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General discussion

Anyone ever bought a notebook from Dell Refurbished Outlet?

by golfsalot Sep 25, 2004 1:30PM PDT

I purchased an older desktop for my parents five years ago from the refurbished center and it has been working fine ever since. I have just started looking at notebooks the last few weeks. I went to a Dell Store today and looked at the 8600. I seem to notice a negative bias towards Dell these days. Is everyone taking shots at them because they are now are so big? Are they as good as they were five years ago? I have talked to a few people who complain about their Dells but after questioning them about it, it seems that they have more of a software issue than anything else.
If anyone has a good or bad experience with the refurbished Dells, I would like to hear your point of view. Thanks

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9 Posts
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Re: Anyone ever bought a notebook from Dell Refurbished Outl
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Sep 25, 2004 1:47PM PDT

The negative bias is simple. There are many many more Dell owners so there are more people to write when they have a problem.

Let me share that today... Dell and other suppliers ae not giving "support" for parasites, trojans, worms and more that people need help with. This leads to some confusion and outright "Dell is bad" writings.

Be sure you understand what support is supplied and for what issues.

Bob

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Re: Anyone ever bought a notebook from Dell Refurbished Outl
by golfsalot Sep 25, 2004 1:59PM PDT

It seems simple that because you sell more products, you have more people with problems. It also seems to me some people have problems with anything that they have purchased. They are continually fighting with someone to "give me the service I deserve". I guess that we only hear the negative on Dell. I will probably end up buying Dell again. I just don't know if it will be new or used.

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A positive note...
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Sep 25, 2004 2:36PM PDT

We have many Dells at the office. Out of dozens the only one that had problems was one that you can't get. It had a dock and the issues surrounding the dock were onerous. It worked fine once we threw away the dock.

Outside of that unit, it's boring...

Bob

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Re: A positive note...
by KenSanramon Sep 25, 2004 7:12PM PDT

Dell DESKTOPS are still among the top in the IBM PC field (Apples of course are rated higher but an a premium and with some compatibility issues).

The notebooks are another story. The Dell 8600 is decent and has some great custom options (like the 128mb dedicated ATI 9700 video card and Hitachi 7200rpm hard drive) but the case was not made for a Pentium M Centrino so it is heavier and thicker than it could be. Also, the keyboard is not as good as many others.

Note, that Dell does not make the notebook -it is made overseas as are most notebooks.

So, the error you can make is taking the excellent Dell desktops and thinking that must apply to the notebooks which it does not.

I have a Compaq X1000 series myself (same as HPZT3000), the retail Toshiba M35S456 is a great choice, and the Acer 2000 series has the 128mb dedicated video the Dell 8600 has but with a better case.

Make sure you try the keyboard of any notebook you will purchase (unless you plan to use an external USB desktop keyboard all the time) as this a large factor overlooked when ordering a notebook.

IBM's have outstanding notebook keyboards and case construction but they are pricey (but they have excellent notebook support as well -- #2 only to Apple again).

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Re: I had a Dell + Dock it worked Great whenyou setitupright
by jnzmailbox Oct 9, 2004 6:21AM PDT

I had a dell and dock....you need to follow the dell directions in the correct order the first time you dock, and it matters which OS you use.....part is you need to go to the SETUP SCREEN and ENABLE the docking feature, then follow the dell instructions for your OS, and the Undock directions.......it not the Dell its US>>>>> Happy

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Re: Anyone ever bought a notebook from Dell Refurbished Outl
by DKSF Sep 28, 2004 6:12AM PDT

I bought refurbished Dell Inspiron 6250 3 years ago. CD/DVD drive stopped working in 4 months. Called Dell and received new CD/DVD drive in 2 days. Also received paid UPS box for old drive and sent it back to Dell. Since then I've not had any problems. And Dell support is good. I tried Sony support once and it's BAD!!! They changed several technicians during my call nobody seemed to have answer.

DK

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Re: Anyone ever bought a notebook from Dell Refurbished Outl
by aprill Oct 1, 2004 2:00PM PDT

Hi there! I just bought a refurbished 9100 Inspiron from the Dell Outlet at the end of August/beginning of September.

I was aware of the gripes people have been expressing about Dell, but there are still people who like Dells and they had what I was looking for for a decent price.

I wanted something semi-customizable--like a higher quality screen, 128mb video card and at least one gig of RAM (for working on graphics and gaming). I was considering the HP 5000 or 7000--which are about the same as a new comparable Dell, but the price for what I wanted was a tad too high ($2400 or so), so I looked to a Dell refurb. with the right stuff--which were two or three or four hundred less. Or more--with some coupons off, etc. DEFINITELY check the internet for Dell coupons! And buy when there are extra sales for the outlet and your model.

Anyway, I got a pretty hot computer for around $1800--although I had to pay for shipping (around $45).

BAD thing: It arrived in 5 days and didn't work!

GOOD thing: I called up tech support the next day(don't use email, just phone them up--it's faster!!!), and they immediately sent out a NEW version with a similar configuration (slightly different soft-ware--but it didn't matter since I just kept the software from the first one).

I've only had the new computer for a few weeks, but so far nothing is wrong with it. And Dell paid for shipping and pick-up of the first computer.

So far I'm satisfied. Whether I will still be satisfied in the long-term, who knows? But right now I've tested out their customer service and it was OK. And I have a new computer at refurb prices!

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Re: Anyone ever bought a notebook from Dell Refurbished Outl
by Lyn Layton Oct 9, 2004 3:09AM PDT

Bought an Inspiron 5100 that was delivered with a bad USB port. It took over a month of phone calls and emails until they would believe that the problem was not user error or software related. By then the warranty was up for a new replacement. Dell sent return shipping materials and replaced it with a refurbished model which has been running great. Next time I shall start with a refurbished purchase to begin with.

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Re: Yes it was Great, But Ebay store sell Same refurb NO Tax
by jnzmailbox Oct 9, 2004 6:12AM PDT

Hi,
Last Feb I bought a Latitude C600 from Dell Corp. refurb-on ebay. It was great. They had the wrong size ram 128 + 256, and I called them and they sent out a extra 256 RAM to replace it, and told me to keep the extra ram, free. Since then I sold the C600 and Bought an Inspiron 8600 from ebay power seller STORE, ebay user name is electronics$ (100%+) and got the same 8600 Dell sells for 2-300 less with no tax. Dell supports all of their used laptops, just check the SERVICE TAG #, GO TO DELL, HOME OFFICE, SERVICE AND SUPPORT, KNOWLEDGE BASE, ENTER SERVICE TAG AND SEE ORIGINAL SPECS AND IF ANY WARRANTY IS LEFT. ALL YOU NEED IS THE PREVIOUS OWNERS NAME TO TRANSFER THE WARRANTY TO YOU, ON LINE AND EASY. Dell sells the newest refurbs on their website. They sell the second generation refurbs on Ebay, yes Dell Corp sells on ebay, same warranty and tax all. I never had a problem with customer service or Dell, if there was a problem the fixed it fast. I GUESS THEY GOT THE MESSAGE, THEY'RE GREAT NOW!

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