fulcrumreality
Right off the assembly line
I had recently posted a thread "Questions for a gaming laptop" a few months ago. I just got my Dell inspiron 15 r turbo (or is it Dell Inspiron 15r 7520 SE? ). I'll post a review of it shortly, but first i'll share my experience over the past few months in buying a gaming laptop in Delhi.
Having got some some very informative responses in my thread, I got a decent idea about what to look for. From the outset I always wanted a Dell laptop because of my -ve experiences with sony and also because of the complete cover being offered by Dell. HP tempted me a a lot and at times I almost felt like going for it for various reasons i'll list below. Also Dell was familiar because many known ppl had it. Thus I mostly preferred Dell.
Only recently was the money ready and I got proactive in getting the laptop. I found a shop right below Karol bagh metro where I was apparently getting a Dell Inspiron 15 r turbo with a 3rd gen I5 3510, 8gb Ram, amd 7730 m 2gb graphics, and full HD screen for 45000 bucks!! Never mind that it came only with DOS(actually even better, nobody would shove WIN 8 down my throat the price was crazy, hence I paid the deposit and the laptop came in a couple of hours. I had it unpacked, and saw there was only a Ubuntu sticker on the laptop. My first reaction was maybe that's all u get for 45,000 I then bought Win 7 Home basic for 5,750(some drama there, I was first given the 32 bit version, I got it exchanged the next day. Thank god I had not opened the 32 bit one) and was pretty stoked that I got a laptop worth almost 57k for less than 51k with Win 7. Since I didn't have a net connection and the drivers were not installed, the action had not yet begun
I called Dell to ask them for a solution to my problem (no net so how do I get drivers?). The guy naturally asked for my Service tag no., I gave it, he entered it, hesitated it a bit ,then put me on hold for at least 10 min. I was pretty pissed when he came back online, but he stunned me by asking questions like when did I get the laptop, from whom did I get the laptop and and so on. I answered all his questions and finally asked him if there was a problem. He hesitated and said that I should go and ask the dealer where did he get the laptop from?. I asked why would the dealer answer that question. The guy says because there's a 50-50 chance that your laptop is fake or stolen. I asked him to explain himself and he said that the laptop was registered in Thailand, the warranty had already begun in july and was upto oct 2014(I had not extended the warranty yet) and also that it did not have full HD. He then said that as a customer I had the right to ask the dealer the questions. He however said Dell would honour the warranty of the laptop.
The next day I went to the dealer and told him he had given me the wrong laptop, I asked for FHD. I didn't mention the conversation with Dell because I expected him to lie and defend himself. By then I just wanted my refund. The dealer was taken aback, requested that he would check the laptop by installing the drivers and checking it thoroughly. After probably 4 hrs it was confirmed that there was no FHD The Dealer had a pretty good shouting match on the phone with his supplier who insisted that it was FHD The Dealer finally said he would get me the laptop anyway from somebody else for the same price. I said OK, while insisting on him to register the laptop with dell himself and also to help me extend the warranty. He said alright and got to work. For almost 3 hrs he called almost everyone and his father in Delhi to get a Dell laptop with the specs I wanted. He never found anyone having it, infact he tried convincing me to reduce my requirements (why do you need 8gb ram? 4gb se kaam chal jaata hai , why 2gb graphics card, I3 be bahut accha hai, FHD laptop mein bekaar hai), he also cursed Dell numerous times thoroughly recommending HP. At times I was frustrated myself and thought maybe HP in similar specs may not be a bad idea. However I stuck on and offered to pay him extra if he could order on the dell website. He declined and I then took the refund and went home
That is when I realized that Dell's business model is pretty anti-Dealer, not very cost effective for the customer. Some models are only available online and the prices are not competitive. Yet I said ****-it and ordered my dell laptop online. The sales rep said that there was 6% student discount but only if I go for the addl. 2 year warranty. That is what I wanted anyway so I took it. My laptop cost me ~63,500 which includes the said discount, a counter vailing duty of around 6100 and a CST of 3000. The duty and CST were pretty psychologically ball busting but it was too late by then. On their part Dell service has so far been impeccable. I transferred the money on 7 feb in the evening, got a confirmation on the 11feb and it was delivered today in the afternoon. The time mentioned was 26 feb . Even now when I see Samsung and HP laptops with same specs selling for much less it hurts but I am happy so far with what I got.
I am now creating recovery disks to back stuff up and hope to format my comp at the earliest and install WIn 7. Win 8 is really beginning to piss me off.
So guys good night and watch out for my review due in a couple of days
Cheers,
fULCRUM
P.S My specs are Inspiron 15r turbo (7520 SE) - I5 3rd gen 3210m, 4gb X 2 1600 MHz, AMD HD 7730 M 2gb DDR3, Win 8(no media kit),backlit keyboard (No numpad ),full HD , 1tb 5400 rpm, 1+2 yr complete cover warranty, Targus synergy backpack .
