it no problems. It had complete cover which covers against acidental damage. I guess this would include catching fire.
- Posted by: greg on July 31, 2006 9:03 PM
After Apple, all our computers/PDAs are Dell. 2 laptops, 3 PCs and 5 PDAs. Never had any batteries explode or malfunction yet. They are cheaper than the reputable big brands and I have great support from them over the past 5 years. I would buy Dell again. And no, I don't own shares in Dell or work for them.
- Posted by: ray on July 31, 2006 10:02 PM
You're right. Only three out of what might be millions of units have been reported as having blown up.
But as far as I'm aware, the rates of airplane hijacking are lower than that and everyone seems to be awful concerned about flying.
It's almost like the few incidents of those laptops exploding could be detrimental to Dell as the 'threat' of terrorism is to the travel industry.
- Posted by: Alex on July 31, 2006 10:08 PM
Re: Phill at July 31, 2006 01:53 PM
Same thing: mobile phone triggering bomb - remotely;
Same thing: satellite tracking and engine kill switch (immobilizer);
?. if any of these got into the wrong hands.
- Posted by: outsider on July 31, 2006 10:09 PM
Re: Posted by: dude at July 31, 2006 01:06 PM
Poker machines have worse odds than that, and millions of peole still choose to play them!
Hi dude,
Youve totally missed the point by the inappropriate Poker machine analogy: Yes, millions of people STILL choose to play them for luck, but here, you are involuntarily subjecting yourself - to potentially serious injuries.
- Posted by: outsider on July 31, 2006 10:11 PM
i believe that dell should take steps to prevent this from happening again and should compensate the victims of this rare malfunction. however i would like to remind people that once you get past the labels a dell isn't that much different from a compaq, hp, gateway, acer, toshiba, or ibm. i have worked in IT and once you have worked with several hundred computer you start to realize that they are almost all equally as crapy as the next. basically you get what you pay for, i would bet that the majority of those complaining about their dell being a peice of crap bought the bottom of the line and/or have their computer full to the brim with spyware.
the real issue here is a short cut taken by a manufacturer in some third world country, or a simple mistake made by a 12 year old girl that had been working a 16 hr shift 7 days a weak.
- Posted by: george on July 31, 2006 10:13 PM
Thank god he did not have it on his lap!!!
- Posted by: Matt on July 31, 2006 10:34 PM
although this is in non-laptop related it is Dell related. 5 months ago my Dell PC caught on fire ( the motherborad caught on fire). I called the tech support and at first they said it wasn't covered, after getting the manager on the line he promised me an upgraded new pc and bent over backwards to help me.
I take it that Dell doesn't really want people knowing there products are a potential fire hazard
- Posted by: josh on July 31, 2006 10:56 PM
It's not just Dell, it's any product that uses LI batteries.
- Posted by: Bonehead on July 31, 2006 11:01 PM
?Poker machines have worse odds than that" I bloody hope not, i dont want a poker machine catching fire with my money in it :D
- Posted by: simon81 on July 31, 2006 11:10 PM
I've been a technology consultant for almost 10 years and this doesn't entirely surprise me. I've worked with many big manufactures over the years and Dell have always been the most problematic, one time we had to send back an entire consignment of 50 Latitude laptops due to the screen encasement splitting after just a couple of weeks on more than half of them. The replacements had exactly the same problem plus other issues so we ended up switching to Compaqs, over 200 laptops later not a single issue.
Anything that is mass produced is prone to the occassional fault, but Dell and a few others do seem have a higher general fault rate. Personally for my own use I avoid "branded" systems (which are largely built from generic parts anyway) and go for companies such as NovaTech who build each system individually by hand and fully test them before sending them out to customers, companies like that tend to offer much better support, as well as using base generic drivers making OS upgrades etc easier and providing a more future proof system, they can generally be upgraded (or parts replaced) easier too. Not to mention the cost benefits, including not paying for software you don't want or need.
It's got to be said though that IBM & Sony are the worst offenders by far on the driver availabilty & upgradability front.
I'm always telling people to shop around and read reviews before buying any high cost electrical item, it's all about price / quality balance, and more often than not the focus of big manufactures bows to low cost over high quality. A sad sign of the times, and something i'm sure we'll see a lot more of in years to come.
One final comment, most laptops get a bit warm, but they should never get "hot", if they do then they either have a fault of the cooling system is badly designed. My laptop (NovaTech) has an Athlon64 3700+ cpu with 1GB PC3200 & Radeon 9600 graphics, with everything you could possibly want on board (including 802.11g, bluetooth, 6 USB 2.2 ports) and it never gets more than mildly warm around the hard drive location, even after 24hrs+ of constantly running very demanding 3D simulations. Now that is a quality laptop (and it was about ?600 cheaper than less powerful "branded" models!).
- Posted by: John on July 31, 2006 11:12 PM
I'm really not surprised by this at all. Dell used to back its products with a 3 year warranty, yet now they only give a 1 year...Isn't that saying something! Anyone with the slightest bit of computer knowledge knows they're hopeless.
The fact of the matter is all the "Big" name brands use mostly hopeless brand components in their PC's and Laptops and then charge the pants off you!
Custom systems are definitely the only way to go!
- Posted by: Ryan on July 31, 2006 11:23 PM
Further to my last comment, to the guy that said buy a Mac instead, ironically they have just recalled several thousand systems with very similar problems.. not as extreme as catching fire but the casings have been charring and melting all the same.
Also I noticed a few people saying they use their laptop on there lap, if you do this make sure you buy a cooling pad to put between your lap/legs and the laptop. Scientific & medical evidence shows that the heat produced can lead to infertility. And based on a good friend on mines experience the research seems extremely accurate. Take Care.
- Posted by: John on July 31, 2006 11:29 PM
Dell's quality has gone down over the years.
We have 2 Dell that need motherboard replacement within their warranty period.
ThinkPad is still the best
- Posted by: ARK on August 1, 2006 12:37 AM
Does anyone use spell check?
- Posted by: Joan on August 1, 2006 12:47 AM
No. That IS a genuine D410 battery. It's black.
- Posted by: Jean Hartigan on August 1, 2006 1:51 AM
This is one reason why I don't get a Dell. Cheap laptop mean cheap parts and that can cause problems. Only reason Dell is making alot of money is because people don't really know what they are really buying, but only see that it is cheap in price.
- Posted by: azn804 on August 1, 2006 1:54 AM
Actually whilst I was in the Australian Film Office in Cannes in May, I noticed an Apple Laptop looking all the worse for wear. The battery had exloded outwards from the bottom.
At first I looked at the Apple I was carrying and then felt a lot better when I found out that the particular model with the exlpoding battery was in fact not uncommon (doesn't that make you feel great!) and that it did not occur in the model I had because of changes to the battery system.
I was very cautious whilst using my laptops on the plane back to Australia! I didn't want to be known as a teourist :)
Incidentally as a long time technical designer, the problem isn't entirely related to the NOTEBOOKs. See we consumers became acsustome to calling these portable computers "laptops" and putting them on our laps.
This was fine about ten years ago when the processors required no fans and the ambient heat inside the feble plastict devices was low - touchable with the human flesh without burning - and the screens weren't so large!
But now with so much need for processor speed and bigger screens, the manufactures changed the term from LAPTOP to NOTEBOOK, but consumers aren't reading the manuals.
Nearly every manual on a portable computer I've read since the introduction of the Pentium elvel processos says DO NOT USE ON YOUR LAP YOU MAY SUFFER BURNS!
THey also say, especially in the case of HP's and DELLS that you need to keep the NOTEBOOK on a flat surface so the air intake and fans can work properly.
HP's are nortorius for chocking dur to lack of oxygen! Note in many cases the fans are on the underside, where your thighs careuflly balance the device on your lap, totally suffocating the poor internals.
