Conclusion of Issue.....

The new 1GB Dimm of RAM and 9-cell battery arrived. The 9-cell battery is much heavier than the 6-cell. Lisa actually noticed that the new laptop was lighter than the old one without me saying anything.

I swapped out the parts and sent everything back to Dell.

It's been over a week with the new laptop and I don't have any complaints. Things are working nicely.

What have I learned? I probably won't buy from the Dell Outlet again. There QC is lacking. If Dell continues to have such lousy customer support and farms out its warranty work to other companies who don't care about the Dell name, then they will continue to lose customers.

We'll keep buying Dells at work, but when I buy my next computer, I'll look at other manufacturers to give my business to.

New Notebook - July 20th

The new Dell Notebook arrived on Friday, July 20th. To my surprise it was a Dell Latitude D820. Since it is no longer on the website, I figured it wasn't available. It is a new, not a refurbished system. I looked at the description of the system, and it had a better display than the original notebook we purchased, but had a 6-cell battery and 2-512MB DIMMs of RAM, and the one we had originally purchased had a 9-cell battery, and 1-1GB DIMM of RAM.

I headed out of town for 5 days and didn't boot it up, I wanted to have some time to explore the new notebook computer.

Yesterday, Thursday, I booted it up and gave it a test drive. The display (WSXGA+) was nice, much higher resolution than the basic display on the original system (WXGA). I would never buy a low resolution display again.

Last night I emailed Ron, to see about just taking the RAM and battery out of the old system and swapping it with the components in the new system to make the new system identical or better than the original system we ordered. This morning Ron emailed me and said Dell was sending out a new battery and memory, next business day shipping. So by Monday this should all be resolved, and I'll send the old laptop back to Dell.

That will be just over 5 weeks after my first call to Dell about this issue.

Waiting game

It's been over a week since I originally emailed Ron at Dell and requested a new computer to be sent to us.

After a few days and no response from Ron, I emailed him and asked for an update. He replied that he hadn't received my request, and would look into why he didn't receive the email. Ron said we would be receiving the replacement system in 3-15 business days (that could be 3 weeks!). I asked for a way to track the progress of our replacement computer and he gave me a link and a reference number to use. After checking it a few times over 3 days and seeing no change, or any useful info, I emailed Ron back. Turns out that I can't track the new computer. I can only see what is happening by contacting Dell.

So, it's been 4 days, lets see when the new system gets here and what it is exactly.

Also, why does it take an entire day for Ron to reply? Is it some kind of tactic on Dell's part to drag the issue out, or does waiting a day make the customers less angry? I find it frustrating.

System Exchange

Ron, my Resolution Expert Center rep, got back to me today about my Dell D820 laptop. He gave me three options:

1. Send it back to be repaired again (I don't want to go through that experience again)
2. Dell will send me a replacement display and I can replace it myself (I would rather do this than option 1)
3. Return the notebook for a "System Exchange"

What does a System Exchange entail? Ron says:

"What a system exchange means is that you would get an identical system to the one you purchased or better. Therefore the processor, RAM, Wireless, and any additional cards that were already in the system would be the same or better. You currently have a LATD820 so you would get a LATD820 or the next one up from that which would be a LATD830. Since this is the same family of computer, the Memory, D/dock, and Bluetooth will fit in the replacement system.

If you felt that the exchanged system was not the same or better, then we would have to look at what parts you felt were not caparable and check each one out individually. "

That sounds like the best option. I did a little search on the dell outlet site, to see what systems they had that were similar or better, and I didn't see many D820s, so I bet the replacement will be a D830. I looked at the difference between the two systems, and didn't see anything major that stuck out at me. The D830 looks like it doesn't have the IR port anymore, but I don't use it anyway. The components on the D830 look like updated versions of the D820, though the video card options are different.

I told Ron that we wanted to to a system exchange.

D/Port has problems again.

This morning I booted up the laptop in the Dell D/Port, and after selecting the account to log in with, the screen went blank! It looks like replacing the motherboard didn't fix anything either.

This time, after a second or two, the screen came back on and for the first time I saw the message below.

