A week ago we were thinking of what to get my mom for her birthday and she said that a new computer would be a good idea. Indeed, their old Dell felt like an ancient animal at this point and was extremely sluggish. The total size of HD space on the poor thing was 27 GB!
We decided that we’re going to put in some money for the new machine and that my dad was going to give the rest. I went to Dell and put together a decently specced computer — Dual core CPU, 2 GB of RAM at 533 mHz, an OK video card, wireless mouse and keyboard that my mom wanted and so on. The total came out to $689.
Then however I started looking for coupons and found one that was giving $250 off a $999 buy. So I went back and used the most expensive components, starting from quad core CPU, 4 GB of RAM at 800 mHz and so on. I came up with a VERY nice machine at $1009. Apply the coupon and you end up with $759. $60 difference, huge difference in performance. Either way, they won’t have to upgrade for quite some time now.
- Intel Core2 processor Q9300 (2.50Ghz,1333FSB) w/Quad Core Technology and 6MB cache
- 4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
- ATI RADEON HD3650 256MB
- 320GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive (7200RPM)
- Dell 19-in-1 Media Card Reader
- 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
- Logitech MX 3200 Laser Cordless Keyboard and Mouse
- Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Basic Edition
The sad part is that the damn thing came with Vista. What a mess. Why take something that was relatively nice and polished and add a shitload of unneeded crap and clutter?
We got the computer delivered yesterday. But getting it to us is a whole other story. You see, when I was placing an order Dell’s servers were acting up. It basically forced me to fill out the address for at least 7 times if not more. End result? I messed up with the number of the building, which I paid for dearly later on.
I realized there was an issue after a first delivery attempt. From that moment on it took me 10(!!!) calls to FedEx and 3 more days of waiting and calling to finally straighten it out. Dell customer support was even more horrible and just refused to do anything at all to help resolve the situation. That’s something considering that they put some kind of lock on the package and FedEx refused to change anything originally. Anyhow, that’s a very short story. Not ever will I use FedEx again, if I have a choice. But luckily all this is behind me now.
July 27, 2008 @ 14:47
Was it FedEx fault or fault of Dell for refusing to cooperate and assist their customer? I think the Dell should have fixed everything the second you called and the second they verefied your info.
July 27, 2008 @ 15:17
Both. I was very upset about the whole thing. Dell refused to do anything and FedEx was saying they need to hear from Dell to change it. Dell said they need to hear from FedEx to give them the correct info.
But when FedEx started writing down my info and sending it over to the distribution facility — the information wasn’t getting to the driver.
First I had wrong apartment on tracking, then they said I wasn’t home, even though my dad was and there was no notice on the door. Then it went to wrong street address and so on. It’s gotten beyond ridiculous.
But yeah, I was really upset with how Dell handled it, not any less then with FedEx.
July 29, 2008 @ 10:07
i’m just glad your parents finally got the PC, i’m sure they were very upset by that point, hopefully they can put the Delivery mess behind them and enjoy the beast PC.
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