Apples generally have their intake on the sides and blow out under the display, so it's not so bad, but can get warm if you play a DVD for a bit :)
Try and always leave your NOTEBOOK (not your laptop) on a flat surface and if you MUST use it on your lap, ensure you don't chock the vents and fans.
99.99999% of NOTEBOOKS aren't going to spontaneously combust on your lap, but do you really want to over heat and burn our your expensive processor?
- Posted by: Adam Todd on August 1, 2006 3:10 AM
Looks like Dell have a very serious problem on their hands. Realistically speaking though, considering the huge numbers of machines they sell, these are just a tiny drop in the ocean, but what is a concern though is that reported elsewhere, revelations that Dell knew about various problems with their machines well before, 2 years in fact, the big battery recall.
Sounds like a case of let's see maybe the problem is isolated and will go away? In my view, Dell's reputation as a credible and trustworthy PC vendor has been severely shattered, I'd consider them when the time comes around to upgrade my 2 year old Toshiba notebook, but in hindsight the exploding Dells' is something that will stick and linger in many people's minds. Now this is getting extensive maintstream media coverage, it was even on the TV news one night, brand awareness could work against them, although I can't see it make a huge impact on overall Dell sales.
- Posted by: Roger on August 1, 2006 3:27 AM
I'm also using a Dell notebook, and after testing mine, my company bought around 25 D610 models throughout last month. Unfortunately, during the first week of use, that was back in May, I got shocked to see that my machine's hard disk drive made a HARD CRASH while RESUMING FROM STANDBY MODE!!
The local distributor has yet to replace the hard disk and we're waiting for supplies from Europe.
Hey - I don't think that I bought a bottom line product - but we kinda figured out the real problem with almost all Dell notebooks: LACK OF VENTILATON HOLES(outlets) Around the casing.
We also use M 110 L models, around 100 currently purchased and we got not prob's there
But Man! The D610 series do have real design defects:
Dell should think about either replacing the cooling units and fans or do the same as the M110 L models: larger ventilation holes both on the side and underneath.
I also sufffered chipset and internal Mini PCI configurations errors directly from the BIOS when I installed Win XP SP2 and could no longer log on Windows.Had to borrow a Ghost'ed 40GB HDD to work while waiting for my 80 gig hard drive.
- Posted by: Darwin on August 1, 2006 4:09 AM
"As much as I love Apple computers (and I'm quite a fan of Dells as well), all those who are been Apple fan Boys on this blog should take a look at this: http://wcco.com/consumer/local_story_148150249.html"
The computer was also left running on carpeting. Lets face it, the companies go out of their way NOT to call them laptops for a reason.
And anyone who picks up a smoldering notebook computer, takes it outside, and starts taking pictures of it rather than trying to put the damn fire out obviously isnt playing with a full deck.
- Posted by: Doug on August 1, 2006 6:31 AM
For those of you who buy Acer or have a problem with their products. You should know that their parent company makes 40% of what goes into your Dell. While they may come from the same factories in Asia, each manufacturer stipulates what quality control measures they want the factory to produce their products with. So they may come off the same line and one made to fail after 366 days of service and the other could last 10 years.
- Posted by: Mike D on August 1, 2006 6:52 AM
I find the Apple Macs provide a far more user friendly experience. They help me take my mind off technology issues and assist with what I'm really trying to do. The Macs seem to have a broader range of applications as well, with sound, video and scientific stuff. Manufacturing quality seems a tad better than the more populous models.
- Posted by: Dan on August 1, 2006 9:04 AM
i had a dell for 6 months when the cpu just shut down and woluld no boot up i replaced all the cords it sitll did not work i contacted dell nd they sid someone will fix it asap so i now have a compaq witch i haved never had a problem with.. p.s dell stil have not fixed the problems with it so i throw it out in todays garabage collection (burning dell = victory for ibm)
- Posted by: captianjohney on August 1, 2006 9:26 AM
I bought my 11yr old a dell notebook for christymas05. it gets hot. I called Dell on hold for 45 min. the minute I told them it was getting hot & how do I return it...click they hung up on me. I called back on hold for about an hour give or take 10 min again the minute i said it was a fire hazard click they hung up on me!!! We need a class action lawsuit. The Pinto Notbooks!! Can you really afford to have a Dell Pinto Notebook in you home? Save $50 and lose your $300K home. Now let me think is it really a bargain?
- Posted by: christy d on August 1, 2006 9:33 AM
i find it extremely amusing how many people on here are voicing opinions on a subject they know absolutely nothing about.
Dell's new line of portable systems, which by the way have dual color chassis and different color batteries. Don't believe me? research it on dell's website. good place to start, you'd think?
Dell calls them portables for a reason, not a "LAPTOP".
2nd of all, everyone knows, or should know, that you don't leave any portable machine with a lithium ion battery hooked up 24/7 to a charger.(read: cellphone, remote, R/C vehicles)
"PORTABLE" machines were not designed to run constantly the way desktops are. "but i work constantly" you say? turn your machine off when you turn off. "I can't." get a desktop.
Bottom line is these mishaps will most likely prove to be user mishandling or improper use, storage, etc.
Think about this, what if your dell portable was hit by a power surge and and the battery fried? Who's fault would it be then? which noone has determined yet.
See what most of you don't realize is that all of the mishaps that have been mentioned are also related in the fact that they were all connected to a/c power sources at the time. does it REALLY take a rocket surgeon to figure out what the most likely cause?
- Posted by: moreknolidge on August 1, 2006 10:00 AM
To "Steve" who said: "Wow (pun intended)! Someone woke up and took an "I'm bitter at the world" pill today.
IT knowledge? Errr.....most 'peeps who use computers could give a fat rat's arse about all things IT.
Let me guess.....you graduated from IT Tech? What do they call you guys now.....server janitors?
Ever heard the expression, "the woman doeth protest too much"? Keep saving up the money you earn from your paper route and you'll be able to buy a Mac one day. :-)"
I own and run a company with 37 employees... It is amazing how many jokes circulate throgh the offices about Apple users. Get back to using your Mac to make business cards for the corner Deli, you will pay off that slow piece of crap soon enough!
- Posted by: Wow on August 1, 2006 11:16 AM
been informed by industry sources Dell in order to compete with low cost no name laptops, they make or outsource component parts to cheap Asian labour. the quality of Dell products have deteriorated over the years. One of my friends who works for a medical giant had to have her hard drive replaced 4 times in 1 year and all her work was lost everytime they replaced her hard drive.
- Posted by: Mitch on August 1, 2006 12:53 PM
Thanks Doug for pointing that out, been trying to find the other local article in regards to Apple's comment that it's a "NOTEBOOK" - not a "LAPTOP" to be used on a person's lap. This was due to their newest batch of notebooks with the intel processor battery overheating issues. So you see, it's not just Dell that has this issue, Apple and also Compaq has also had similar problems in the past.
No I don't work for Dell, I've boycotted Dell for years in the previous company I worked for because of the issues the Latitude's had with the motherboards. I've recently had a change of opinion from gleaning info off http://www.whirlpool.net.au forum's hardware enthusiasts. By far their newer systems, namely the Inspiron's have been the better notebooks I've seen Dell release. Just bought the 12" screen version recently and am quite happy with it. Support has been quite prompt with responding to problems. On the other hand the 2nd notebook we got is an ASUS beast, great as it runs, however it lacks International support. Tried to order a spare battery for over 4 months, had problems with the Wireless and tried emailing support and there was no response and no numbers to call. Finally walked into the shop and they gave me an authorised repair centre number.. So if anyone is after a notebook with good support I'd suggest to go for HP Compaq, Toshiba, Dell. I'd love a Fujitsu but the prices on those machines are exorbitant in Australia.
- Posted by: Julie R on August 1, 2006 1:42 PM
We have bought 18 Dell PCs and they all have 3 years Warranty. Just before 3 years. 7 out of 18 PCs's powersupply dead and 5 more followed the same fate after the warranty. I am still waiting for the 5 powersupplies that we ordered from DELL a couple of months ago. So please do not mention DELL to me.