"Display driver stopped responding and has recovered
Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered."

Interesting, but did the display start working again because the motherboard was replaced, or because of the new display drivers I installed yesterday?

I'll have to see if it gets worse, and what Ron at Dell has to say.

A separate issues I had noticed yesterday, but thought it was just my eyes, some text "bleeds" over to the surrounding pixels. My wife used the computer all day and noticed it and brought it to my attention.

Laptop Back in My Hands

Today, July 5th 2007, I got my laptop back from Dell Warranty support. I opened the package and gave it a quick look to see if anything was missing. Low and behold, the plastic card blank for the ExpressCard slot is gone (these are the pieces of plastic that sit in your PC card slots on laptops when you don't have anything else in them, like a wifi card). Being that I don't have anything to put in that slot, I've never had reason to remove it. But look, it didn't make the trip back to Seattle from Tennessee. Nice work Dell.

Next, I booted it up. I immediately noticed that the BIOS was A05, not A06, like I had updated the previous mother board. No big deal, I can just download the latest version and update it. I checked and it still had the bluetooth and 2 GB of RAM (these were both parts I added after I bought the laptop, so I was worried that they wouldn't make it back to Seattle either, but they did).

After work I headed home and got online with my notebook. I actually downloaded and flashed Dell's BOIS A07 for the Latitude D820, which came out while Dell had my notebook, as well as the latest drivers for my video card, which were also updated last week too.

Next, I did a quick search with Google, and the display still has the issue with the beige color adds on Google. Maybe not quite as bad as before, but still, the pastel color is more apparent when you tilt the screen back 10 to 20-degrees than when you look perpendicularly to the screen. I looked at the history on Internet Explorer, and it looks like someone opened IE on Monday, July 2th or Tuesday July 3rd (I can't tell exactly since the clock/calendar was reset when the new system board was installed), but didn't do any searches so they wouldn't have seen my issue.

The background or wallpaper on my desktop is black. Just solid black. Not anymore. There are pixels on the left side of the display that are white. F***!!!! I start to look closer, and there are dead pixels all over the screen. I did a quick web search and find this. Dell replaces displays under warranty with refurbished screens! Also, Dell says these LCD displays can have up to 5 dead pixels and be OK to ship to their customers. Dell's Dead Pixel Policy I read on another website that refurbished displays can have up to 7 dead pixels.

I found a little application that helps you identify dead pixels on your display. I suggest you don't do this if you are happy with your display. Dead Pixel Buddy works by painting your screen black, white, red, yellow, green and blue. It helps you detect bad pixels. So I download and take a look at the display. There are at least 8 if not 10 defective pixels on my screen. There are even weird scratch looking spots.

One of the pixels is right smack in the middle of the screen. How annoying is that.

Dell, or whoever is running their warranty support, needs to get their act together. The "fixed" my laptop with a piece of junk display. At this point I would rather have the display that they replaced back. At least it didn't have an annoying black dot in the middle of the display.

About the D/Port issue, I've hooked it up to the d/port once now, and it didn't go blank/black. But it was an intermittent problem so I'll see what happens over the next few days/weeks.

Well, I'm off to contact my expert tech support guy Ron and get Dell to send me my Card Blank, and see about getting a new display to fix this POS.

junk to check out

This seems to be the outfit that Dell is outsourcing their warranty work too.

Solectron USA, Inc.
6269 East Shelby Drive
Memphis, Tennessee 38141
USATel: +1 (901) 260 2400

http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2004/07/30.html

http://www.google.com/search?q=dell+solectron

This is the group that has given Dell an award for customer service:
http://www.thesspa.com/

Lessons Learned

Here are a few things I hope I remember the next time I purchase a computer.

