Dell 15% off laptops

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Forums › Bargains and Deals › Dell 15% off laptops

lctham

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#238254 9-Jul-2018 13:43

Dell has 15% on their online site at the moment,

Dell Website

7 days Tech Frenzy! Don’t miss our Sitewide Sale on all Inspiron, XPS, G Series PCs & monitors. Ends Thursday, July 12, 2018. T&Cs apply.

Im going to get the New XPS 15" which is $3298 and then will be $2803 after the discount. JB Hifi have also said they will match this discount.

timtait

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#2052155 9-Jul-2018 18:26

Anyone had to deal with returns / repairs when ordering from the Dell website? I've had my eye on one of the new XPS laptops for a while but heard a few horror stories about about coil whine and dead pixels.

sonyxperiageek

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#2052186 9-Jul-2018 19:16

While the specs on the XPS 15 look nice, in reality, I've had many issues with the device itself. Speakers becoming distorted and fuzzy, charging port not charging, and some screen issues. I would avoid the XPS line if you can.

Sony

howdystranger

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#2052253 9-Jul-2018 20:38

timtait:

Anyone had to deal with returns / repairs when ordering from the Dell website? I've had my eye on one of the new XPS laptops for a while but heard a few horror stories about about coil whine and dead pixels.

I had to get my keyboard repaired and it was fine - a guy came out to my house and did it.

irongarment

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#2052272 9-Jul-2018 21:08

I want the XPS13 Developer Edition, but it's not available in NZ. I'd probably save more than 15% by buying overseas anyway.

timtait

133 posts

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#2052279 9-Jul-2018 21:26

howdystranger:

timtait:

Anyone had to deal with returns / repairs when ordering from the Dell website? I've had my eye on one of the new XPS laptops for a while but heard a few horror stories about about coil whine and dead pixels.

I had to get my keyboard repaired and it was fine - a guy came out to my house and did it.

Thats good to hear

irongarment: I want the XPS13 Developer Edition, but it's not available in NZ. I'd probably save more than 15% by buying overseas anyway.

Isn't it the same as the non Dev version but with Ubuntu?

dazhann

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#2052383 10-Jul-2018 08:28

timtait:

Anyone had to deal with returns / repairs when ordering from the Dell website? I've had my eye on one of the new XPS laptops for a while but heard a few horror stories about about coil whine and dead pixels.

Dells customer service ,for me anyway, was really top rate. Any query was answered promptly and solution offered. I had issue with headphone not being recognised I was directed to link to reinstall audio driver. Second issue was wifi dropping off. They arranged for wifi receiver (aerial?) to be replaced. The service agent collected laptop from my work and delivered it back repaired same day.

You could say you shouldn't have issues with a new laptop though.

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Dulouz

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#2052397 10-Jul-2018 09:00

When buying from a Dell I advise talking to one of their sales reps rather than ordering straight off the website. I've always gotten better deals that way and you can build a relationship with a sales rep for future orders.

Amanon

irongarment

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#2052481 10-Jul-2018 10:25

timtait:
howdystranger:

timtait:

Anyone had to deal with returns / repairs when ordering from the Dell website? I've had my eye on one of the new XPS laptops for a while but heard a few horror stories about about coil whine and dead pixels.

I had to get my keyboard repaired and it was fine - a guy came out to my house and did it.

Thats good to hear

irongarment: I want the XPS13 Developer Edition, but it's not available in NZ. I'd probably save more than 15% by buying overseas anyway.

Isn't it the same as the non Dev version but with Ubuntu?

Not really. First, buying the Developer Edition tells Dell that that product is preferred over the Windows version. Second, I don't pay any money to Microsoft. Third, the warranty covers the machine with Linux, so there are no questions of it not working because some component is known only to work with Windows. Fourth, there are no BIOS shenanigans preventing anything but Windows to be installed.