- Posted by: VDao on August 1, 2006 4:01 PM
Re: Posted by: outsider at July 31, 2006 10:11 PM
"Hi dude,
You've totally missed the point by the inappropriate Poker machine analogy: Yes, millions of people STILL choose to play them for luck, but here, you are involuntarily subjecting yourself - to potentially serious injuries."
You missed the fact i was replying to a quote about airlines...
I meant that people given a one in a million chance of winning a $1000 they will take the bet that it will happen and put $50 in a machine.
Also, airlines faced with a one in a million chance of having a plane crash due to laptop failure will take the bet that it will happen and put the laptop in safe storage.
- Posted by: dude on August 1, 2006 4:09 PM
'Moreknolidge', when you were attaining your vast wisdom, you obviously forgot spelling buddy.
- Posted by: Andrew on August 1, 2006 4:28 PM
Beware the DELL! That was a motto around the Dell office in 2004. Their product is as cheap as you can get. A $1000 computer that you buy is costing them AU$210.00 to purchase out of China. They use the lowest priced components they can find. Believe me, I was on the inside for a number of years.
- Posted by: mick w on August 1, 2006 5:35 PM
We all remember from chemistry class the little bits of sodium that whiz around on water before bursting into flames. Lithium is a metal from the same family that is capable spontaneously combusting on contact with air. It is the high energy density of the lithium cell chemistry that makes modern high power consumption electronics convenient to use. In a lithium cell, the lithium is "stabilised" by impregnating graphite (Li-ion) or a plastic (Li-PO) with it.
There are several ways to damage a lithium cell that are all related to the way it is used. For this reason "battery management chips" were developed to "supervise" the charging and discharging of lithium chemistry cells, to disconnect the cells from the application before damage occurs.
In a situation where application (read computer, camera, mp3 player, RC toy, whatever) manufacturers are trying to squeeze every last ounce of power out of a battery and battery manufacturers are trying to reduce the cost of manufacture whilst still meeting a specification, normal process variation guarantees that when manufacturers are "sailing close to the wind" there is opportunity for an individual battery to find itself "between the devil and the deep blue sea".
It is most likely a battery manufacturing QA issue produced a batch of batteries that contained a small proportion of the batch that for reasons of manufacturing process variations exceeding allowable limits, couldn't meet the minimum specification requirements. Since the battery management system of the application assumes the battery is capable of certain things, a deficient battery can be damaged and subsequently melt down. When a batch of sub standard batteries were identified, this would have precipitated the battery recall notice.
Iâm actually surprised lithium chemistry has hit the general public, back in the 70âs it was regarded as too dangerous for general pubic use. There is a lot of energy packed in there, treat lithium cells as potential bombs or grenades with the pins pulled and all will be fine....
- Posted by: Nick on August 1, 2006 7:55 PM
To "moreknolidge"...
When these devices come with a warning that advises that continuous use on AC power is dangerous, your argument will hold water.
If equipment is not designed to work in such a way that people might logically use it then a warning is required.
Whilst the intructions for my portable computer mention that continuous connection to AC power may reduce battery life, nowhere does it mention that it might burst into flames.
- Posted by: Likkie on August 1, 2006 8:16 PM
Dell are a Sales Company, not an IT Company, they copy technology, they never innovate, they just sell IT Hardware cheaply. You get what you pay for. As always, "Let the buyer beware". No notebook however should have that kind of issue, that is a serious quality control problem. I work for an IT Reseller and we laugh about Dell, as a sales company, they are dynamic, as an IT company, they are pathetic.
- Posted by: Bops on August 1, 2006 8:52 PM
Some of the dross in these comments is laughable.
Christy D - just because something runs warm, doesn't make it a fire hazard. Your coffee table won't spontaneously explode into fire because your Dell laptop is warm. They hung up on you because you're talking rubbish. Go check out how warm the condenser on your refrigerator gets!
Darwin - You are simply misrepresenting the facts in your tale of woe regarding poor Dell support. The D610 is covered by a regional next day on site warranty as standard, unless your company decided to go cheap and remove that option. And for Dell's flaws, their maintenance program is excellent because its outsourced. The company's who do it only get paid for correcting problems so they don't leave customers out to dry. More importantly, you said the "local distributor" - Dell doesn't use distributors - EVER! Its a direct model and they use just in time stock delivery so they never wait as long as you have described for parts - I think you're exagerating.
To Everyone Else: Dell sell cost-effective machines not because they buy "cheap" equipment. In fact, one reason is quite the opposite, they are the Wal-Mart of the PC industry so they can demand the highest quality at the lowest prices because of the volumes they move. Secondly, Dell is a logistics company, they don't carry stock so that means they have massive inventory turnover which keeps their costs down. Its cheap because they make what you want and deliver it to you directly, they don't make 5000 of the same generic portable and add in a premium because it may sit on the shelves for two months.
In terms of Dell's general quality, I've been responsible for buying over 25,000 Dell PCs and probably in excess of $20m of server equipment in the last five years. Eighteen months ago they had a problem with a particular hard disk manufacturer and got a bad batch globally. In one stretch we had 25 out of 65 desktops we ordered needed hard drive replacements. In a second instance they had a problem with the CMOS battery on the motherboard that required about 18% of our desktops to be replaced over a 6 month period. Other than that, they have the lowest failure rate of any PC on the market - we know because we try them all! Their average repair time from the moment you place a call is 29 hours. The reason for that is that they do next day service and most people report problems first thing in the morning when the PC won't fire up, so the Dell tech shows up the next day.
Every portable/laptop maker on the market has in the past three years had at least one model with a battery problem. As someone else pointed out, its an inherent flaw in LiOn batteries - people leave them plugged in all the time. If you use your laptop as a desktop replacement at work, that's why they sell docking stations - never once have you seen these problems when the AC power is properly connected to a docking station.
Common sense folks...
- Posted by: Straight Shooter on August 1, 2006 10:10 PM
The best part about this is that it was a report from CRN. For those of you who don't know, CRN is a "Reseller" magazine. If you're at all familiar with Dell you'll know that they are the true Satan of the Resell Channel because they basically cut them out of the loop. Dell deal directly with the customer and eliminate the unecessary margin that the "box movers" otherwise known as Resellers or Partners take.
What next, a labour union against workplace relation reforms?!? Hard hitting stuff.
- Posted by: Comedy Class on August 1, 2006 10:14 PM
I have a dell laptop for a number of years. I work as an analyst and I use the laptop all day long.
I thought the overheating was a result of using the laptop for more than 5 hours straight and that we have to live with that.
I have developed a condition on my left hand, the one that sits directly on the space of the laptop that warms the most during the day.
My external wireless card has broken all the plastic components due to the heat generated by the laptop.
Now we know that this should not happen, Should not Dell be doing something about this?
I do not think it has to do with the warranty or age of the computer, but certainly they should provide a safer product,
regardless of the age of your equipment...
- Posted by: elba r on August 2, 2006 2:41 AM
I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 that I've had since November 2005. I use it EVERY day, have it plugged in all day every day at work, and have NEVER had any problems. Seriously - it has never even crashed on me ONCE. At the time of purchase, brand name computers with the same abilities cost almost $1000 more. I love it and I recommend DELL to everyone I know.
Simple as that.
- Posted by: ange on August 2, 2006 8:18 AM
Straight Shooter,
you seem to mix up / confuse the laptop market with the Corporate Server market. it seems that you think Dell doesnt change their outsourcing nor have separate focus teams. me suspects you are not who you truly are. you appear to work for Dell. possibly in Sales or Marketing
If you are truly who you are then show yourself. The overwhelming evidence is for Dell to hide behind the internet sales and where are the statistics. even so quoting stats isnt a good idea either... there are lies, damn lies then there are statistics..