• Make sure you immediately bring up any problem/issue you have with your new computer within the inital return period (usually 21 to 30 days). Dell will be more likely to quickly help you if you have the option of returning the computer for a refund if your not satisfied.
• Stick to your guns. Don't take no for an answer. I was really frustrated about my experience. I felt helpless, because I was speaking to people who didn't seem to care about me, their customer. They seemed to be sticking to a script they were told to repeat, kind of like those David Spade commercials for Capital One where the employees were only allowed to say "No".
• The chat support was nice. It allowed me to compose my thoughts and make good points which were hard to ignore. Also, with the record of the conversations, it would be easy to post on the Internet for others to reference.
• Make sure you skip Dells Financial services (at least don't use it unless the you get a discount on something for using it, ask for 5%-10% off the system, is doesn't hurt to ask, then make sure you pay it off immediately), and use your premium credit card if you have one. Your credit card company will often extend your warranties, and cover some accidental damage.
• Get ready to raise the stakes. I had made a list of contacts to complain too. The State Attorney General, Consumer Reports, all my local TV news stations consumer reporters, my local newspapers, the Better Business Bureau, Dell executive leadership, cnet.com, pcworld.com, pcmag.com, notebookreview.com, other popular tech websites.
• Maybe in the future I'll buy a computer from a bricks and mortar store. That way I'll get to work face to face with people, and build a personal relationship with them. Dell has those kiosks in the mall, but I'm thinking more of the local computer shop (Are there any left? In Seattle I've heard good things about Quindunc). Also, if you want to make a scene, it's easier to do it face to face in someone's place of business, as opposed to over the phone.

Here are links to a few sites that have hints for dealing with tech support:
How-to Handle Dell Technical Support

Resolution Expert Center experience

I actually got an email from Dell Resolution Expert Center on Sunday, July 1. Almost 24 hours sooner than they said!

I was emailed by Ron, UI:0166285 in the REC (Resolution Expert Center) Web escalations group. He asked for copies of my emails with dell, which I told him I had none but the Chat email, since the rest was on the phone. He also wanted to know when the deadline was to get back to the warranty department. I gave him that information (July 4th). I didn't hear back from him for the rest of the day.

On Monday at work, I emailed Ron to see if he had gotten my emails and what the status of my problem was. My wife, Lisa needed the computer back soon because some she needed some files off of it for school by the following week.

Two hours later I received this message:

Wayne,
I got your email and have received a notice from the Depot stating that after they reevaluated the system, no spill damage was found and that both the motherboard and LCD are being replaced.
I will be happy to answer any questions you might have.
If you would reply to this email without changing the subject line, I will receive it.

Thank you for contacting Dell
Ronald L. Powell

Great! After almost a week of frustration, Dell is finally stepping up and fixing my laptop. Way to go! What a great company. I can't wait to invest my next paycheck in some tasty Dell stock.

Other Avenues

Since it was going to be a few days until I heard back from Dell, my mother (such a wise lady), suggested that I call my credit card company and dispute the charges for the computer.

I spoke with Citi cards, and they said that they would cover up to $500 of accidental damage in the first 90 days from purchase. Great, I was in the first 90-days, but I didn't do the damage, Dell did. Citi cards didn't care. I would have to submit a claim with them and they would probably cover it. They would send me some paperwork, and I could submit it if my Dell didn't step up and fix the problem.

Not only did I get mileage for my purchase, but they would pay to fix my computer, sweet!

Deep in Dell Hell (6/29/2007)

On 6/29/2007 I didn't receive a call at 11:00 from Joseph, so at 11:45 called him and left a message. I also called and emailed Ernie.

At this point, nothing was working for me. I was getting the classic run around, being passed from Dell employee to Dell employee (see others with similar Dell experiences) and no one was seeing my point, which is:

I didn't spill anything on my computer. The problems that I am having were there from the day I received the computer in the mail from Dell, and that the original owner returned the notebook because of the display, and that any water damage occurred before I took possession of the computer. THEREFORE, Dell should fix any damage to the computer they sold me at their expense.