Looking at prices, it's really hard to tell, because there is no like-for-like comparison. However, I can get an i7 variant here with Windows and half the SSD capacity for about NZ$300 more. Great incentive.

dclegg

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#2052529 10-Jul-2018 11:37

timtait:

Anyone had to deal with returns / repairs when ordering from the Dell website? I've had my eye on one of the new XPS laptops for a while but heard a few horror stories about about coil whine and dead pixels.

No dead pixels, but I do have coil whine. You get used to it. It kinda sounds like HDD access, and is only really noticeable if listening out for it. It also only happens when plugged into the power adapter.

I've already had the keyboard replaced (widely reported key debounce issue) and logic board replaced (attempt to fix thermal shutdown events). The process itself was pretty easy. Can't comment on whether the keyboard issue was fixed, as I've switched to an external mechanical one. But I've not had any thermal shutdown events since the the logic board was replaced.

There are multiple ways to contact Dell Support, and I recommend using the same channel throughout as these channels don't communicate well with each other. For this I prefer Twitter, as they seem faster to respond and are more onto it than their email support channel.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this laptop (top of the range XPS 15). I came from being a Macbook Pro user since 2009, but Apple's latest hardware just wasn't doing it for me, and the value for money proposition with the Dell was far too good to ignore. For $1K less, I got twice the RAM and SSD as the top of the range Macbook Pro.

ritzlal

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#2052585 10-Jul-2018 12:30

sonyxperiageek: While the specs on the XPS 15 look nice, in reality, I've had many issues with the device itself. Speakers becoming distorted and fuzzy, charging port not charging, and some screen issues. I would avoid the XPS line if you can.

Sorry to hear about that. I had the XPS 13 9350 for about a year and the only issue I had was some small dead pixels on the screen. The repair guy came over and replaced the screen under warranty. Was all nice and easy. I then upgraded to the XPS 13 9360 and have been using it for over 6 months without any issues. Great laptop in terms of performance, portability etc.

timtait

133 posts

Master Geek
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#2052592 10-Jul-2018 12:48

dclegg:

No dead pixels, but I do have coil whine. You get used to it. It kinda sounds like HDD access, and is only really noticeable if listening out for it. It also only happens when plugged into the power adapter.

I've already had the keyboard replaced (widely reported key debounce issue) and logic board replaced (attempt to fix thermal shutdown events). The process itself was pretty easy. Can't comment on whether the keyboard issue was fixed, as I've switched to an external mechanical one. But I've not had any thermal shutdown events since the the logic board was replaced.

There are multiple ways to contact Dell Support, and I recommend using the same channel throughout as these channels don't communicate well with each other. For this I prefer Twitter, as they seem faster to respond and are more onto it than their email support channel.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this laptop (top of the range XPS 15). I came from being a Macbook Pro user since 2009, but Apple's latest hardware just wasn't doing it for me, and the value for money proposition with the Dell was far too good to ignore. For $1K less, I got twice the RAM and SSD as the top of the range Macbook Pro.

Did you find the switch from Mac OK? I'm planning on moving over after the last 7 years or so. I'd get another Mac but I just don't like the feel of their latest laptops, not to mention I'd be looking at least twice the price to this XPS I'm looking at.

ritzlal:

Sorry to hear about that. I had the XPS 13 9350 for about a year and the only issue I had was some small dead pixels on the screen. The repair guy came over and replaced the screen under warranty. Was all nice and easy. I then upgraded to the XPS 13 9360 and have been using it for over 6 months without any issues. Great laptop in terms of performance, portability etc.

Can you remember which warranty you purchased? I noticed they had two warranty options on their site, a Premium and Premium Plus option but struggled to find the difference between the two.

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dclegg

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#2052618 10-Jul-2018 13:19

timtait:

Did you find the switch from Mac OK? I'm planning on moving over after the last 7 years or so. I'd get another Mac but I just don't like the feel of their latest laptops, not to mention I'd be looking at least twice the price to this XPS I'm looking at.

I'm a Windows developer, so there was no real culture shock. But I am surprised by the amount of things that MacOS does that I took for granted. Tasks that in a Windows world you need to find third party software for (such as PDF editing).