Good Paperweight
Written: Oct 28 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Holds down the paper real good (good support and support website)
Cons: Too many tecnincal problems
|
|
|
| mdefazio's Full Review: Dell Latitude CPx H500GT |
I do not have a problem with Dell in general (I recommend many people, even my brother,sister and best friend to buy a Dell products because of quality/price and the great support they have to offer.) I also like Dell because they use relatively name brand and high end components which are easy to find drivers for and usually work well with WINTEL platforms.
But when I started with Tallan, they give out standard issue Dell Laptops when you start working with a client (I am a consultant). When I started, I was "lucky" enough to be the first on my project with the new breed, the new Pentium III Dell laptop, as apposed to everyone elses
P-II's which ran at a measly 400 Mhz.
Jealousy ran rampant at the workplace because the "New Guy" had the powerhouse computer.(That didn't last long) Soon after I got the computer I was having problems with the soundcard (ESS-Maestro). At first it was no big deal, every once in a while the speakers would give me some feedback but nothing unbearable. Eventually the problem snowballed until I had to turn my speaker off completely and I could not listen to CD's or sounds on my laptop (sucks 4 me when i work 10-12 hours a day with no music).
Even though I couldn't listen to music, I didn't want to send my laptop away, because I would have to set up a new computer on my own (with all of my software) while I sent it away to have it serviced. So I dealt with it.
Soon, however I was having problems with the ethernet card in the Docking Station (Ohh, did I metion it was a bear to get a Zircom combo Ethernet/Modem PCMCIA card to work when I docked my computer, it was great, can us say "DISABLE COMPLETELY"). I took out the PCMCIA card, and that worked for a while, then apparently the soudcard drivers were interfereing with my ethernet card. Every time I rebooted, i had to dock my computer, boot up, undock, and redock, then Windows NT would find and install drivers for the ethernet card, and I could get on the network.
I checked out dell's support site (which is very nice by the way) and I found that many other people were having similar problems with the soudcards (Blue screens, IRQ and DMA conflicts, etc. etc.) So, when i got a break in work, i sent it away to get it fixed.
A while later I was excited to get it back, (but that didn't last long either...) The first time I tried to turn it on, nothing, (hmmm... that's weird) So I held down the on button a while, and she booted up. So I was happy. Next day I tried to turn it on, NOTHING. I couldn't believe it!
I tried pushing the on button over and over till she finally booted up.
As it turns out, there is a documented design flaw with this model (as noted by other users on Dell's site) which causes the processor to become unseated from the motherboard, and thus Nada! It is an inconsitent problem, and therefore the magic fix that I had originally come up with "Hold down the ON button for EXACTLY 1.3 seconds" was only working because sometimes this action would push the case down and allow the processor to become reseated on the motherboard.
Another member of Dell's site (Not someone who worked for dell) suggested resting the laptop on your knee and pressing doen on the the "A" and "Enter" Keys firmly to reseat the processor, which worked ok, but I can't keep doing this b/c the Computer needs to be docked and it seems the pesky little processor keeps unseating itslef.
In the meantime I have set up another computer (this time a Dell desktop) to work from. So I hardly ever mess with it now(I'm going to send this lemon back too...)
SUMMARY
I have to commend Dell about the support website which is great for support questions, to find drivers, and BIOS updates. I also the fixing service is usually good. However if you are on the market for a laptop steer clear of this one. (BY the way, some of my newer collegues have H-500's and they too are having unrelated problems with thiers, the 400 Mhz Dell pentium II's seem to be holding up fairly nicely however.)
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 3000
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 401-500
Screen Size: 15"
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
mdefazio
|
|
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.