By this time I had done a lot of research on Dell, Dell Customer Service, how to work with customer service, Others who had issues with Dell Customer Service, etc, etc, etc. One thing I had read was that using Dell's Chat support feature was a good idea, because you had a record of the conversation.
I got on Dells Chat website and had a conversation with "RTS Marleshia K." See text at bottom of this post. (Sorry, you have to scroll way down the page to see the chat record that was emailed to me by Dell, I don't know how to fix this).
The part of the chat that made it worth while was when Marleshia stated ""Being that a spill occurred on the system, before you got it. And if you don't have CompleteCare on the system, it's not covered."
I responded, "I don't understand. A spill occurred on the system before I got it, BUT you are requiring me to pay to have it fixed? I think Dell had better re-think that position."
I was forwarded to the "Resolution Expert Center" and would be contacted by email on Monday, 7/2/2007 at 11:46 AM. I finally felt like I was getting somewhere.

During my chat, Joseph called me back, again he said I had to pay to get my laptop fixed. I told him to send me pictures (I have never gotten any pictures).

This is an automated email sent from Dell Chat. The following information is a log of your session. Please save the log for your records. Your session ID for this incident is 1207407x.
Time	Details
06/29/2007 02:17:06PM	Session Started with Agent (RTS Marleshia K)
06/29/2007 02:17:17PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Thank you for patiently waiting. You have reached Dell Hardware Warranty Chat Support. My name is Marleisha and I will be assisting you today. In order for me to help you, can you provide details about the issue you’re having?"
06/29/2007 02:19:22PM	Wayne xxx: "I sent my laptop into Dell to have the display replaced under warranty. I recieved a call stating there was water damage to the systemboard and it wasn't covered under warranty. I have never spilled any liquid on my laptop. The laptop was ordered off t"
	he Dell Outlet and was previously owned. I suspect that the previous owner may have caused the damage to the laptop.
06/29/2007 02:20:16PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Wayne is this a new issue, or have you contacted Dell on this issue before? (If you have contacted us before on this issue, please provide the case number)."
06/29/2007 02:20:50PM	Wayne xxx: "Case #: 16781525x"
06/29/2007 02:23:08PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Wayne, I will try my best to resolve this issue for you. Before we get started, can I have you to verify the company name or name of the owner of the system? Also to ensure we are working with the correct system, are you chatting about the LATD820 l"
	isted on your account?
06/29/2007 02:24:00PM	Wayne xxx: "My name is Wayne xxx, I work for xxx in xxx, WA"
06/29/2007 02:24:07PM	Wayne xxx: "It is the Latitude D820"
06/29/2007 02:25:43PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "If you would like me to, I can give you the information to our Customer Care Department and they should be able to assist you with this issue further. Would you like that information?"
06/29/2007 02:27:34PM	Wayne xxx: "What are they going to do for me, connect me back to the warranty department? All the out of warranty department want's to do is send me pictures of the water damage. I want this dispute resolved, I do not want to keep getting pawned off by Dell service"
	. I want to speak with someone who can make decisions.
06/29/2007 02:28:39PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Being that a spill occurred on the system, before you got it. And if you don't have CompleteCare on the system, it's not covered."
06/29/2007 02:30:03PM	Wayne xxx: "I don't understand. A spill occured on the system before I got it, BUT you are requireing me to pay to have it fixed? I think Dell had better re-think that position."
06/29/2007 02:30:27PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Would you allow me 3 minutes to research this issue for you, Wayne?"
06/29/2007 02:30:44PM	Wayne xxx: "Sure."
06/29/2007 02:30:50PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Thanks very much."
06/29/2007 02:32:00PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Thanks for holding, Wayne."
06/29/2007 02:33:19PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "I'm going to transfer this issue to our Resolution Expert Center. I will send them the information about the issue your having, then they will send an email about it."
06/29/2007 02:33:24PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Is that okay?"
06/29/2007 02:33:49PM	Wayne xxx: "When will I get an email from your Resolution Expert Center?"
06/29/2007 02:33:58PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "It's our highest level of Technical Support."
06/29/2007 02:34:18PM	Wayne xxx: "Will I speak to them today?"
06/29/2007 02:34:22PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Please hold, and I'll have that information for you."
06/29/2007 02:34:33PM	Wayne xxx: "My phone number is xxx-xxx-xxx"
06/29/2007 02:43:30PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Thanks for waiting, Wayne."
06/29/2007 02:45:33PM	Wayne xxx: "Your welcome"
06/29/2007 02:46:58PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "They should be contacting you within the next day or so."
06/29/2007 02:47:40PM	Wayne xxx: "Tommorow is Saturday, will they contact me on saturday? Or will I spend the weekend upset about this issue?"
06/29/2007 02:48:23PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "They are going to contact you on 7/2/2007 11:46 AM"
06/29/2007 02:48:37PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Through email."
06/29/2007 02:50:14PM	Wayne xxx: "Well, I was plannig on going backpacking Sunday-Tuesday, but not anymore. Marleshia, Thankyou for your help."
06/29/2007 02:50:39PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "I really hope this issue gets resolved for you, Wayne."
06/29/2007 02:50:52PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Please use these numbers for future questions on this issue: Case #16826642x"
06/29/2007 02:50:59PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "If you need further assistance with this case, you may contact us via [Chat]: www.dell.com/chatsupport or [Email]: us_acs_team_1@dell.com (include your Case# and Service Tag) [Subject]: Team 317 Email Dell Inc. Case#16826642x"
06/29/2007 02:51:03PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "For future reference, a copy of this chat will be sent to the email you provided as you entered the chat."
06/29/2007 02:51:15PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Wayne, are you having any other hardware issues with your computer that I can help you with?"
06/29/2007 02:51:20PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "I am constantly striving to improve my service. If there is anything I can do to help improve your experience, please don't hesitate to let me know by contacting my manager via email at us_acs_team_1@dell.com."
06/29/2007 02:52:00PM	Wayne xxx: "No other issues, I was happy with my laptop until this experience."
06/29/2007 02:52:10PM	Agent (RTS Marleshia K): "Thank you for using Dell Hardware Warranty Chat Support. Have a great day!"
06/29/2007 02:52:54PM	Session Ended
If you require further assistance, please visit us at support.dell.com

