D830 Owner's Lounge

Well my main concern is whether they fix hardware issues without too much trouble even in another country than I bought it. Local reps say (unlike Lenovo, BTW) that it should not be an issue at all.

 

In my case, I bought my D600 outside of USA with the 3yrs NBD on-site and the CompleteCare plan. When I came to USA, I could register my new US address at the dell website for my D600. After that I have got Dell technical service two times in the USA without any problem.

 

I asked the same question. When you purchase your laptop, be sure to get the 3-year International Warranty (the option should have copy underneath in smaller, red font, denoting "Includes International Warranty."

Then upon receipt, fill out the International Transfer form to request your warranty be transferred to the country you're in or moving to. This can take up to 30 days, but mine took less than a week from initial e-mail to approval.

Be aware, however, of the range of warranty services available in your country. I opted for full Gold Warranty with Accidental Damage... only to find out that the local Service Providers here in the Philippines provide nothing more than a parts-only warranty. And I *still* have to pay the flat-rate service fees of around 35 USD, regardless of the issue.

 

Thanks for the comment. I was figuring that "Includes International Warranty" should help me, but wasn't entirely sure.

I will be in the US in late August, but can have it delivered to a friend living there any time up to then. I'm wondering whether I should order right now (as long as the 308$ rebate is good as I doubt it's gonna be much cheaper until then) or wait?

 

Well, I don't think it's going to get MORE expensive in the next couple of weeks, that's for sure. However, I don't know how long Dell keeps these instant rebates on their machines...

Personally I'd buy now instead of trying to predict the future.

 

I agree with Wolf. You'd be better off calling them instead of using the online configurator, though. I got a whole bunch of free upgrades (including on the warranties) through haggling with the CSR.

As for the rebates, it would seem that there's always a promo for something with Dell, so if you can't save with the instant rebate (although that's doubtful - most of these instant rebates have lasted months. I know, I've been planning my purchase since January) you can always save on the other items "bundled" with your purchase.

 

I might call them, then.

I'm looking at

• Core 2 Duo T7100, possibly T7300 (because of the double cache, mostly)
• GMA X3100 (this is important, because it has good Linux drivers)
• WUXGA (1920*1200) Screen
• 512MB RAM (I can get a 2GB stick for the price of the upgrade to 1G)
• 120GB 5400RPM (I want neither the heat nor the noise of the 7200RPM one and since I run my system from encrypted volumes which are mostly CPU limited, faster disks barely help)
• DVDRW
• D-Dock
• Cheapest OS I can find. None at all if possible.
• 3 year on site including international warranty

which comes to about 1380$ which is a very decent deal in my view.

Does the D-Dock include a second AC Adapter? Or do I need to buy that one, too?

Since you seem to have the WUXGA screen, do you care to comment on it? The one review I found looked at the WSXGA+

 

As I said in other threads, I'm a bit disappointed with the screen brightness. The documentation and adverts claim 200nits, but in practice it's not as vibrant as I'd hoped. The resolution is wonderful, however, and I've yet to have any issues with it. Opening two documents for comparison in Photoshop can be done side by side at 100% scale. On the other hand, certain websites (such as this one) have small fonts that make it a little difficult to read without focusing on them (i.e., the updates sidebar on the left side of this page). I'm currently working on a review for it, but I can tell you now my initial impressions are... "okay." The brightness is more or less even, with some dark areas in the corners. There is also some light leakage from the bottom, as with most screens. It's not too bad, though. Horizontal and Vertical viewing angles are very good, though. There is absolutely no polarization or negative imaging that I can see from any angle, and text remains crisp and legible even from angles as extreme as 170 degrees (horizontally). Yes! The vertical angles aren't as good, however, and images and text lose definition below that.

 

Hmm... personally I don't have a problem with the screen. Just by eyeballing it the screen looks almost as bright as the LCD attached to my desktop... but maybe my LCD just isn't that bright to begin with? Either way it's bright enough for me...

Viewing angles seem to be really good on side, not as good from the top or bottom. I can post some pictures if anyone wants?

 

My system arrived yesterday! Woo-hoo!

-T7500 2.2Ghz processor
-2 gig ram
-NVS140
-Bluetooth
-WUXGA screen
-120gig 7200 rpm HD
-8X DVD+/-RW
-Intel 4965 WLAN (802.11a/g/n)
-Vista Ultimate

It blue-screened on the first boot. No idea why. No problems since. Other than that making me extremely nervous, I'm thrilled with the system.

I was worried that I had "gone too far" by getting the 15.4" WUXGA, but I *love* it. So much real estate!