If you have a Dell Laptop...

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Laptops made from April 2004 to July 2006? That's a lot of laptops!

Last summer, before we all went to college, at least 8 of my friends bought Dell laptop including my roommate. I had no idea I had a grenade in my dorm room this whole time. :nervous:
 
MachOne
No this isn't Sony's fault. The battery packs made by Sony worked in many other brands of laptops, but not Dell.
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Apple did the same thing with the same Sony batteries last year... So there...
 
dougiemeats
Laptops made from April 2004 to July 2006? That's a lot of laptops!

Last summer, before we all went to college, at least 8 of my friends bought Dell laptop including my roommate. I had no idea I had a grenade in my dorm room this whole time. :nervous:
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And how many fires did you have?

The 4.1m batteries that Dell have recalled represents 18% of their laptop sales during the period.
 
GilesGuthrie
And how many fires did you have?

The 4.1m batteries that Dell have recalled represents 18% of their laptop sales during the period.
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18% of their laptop sales during a two-year period... that's still a good number of laptops.

And I wasn't trying to say that all of their laptops were grenades. There's obviously a higher risk of fire when using a candle than a Dell laptop, but people take precautions when using a candle. With laptops, fire is not in people's minds, making the situation more dangerous.
 
MachOne
It just may explode!

Good going Dell. You waste your customer's money on a weaksauce laptop, then try to murder them. Great for business đź‘Ť .

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-2313406,00.html

No this isn't Sony's fault. The battery packs made by Sony worked in many other brands of laptops, but not Dell.
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Actually, those companies who used the Sony batterys are advised to look at a few of their's as well.
 
I think they already have started confiscating all electronic devices, something about a terror plot to build a bomb involving a few terrorists, one carrying toothpaste, one carrying an iPod, etc, and meeting on the plane to build a bomb.

Only thing Im worried about is, now I can't bring my PSP on an airplane, and whats worse is it might blow up while Im playing Midnight Club 3! :scared::lol:
 
It's a costly recall for Sony and Dell, but in the end most people won't care, they'll get their replacement batteries and never think twice about it.

I'm curious if Sony's laptop battery business will suffer greatly and how this will affect their current and future supply contracts.
 
They should've done it a long time ago when this first started happening instead of waiting for so long, however it's good to see they've finally started their action and have recalled more than needed just to be on the safe side.
Yeah the concern are the Sony made batteries (according to Dell's press announcement) so theoretically other products with these batteries made around the same time period could 'xplode'.
 
dbartucci
It's a costly recall for Sony and Dell, but in the end most people won't care, they'll get their replacement batteries and never think twice about it.

I'm curious if Sony's laptop battery business will suffer greatly and how this will affect their current and future supply contracts.
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It's be on the national news so I suspect that it will dent Dell's image quite abit in the UK. Thought it isn't as bad as if someone had actually been injured.

Which thinking about it is kinda odd. If they are suddenly erupting into fire why has no-one been hurt? Or is it just a progressive over heat?
 
ExigeExcel
It's be on the national news so I suspect that it will dent Dell's image quite abit in the UK. Thought it isn't as bad as if someone had actually been injured.

Which thinking about it is kinda odd. If they are suddenly erupting into fire why has no-one been hurt? Or is it just a progressive over heat?
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I'm assuming that the ones which catch on fire weren't on people's laps at the time. I remember not long ago some kid was using his Macbook on the carpet, and when he left the room for a while it went up. All the time people worry about it getting overheated there's less of a danger, i suppose. But yeah, it's weird how we haven't heard any reports of it happening. Maybe Dell payed them to shut up...
 
According to a number of different reports I have read on this it is not just limited to Dell laptops or Sony batteries, as a number of other manufacturers (of both batteries and laptops) have been previously effected.

This just happens to be a rather large recall, which is not surprising given the number of laptops that Dell sell.

My own company laptop is a Dell Latitude D520 and I've had to check the battery on that, and fortunatly its not one subject to this recall.

To be honest I view this in the same way I view a lot of product recalls, the number of recorded incidents Vs. the level of press interest are well out of proportion.

IIRC the issue with X-box power supplies had more reported incidents, yet never got the same level of coverage. Then again no one caught that on camera in the same way they did with this story.

Regards

Scaff
 
Can someone explain to me why you all think Dell Laptops suck? I'll be buying a laptop for my sister soon and Dell has been at the top of the list from day 1. HP/Compaq just don't cater to what she needs and I don't like the quality of materials they use to build the enclosures. Sony and Toshiba laptops are pretty expensive or else I'd pick one of those out for her. IBM/Lenovo is nice but again, generally expensive compared to Dell. Frankly, other than Apple, there really isn't any company out there that caters to students for a real portable laptop at a reasonable price.

As far as build quality goes, I've seen a few dells and they look about as sturdy as my thinkpad. The only thing that worries me is battery life which Dell doesn't seem to advertise anywhere on their site.
 
dougiemeats
:( I have a Dell, and you all make me sad.
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Couldn't agree more... My old Latitude has been with me for almost 5 years now. Except for the now dying battery, it has never missed a beat...

Rep where rep is due dougie !... Good call đź‘Ť
 
I think the reason people claim to hate Dell is because they feel when purchasing a mid-to-high end computer they can purchase superior components for less money at computer stores or over the internet. They don't mind (or even enjoy) assembling the unit themselves and feel they have the technical know-how to make informed decisions about which product offers the best value for their money and which products will work well together. They are happy having individual warranties for their components rather than one for the system as a whole.

