Question about hard drive being replaced under extended warranty.

Hopefully I am posting in the correct forum. I don't have a lot of knowledge about HD's I am hoping I can get some feedback here.

I have an Asus Zenbook. It's either the UX31A or UX32A, I can't remember which one. It's got a hybrid drive in it, 500gb/24GB SSD. I just sent it back to the store for repair under their warranty program. I have been told the SSD part has died and that's why it was running so poorly/slow.

They have given me the option of putting in another hybrid drive as it had before or I can have just a SSD drive, but only 250Gb. I assume choosing the SSD drive would be my best option. I don't need the the 500GB of storage. The person I spoke to was not sure what brand they will put in, they said mostly likely a Kingston. I don't know enough about which manufacturers of HD's are good or bad or if there is any specific questions I should be asking about the type of HD they are going to put in it. I want to make sure I get a quality HD as I paid a lot of $$ for the laptop originally and don't want to feel I got something of inferior quality.

Any feedback would be appreciated,
Thanks

 

Opt for the SSD. SSDs are way faster than a hybrid drive, I don't find hybrids to be much faster, I've used one for a few years, switched to a SSD, it changes the speed A LOT. Definitely opt for the SSD, it'll bring new life to your laptop.

Kingston is a solid company for SSDs, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Run with the SSD option before they change their mind.

 

I will definitely go with the SSD option. I assume only certain ones will be compatible with the notebook? They said it will be a 250GB and likely a Kingston, but the person didn't know for sure what manufacturer it would be.

Is it okay to just accept whatever 250GB SSD they end up putting in, or should I be making some sort of request. I just don't want a cheap one put in since I paid such high $$ for the notebook I feel it should be a higher quality SSD that goes in it. Or does it not really make much difference when it comes to the HD?
Thanks

 

I would not accept a Kingston SSD. Neither would I accept a 256GB capacity one either.

Either get a quality SSD from Intel, SanDisk Extreme series or Crucial of 500GB or more or don't. SSD's are not interchangeable in quality or performance. Accepting a Kingston SSD is like trading in your hybrid HDD (let's say a Hyundai) for a Kia. When you want a Lincoln or a Cadillac (SanDisk Extreme Pro). Yeah, I guess we should allow Samsung 850 Pro in this group too... but not without a fight (4 cylinder 'souped' up Mustang).

Ask for a refund of the price they're charging you and buy a real SSD (brand and capacity) for them to install.

Accepting whatever through away SSD they have sitting there is just asking for trouble again real soon.

 

as long as you don't get an OCZ ssd you got a great free upgrade. Kingston, crucial, micron, samsung, intel are in a lot of OEM laptops all are pretty decent. Pretty sure the CS person doesn't have the power to request which SSD you get.

 

Tiller, are you really suggesting a 500GB HDD w/ a 24GB cache drive is preferable to a 256GB SSD? And yes, those are the only two options in this (OP's) scenario.

 

I'd also strongly recommend the SSD ...it'll be light-years ahead of your hybrid hard drive in terms of performance.

Are they going to transfer your data for you, reinstall the operating system and so on?

 

Does anyone know what manufacturer SSD is used in the Asus Zenbook when you buy one with just that option? If that's what I'm going to have swapped out I want to at least have as good as quality as what the the 256Gb SSD notebooks come with.

 

No, you misread my post. I am saying that a 250GB SSD - especially an Kingston - is not a consideration in any way shape or form.

Let them offer cash for the value of the SSD they're offering to install and put it towards one that is worth installing.

There are never just the two obvious options - have you not seen the Matrix?

 

I honestly doubt they'd give the price of an SSD back to the original poster. Asus does not work that way, in general. I would just accept the SSD and move on, it's a waaay better choice than a hybrid drive.

By asking for money back, they're probably just going to tell her they'll give her the hybrid drive and that's the end of it. Since they'd only be obligated to replace part for part.

 

Or replace it yourself (and sell the drive they put in on EBay).

 

It's not ASUS I am dealing with, it's the store I bought it from using their extended warranty I paid for when I purchased it. It's Memory Express out of Vancouver. I have never had a PC or computer repaired under warranty so I don't know how these things usually go?

I am fine with accepting a 256GB SSD instead of the 500GB Hybrid that was in it, that seems fair enough. I don't want to rock the boat with them, but would like to make sure it's a quality SSD. Are these companies usually pretty cut and dry, this is what you get take it or leave it? Or should I try to make sure I get something of better quality. Even if I have to pay a bit extra it's probably worth putting a better SSD in while I have the chance.

 

Yes, that is the whole point. Put in a better SSD.

Make an appointment with the manager. In a calm voice tell them what you want.

Don't budge. Nothing is written in stone. There is no protocol; you and the manager make it together.

