XPS 15z - cheapness showing

If there's one thing about laptops that annoys me it has those pesky stickers or glue. It's already been 3 weeks since my XPS 15z arrived at the door and it's already showing some minor defects. There's not too many stickers on it, just the standard intel, windows 7 sticker, and the OS info on the bottom but it seems that Dell has decided to use glue to put some parts of this laptop together which has already started to deteriorate.

Glue is used for the screen and the chrome edgings that go around the laptop. First problem was with the screen. Unlike the Macbook Pro where glass encases the entire face of the screen, the XPS 15z has some rubber material on the outer edges from the screen. What I noticed on the first week using the laptop was some odd yellow solid debri on the top left corner of my screen...I just thought it was some dirt. So I just scraped it off with my finger and flicked it. Later, turns out that it was actually glue holding together the rubber and the screen. The glue keeping the rubber and the glass screen together just stopped sticking and fell down a little to the border of the screen where it was visible. Now I've got a minor buldge on the very top left of my screen because there's no longer glue supporting it. Of course, it is minor but if you know it's there you can see it, sticking out about a cm.

Now just today it's that chrome edging that goes around the upper part of the bottom. The corner of it is starting to come off where it's most exposed, near the hinge that opens the lid of the screen. It seems like it was being supported by the same ingenious substance, glue. The whole corner is starting to lift off, so much I can just take it and just peel off the whole entire chrome casing if I wanted to.

It's these kind of cheap build qualities that makes me regret buying a Dell, it's already falling apart and it hasn't been a month yet. Granted, these are just very minor. In fact if I showed this to anyone they probably would never notice it unless I pointed it out or they just inspected the entire laptop. However, as minor as it is it's still unacceptable for a laptop that's gradually peeling when it's still brand new. Especially if it's over a $grand$. I just hope some super glue would be able to put this back together...

On a side note, I havn't been abusing my laptop. Most of the time it was used at home, either on my lap or on a desk. It's been in a laptop bag but I havn't been traveling around with it yet lately.. I wonder how much damage it would inflict if I do.

 

The should take it back really if it is doing that? Don't you think?

 

return the laptop back

 

Similar problem http://forum.notebookreview.com/7612935-post412.html

 

Whenever a laptop has amazing specs but a low price tag, it should be expected to have cheap material, and this applies not just to Dell but all other brands. If you want higher quality, you should have purchased a business-class laptop.

All Dell Home laptops are designed to be used mostly at home -- that's why they are called Dell *Home*. Only the Dell Latitude, Precision and Vostro laptops are built to withstand abuses.

 

No, desktops are meant to be used at home. The whole purpose of a laptop is the availability to be portable. The XPS15z may not have the same build quality as a MBP, nor should it. There's a reason that Apple products are priced a lot higher. Yes you pay a lot for the fact that it's a "Mac" but the build quality is also outstanding. That said, even $300 laptops shouldn't be falling apart like your's seems to be. Of course there's no way for us to tell how it's been handled, but it's very odd that this is happening. You don't have to buy a "business class" laptop to be able to take the damn thing to work with you. I've had the last three iterations of XPS and I've taken them to school/work daily...never had a problem with the build quality or anything becoming loose/falling off.

 

No Issues with my XPS 15. Built fairly solid.

 

The 15 and the 15z are very different computers.

Honestly, the choice to add the chrome trim is mind boggling. It looks bad, it feels bad, and it's entirely unnecessary.

 

It seems to be No issues or major problems with Dells,I have an m11x that Ive dropped, treat very ruggedly etc.And yet not a problem,My xps 14 and 15 wow,what a difference in quality,Ive had a laundry list of repairs & replacements.Some people have no issues,but check the dell and other various forums,there are tons of quality complaints theres a guy xxbadboy on here that had 5 replacements and has pics to prove his allegations of horrible build quality.And I agree no pc 300 or 5000 dollars should literaly fall apart in a month.

 

>.< I know what laptops are for, just havn't traveled with my laptop lately. I was making a point that even though I was not traveling around it's still falling apart. Imagine if I was walking around Manhattan for hours with it?

I wasn't comparing the build qualities of a Dell versus a Macbook Pro either, just explaining the differences in the screens. But in my opinion, Macbook Pro's qualities trumps my laptop by a mile. Their build quality is more tight and clean; I chose the Dell for its price apparently.

I've never had any problems with any of my previous Dell products either, at least while they were new. For a premium priced laptop someone at Dell should have thought that using glue to piece this laptop together wasn't such a good idea. It seems like Dell advertises more about the laptop's hardware more then its specs too.

 

wetcardboard's post was directed at me. Yes, laptops are meant to be portable. However, Dell Home's laptops (including the Inspiron and XPS lines) maximize value and performance at the expense of durability and reliability. So, these are relatively fragile machines and it's important to baby them. You should move your 15z as little as possible, always lift it with both hands, open and close the lid very slowly, etc.

Most people looking for the most bang for the buck buy consumer-grade laptops, but they end up paying more because these laptops start having issues much sooner than business-class laptops.

 

What you say here is important. I had a cheaper computer as my last machine and I was always pretty careful with it when opening the lid etc. I have seen all the issues about the 15z and taking extra precautions to treat it very gently. It's ok for me because it is a desktop replacement for me so no big deal but yeah, I'd be careful with it if you're taking it anywhere.

It's like the build quality is like an optical illusion lol. But actually the build quality is very good for most of it just the trim etc that is of concern but so far I"m fine with mine and hope it stays that way as long as I don't treat it too robustly lol.

It is very nice to type on and I really like it so far.

 

I don't have a problem with not being able to whack it around, but it should at least be able to bear the tremendous stress of going into and coming out of a bag without breaking.

I'm probably just going to return it and get a machine that has better build quality. Spending 1100 dollars on what appears to be a box of headaches waiting to happen is not my thing.

 

I do understand the comments about home versions being cheaper. Speaking from experience I have owned: (and still do)

Two Dell 8600's the shells are in pretty bad shape, the bezels are cracked in the corners, the bottoms and sides are cracked, the hinge lid on one needed to be replaced about 1 yr ago, BUT, they still work awesome with no screen problems of any kind.

One E1705 and this thing has new cracks in the front by both the front speakers and one crack starting on the left palm rest area. This lappy is also a daily traveller to work with me. The laptop still runs awesome and I have breathed new life into this thing by simply dumping vista and putting 7 prof on it. I can't believe how fast it is with only 2 GB ram too.

Am I impressed with the all the builds? For the 15z, not really, but what can I expect with plastic. I am really looking forward to my new XPS17 though which has more metal in the casing.

 

When you buy dell you expect cheaper materials or cheaper looking materials but not faulty materials or things falling apart... My xps 15z has already started messing up after 2 days and its so annoying.. You can easily get better quality machine with same specs for same price of about 1000 pounds