Call from Dell (6/28/2007)

Well, I get another automated call from Dell, with the same message as the day before, there is water damage, it is not covered, would I like to talk to someone. I hang up and Call Ernie R. I get his voice mail. I leave him a message and request he call me back.

I called Dell warranty back and waited on hold to speak to anyone. I spoke with someone who was very hard to understand he didn't give me his name (the phone line was bad). Then I was put on hold and transferred to customer service where I talked to Rebecca. She said she would speak to her supervisor who told her to contact the warranty support folks and let them know it was a refurbished computer and I didn't spill anything on the laptop.
Alex at warrant support said they wouldn't fix my laptop. He wanted to send me pictures of my motherboard with signs of the water damage. I told him I didn't spill anything on the mother board and didn't care to see any photos and I wanted to speak to his supervisor.
Robb who is Alex's supervisor said that I had to pay. That they wouldn't do anything for me. That Dell never sells anything that is damaged. (then why do they have so much stuff in the Dell Outlet?) He said that I had to pay to get it fixed or they would send it back unrepaired. After 5 minutes of being run-around by Robb who just wanted to send me pictures of the water damage (which I didn't do, so I don't care to see the photos) I asked to speak to someone who could help me.

Robb connected me to Joseph at warranty parts replacement. He is sending an email to the warranty folks telling them what I already told them.
He said he would call back the next day at 11:00. I asked was that 11:00 my time or his? He took a minute, had to figure out what timezone he was in and told me it would be 11:00 Pacific time. Well great, I can't wait to see what you have to say.

Call from Dell (6/27/2007)

Two days after sending my D820 off to Dell I get an automated call from Dell. It states that they have found that there is water damage to the mother board, and that it is not covered by my warranty, and I have to pay them $400+ to get it fixed. Would I like to talk to someone?

Hell yes I want to talk to someone! I sent in to have the display replaced under warranty, and now they are telling me that there is water damage and that I need to pay them to fix a problem I have had since I first received the computer from Dell?