Offer to pay a little extra for an SSD you're more comfortable with. SanDisk Extreme Pro 480GB.

Don't budge. When they make an offer that is fair, shake hands and you're still a customer to them and you're still willing to do business with them too.

 

In the case of you not dealing with Asus, you should be able to push a bit for more with no worries. Just be calm and relax and speak with a manager, explain you what you want and you'll be happy and go. If you have a specific brand or model of SSD you want, ask for that.

 

Thanks for the help everyone. I will do my best to negotiate with them tomorrow and hopefully get something descent put in. Don't see why they won't if I am willing to pay the extra. I'll let you know how I make out.

 

I have to agree with tiller.. Don't get a Kingston SSD... Push for a Crucial one like MX100/200 (should be as cheap as Kingston tbh) or other better options like Sandisk Extreme II/Pro..

 

Glad to help. Here's some more tips:

Don't rush this meeting. Plan to spend the day if needed, but know that their time is more valuable to them than quibbling with you about which SSD to install (even if that is what's indicated by them, at first).

Patience is your biggest card you can play. State your concerns with this notebook (short points!) and the state it is in now. State your best resolution (that is; an SanDisk 480GB (or larger) Extreme Pro for no charge - seriously) and any remaining issues fixed too (if that is applicable).

Now, simply sit there (quietly) and see how they respond.

Of course, you and I know that the SSD indicated here is worth paying in full for ($320 today), but this is where your patience and your poker face skills come into play...

Once they offer you something, you should counteract with your original request above. They may budge. Who knows how much... If you know you will be dealing with them in the future, keep things civil (good advice in any case). But stand your ground firmly and politely until they offer more than a small capacity toy ssd from a last rate manufacturer.

Once they have come somewhere close to your terms and you accept; ask that it is put in writing and documented. With managers coming and going in most places, you can't be too careful.

If they don't budge too much on price, ask for the new SSD to be covered under their 4yr IPR at no charge (another bargaining chip you have - and costs them zero, today).

In the end, both parties should be happy with the outcome. Remember that they want to keep you as a customer and you'll more than likely be buying from them again soon.


Hope this helps.

Good luck.

 

It was a Kingston SSD V300 240GB they were going to put in. They were not budging too much saying it was either the Kingston or they put a hybrid back in. Eventually we came to a compromise of me paying some extra to get an Intel 530 Series SATA III 240GB. Probably not the best deal on my end, but just happy to have it fixed and shipped back to me at this point. It will still be covered under the remainder of the warranty. They didn't have a SanDisk Extreme Pro as an option in their inventory. It's not as much space as I would have liked, but I hope what I went with is at least a quality SSD?

 

Would you still call Kingston a "solid company for SSDs" if you knew that they pulled an OCZ by silently swapping the NAND for a lower quality product?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7763/an-update-to-kingston-ssdnow-v300-a-switch-to-slower-micron-nand

Congratulations, you dodged a bullet

By the way, how much did Memory Express charge you for the "upgrade"?

 

I wasn't aware of that. That's pretty shady.

 

Shady indeed. I can only hope that Kingston ends up paying the ultimate price for their duplicity, just like OCZ did.

 

Sounds like a made a good choice to not go with the Kingston. They charged me far too much for the upgrade $100 But I am just glad to have it over with and hopefully picked a better quality drive that will last for a while.

By the way I asked what the hybrid drive was that they removed from it I was told it was a two part Hitachi?? that they don't even make that type of drive anymore. It was purchased in early 2012. If i opted to go with a 500gb/24gb hybrid again I believe it was going to be a Seagate that they were going to put in.

 

I don't think it's a hybrid drive in the Seagate sense. IIRC the UX32 series has a 32 GB Sandisk iSSD chip that's soldered to the mobo, plus a completely ordinary 2.5" 500 GB HDD.

By the way, did you go to the Memory Express in Richmond?

 

Sounds like it would have been a downgrade if I went to the Seagate I am feeling better about my choice. Yes, it was the Richmond Memory Express. I live on the island so had to ship it to them.

 

I have a UX32VD and your memory is correct.




The SSD you got was this I believe? I mean you paid them $100 already but I would have probably argued with them until I paid $50 or paid nothing. But not all people are as argumentative as I am
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167177


Hope your new SSD works well and brings new life to your laptop.

 

I believe the link you gave bnosam is the same one as I am getting. This is the link from their site: http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX47350

In retrospect, I agree they are definitely charging me at least $50 more than they should have. I got a little intimidated pushing the issue because I don't have a lot of computer knowledge and they start trying to talk circles around you. I will be happy to have my laptop back and this will be my first computer with a full SSD drive, will be interesting to see how it differs.

 

Personally not a fan of the Intel SSD's - they are a little power hungry. The read IOPS is also pretty low on that particular model.