There is a fundamental change with most corporations including major Car Manufacturers - cheap parts and labour from Asia - notice the date mate :July 4, 2006
try this for size:
Dell Computer Struggles to Maintain Quality, Stock Price
by Larry Schooler
Morning Edition, July 4, 2006 ? Although Dell Computer still leads the industry in sales, the company's stock price recently hit its lowest price in three years. And its sales lead is shrinking. Larry Schooler of member station KUT in Austin, Texas, reports on what's happening to Dell's bottom line, and what the company plans to do about it.
- Posted by: Mitch on August 2, 2006 8:22 AM
Well said Nick, at least somebody here knows what they're talking about.
- Posted by: Wobble on August 2, 2006 10:32 AM
posted by straight shooter -
In terms of Dell's general quality, I've been responsible for buying over 25,000 Dell PCs and probably in excess of $20m of server equipment in the last five years. Eighteen months ago they had a problem with a particular hard disk manufacturer and got a bad batch globally. In one stretch we had 25 out of 65 desktops we ordered needed hard drive replacements. In a second instance they had a problem with the CMOS battery on the motherboard that required about 18% of our desktops to be replaced over a 6 month period. Other than that, they have the lowest failure rate of any PC on the market - we know because we try them all! Their average repair time from the moment you place a call is 29 hours. The reason for that is that they do next day service and most people report problems first thing in the morning when the PC won't fire up, so the Dell tech shows up the next day.
Corporate purchasing is not the same as consumer purchasing.
I bet those thousands of Dell PC's you bought get replaced every 2-5 years dont they?
Many consumers buying computers want to keep them for 10 years or more, and unless they want to play games or run simulations or the latest video editing, why should they replace their PC?
The problem with Dell is that they make their PCs to last for as long as the warranty. After the warranty period, they have no concern whether the computer continues to work or not.
If you get a Dell with a 4 year warranty, you can be sure that it has been designed to last for 4 years, no more, no less. After this period, component after component will begin to fail.
I've had experience with a few dozen Dell's, and after 4 years most of them are worthless. One computing room had to have half of its computers cannibalized to replace broken parts in the rest (after the warranty period).
In response to these experiences we decided to source our own components and assemble our own PCs.
Excluding labour costs, they end up being far cheaper than Dell PCs, and the only component failure we have had in the last 6 years has been a few power supplies ($20-$50 component, 10 minutes to replace).
If you want a quality PC that you can be sure will last, a DIY solution is the only way to go. Unfortunatly this is not an option when it comes to laptops though.
- Posted by: Phillip M on August 2, 2006 11:11 AM
I think all this about Dell is being a bit over the top. Over the years I have purchased a number of PCs for my small business and each manufacturer has their problems.
I purchased 4 HP desktops and between month 13 & 15 (just after the warranty ran out) 3 of the 4 monitors blew with HP refusing to replace them. I ended up replacing each PC as it was cheaper at the time than buying 3 new monitors.
I must say out of all the PCs I've purchased, Dell has probably given me the least problems (but they aren't perfect they have had some problems).
When you sell millions and millions of PCs your going to have a few problems. Even the ocassional Ferrari breaks down!!!
- Posted by: Michael on August 2, 2006 1:44 PM
I bought a Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop this year with an Intel Core Duo T2400 dual core processor, 80GB 7200rpm hard drive, 1GB ram at 667MHz, dual layer DVD writer etc. In other words, pretty good specs. The price was around $500 less than other dealers were asking for a laptop with the same specs. It has had no problems or any sign of any problems. So I just don't accept all these attacks on Dell laptops. By the way, I don't work for Dell and never have.
- Posted by: just great on August 2, 2006 7:38 PM
Intersting to see how various manufacturers respond as to their warranties. The ACCC state goods that you purchase must: * be of merchantable quality�goods have to meet a basic level of quality and performance given the price and description of the goods * be fit for the purpose�goods must do the job you made clear to the supplier you wanted them to do or that are implied from the circumstances in which you purchased the goods * match the description or sample given to you before purchase, whether through a catalogue, labelling, packaging, on a website or in person. Manufacturers warranties are "voluntary warrantes" and CAN NOT EXCLUDE statutory rights. See http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/3863#h2_42
As for the comparison with Ford and tyres it is the seller who is responsible for the total package who in turn may have action against the manufacturer of the car.
Stick to you guns
- Posted by: Fred on August 2, 2006 11:02 PM
If a product is a hazard then it should be repaired, or recalled. It doesn't matter that grandma betsy thinks that Dell is the greatest company in the world. It doesn't matter that most people in the world are ignorant of other technologies beyond their "personal compudder". Just because "I dun bought a Dell compudder, and I never had no problems wid it." doesn't mean that there isn't a specific set of problems with a limited number of products. If one car started on fire because of faulty wiring, people would be angry and want to know why. If this defective battery issue is a problem then it needs to be dealt with.
Argue about religion if you need something to get "all riled up about". Technology loves everyone.
- Posted by: Rufus on August 3, 2006 4:34 AM
The battery RECALL I noted on the Dell site was for October, 2005. Call DEll at 1-866-342-0011 or email questions.
I bought an Inspiron 9300 in October, 2005
The battery numbers they listed were:
(On the UPC of the Battery-first set of numbers)
They fit these models:
Latitude D410, D505, D510, D600, D610, D800, D810
Inspiron 510M, 600M, 6000, 8600, 9200, 9300, XPS Gen 2
Precision M20, M70
- Posted by: Mary on August 3, 2006 7:17 AM
Wow(pun intended)
"MORE than 10,000 Australian computers have been infected by a trojan virus - invisible to most anti-virus software"
"the "Haxdoor" trojan could log keystrokes from computers, capture usernames and passwords stored in the Windows operating system and harvest data being transmitted from a computer during the completion of online forms such as tax returns."
Gee for the six years I have used a Mac, I haven't had to worry about these intrusions. Enjoy your microsoft products they are so well engineered.
- Posted by: NotMacTragic on August 3, 2006 7:57 AM
I too have an Inspiron 6400. It is now 4 months old and have not had any problems. I hope to get 3 years constant use out of it although I only took the standard one year warranty. If they offer a 3 year warranty, it's generally designed to last 3 years.
I believe that costs are kept down by their manufacturing process. The online ordering system works well where each system can be specified individually. The assembly is in Malaysia and the whole process from ordering to home delivery in Melbourne took only 5 days. I previosly owned a HP and used that for 4 years without problem. My only complaints about the Dell product are that it lacks an internal microphone and two individual audio inputs however I knew this before purchase and still found the designer-build method enticing. The high resolution screen and fast SATA drive where unavailable by the other manufacturers at the time of purchase. Even the Duo-core processors where only available on high-end machines 4 months ago. Buying as fast as you can afford is always a good rule with any PC. Time will tell if I made the right decision.
- Posted by: Alan on August 3, 2006 9:54 AM
I have owned 4 Dells over the last 10 years with the only problem being a faulty LAN card on an inspiron 1300 which was fixed in under 24 hours. I've also been able to get good prices selling 2nd hand equipment when upgrading. I don't think you can do better than that. A happy Dell customer.
- Posted by: Gus Lindsay on August 3, 2006 11:25 AM
The problem isn't so much the laptop as the battery chemistry. Lithium Ion batteries can be incendiary devices, they are volatile in nature. The flaw is in the battery design, which isn't necessarily Dell's fault, but that of the battery manufacturer. Lithium Ion packs have exploded in celphones as well. and how do we know that the consumer hasn't replaced his OEM pack with some POS Chinese made copy he bought off Ebay for 49.99? Until all the facts are there it isn't fair to point the finger solely at Dell (or any other manufacturer).
- Posted by: MrFlashport on August 4, 2006 1:29 PM
I have never seen so crap laptop in my life. In less than year around 80% of the Dell Laptop of my company get problems. (HDD scratch) I clearly not recommand this kind of laptops even if the Dell Support is very good. I can add as well that Dell Latitude series are very heavy laptop.