I get connected to Ernie R. at Dell Out-of-Warranty. I tell him that I have never spilled any liquid on the laptop. My wife is the only other user of this computer and she has never spilled liquid on the laptop. Based on the fact that we have not spilled anything on the laptop, and that the display issues were existing from the time we originally purchased the product, any damage to the motherboard occurred before we received the notebook computer. Since the previous owner had complaints about the display, it is apparent that this was a pre-existing issue with the notebook computer Dell sold me.

Ernie tells me that he is taking ownership of this issue and that he will send it back to the technician and have it re-evaluated. They can even take pictures of the damage to show me. I tell Ernie that I don't care if there is any water damage, that since I didn't do it, I would not pay for any damage. Ernie tells me that it is "impossible" that Dell would have sent me a computer with water damage. (again see Aaron Clow's post)

Ernie says that sometimes the re-evaluation would show no damage and I would be fine. But that was all he could do for me. So, I said thanks for you help and waited (steaming mad) for a call from Dell the next day.

Call to Dell Support (6/24/07)

Lisa wanted the computer docking problems fixed, I had searched the web and found nothing exactly similar. See "Forestial Says" comment

So, I called up Dell's tech support. It was a Sunday afternoon, and I got through to a nice fellow up in a tech support office in Canada (it's nice to have North American tech support). After an hour of running the diagnostic tests and re-installing the video drivers, he decides that both problems (the D/Port and color issue) are caused by a faulty display. So, I am to send it back to Dell the next morning and they will replace the display under warranty. DHL was at my office the next morning and it was on its way. The support fellow (who's name I didn't write down) said it would take 3-5 business days, so I should have it back by Friday 6/29/07.

Another interesting thing I learned during this call, was that the previous owner of my computer had returned it because he "wanted to get another notebook computer with a better display." The tech support guy had confused me with the previous owner, and asked me if I had wanted to return it before. Interesting info, the display had probably been messed up when the original owner had it and Dell hadn't picked up on the issue before they sold it to me at the Dell Outlet. This isn't the first time Dell's crack technicians have missed damaged systems that were then sold on Dell Outlet. See "liquid on keyboard"

Well, no worries, I'd have a new display in a few short days.

D/Port display problems

I wanted to get a docking station setup for the home office. I did some research and decided to use a Dell D/Port. This allows you to dock your Latitude notebook to the device and then use an external display, keyboard, mouse, speakers, network connection, etc. It's pretty slick and I thought it along with a D/Monitor Stand would work great. I bought a Kensington Notebook Expansion Dock for a co-worker and she was never really happy with how it integrated with her Dell Notebook computer, so I figured to get the Dell D/Port since its a Dell product, designed specifically for D-series notebooks..

So another issue came up when we started using the D/Port. Sometimes, when starting up the notebook computer when it is in the D/Port, the external monitor would go blank. The only way to fix this would be to un-dock the laptop shut it down and plug it back in. I did some searching in the web to see if this was a common issue but didn't find anything that was exactly similar. I figured it was caused by the different display resolutions of the built-in notebook display and the external monitor. For some reason this was causing the external monitor to go blank. I looked at the Event Viewer and couldn't find an error message that was related to this problem.

I don't really like calling Dell support unless I know specifically what is wrong with my computer system, since it can take hours of my time to have the service technicians run through all the standard diagnostic tests before they agree with me that something is wrong. (I am the tech support person where I work, and when I know that a specific item on a computer is bad, say a DVD burner is malfunctioning, Dell is great at sending a replacement item out quickly to me, but when there is just general, "problems," it can be painful to work with the tech support to find a solution.)

So, again I didn't call Dell with my problem, since it was an intermittent problem and not a show stopper.

Other Accessories Purchased

I wanted to get some accessories for the notebook that would keep it in good shape and help it last a long time. Laptops don't ususlly last as long as desktop computers since they are bumped around more and can run hotter that a desktop.

I purchased a nice Case Logic 15.4" Laptop Shuttle Sleeve. My neighbor has a MacBook that has a cool sleeve and wanted something similar. This one is "Durable, weather–resistant neoprene cushions and protects your computer " and sounded perfect. It keeps the notebook seperate from any books or other stuff in your backpack, etc.

