Returned M1330

I am sorry to say, I have returned my M1330 after one week.

I was thrilled to have the Crimson Red M1330 with the specs I had gotten. I avoided the GPU feeling like I could then have a great laptop, but I was wrong to think I had avoided all real issues by doing that.

My laptop came with what started off as minor issues. Keyboard bulge, Wi-Fi Catcher broken, hotkeys mostly not working, MediaDirect completely broken (all with proper options turned of/set up, even after dell factory restore) ... then there was the memory leak, data corruption ... started seeing some more build quality problems ... and there was a terrible 'clicking' starting inside the laptop ...

I had paid $1900 for the setup (I know, I know! You can do SO much better, another reason I was dreading having all the issues with paying sort of top dollar...I found out about my school discount and stuff like that after the purchase). For the amount of money, and given I've encountered tons of really good, solid Dell laptops ... I felt the overall quality was very low on the M1330 I received. And what if I knew nothing about computers and just continued to have data corruption and other issues? Dell seems quick to replace things, but with the same system issues - what's the point?

I called Dell today, bounced from India back to the US ... and was told I could return without any restocking fee (I would have fought otherwise!), though it took persistence, keeping calm and polite, and 30 minutes or so with most of that being on hold. They gave me a return number and emailed a label.

*sigh* I'm half *relieved* and half *bummed*. I did want to love it! It's so super pretty, light, great size ... but I strongly feel that I was given a poor quality laptop that just wasn't worth it. It's not enough to keep a laptop because it has a nice exterior.

I will be waiting now ... even though I'm dying to have a laptop yesterday, and could really use it for school. I will be checking constantly for reviews on the new Sony SR and Z, which I understand generally have better quality ...and also for a refresh from Dell - which I will consider believe it or not, should I see proof that it is without serious issues of course. (I'd love to choose a GPU and not worry it'll kill my laptop, LOL.) I am going to have a harder time staying in budget, and so I think I will tell my parents I'll pay the difference over the $2K they allotted me if I push it. (So I'll move my budget to maybe $2.5K.)

Sad to see the crimson red beauty leave, but I'm happy to avoid the headache. I hope my next purchase will be a lot sweeter of a feeling one week into ownership.

 

hm.. i paid only $1350....

sorry that the dell m1330 didnt work out for u...

 

Thanks, me too! Had I paid $1k instead of $1.9k, I'd probably have worked through it and dealt with its issues. In the end, for what I paid and what I received out of the box ... the two didn't match up. And I had been expecting minor build quality issues (had it only been some minor keyboard bulge, or only the messed up hotkeys, shoot - I would have happily ignored it). It was just too disappointing, and I don't feel for that amount of money you should feel disappointed from day one.

I'm checking out the new Sony's (SR and Z), but I also hope Dell gets their sh!t together and updates the M1330 to meet a higher standard of quality - I'd happily put it back on my list of maybes.

 

Sorry to hear that, i've had a couple of dell systems and was happy with all of them, never had an issue like other people get and it sucks to hear about it (not to mention make me nervous whenever I order a new one). Hopefully your next purchase will make you happy

 

sorry to hear that.
you mind wonder to consider a Sager laptop, too. They are well know for best quality build.

 

I am on the cusp of buying the m1330. It matches my needs perfectly. The only thing holding me back is that I've seen 3 of them fail due to heat issues.The GPU is inadequately cooled. Once it kicks in often enough, it starts to fry the other components. Usually we see the video display lines, then the laptop dies in 2-4 weeks.