[Pau11y]

This is not an ad, just wanted to give some pplz who's shopping for a laptop a heads up. I know some of you are getting out of HS and going onto college. This might be good for a grad present Dell Inspiron 9300.
You'll need this coupon code: -$750.00 > $1999.00 - ?W$W$3K$D5R90Q [Exp 3/15, 3000 uses]
And here's the link for the laptop config on Dell.com
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=i9300S1&s=dhs

Got mine: $2206.00 before disc, $1456.00 after w/ free shipping. It's a M 750 Processor (1.86GHz/533MHz FSB) w/ 2mb cache, 512mb 533mhz DDR, 128mb Radeon x300M, 40gb HDD, 8x DVD+/-RW, and the UXGA display.

Edit: BTW, I called our corp rep at Dell on this. He told me this is $200.00+ below cost for Dell.

 

[dh girlie]

just don't expect to ever get a customer service rep on the line that lives on this side of the earth...

 

[Echo]

Dood! There's better deals at Circuit City every day

 

[MMike]

...or expect your hard drive to last more than a week.

I know of FOUR people whose DELL hard drives were defective.

 

[Pau11y]

just don't expect to ever get a customer service rep on the line that lives on this side of the earth...

Yeah, but my job is doing what those guys do so I'm ok.

 

[Pau11y]

...or expect your hard drive to last more than a week.

I know of FOUR people whose DELL hard drives were defective.

There has been a bad batch of Maxtors (OEMs) that's been dying. I'm not sure if they're from lappies or towers.

 

[dh girlie]

...or expect your hard drive to last more than a week.

I know of FOUR people whose DELL hard drives were defective.

I love when you call for customer support and you wait on hold for 30 or 40 minutes...then when you tell them the problem they are like...(in my best Apu accent)

cs rep in india: oh...I am so sorry to hear that and I do apologize for the inconvenience...what is the number you are calling from so that if we should get disconnect I can call you back...
you give em the number...
cs rep in india: ok...is your computer on, maam...
me: yes...dead silence for about 3 minutes...
cs rep in India...HELLO?
me...Hello...
cs rep in india: is your computer on maam?
me: yes
more silence...
recorded operator: if you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again
then you wait for 10 minutes for the cs rep to call back...then realization that he's never going to call sets in and you call back to wait on hold for another 30 or 40 minutes...

yeah...I'll buy another Dell...even if they were giving em away for free I'd pass...

 

[Barbaton]

One of my colleagues just bought a Dell for $268.

 

[Pau11y]

Dood! There's better deals at Circuit City every day

Show me, link me one. I can still cancel my order (placed 1/2 hour ago).

 

[dh girlie]

Yeah, but my job is doing what those guys do so I'm ok.

Sweet...can I get your number? I promise to email before calling and I won't drunk dial you at 4 a.m.!

 

[I Are Baboon]

cs rep in india: oh...I am so sorry to hear that and I do apologize for the inconvenience...what is the number you are calling from so that if we should get disconnect I can call you back...

I think the thing they trained to say first is, "You need to reformat your hard drive."

 

[N8 v2.0]

Should be " d00d"

 

[dh girlie]

I think the thing they trained to say first is, "You need to reformat your hard drive."

yes...that comes in the second call after you've confirmed that your computer is on!

 

[Pau11y]

Sweet...can I get your number? I promise to email before calling and I won't drunk dial you at 4 a.m.!

PM'd

 

[Pau11y]

Should be " d00d"

Hater :eviltongu

 

[dh girlie]

PM'd

Got it...so, uhhh....say I wanted to uhhh...maybe ask you out to dinner or to a swingers club...would that be the number I could, uhhh...reach you at?

 

[Pau11y]

Got it...so, uhhh....say I wanted to uhhh...maybe ask you out to dinner or to a swingers club...would that be the number I could, uhhh...reach you at?

Any time baby. Uhhh...huhu, maybe dinner and then the swinger club...?

 

[surfinguru]

I love when you call for customer support and you wait on hold for 30 or 40 minutes...then when you tell them the problem they are like...(in my best Apu accent)

cs rep in india: oh...I am so sorry to hear that and I do apologize for the inconvenience...what is the number you are calling from so that if we should get disconnect I can call you back...
you give em the number...
cs rep in india: ok...is your computer on, maam...
me: yes...dead silence for about 3 minutes...
cs rep in India...HELLO?
me...Hello...
cs rep in india: is your computer on maam?
me: yes
more silence...
recorded operator: if you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again
then you wait for 10 minutes for the cs rep to call back...then realization that he's never going to call sets in and you call back to wait on hold for another 30 or 40 minutes...

yeah...I'll buy another Dell...even if they were giving em away for free I'd pass...