Having got some some very informative responses in my thread, I got a decent idea about what to look for. From the outset I always wanted a Dell laptop because of my -ve experiences with sony and also because of the complete cover being offered by Dell. HP tempted me a a lot and at times I almost felt like going for it for various reasons i'll list below. Also Dell was familiar because many known ppl had it. Thus I mostly preferred Dell.
Only recently was the money ready and I got proactive in getting the laptop. I found a shop right below Karol bagh metro where I was apparently getting a Dell Inspiron 15 r turbo with a 3rd gen I5 3510, 8gb Ram, amd 7730 m 2gb graphics, and full HD screen for 45000 bucks!! Never mind that it came only with DOS(actually even better, nobody would shove WIN 8 down my throat the price was crazy, hence I paid the deposit and the laptop came in a couple of hours. I had it unpacked, and saw there was only a Ubuntu sticker on the laptop. My first reaction was maybe that's all u get for 45,000 I then bought Win 7 Home basic for 5,750(some drama there, I was first given the 32 bit version, I got it exchanged the next day. Thank god I had not opened the 32 bit one) and was pretty stoked that I got a laptop worth almost 57k for less than 51k with Win 7. Since I didn't have a net connection and the drivers were not installed, the action had not yet begun
I called Dell to ask them for a solution to my problem (no net so how do I get drivers?). The guy naturally asked for my Service tag no., I gave it, he entered it, hesitated it a bit ,then put me on hold for at least 10 min. I was pretty pissed when he came back online, but he stunned me by asking questions like when did I get the laptop, from whom did I get the laptop and and so on. I answered all his questions and finally asked him if there was a problem. He hesitated and said that I should go and ask the dealer where did he get the laptop from?. I asked why would the dealer answer that question. The guy says because there's a 50-50 chance that your laptop is fake or stolen. I asked him to explain himself and he said that the laptop was registered in Thailand, the warranty had already begun in july and was upto oct 2014(I had not extended the warranty yet) and also that it did not have full HD. He then said that as a customer I had the right to ask the dealer the questions. He however said Dell would honour the warranty of the laptop.
The next day I went to the dealer and told him he had given me the wrong laptop, I asked for FHD. I didn't mention the conversation with Dell because I expected him to lie and defend himself. By then I just wanted my refund. The dealer was taken aback, requested that he would check the laptop by installing the drivers and checking it thoroughly. After probably 4 hrs it was confirmed that there was no FHD The Dealer had a pretty good shouting match on the phone with his supplier who insisted that it was FHD The Dealer finally said he would get me the laptop anyway from somebody else for the same price. I said OK, while insisting on him to register the laptop with dell himself and also to help me extend the warranty. He said alright and got to work. For almost 3 hrs he called almost everyone and his father in Delhi to get a Dell laptop with the specs I wanted. He never found anyone having it, infact he tried convincing me to reduce my requirements (why do you need 8gb ram? 4gb se kaam chal jaata hai , why 2gb graphics card, I3 be bahut accha hai, FHD laptop mein bekaar hai), he also cursed Dell numerous times thoroughly recommending HP. At times I was frustrated myself and thought maybe HP in similar specs may not be a bad idea. However I stuck on and offered to pay him extra if he could order on the dell website. He declined and I then took the refund and went home
That is when I realized that Dell's business model is pretty anti-Dealer, not very cost effective for the customer. Some models are only available online and the prices are not competitive. Yet I said ****-it and ordered my dell laptop online. The sales rep said that there was 6% student discount but only if I go for the addl. 2 year warranty. That is what I wanted anyway so I took it. My laptop cost me ~63,500 which includes the said discount, a counter vailing duty of around 6100 and a CST of 3000. The duty and CST were pretty psychologically ball busting but it was too late by then. On their part Dell service has so far been impeccable. I transferred the money on 7 feb in the evening, got a confirmation on the 11feb and it was delivered today in the afternoon. The time mentioned was 26 feb . Even now when I see Samsung and HP laptops with same specs selling for much less it hurts but I am happy so far with what I got.
I am now creating recovery disks to back stuff up and hope to format my comp at the earliest and install WIn 7. Win 8 is really beginning to piss me off.
So guys good night and watch out for my review due in a couple of days
Cheers,
fULCRUM
P.S My specs are Inspiron 15r turbo (7520 SE) - I5 3rd gen 3210m, 4gb X 2 1600 MHz, AMD HD 7730 M 2gb DDR3, Win 8(no media kit),backlit keyboard (No numpad ),full HD , 1tb 5400 rpm, 1+2 yr complete cover warranty, Targus synergy backpack .