- Posted by: Testa on August 4, 2006 11:11 PM
Sounds unbelievable. Exploding computers - like in old, chip and stupid s-f movie. Life is more reach than any imagination.
- Posted by: Jurgi on August 6, 2006 12:43 AM
Good day. I would like to respond to "Straight Shooter" who posted on August 1, 2006 at 10:10 PM.
DELL was an awesome company. Customers first, quality second and pricing third. The modern day DELL is not the same.
DELL does sell their products for resale. Since the term Reseller is frowned upon, they are called Solution Providers. A Solution Provider is supposed to sell the product as a 'Service'. In other words you do not sell the computer as the product; you sell it as part of your product or service.
DELL is a global company and has agents in India, Malaysia, Singapore, US, Canada, South America and so on. Personally, I don't care who answers the phone as long as they; 1. can understand e situation 2. can resolve the situation. This requires knowledge and empowerment - something you will not get with LEVEL 1 Support.
The batteries used now are safe if kept below their operating temperature. They also have a flash point. Once the battery reaches this critical temperature, you are looking at a self sustaining, hi-temperature fire that is similar to a Magnesium fire or an aircraft fire on an aircraft carrier. A fire so hot, it can melt metal. You can not just use water, foam or PKP powder. The temperature is so high, that water explodes on contact (on a notebook, you'll probably hear lots of popping and flashes). For the flaming aircraft on the carrier, disposing overboard was the best solution.
DELL does not seem listen to small ticket item customers. You have to move some serious volume or know someone high up in the Exec team to get action. I myself have submitted letters to different departments, teams and their home office with no resolution or response.
DELL has some serious PR issues it will need to overcome. There are thousands of blogs and postings of DELL "HELL" ramblings. Its a shame, really.
Sadly, AlienWare was acquired by DELL not long ago. One can only hope that DELL will learn from AW and turn the company around.
There is a way to build your own Laptop/Notebook. It is not easy and you will be limited to a small amount of options for upgrades and mods. You will not save allot of money, but you will know what is in you system.
I am using an Inspiron 700m. This system has a battery that is mostly external to the computer. This is the best option for cooling. As to how or why DELL's QA, Engineering, and Marketing couldn't see this "issue" coming is beyond me.
DELL, here is some FREE advice:
1. The CPU and Graphics card aren't the only items that need cooling.
2. For air intakes, use ports from the front and sides and front of the computer - NOT THE BOTTOM (DUH).
3. For exhaust - push the air to the sides or back.
Example1: Pull air from the front, over the system board, over the cooling fins and out the back.
Example2: Pull air from the left side, over the cooling fins and out the right side.
4. Redundant, redundant - i.e.: use an intake port on the left and right. Test to ensure maximum cooling from at least 75% of ONE cooling intake.
5. Provide cooling to the battery and electronics to check battery temperatures.
6. Fix your inter-company communication issues. (maybe this should be #1)
Advice for DELL Consumers and Businesses customers: Get the GOLD Tech Support if you want exceptional support and service.
- Posted by: Luis Perez on August 7, 2006 10:47 AM
1)Buy a Laptop get a free barbecue!
2)Play Laptop-Roulette - rather like Russian-roulette, except you get to keep your brains, but you still get burned!
- Posted by: laptop-barbecue on August 8, 2006 4:05 PM
Well im on my second Dell in 5 years. No complaints. I work in IT but donât really care where itâs made as long as it works. 3 year warranty onsite and fixed in 24 hours if I needed it? Thatâs enough to keep me happy. Itâs a laptop, not vital organ in your body! If something goes wrong with it and itâs the end of your world and existence.. Surely you could do without the laptop anyway and started getting out a bit more often. Iâve heard loads off people warn others off Dell but never actually owned one or experienced issues with Dell themselves? I think itâs just another case of the old great aussie battle of Ford v's Holden. Macs are fantastic and never fail? Probably because the users are still playing with the pretty icons and amazed by the lovely swoosh sounds to do work on them in the first place, ha-ha
- Posted by: Al on August 8, 2006 6:43 PM
Last year I purchased a dell latitude cpx off of ebay.
The laptop was manufactured in 2000 and the battery was manufactured in 2002.
It all still works great and hasn't exploaded.
am i at risk?
- Posted by: Joe on August 10, 2006 5:42 AM
its true dell cant make a QUALITY computer to save there life...so well the moral of this story is that dell should supply you with a fire extinguser with every laptop, did you know that dell took of thair coustomer feedback and souport forums due to bad press?.. its the end of a leggesy of dodgy bodg job macheses, something better wil take thair place.. so untill then boycott them!!!
- Posted by: tom on August 11, 2006 1:16 AM
Has anybody mentioned the damage this could have caused if say...on a plane?
Don't blame Dell there a great company, struck down with bad luck. My XPS's wont be exploding anytime soon.
- Posted by: Dell Boi on August 14, 2006 3:44 AM
If you want to blame someone, blame Sony. They manufactured the batteries that have been recalled.
- Posted by: scoville on August 15, 2006 12:47 PM
It appears that some people perhaps are mis-informed and Dell itself is not heeding the call for action and PROPER customer service. 1st, the problem batteries were manufactured for Dell by Sony corporation.
DELL included the batteries as a standard power supply for the notebook computer models experiencing the problems, therefore, the problems with the batteries are for DELL to remedy, and no-one else. 2nd, devotion to customer service built Dell corporation.
Their level of customer service has dropped so drastically in the past few years, that many PC users are gravitating to other manufacturers. My Inspiron 8600 was my first Dell purchase and may well be my last. I had three Toshibas previously - - bought my last one, a P2, 433 Mhz unit six and a half years ago.
It still runs just fine. My 8600 lost its LCD screen three months after the warranty expired. Dell said, "Sorry", yet the failure was in great probably due to a manufacturing defect. The battery has gotten so hot, I could not touch it and had to eject it from the PC with great care to avoid being burned. The battery case cracked and the battery's life dropped to about half.
I called the battery recall program hotline in December, 2005; my battery was not on the recall list, so I was directed to customer service, who offered to send me a new one at the retail price. No thanks! Now, 4.1 million Dell notebooks are possibly affected. Called again tonight and was told, "Nope, your battery still is not on the list."
At least, the technician advised me he'd forward my concern to the recall program supervisor. I'm not holding my breath. Though my 8600 is working fine (albeit with a new LCD and new battery I finally went out and bought), I imagine I will go back to Toshiba or at least a different brand next time. Sorry Dell, but your customer service has taken a good product and ruined it with poor or non-existent product support.
- Posted by: Steve on August 15, 2006 1:22 PM
I can't believe you guys are arguing over the "genuineness" of the battery. That comment by steve was what we call "sarcasm". Look into it.
Low-end Dells are absolute crap. Get a Thinkpad.
- Posted by: Peter on August 15, 2006 1:25 PM
just for those of you who think apple notebooks are imune from fire
- Posted by: Andrew on August 15, 2006 7:03 PM
Honestly, the sad realisation that the technological age is slowly taking over. nothing is immune, you may all think you're all immune, in most cases, yes, you probably are. after reading every post on this page i have a few comments to add.
1. How the hell are you ment to tell if thats a real Dell Battery? its charcoal for petes sakes!
2. Dell isnt the only company who has notebooks catching on fire.
3. As Andrew posted : http://www.podcastingnews.com/news/06_06/Mac_Laptop_Explodes_Flame.html
This notebook caught on fire because the child had it on the floor and was probably blocking the air vents.
I have a Toshiba notebook, i have not had one single problem with it its on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. it NEVER runs on battery alone, i always have it plugged into power.
They are called notebooks for a reason. they are not designed to sit on your lap for one reason, Air Ventelation. simple.