Reminds me of this Foamy Squirrel toon: http://www.illwillpress.com/tech.html

 

[binary visions]

Is this only for the Inspiron 9300?

What's the deal with this cupon code? Whose cupon is it? Where did it come from?

Almost seems too good to be true

 

[Barbaton]

just don't expect to ever get a customer service rep on the line that lives on this side of the earth...

you could always do what this guy did:

http://students.seattleu.edu/reddys1/conan.wmv

 

[dh girlie]

Reminds me of this Foamy Squirrel toon: http://www.illwillpress.com/tech.html

That is so f'n hysterical! I love that! Whoever wrote that has obviously dealt with Dell CS!

 

[Pau11y]

Is this only for the Inspiron 9300?

What's the deal with this cupon code? Whose cupon is it? Where did it come from?

Almost seems too good to be true

I'll e-mail you my order confirmation if you like. I only tried for the I9300, but you can try for others. I'm not sure if it'll work tho.
I got the deal from www.bensbargains.net, about 1/4 way down.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Hater :eviltongu

Should be "H8r".........

-S.S.-

Yer gettin' a *DELL* d00d!

 

[binary visions]

I'll e-mail you my order confirmation if you like. I only tried for the I9300, but you can try for others. I'm not sure if it'll work tho.
I got the deal from www.bensbargains.net, about 1/4 way down.

No no, I believe that it works, I was just trying to figure out what the story was.

 

[Ciaran]

There has been a bad batch of Maxtors (OEMs) that's been dying. I'm not sure if they're from lappies or towers.

They are in a variety of different models... Here at Kaiser Permanente we get our PC's from Dell. We have also experienced the Maxtor issue. The nice thing is that Dell accepted full responsibility and replaced the drives as they failed. Ours were in the Optiplex GX270's. They now are coming with either Western Digiital, or Seagate drives.

Say, Pau11y, where do you work? Are you desktop support?

That really is a pretty killer deal on the laptop. Not sure about the longevity of the laptops. So far they have been good here at KP. The small form factor PC's have heat issues.

Dell customer service is great! IF you speak hindu.

 

[Barbaton]

you could always do what this guy did:

http://students.seattleu.edu/reddys1/conan.wmv

and how about a link that actually works...

http://celestri.org/av/Conan-India-Tech-Support.avi

 

[Pau11y]

Hehe, something slightly off topic. Just got my 350# Ti spring from Progressive. Woo hoo, the 204 is now 100%

 

[SkaredShtles]

Hehe, something slightly off topic. Just got my 350# Ti spring from Progressive. Woo hoo, the 204 is now 100%

Do you have a left-over 350# steel spring? Morryjg needs a 350 lb-er.......

-S.S.-

 

[Pau11y]

They are in a variety of different models... Here at Kaiser Permanente we get our PC's from Dell. We have also experienced the Maxtor issue. The nice thing is that Dell accepted full responsibility and replaced the drives as they failed. Ours were in the Optiplex GX270's. They now are coming with either Western Digiital, or Seagate drives.

Say, Pau11y, where do you work? Are you desktop support?

That really is a pretty killer deal on the laptop. Not sure about the longevity of the laptops. So far they have been good here at KP. The small form factor PC's have heat issues.

Dell customer service is great! IF you speak hindu.

I'm actually the IS Manager for Sheraton Steamboat Springs. I do everything, from networks, migrations, hardware, and desktop support; I'm THE one-man IT department for a 300+ room hotel.
I'm moving to the Denver area in Aug so if anyone wants my job in Steamboat Springs, float me your resume by June. Ciaran, maybe I can float you my resume. I need a part-time job while going to school
I'm about to drop in some small form factor PCs here in May. I'll keep the heat issue in mind, thanx.
Yeah, Dell support, unless your in the enterprise class, are all off-shore and all suck donkey-balls. But if you're good...hehe you won't need to call

 

[Pau11y]

Do you have a left-over 350# steel spring? Morryjg needs a 350 lb-er.......

-S.S.-

I traded a 550# Ti for this one. Sorry. Plus, it's a 8.75x2.75 and I seem to remember him needing a 7.5x2.0...?