In my opinion, Dell offers pretty good value for money, give you a warranty on the system with free 24/7 tech support and build it for you so you know it'll work right out of the box. In addition, they offer a pretty broad range of pricing and options. They also permit you to configure a computer to your budget more inclusively than nearly all of their competitors. Like millions of their other customers I don't have the know-how and I can't be bothered to build a computer myself, because quite frankly (and no offense intended at all) building one doesn't appeal to me.

Does that make them suck? I guess if you use the above criteria they suck less than Toshiba, HP, Gateway, Compaq....
 
I have to say that my Latitude D520 (which I have only had a few weeks) seems like a descent enough piece of kit.

Its certainly better build that my last company laptop, which was a Fujitsu, that was very poorly build, had awful battery life a d a quite nasty keyboard. The screen also marked very easily.

So far the Dell has faired better than that one did in its first weeks of ownership, its nicely put together (which I do need), the screen is excellent and I'm very happy with the battery life, even when running on wireless (which was murder on the Fujistu's battery life.

From a business standpoint Dell also offer excellent service, being one of the few companies that will actually send a tech to you if the laptop goes down.

Regards

Scaff
 
I have a Dell desktop (dimension? A few years old...) and it works pretty quickly, when not overloaded with viruses. Sure its no gaming computer or media center, but for GTP and 10 year old NFS games, and AIM, its perfectly fine.
 
Flerbizky
My old Latitude has been with me for almost 5 years now. Except for the now dying battery, it has never missed a beat...
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Pfft, mine did. It missed so many beats that I finally said "screw it" and bought a MacBook. As in, last night.

I couldn't close the Latitude without it freezing up on me, the mouse function gave me a ton of trouble,the DVD player was right next to the headphone jack making it extremely noisy... it had a whole host of problems.


The new Apple on the other hand... ahhh.
 
Zrow
Pfft, mine did. It missed so many beats that I finally said "screw it" and bought a MacBook. As in, last night.

I couldn't close the Latitude without it freezing up on me, the mouse function gave me a ton of trouble,the DVD player was right next to the headphone jack making it extremely noisy... it had a whole host of problems.


The new Apple on the other hand... ahhh.
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And I'm only using mine for simple stuff like recording MPEG2 videos via a PCMCIA card, monitoring WiFi connections, doing Drive Bys, debugging etc..

I must be lucky....
 
hmmm... I heard about all this on holiday and it immediately hit me that u really wouldnt want one of these catching fire on a plane!...... whether its actually sonys batteries at fault or Dells charging system Sony's shares have fallen because of it.....

I dont really like Dell's... they seem abit to cheap..... they reside in public libraries, offices and like millions of uni students rooms..... In my block alone like 80% of ppl have these damn nasty laptops... that are chunky and bland black..... For laptops I would always go with Apple....

Ive got a custom bulit PC..... custom it the way to go!!!

See..... the problem is Dell's image..... the fact that they are used nearly everywhere makes it seem abit to common..... not special and individual..... for the budget buyer its fine but if you want something special or higher end it doesnt seem to fit the brand as apposed to the likes of Vaio.....also from what I have heard their customer service it not exsactly great.
 
Robin ///////
.....also from what I have heard their customer service it not exsactly great.
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Not always the case

Scaff
I have to say that my Latitude D520 (which I have only had a few weeks) seems like a descent enough piece of kit.

Its certainly better build that my last company laptop, which was a Fujitsu, that was very poorly build, had awful battery life a d a quite nasty keyboard. The screen also marked very easily.

So far the Dell has faired better than that one did in its first weeks of ownership, its nicely put together (which I do need), the screen is excellent and I'm very happy with the battery life, even when running on wireless (which was murder on the Fujistu's battery life.

From a business standpoint Dell also offer excellent service, being one of the few companies that will actually send a tech to you if the laptop goes down.

Regards

Scaff
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Robin ///////
hmmm... I heard about all this on holiday and it immediately hit me that u really wouldnt want one of these catching fire on a plane!...... whether its actually sonys batteries at fault or Dells charging system Sony's shares have fallen because of it.....
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Frankly, unless you were of pakistani/arab descent or muslim, I doubt anyone would say more than "oh wow, that's terrible".

custom it the way to go!!!
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Not if you want it for under $1000. Dell, HP, IBM, etc can build at prices that you can't hope to match. Even if you have access to a wholesale parts supplier, you won't be able to match these companies for price due to the volumes they buy at.

See..... the problem is Dell's image..... the fact that they are used nearly everywhere makes it seem abit to common..... not special and individual..... for the budget buyer its fine but if you want something special or higher end it doesnt seem to fit the brand as apposed to the likes of Vaio.....also from what I have heard their customer service it not exsactly great.
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Common means it's accepted. Common means it's reliable and trusted. For high end, Dell's prices are on par with a do it yourself job. I wouldn't dream of buying a Vaio unless it's their ultra-compact model simply because of the fact that most Sony computers come in at least $100 more expensive than a Dell or IBM/Lenovo with similar specs. Even Sony's entry level laptops are are significantly more expensive than a similarly specced Dell. There's a reason these guys sell more computers than anyone else.
 

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