We also purchased a Titan Notebook Cooling Pad. This product is simple, and not very expensive. One of the 2 fan's lines up pretty well with the vents on the bottom of the Dell Latitude D820. Hopefuly this will keep the computer cooler and extend the lifespan of our notebook.

Lastly, I found a Timbuk2 Outtawack Day Pack on sale at REI. The notebook fit into it, so I got it for Lisa to use for taking her books to school on the bus or her bike. I don't know if she has used it yet to take the computer anywhere.

Arrival and First Impressions

When we received our new (for us) notebook, I examined the computer to figure out what made it "Scratch and Dent" on the Dell Outlet website. The only thing that I could find is that it had a "Vista Home" sticker, when it really had Widows Vista Business installed on it. There was nothing else visibly wrong with the notebook computer.

I started it up and was soon playing with the new operating system and getting a feel for the laptop. The Dell Latitude D820 is a really nice computer (D820 sheet). It has a large screen and a full size keyboard. I did notice that the 1 GB of RAM that the computer came with was being utilized over 50% with nothing but Windows running (well, maybe the anti-virus software too (Trend Micro)). So, make sure you get 2GB of RAM if your getting any of the Vista OS flavors except for Home Basic.

As for the Vista operating system. It was cool, but after a few days of playing with the interface, I switched it to "Classic" mode, which I was more familiar with.

I like to have Google as my home page, it is the search engine I use most frequently. At some point during the first few days (maybe the first day, I don't remember) I noticed an issue with the display when I did a Google search on a subject. Specifically, when you search with Google, the first few returned hits are usually "Sponsored Links" that have a light yellow or beige background to differentiate them from the rest of the search results. When you looked at the notebook display perpendicularly, you couldn't see the beige background, but when you tilted the display back about 15 to 12-degrees, you could see the colors. When I hooked up an external LCD display, this wasn't a problem.

Well, this wasn't a major problem, and the display on this particular laptop was the cheapest of the 3 available (15.4" WXGA (1280 X 800 resolution)), so I figured this was standard for this particular display. I didn't contact Dell customer service about this issue. Little did I know how this would later become a major problem.

Background

My wife, Lisa (who is in school right now,) and I decided it was time to retire our old, hand-me-down Dell Dimension 4100. It had served us well, but didn't have the processing power to efficiently run the new virus software packages and do email/word processing/web very quickly.

I was tasked with looking into buying a new laptop for home use. At my office, I purchase new workstations and desktop computers for our companies 15-20 employees. We always buy Dells. I also help my co-workers with their home computer purchases, and try to steer them towards systems with good specs so they won't be frustrated with a budget system that most stores/websites lure customers with. So I went to the Dell website and started looking around.

Our laptop budget was less than $1300, but I really wanted to get one of the Latitude line of notebook computers. I've been really impressed with the quality of these laptops, but they are a bit more expensive than the Inspiron line of notebooks. Another nice thing about the Latitude line is you get North American based tech support.

That lead me to the Dell Outlet (http://www.dell.com/outlet). Dell Outlet has a lot of desktop and notebook computers. Some of these have been previously owned and returned, others might be canceled orders, and others might be items that were scratched while they were being built. These systems can be considerably cheaper than the same computer you build on the regular Dell website. They are all covered by the same warranty as a new Dell, and they are suppose to be checked out by Dell technicians and not have any defects that would effect how they work.

Searching the web for reviews/information of customer experiences on Dell Outlet, I couldn't find very much. Usually, I wouldn't purchase from a site with so little information and feedback from customers, but, you know, its run by Dell, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I spent a week or so on the Outlet site, looking for a system that fit the specs I wanted. Finally, a Latitude D820 appeared that fit my needs. It had a Intel Core Duo T7200 processor, 1GB of RAM (I later upgraded to 2 GB of Crucial RAM from newegg.com), a 7200 RPM hard drive, and a 128MB video card. I figured that this would be a great system that would serve Lisa and I for the next few years. It was a "SCRATCH/DENT EQUIPMENT" computer, but I figured I would give it a chance. So, I ordered it and excitedly waited for our new computer.