 

[N8 v2.0]

 

[-dustin]

just don't expect to ever get a customer service rep on the line that lives on this side of the earth...

isn't Dell bringing the tech support jobs back here? i can't remember if i read that in Fortune, or if it was somewhere on TV.

...or expect your hard drive to last more than a week.

I know of FOUR people whose DELL hard drives were defective.

DELL hard drives? i didn't know they made their own hard drives.

I'm actually the IS Manager for Sheraton Steamboat Springs.

does that mean you live in Steamboat Springs, or do you "telecommute"? i'm wondering what it costs to live there, like how much apartments go for, general utilities, etc, etc.

 

[Barbaton]

isn't Dell bringing the tech support jobs back here? i can't remember if i read that in Fortune, or if it was somewhere on TV.

only for corporate/institutional customers. You consumers are still stuck with the mumblers.

DELL hard drives? i didn't know they made their own hard drives.

They don't. I think they're usually Maxtor. IBM used to make their own "Deathstar" drives but they sold the op to Hitachi

 

[DHanamal]

There has been a bad batch of Maxtors (OEMs) that's been dying. I'm not sure if they're from lappies or towers.

Don't bother with Maxtors whenever possible. Seagate carries a 5 year warranty, and they're good about sticking to warranty claims.

 

[-dustin]

They don't. I think they're usually Maxtor. IBM used to make their own "Deathstar" drives but they sold the op to Hitachi

i know, i was just joking. as long as Dell replaces the faulty drives, i don't think they should have that held against them.

 

[LordOpie]

$1500 for a computer?

You'd get the same expression from me as when I tell people that's how much I'm probably going to spend in my next bicycle.

 

[Repack]

Too funny. Yesterday my Inspiron 1150 showed up. Nothing too crazy but a 512mb RAM and a bunch of other goodies for ~$1,200 was a good deal. Was about $500 off. I'm on my parent’s computer now transferring my files.

 

[Toshi]

I'm actually the IS Manager for Sheraton Steamboat Springs. I do everything, from networks, migrations, hardware, and desktop support; I'm THE one-man IT department for a 300+ room hotel.

ugh, i don't envy you. i was the one man show (nominally "IT Director") for this hotel group, which incidentally has screwed up the website even more since i left, and one of our hotels was the stanley in estes park. dealing with hotel-people is not cool.

 

[Ciaran]

They don't. I think they're usually Maxtor. IBM used to make their own "Deathstar" drives but they sold the op to Hitachi

I must be the only person in the whole world who had good luck with the IBM drives. I have 3 80 gig Deskstars still running.

 

[Pau11y]

DELL hard drives? i didn't know they made their own hard drives.

...does that mean you live in Steamboat Springs, or do you "telecommute"? i'm wondering what it costs to live there, like how much apartments go for, general utilities, etc, etc.

Dell typically buys pallets of OEM grade HDDs from ppl like Maxtor, Seagate, or Wester Digital. This means they get it for prob 75% of what we'd get them from Maxtor for. But we can't get warranty from Maxtor, Seagate, ect when these drives die, and have to go thru Dell.

I do live in Steamboat. SS, Lord Opie and I, and sometimes even RM has gone over living in CO in quite the details. SBS specifically tho, is a wholey different deal than front range cities. 99% of the jobs here are seasonal w/ 2 down times each year, right before ski season, and then right after. They're called mud seasons. Cost of living is pretty damn high since everything has to be trucked/floan (spelling?) in. An average house of 2000sq ft will run in the $225 to $400k mark, depending on location (old town being the most costly). Condos can start from $80k (20 miles out of town) to $200k (by the ski mountain). Rent can be from dirt cheap but very sh!tty to sky's the limit. Mine is $625.00 utils included in the basement of a pretty descent house (2 rms and private br). This number is VERY unique here in SBS. I know of a couple that's moving to Littleton, CO. The condo they were renting is now going for $1,400.00/mo, 2bdrm, 1 bth, 1 garage.
Utilities here, if you're lucky, will be included. Electric, if you use it to heat, can cost you a small fortune. $300.00/mo electric bills are not unheard of if it's base-board electric heat. Gas has gotten really expensive too now, but cheaper than electric. The house I'm in now uses gas heated water infloor radiant. Very efficient and ahh so nice to walk on warm tiles
Another factor here is food costs. Everything is expensive so you'll need to watch how much you go out. If you cook at home, it's reasonable. To make ends meet, a lot of younger ppl work in restaurants to reduce their food costs. Actually, a lot of everyone work 2 jobs to make ends meet here.

Hope this helps. If you need more, just gimme a yell.