Oh, and before i finish, The people terrified of a notebook bursting into flames while on an airplane, Turn it off. Simple.
Think of all the companies that make notebooks, and think how many batteries they have to make every year, Millions, Certainly they cant all be perfect. I feel sorry for Dell for getting all the blame here, its happening to other companies, so why not put it in the news about them too?
Computer companies pump out notebooks and pc's more than you change your underwear. They cant all be perfect. think of the poor mongrels that have to make the parts to go into the computers that computer companies are making millions off.
Thats my two cents.
- Posted by: Mandi on August 16, 2006 12:13 AM
This forum(?) needs a tech perspective:
I work for a large world-wide corporation (not Dell) as a PC support tech. I am also a Dell Certified Technician, because we have 2500+ Dell PCs and Notebooks. Every Dell computer we purchase has a 3-year extended warrany (yes, we pay extra for that).
Having been a PC tech for the better part of 10 years, I expect to see failures in hardware, whether it's after 3 months or 3 years. There will always be periodic defects in electronic manufacturing.
In the past 2 years I have had to replace 50+ notebook hard disk drives (Latitude D600, D610), 10-15 system boards, and various other parts in Latitudes and Optiplex desktops.
Dell not only replaces the parts for free, but they also pay my company per part replacement, since we do the labor ourselves.
Yes 50-60 hard drives out of 5-600 notebooks does seem rather high (10%), but does Dell make these hard drives? NO.
Most of the hard drives I have replaced are made by TOSHIBA, HITACHI, WESTERN DIGITAL.
Even a few Seagate.
However, given the way users treat their laptops, I'm not surprised at all about 50-60 drive failures. I would guess it's a combination of many factors: heat, lenth of non-stop run-time, bouncing laptops down the road in little roller laptop cases...
The issue at hand, however, is exploding batteries. Once again there are many factors to take into consideration for each separate case.
How long was the computer running?
Was it plugged into an outlet?
Had the battery been damaged by the user previous to explosion?
Rarely do these articles about exploding batteries really give the full story. There is always circumstantial evidence that gets missed, and many times, users will "fudge" the facts a little in order to get something replaced under warranty. Essentially to put the blame elsewhere. I'm not saying that every user lies, but (e.g.)I have seen a fist print on a shattered LCD screen when the user said he did not do anything, "The screen just started showing funny looking lines."
I have never seen any verifiable data showing Dell failure rates to be any higher than other manufacturers. In my experience, Dell's computers are just as good as any other manufacturer and better than many. They have excellent customer service for large corporations. (I will not speak for home users, since I build my own home desktop and have no past experience in this area.)
Would I recommend Dell computers? Definitely.
Tips for the end user:
1. Get the extended warranty for electronic equipment. It's usually worth it. If your computer fails outside of the warranty period, deal with it! You wanted it warrantied for one year, and it worked for one year! Buy the extended warranty with your next purchase. That's the whole point of a warranty.
2. Don't mistreat electronic devices and expect them to continue working properly.
3. If you don't like a manufacturer because one of their $5/hour CSR's did not bend over backward to fix YOUR problem, go buy from a different manufacturer next time instead of bitching about it on a website.
4. Don't expect a computer to run great (or at all) after 10 years. Computer technology is not made to last that long. Yes some devices do, but you have to be a little thick-headed to EXPECT it. My 10-year old Compaq notebook still works, but it is now an LCD picture frame, and I expect it to die at any time.
If I've offended you, feel free to post a bitch session directed at me! Nobody will care!
Everyone else, have a great day!
- Posted by: SupportTech on August 16, 2006 3:22 AM
The pictures are of a D410 all right--I have one. The "official" batteries are indeed black, as opposed to the case which is dark gray.
And, no don't work for Dell.
- Posted by: al on August 16, 2006 4:55 AM
There seem to be a lot of people complaining here about Dells, but I suspect that all they are complaining about hype: I know for a fact that more microwave ovens catch fire in operation than laptop PCs, and these use much higher voltages, and do far more damage. Yet people still use microwave ovens. Why? because there is, as of yet, no bad press...
Dell are always going to be attacked by people and other companies because of their relative cheapness and market dominance. But lets face it: they are still the average person's choice, and deservedly so, though this reputation may be hit by the bias of the media.
Lithium batteries are notoriously prone to conbustion, as the Lithium contained within them is one of the most reactive elements. Therefore, with the huge amaount of batteries in existance, it is hardly surprising that a small number suffer problems.
And those people who insist on trying to sell us Macs, why do you own them anyway? If your argument is cost, think again, as updates to the operating system cost money. The machines themselves cost more also, and don't have anywhere near the performance of Windows in games. If the argument is that they run cooler, then think again: at the same hardware speeds, they are the same, they just have weaker hardware setups: ironic when you pay more for them. Lets face it, Linux beats Mac at everything, and costs nothing. So STFU noobs.
- Posted by: The Forth Reich on August 16, 2006 5:10 AM
Made In China "quality" strikes again! Ever notice that 95% of the product recalls of late occurred to products that came from China? They must really be using substandard materials and/or manufacturing processes over there!
- Posted by: Kevin on August 16, 2006 7:00 AM
I'm having the same problem with my Dell Inspiron 6000. It heats up enough I can cook an egg on it. After all this, I'm glad I'm not buying a second Dell laptop which would have been the XPS M1210. I hope they fix this problem and lower the cost of their laptops due to these malfunctions. Dell isn't doing very well.
- Posted by: Ken on August 16, 2006 7:14 AM
I use dells every day, and I own one dell computer and one dell laptop. Although I have had my issues (Faulty RAM, Failing HDD, Overheating L/T Charger), I do understand that these components are not made by Dell, but only bought and fitted to their equipment.
It's funny that when one bad incident about one company comes up, all these nobody's come out of the bushes and share their bad experiances. Fact is, there is 4.1 million or so batteries being recalled, all because of 3 incidents... IMO I don't think that even warrents a recall... and these batteries are made by Sony I think...
There is more chance of a transported car catching on fire in a plane then a laptop of any brand, and I know what will do more damage....
- Posted by: Kai on August 16, 2006 9:32 AM
I read earlier someone mentioned something about Dell having better service and support due to recalls. I also saw a post about Macs. I'm a Mac user, a Linux user, a Solaris user, and a Windows user. In all fairness each OS portrays their own role in production. If one works better for the purpose I use why worry about the cost? And also, Apple has made numerous voluntary recalls on their products. From failing logic boards to AC adaptors to batteries. Even recently their MacBook Pro batteries were recalled not because of safety but they didn't meet the quality guidelines. To judge a company because the battery or other parts made by a third party were faulty is rather silly. Dell is recalling 4.1 million batteries but is also one of the largest laptop manufacturers. If any other company sold the same volume of laptops the numbers would be similar in such a scenario.
I personally don't like Dell desktops or laptops. Their servers are a different story. But to judge Dell for using faulty batteries manufactured by Sony is like saying McDonalds is responsible for damages done to customer injury after the coffee has gotten in the vehicle. It's just dumb. And at least Dell, like Apple and other companies, has the courage and sense of responsibility to voluntarily recall their products.
Now, sell your Dell stock because it's going down!
- Posted by: Erik on August 16, 2006 12:35 PM
The battery is made in Japan. It is from Sony. But somehow SONY VAIO doesn't have same problem YET!.
