Dell XPS M1710 Overheat.

Hi,

Are you like me?
An owner of a flawed laptop and victim of Dells warranty service?

My story begins when I decided to return to college as a mature student to study a computer related degree.
For this I decided that I would need to upgrade my trusty Dell desktop of 4 years to something that could handle the modern demands of my course, personal and work life. I decided a Laptop/Desktop replacement was the way to go as I would need something that would give me the power to work where ever I could find a power socket.

I started to do my research into the various options open to me but I must say I was heavily influenced by the great experience I had with my desktop. It ran everything and anything I threw at it. I only had to re-install windows once and that was after I updated to a new computer.

When the time came to buy so I decided I'd splash out and invest for the future. I thought to myself that a laptop designed for games would be the best solution to go for. This would have the power for my multimedia work related applications, gaming and college work. I presumed that the hardware would be well designed and set up for the kind of abuse that games can throw at computers. The XPS M1710 seemed to fit the bill for me.
It was at the very top end of my budget but was the best spec I could get for my money. Little did I know what lay in store for me.

Upon receiving my laptop I was delighted at its performance and the quality of the display. It ran everything I needed and did it well. I was confident I had made a good choice in sticking with a brand I was familiar with.

Image taken from this site: http://christinaduus.dk/school/html2/exercise2_7.html

One year and 3 months after I purchased my laptop the graphics started to fail. I did a considerable amount of research into the issue. To my horror I discovered that I was not alone and that this was a common issue to this laptop and the Nvidia GO 7950 GTX  graphics card. The problem is that this graphics card overheats, even under low strain and eventually fails. This is due to not enough cooling and is a design flaw in the laptop and graphics card.

I contacted Dell to begin to try and resolve this issue, I was told that I was outside my one year warranty, but the fact of the matter was that the laptop and its parts are covered under consumer law. This law ensures manufacturers can't sell you products that will break down after a year or two and they should have a reasonable life span.

After repeated efforts with tech support and customer service and written letters of complaint to the highest echelons of Dell I finally got the repair work and replacement part, paid for by Dell. I must add that I initially had to pay for this myself while the issue was being resolved. I needed a working laptop for my college assignments and work commitments at the time. Imagine that, a top of the range laptop that you begin to rely stops working after 1 year and 3 months.
I was able to backup my data using a friends laptop hard disk caddy. It took time but I was glad to have it all backed up.

After getting the laptop repaired I opted for an extended warranty to ensure I had a working laptop for the remainder of my course at least. I did this as I had heard so many horror stories about people needing third and fourth graphics card replacements. Most had to do this outside warranty which is very costly.
I updated my bios and graphics card drivers to the latest that Dell recommended for my laptop, I was told that this would resolve the overheat issue.

Once again I was back up and running and enjoying the quality and speed that this laptop afforded me. Then roughly 5 months later the graphics card went again. I was so glad I had paid for the extended warranty but I was annoyed as I had to organise to do my work on a friends computer and go through the whole backing up of my data again (this time I was able to use VGA mode to transfer things onto and external). I contacted Dell and got the card replaced in a matter of days (great service) but I had been assured that I would receive an upgraded card that did not have this flaw instead of the previous refurbished card. As it turned out I got a refurbished card again, I know this as it was stated on the packaging. The technician lodged my concern with Dell. After this I felt I could not rely on my laptop as a stable work platform let alone anything else.

To pay over € 2000 for a laptop that I could no longer trust to be reliable and feared would go any second seemed ridiculous to me. I really began to question the quality of the technology that is being developed by the leading technology manufacturers. Has a world gone mad on capitalism created products that are designed to only have a certain life span so that the capitalist machine can be fed by a continuous flow of repressed consumers.
Have the corporations we once trusted for reliability been consumed by their own brand identities that they have forgotten that the people who actually buy their products do in fact matter.

With my laptop working again I got on with my life and tried to put it behind me. I had college assignments to do and free lance work to undertake to pay the bills. I slowly began to trust my laptop once again and began to save files to the internal hard disk (things work faster that way). Thankfully I made it through the rest of that college year without it failing.

Roughly two weeks ago surprise surprise the graphics card went again not before windows gave me some chkdsk errors which usually indicate that your hard drive is on its way out. I put the computer into VGA mode and started the now familiar backup of all my files onto an external again. I was able to backup all my data.
Now even in VGA mode the graphics were no longer working, I would get artefacts and then eventually black screen.

I contacted Dell once again about this issue, I was told that I would get a service call the following day. The next day I get a call to say there is a worldwide backlog on this part. The reason there is a backlog is because Nvidia don't manufacture this card any more ( I wonder why) So I'm  waiting for a refurbished card.
These refurbs are essentially someone else's card that has failed, repaired and then ferried to the next M1710 owner where ever they are in the world. I'm still waiting for a part.

The annoying part about all this is, if Dell had acknowledged this flaw in this laptop in the first place and dealt with customers straight away they would not have the expense or the environmental impact of having to continuously replace these cards where ever they are. They would have got better appreciation from customers who had bought into their top range of laptops and probably would be in a better position in the current economic climate.

All they have done here is angered and annoyed the people who invested a large portion of their hard earned money in a computer that they thought was a premium product. I don't think these people will part with that much money again and possibly never buy Dell again.

They should take a leaf from Microsoft's book. Microsoft replaced faulty Xbox 360's, This has increased the loyalty of established customers and turned once off customers into preachers of Xbox 360

I will be taking this further until I get it resolved to my satisfaction. Dell keep throwing walls up to push the consumer back. They will not succeed here.