I would have opted for something like a 840 Pro, or an MX100. Oh well, still is miles better than V300, and I doubt you will notice or care about any difference in day to day usage. Good luck OP.

 

Considering the kingston is around $120 or so, they should have just charged you an extra $50 (roughly) since that would have been the price of the Intel minus the price of the kingston.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...08&cm_re=kingston_v300-_-20-721-108-_-Product

But if you don't know much about computers, it's hard to argue with them because some sales people do immediately talk about the tech junk to confuse people. But you shouldn't have a problem with it.
I mean if you want to fight them a bit you could probably call them back and maybe haggle a bit, but you may not want to. Myself, personally, as I'm sure people can attest to, will ALWAYS demand a bargain AND the best for that price since I'm willing to argue forver to get it

But that's me.

 

The laptop is already on it's way back to me. I can sense it's not going to be worth it for me to fight them on at this point. I'll take the slight loss on this one, but I've held my own on many other occasions when I have have confidence in my knowledge of the subject. Don't fight with a red head when they are fired up, you'll never win

 

Glad you settled this quickly and don't worry, the Intel SSD is a quality drive (even at 240GB for that model as it is older tech nand and you happened to buy at the performance sweet spot.). Easily worth the $100 from what you had (can't wait for you to describe it to us) to a (once) top-end drive.

Make sure you don't fill this drive too much - it will slow down and won't recover easily without a Secure Erase.

See the graphs in the following article to see the performance offered and also the hit in TRIM it takes by being a SF drive.

See:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7438/intel-ssd-530-240gb-review/2

And don't listen about getting an 840 Pro and such - this drive is better where it counts: in real world use, where Samsung drives are dog slow.

The power consumption at idle is also very good (see linked article) but the load power varies depending on whether the drive is writing compressible or incompressible data.


That is the good news. The bad news is that they lied to you.

See:
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX52695

If you select Richmond under availability, you'll see they have 6 SanDisk Extreme Pro Solid State Drive, 480GB
drives on hand.


This drive is easily worth full price (3x what you paid) for the extra capacity and the extra performance offered.

But, I heed your warning - I know better than to get a red fired up.



(Enjoy your 'new' Ultrabook the way it was meant to be delivered in the first place).

 

This wasn't the only lie they told. The bit about the "two part Hitachi" was a lie as well. In fact, I suspect that there's nothing wrong with the HDD at all - they simply didn't want to go through the hassle of a mobo replacement, so they just decided to just disable the onboard SSD cache and pawn off a terrible SSD (one that probably wasn't selling anyway...) onto the OP instead. From Memory Express's perspective, they're killing two birds with one stone - they make the customer think that they got a great deal while getting rid of some unwanted inventory in the process.

A favorite technique of incompetent tech salespeople is to make up convincing-sounding but ultimately fake technobabble. Unfortunately, it sounds like this is what happened to the OP.

@OP: My advice to you for the future is to educate yourself by asking us questions before making any decisions - knowledge is power (as you already know) and we're happy to share our knowledge with anyone who asks

Other helpful resources are http://www.pricebat.ca/, where you can quickly check the lowest price (in Canadian dollars) of just about any piece of tech, and http://www.redflagdeals.com/ if you need assistance with a specific local or Canadian retailer (in any industry, not just tech - they can even provide advice on how to deal with, say, Superstore or The Bay).

 

I have my notebook back. I haven't loaded back in my software yet such as Adobe Lightroom, which is what I mostly use it for. So far just using it for general purposed I can tell it is much zippier in speed. There was something definitely wrong that was causing it to take longer to start up and shut down, it does it in a flash now.

Peon, I'm trying to understand what you mean by there might not have been anything wrong with the HD at all? That perhaps they didn't want to replace the mother board? So it could have been the mother board that was the issue?

 

Yes, exactly. The SSD that comes with your notebook is physically glued (or more accurately, soldered) to the motherboard. It's completely separate from and not at all related to the 500GB hard drive.

If we trust that the diagnosis they provided you with is accurate (and it's hard for me to trust anything that they've said, given all the lies they already told you...), and the root cause of your problems is actually because the SSD died, then the only way to replace that SSD would have been by replacing the entire motherboard. But instead of actually fixing the problem, they just gave you a workaround by disabling the dead SSD and replacing your perfectly functional hard drive.

 

I see, thank you for explaining it. I don't have much faith in anything they have told me at this point either. The scenario makes sense that they would rather replace the HD than give me a new motherboard as the cost would be much less.

 

Good job getting the Intel SSD, @travelbug2015; I'm in agreement with tiller that it was worth the $100.
I've been using an Intel SSD in my notebook for many years now and it's been rock solid in terms of performance and reliability. Good luck with everything.