- Posted by: dach on August 16, 2006 2:23 PM
This goes out to "Koz" who supposedly works for an IT Reseller-- Unless they are used machines, you wont find a Dell through IT resellers, you working for one should know this. Dell's are only sold direct from factory so the fact that you do not sell any with your company has no bearing on Dell's competency to produce a quality product. In addition, Who cares if the battery is genuine or not? Its not the reason the battery caught fire, Its because it was like all the other batteries used in notebook computers with the exception that it malfunctioned. Some of you people need to quit being so ignorant and start educating yourselves on the matters before you comment. I completely agree with Erik with the exception of disliking Dell's products. Ive owned Hewlett-Packards Desktops for years and hated every single one. They were slow and faulty and in 2001, I bought my first Dell--the Dimension 8100--after seeing my aunt's Dell L700r run problem-free and still is. My 8100 has been running non-stop for the past 5 years and ive had no mechanical malfunctions to date. Being so impressed I bought a second machine in 2004, the Dimension 8300 and have no complaints or regrets. My dad and grandma both bought Dell's after seeing the performance of these machines and have had no problems with them. Now these are all Desktop computers, my sister owns an Inspirion 600m that my dad bought her in the early summer of 2005 and I can attest that these notebooks do get really hot, so much so that I would get uneasy about leaving the machine sitting on a fabric surface. So far her machine hasnt spontaneously combusted but with anything that gets anywhere remotely close to the temperature that these notebooks do, I wouldnt doubt that even without a battery malfunction, the heat alone from the underside of this machine at normal operating temperature could cause a fire.
I also agree that Dell's printers are crap.
- Posted by: AJ on August 16, 2006 2:56 PM
Kevin at August 16, 2006 07:00 AM: "Made In China "quality" strikes again! Ever notice that 95% of the product recalls of late occurred to products that came from China? They must really be using substandard materials and/or manufacturing processes over there!"
95% of the product recalls of late occurred to products that came from China BECAUSE 95% OF THE COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS PRODUCTS IN THE WORLD ARE MADE IN CHINA. Kevin, I hope you're using a 100% Aussie made computer (if it ever exists).
- Posted by: Chinese on August 16, 2006 4:07 PM
"As much as I love Apple computers (and I'm quite a fan of Dells as well), all those who are been Apple fan Boys on this blog should take a look at this: http://wcco.com/consumer/local_story_148150249.html"
The computer was also left running on carpeting. Lets face it, the companies go out of their way NOT to call them laptops for a reason.
And anyone who picks up a smoldering notebook computer, takes it outside, and starts taking pictures of it rather than trying to put the damn fire out obviously isnt playing with a full deck."
Posted by: Doug at August 1, 2006 06:31 AM
well said doug!! well said...
- Posted by: bonnie on August 16, 2006 5:08 PM
DELL has just updated its web site of battery return program with a new set of batteries model.
See: https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/ or click above.
- Posted by: Duschnouk on August 16, 2006 6:21 PM
Just a correction to the above assertion about Chinese-made hardware. Around 90% of the world's hardware is made in Taiwan, not mainland China. However, mainland China is beginning to compete in this area and Taiwanese manufacturers are concerned this will erode the basis of their very existance - economically. We are an OEM/distributor so we are made aware of the differences in quality. The reality is Taiwan are the best producers for cost-quality reasons and many western countries are not equipped to produce on the scale they do for the low price. We are currently noticing the difference between new Chinese-mainland equipment which is 'cheap' looking and often not as well finished as Taiwanese goods (e.g the Mac range of stunning machines are all made in Taiwan, designed in California). Naturally, if you find yourself with technology 'Made in China' then the quality and reliability is questionable simply because they lack the experience, skills - so far. It's not surprising Dell are going for that option though - it's all about cost to them and business customers make up over 70% of their business - so once they have your corporation tied-in, there's no going back.
- Posted by: Gombo on August 16, 2006 7:12 PM
There's as usual a lot of misinformation about genuine & aftermarket or generic batteries. I openly admit our company sells them. We also design & make battery packs for many companies & various government departments.
As a result of our generic batteries we're not on the Christmas card lists of the consumer electronics giants we're 'stealing' sales from by providing an equal or better product at a lower price. Let's remind ourselves how much spare parts would cost if non genuine parts were not available for our motor vehicles. There's no doubt many non genuine motor parts are more highly regarded than genuine. Why are batteries any different?
The fact is there are crappy & good generic batteries, there's also crappy & good so called genuine batteries. NONE of the batteries are made by the computer companies anyway! Often generic & brand name batteries come off the same production line with everything the same except the label. Dell & all the other brands are always changing brands of batteries & other components to save a few more $. Inside the batteries we sell we only specify the best made cells with the correct protection circuit gear inside. We could buy cheaper ones but don't want failures or worse still explosions. We have no doubt many of our so called generic battery packs often contain superior cells & circuitry than their genuine counterparts. We're astounded by the number of genuine batteries we've opened for customers after they've had a major failure that have obviously been poorly manufactured &/or used cheap low grade cells & components all to save a couple of dollars. We recently had a customers Toshiba TE2200 catch fire when sitting on his desk & not being used. It was first sent to Toshiba who of course have no expertise in this area in our country so they just blamed the battery. It was later sent to an electronics engineer who found the fault that caused the fire to be in the Toshiba charging circuit built into the computer.
- Posted by: geoff on August 16, 2006 8:01 PM
Not just Dell Laptops! I found products Made in China don't last very long. I suppose they are getting their act together only.
- Posted by: George on August 16, 2006 9:30 PM
i guess that people are ignoring the corporate and consumer greed factors and shift the blame to the less lucky factory workers in the far east because it is probably easier for us to think we're innocient.
dell delivers defective laptops, but they have sony to blame.
sony delivers defective batteries, but it is some unknown faceless people in china to blame.
consumers want to buy new laptops once every 13 months but don't want to pay $4000 each, so they buy cheap laptops from dell, when they realise that they don't last as long as the $4000 ones, they blame dell, sony and chinese factories.
dell wants to maximise profit such that they give you a $500 worth of computer and charge you $1700, they want you to buy a new computer every 8 months.
these factory workers spend 14 hrs each day taking instructions from the corporate giants ...
think we should spend a bit more on a quality computer and keep it for longest we can, it doesn't matter the brand or country of origin, really.
- Posted by: QP on August 17, 2006 11:03 AM
I have one of the first Inspiron 8600 1.6 mobility CPU, UXGA LCD, 1meg ram, replaced HDD w/7200rpm 80meg-original drive is my external back up. This machine is a workhorse. 3 solid months it is used (and I mean used not just on) 14hrs a day, 7 days a week in a busy tax prep office (w/external monitor and keyboard) the rest of the year it is used 5 days a week 6 hrs a day w/LCD screen for work and game play. It has not given me one problem. I follow a few simple rules: keep the bottom of the machine cool, unplug the power when finished and once every 4 days to run down the battery while working, keep clean, and keep software/firmware updated. Every machine takes some kind of care to get max life out of it.
The battery recall, BFD, hell how many recalls a year do you see from car manufacturers? You paid a hell of a lot more for your car than your laptop :-)
- Posted by: JLeeG on August 21, 2006 12:52 PM
My Goddess, so many people have misimpressions and so few have the correct facts!
Copied snippets from previous posters to answer their problem (or comment).
1)> I personally have not had any problems with Dell. Sony is a great brand and I have found HP support the most helpful. I have a dealt with a number of problems on Toshiba's.
> Like most things in life everyone's pc / laptop experience is different.
> Posted by: Di
LAW: I got my first Dell in 1986 and haven't turned back. I had Gateway and Hitachi. Hitachi was unexpandable beyone 192K, and Gateway ran very hot with short battery life (256K). I've had 4 deskside/workstations, and 4 laptops. In each case I got the 3-year, Next-Business Day service.
One Workstation had a motherboard die. Had a new one in hand the next day. They offered to install it, but I knew how to do it myself. It started as a 400MHz P-II w/256. That was in 1998. Eight years later, it is way over-it's original spec -- P-III 1000MHz, 1G memory, and 15K SCSI with 5 hard disks ranging from 120-400GB each. Still great for a file server for my home.
