I have a 1 week old Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop. I can no longer access the desktop. Once it loads up the welcome screen it will sit there for a good 30 seconds or longer before going into a black screen, even in safe mode. The mouse still works but the desktop just isn't showing up. I have been able to access the desktop twice. Both times the computer froze up fairly quickly and wouldn't allow me to do anything. Passed all memory and hard drive tests. I have Vista. Any ideas? I'm pretty close to taking this thing back and exchanging it.
except when they are completely out I reformatted the computer and so far its working. I didn't want to do that but had no other choice. We'll see how it runs....
I believe dell has a good tech support, how about calling them? I think I had a similar problem on my inspiron and it had something to do with re installing my video card driver... dell tech support walked me through it.
Good idea- it's probably still exchangeable at this point. Spend the extra $ and get one of their XPS laptops. Much better quality and MUCH better support (in the US vs overseas).
What's the story on the Inspiron? Doesn't sound like most of you are fond of it? Would you guys recommend it or not-to someone in the market for a laptop and not trying to spend a ton of money but looking for something that's reliable?
I have an Inspiron right now, but I don't really want to go with Dell for my next laptop. I can't put my finger on one specific incident that turned me off from them, but I have had a handful of hardware problems that I didn't expect from a (now) 5 year old laptop.
Inspiron is their budget line. You get what you pay for. I bought my wife one about two years ago and the battery is shot; she gets maybe 5 minutes unplugged. Not a big deal and wouldn't have mattered if I would have splurged on a longer warranty, but I didn't. As it is, she doesn't really travel with it so it's not a big deal. Still, you get the most bang for your buck out of Dells IMO. Taking a quick glance at their full line of laptops, I would still say that the XPS is best for most people for what you pay. Their XPS M1330 starts at $950, and it's an awesome laptop; it's what I'm using now at home. If you can't spend a grand or more, then go to their small business website and get a Vostro over the Inspirons, which I've recommended to some people I work with and they love (wasn't availabl when I bought my wife's). I have some of the Latitudes in my office at work and they're really nice, but they are pricey. I also have a Precision M6300 that I use as my mobile desktop (docked) at my desk at work, and it's a powerhouse. And while I'm very pro-Dell, it doesn't mean that I would stray away from other manufacturers; I just wouldn't buy a sub-$1500 laptop from them. Sony's low-end stuff isn't very good, but their high-end laptops ARE very nice, and Fujitsu's $1500+ laptops are good too. Toshiba is OK, but again, if you're spending $500ish, you might as well go with Dell. Stay away from HPs at all costs- when people ask me to work on laptops on the side, 80% of the time it's a HP laptop, and most of the time it's some kind of hardware failure in a fairly new (under 2 years) laptop. Lastly, I haven't had great experiences with Lenovo laptops. And I would say that the most important thing you can get with a laptop is a long warranty. There is a lot of wear and tear on them since they're mobile, even if it's just around the house. Also (franchise3), if you get more than four or five years out of a laptop, you got your money's worth. It's been my experience that they just don't last that long, regardless of manufacturer. Hope that helps!
Good to know. This is my first laptop, so I haven't had any prior experience with them. Even though it is an Inspiron, I remember it costing a lot relative to other Dell laptops at the time. I had to get it because I was majoring in Aerospace Engineering at the time and it had to have all this high-grade hardware and software for that purpose. It is probably the heaviest and thickest laptop I have seen by today's standards. Is there any real positives to getting a laptop over a desktop if you don't really need to mobility? I use my laptop at school every day right now, but I imagine when I graduate and get a job I won't really need the mobility anymore. I was thinking about just getting a desktop because they seem to cost less.
Not really...in fact, desktops are much more upgradable in terms of video card, hard drive, RAM, etc. And they usually last longer as long as they don't get too hot and you have a UPS on them. But I'll bet that you will miss being able to surf the internet on the couch or in bed. I don't think I could go back to a desktop after using a laptop consistently for a few years.
Too late. I have an M1530 (and I think so does Royals Ego)... it's been working fine. What's YOUR story?
I have a new m1530 on the way. All of their new XPSs won't have this issue. Here's the article: link. At any rate, it's a moot point for new systems.
