"Ricky Mak" <1314rly@i-cable.com> wrote in message news:<40dedfd1$1_3@rain.i-cable.com>...
Hi, I bought the 510m with P-m 1.5GHz about a month ago after a
reading an impressive review on the PCPro magazine (UK). The computer
arrived with a battery that was only about half the capacity of the
one advertised, the modem cable was faulty, there was a dead pixel on
the screen, the computer crashed several times, and Dell Customer
Service and Technical Support were hopeless. I eventually returned the
computer for a refund --luckily they refunded my card within 7 days,
so at least they did one thing right!
A few things to bear in mind, if you're considering this laptop:
1. The sound through the headphones is not good, there is a loud hiss
audible in the background when in Windows. If you plan to use
headphones a lot, you'll need to buy an extra piece of kit to remedy
this. On the other hand, the sound through the speakers is probably a
tiny bit better than on most other laptops.
2. The general build quality of the laptop is poor. The whole thing
has a plasticky feel to it; the display is bright enough but not
evenly lit; the keyboard is clanky and has a tendency to rattle.
3. Dell datasheet specifies only one fan for this computer (this is
not too noisy, and rarely comes on), but there's another fan on board
the system which is nowhere mentioned and which is always on. It's not
too loud but you can hear it if working in a quiet room.
4. Dell technical support is as bad as it's reputed to be, I'm afraid.
You sometimes have the feeling that you're speaking to dummies instead
of real people. You're more likely to get help from other users on
their online forum than from Dell itself.
Hope this helps.