2) 2nd of all, everyone knows, or should know, that you don't leave any portable machine with a lithium ion battery hooked up 24/7 to a charger.(read: cellphone, remote, R/C vehicles)
> "PORTABLE" machines were not designed to run constantly the way desktops are. "but i work constantly" you say? turn your machine off when you turn off. "I can't." get a desktop. - moreknolidge
A: Not true. Computer lithium batteries have smart circuitry in them to determine charge and need for recharging. They don't recharge when full and not plugged in. I've had lithium cells sit outside of my laptops for 3-4 months and only lose maybe 10-20%, at most. They don't discharge quickly (like nicads) and don't need continuous charging.
As for leaving laptops on -- I left mine on for 24x7 for about 6 years. It was sold as a "desktop replacement" Never had a problem until I tried to do an upgrade and forgot to remove battery before removing chips (*Doh!*)
4) > See what most of you don't realize is that all of the mishaps that have been mentioned are also related in the fact that they were all connected to a/c power sources at the time. does it REALLY take a rocket surgeon to figure out what the most likely cause? --- Posted by: moreknolidge
A: Actually, the fires I first heard about were both cases where the laptop was runing on batteries and was discharging too fast (too much drain). One was in an overhead compartment in a plane: it was plugged in? I don't think so.
Advice from Dell: don't
run computers with affected batteries on battery -- leave them plugged in.
They hold charge well, and *usually* don't draw current for charging when plugged in. The plug-in w/battery is a built-in UPS -- a selling point of laptops.
4) 4. > Provide cooling to the battery and electronics to check battery temperatures.
> Advice for DELL Consumers and Businesses customers: Get the GOLD Tech Support if you want exceptional support and service. - Posted by: Luis Perez
A: Warantees "appear" to spell the end of a machine, but one can usually extend the service contact for 1-2 years beyond the original time frame. If all the systems were set to "die" after the original warantee period, selling extensions wouldn't be cost effective.
My laptop lasted 6 years before I killed it. The hard disk was fine -- I put it in my desktop system with an adaptor, and everything was recoverable.
The Gold support appears to be a good investment, but at minimum, next-business-day on-site service or replacement is essential. Had a friend with HP's "return-to-depot" repair who was without her computer for 6 weeks. That would kill me.
4) > It appears that some people perhaps are mis-informed and Dell itself is not heeding the call for action and PROPER customer service. 1st, the problem batteries were manufactured for Dell by Sony corporation. - Posted by: Steve -and-
> The battery is made in Japan. It is from Sony. But somehow SONY VAIO doesn't have same problem YET!. - > Posted by: dach
A: Bingo! All the people who claim Dell goes for cheap parts need to eat their words. Sony's products are not cheap. Manufacturers that sell components to other vendors usually give the "sub-standard", "didn't quite make the quality grade" for their own "labeled PC's" Sony again shows it's indifference to the consumers by shipping marginal batteries.
When I checked out my latest laptop, I compared offerings to Gateway, Sony, HP, Lenovo (was IBM), and almost all of them had the *exact* same model of PC -- same feature sets, with slightly varying accessories. Alot of the big vendors get their PC supplies from some ultra-large "generic" manufacturers, and then the vendors customize it, put their label on it, and resell it.
No question, Dell has a less than stellar customer support record, but I think many of the criticisms leveled against them here are "under-informed"...
- Posted by: Linda Walsh on August 24, 2006 9:29 AM
Dell has had battery problems, but we should remember they are produced by others. Also for those of you touting Apple as the panacea for all problems, Apple just recalled batteries also.
Lets focus on the battery manufactures, and not the computer companies.
just my 2cents
- Posted by: Dave on August 26, 2006 8:36 AM
Dell from hell is definitely an accurate description. Having been selling dell laptops for several years now. I have found that they are really good marketers. Because otherwise their equipment would not sell normally when compared to other more reliable brands on a side by side basis.
- Posted by: Bob Johnson on August 29, 2006 3:01 AM
Dell, Apple, Compaq, HP, IBM, whoever.... the problem is not with the manufacturer of the machine, but with the supplier of the battery.
Remember folks that your laptop manufacturer simply collects components to compile together to create a complete system.
Now that we know that Sony corp of Japan was responsible for the affected batteries, we have someone to blame for this...
Is it Apple or Dells fault for trying to squeeze a few more minutes of battery life / dollar spent on a battery pack by going with Sony corp for the component?
The consumer demand for Tim Allen Power "argh Argh" is what has driven this process.
At least both companies have voluntarily recalled the affected components.
Is it the end for either company? Hardly... are there still Ford vehicles on the road? do people still purchase Nokia cell phones.... has anyone had a cup of coffee from McDonalds recently?
Lets find something new to discuss!
- Posted by: joeq on September 1, 2006 5:12 PM
DELL = Don't Expect Last Long !!!!
- Posted by: Tan Ah Beng on September 2, 2006 1:14 AM
I think you're never happy : you get a James Bond self destructing laptop with muffin-cooking option and everybody's complaining ...
Did you read complains from Dell laptop users in Nunanut or scientists on north pôle ? They are more happy than ever with this new heater option.
- Posted by: Mégamodeste on October 14, 2006 4:40 PM
I have bought a DELL Inspiron 6400 with intel core duo 2 Ghz, 1 GB ram, and i kept on getting blue screens. I reinstalled the system, and i am still getting this damn blue screens. The drivers provided for wireless card wasn't working until they updated it last week. The dell service insist its a software problem. I am very disappointed with this laptop.
- Posted by: Ali on November 20, 2006 6:54 AM
This laptop shown in the picture is Latitude D620. I own Latitude D610 and D810.
Knob for opening the screen if for XX20 series. I have seen the same laptop with my colleage.
- Posted by: Castro on January 25, 2007 11:53 AM
To all of you pushing Apple and Toshiba. May I remind you that the recall of Dell laptop batteries was infact a result of a third party manufacturer and not Dell itself. Dell batteries (the ones recalled) were made by Sony. Dell, oshiba and 5 others computer makers recalled batteries because of defective Sony made batteries. Apple too still has a recall program in place for thousands of MacBook batteries. Look for the recall link on apple.com.au. I use a Dell Inspiron with a Teac made battery and i'm still alive. As for Dell Dimension desktops, don't touch them. They cook themselves and the techos are idiots!
- Posted by: Adam on February 11, 2007 2:45 AM
you know dell spent as much on the battery recall that apple made in prifits last year.
- Posted by: troy on February 12, 2007 4:47 AM
well ive had loads of dells and none of them ever blew up and besides, it was probably put under considerable strain as work computers usaully are. I believe this is not dells fault and yes it probably was to hot and over worked and poorly looked after.
Dell is just like any other brand but has more of there computers out there so the public look at them more and what goes wrong with them!
- Posted by: ANTI-HACKER on February 24, 2007 6:23 PM
iv had a dell laptop until recently when i managed to fry the motherboard. it worked fine and i believe that this poor laptop either had the wrong parts installed or it had a faulty battery. in any case, dell is one of the best and so much better during the holiday time unlike gateway. lol, their buttons pop off and things are not connected correctly, no good at all. oh well, risk comes with every single thing in life.
- Posted by: Anonymous on April 22, 2007 11:03 AM
I Think IBM battery no problem like this, I recommend it.
- Posted by: michaeljoney on September 6, 2007 4:17 PM
GOOD,when saving documents, use a USB Pen Drive. This device uses static Flash memory as opposed to a spinning Hard Drive.This is a great way to save battery life!
- Posted by: JIM on December 29, 2007 8:54 PM
I have found using higher capacity batteries is a good way to go, that way you dont have to comprimise your laptops performance.
- Posted by: tool battery on February 19, 2008 2:25 PM


text:
###Bundle details and download
With some great help from our local Boston ExtraHop team I put this together for my client and thought some others might find it useful. This is my first foray into creating pages and triggers so make sure you review carefully before you decide to use this. My client has a probe on the internet which we monitor Office365 Traffic. This solution:
- Creates an application called Office-365
- Under this application click on Office365 for an overview of different products

subset: commoncrawl