None of the big guys are going to give you an OEM CD, not just Dell. If the .cab files are on the PC, you could create your own CD.

I hear you... You paid for the license and should get a CD. I think the manufacturers get a deal on the OS when they don't give you CD. They offer these hooky burn your image software which is no good if you want to build the PC from scratch.

Dell as a manufacturer is no better or worse than HP or Lenovo; they are all hitting at every pricepoint.
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HP screwed me over pretty good. Long story, but in the end AMEX took care of me. HP are kings of the "not our fault...." despite evidence showing they tried to cover up the problems with that video card overheating and dying through a sneaky bios update....
oh, and even though you have the same video card in your machine, had the same problems, as everyone else... because it was a factory direct custom build from HP, they won't fix it without $700. Ya HP, smyd,.
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Sorry to hear that. I have not had these experiences personally.
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Because it was a known problem, I have a feeling their tech support were on guard. Throughout the conversation the guy was trying to bait me into saying it was my fault. I figured it out and ran around it. He continued, and eventually blamed me for the video card dying.

I was livid. I complained enough about this on notebookreview.com, but I was just plain pissed. It was a known issue. Just replace the stupid card and I'd be on my way. Rather I get accused of breaking the card, and the bastard on the phone threatened my warranty saying he had it recorded that I stated it was my fault. I said screw it and called AMEX.

I will NEVER buy HP again. Dell, I've had problems before, but they've been fair in the end. HP basically told me to piss off. Dell were upfront with the Nvidia issue, and took care of their customers. HP were sneaky little shats about it, and tried to con people. I give my money to Dell. SMYD HP.
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I feel your pain on the Dell frustration.

Bought 3 laptops for Christmas a few years back for the girls and got "promotional" pricing. Long story short, every laptop died before the payments were all made and out of warranty. Repeated complaining, calls, emails got me know where. Finally quit paying for them. They turned it over to a collections dept. Once I got the first letter I called and explained the situation, pleaded for the best deal he had, we all know they will come down if settled on the spot, and he sympathized with me. Cut the amount to 1/4 what I owed and told me how to file a response with the credit bureaus.


Dell will never see another penny from me.

Chas
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I do not like Dell. Had 2 dell laptops and both of them crapped out. Now have a Toshiba that I bought 3 years ago and it runs like new!
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Sorry that it happened man, but really, how long were you paying for these? Notebooks from any manufacturer (and let's be real, they're all built in Malaysia/China no matter who you buy from) aren't built to last for the long haul. Is 1 year too early, sure, but you take that bet if you don't pay for the extended warranty. These are machines you carry around and beat the hell out of. These aren't desktop computers that just sit and work day in and day out.

Two rules to always know when purchasing your next laptop:

1. Always extend your warranty. Figure in the $200+ for the 3 year warranty (and possibly accident coverage) into your final costs.
2. Don't expect notebooks from Dell/HP/Apple/Toshiba to be Toughbooks. They just aren't.

I've owned Powerbooks, Inspirons, XPS, and HP, and all of them were saved by warranty. I don't care how much you say you baby your system and are super surprised there is a hardware issue. You carry around a freaking computer in a backpack, you will have issues.
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And I've had a Toshiba Satellite get handed to me that had the black screen of death!

Toshiba is one of the worst when owning up to their own hardware failure. Do a google search for "toshiba black screen of death" and let me know what you find. The best they have done is toss out a BIOS update, which is unusable to those who can't even see anything on their screen nor log into Windows. The black screen of death is basically that.
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I must be the exception with a Compaq that's over 4 years old and until recently was still on it's 1st install of windows. I used it for school, at least 3 out of 5 weekdays and usually every weekend. Went in backbacks, in a case, but went everywhere. Not a hardware issue with it except that it's a slow pile of @(*&$ compared to new ones(God I want a macbook.......:-) )
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My boss went two years with a Compaq (an HP machine) which was a headache from the start. I did my best to keep it running for him, but the wireless card and eventually the motherboard shat out on him. He destroyed it despite my wanting to purchase parts. :-)

Compaq was never meant to be high end, and even more so after HP purchased them to be their dirt cheap introduction to their (HP's) machines.

Everything you find in this thread is anecdotal. No real answers beyond simple experiences. That's all you can really expect from these threads. My HP experience I hope was telling... the Nvidia 8400/8600 video card problem was near industry-wide (Apple, Dell, and HP addressed the issue), and made headlines on all technology news sites and blogs.

The only one who shat on the consumer and tried to pull a quick one? HP. They released a BIOS update that would help to keep the burnout from happening until AFTER the 1 year warranty was up. They sort of snuck that in, and hoped no one would notice. That doesn't work in today's world.

Spend your money any way you want to. Just do a little bit of research on this issue and see what I ran into. Dell added additional time to warranties, (I believe it was one year on top of current warranties on machines with those cards) and I haven't heard any complaints in getting them to honor it. HP did the same, but for only certain machines, discluding MANY machines that have that card. I was one of those. I was also not the only one, as I've talked to others with the same custom build who were denied coverage.

SMYD HP!
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You can download an ISO of the OEM windows version from bittorrent, the burn it to a disk. Your Lic will work on that. No biggie, HP doesnt give you a disk either unless you pay for it.
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I am completely tired of Dell and Windows. If I can save enough money up by this fall I will be moving to the other side of the computer world.
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I refuse to pay the AppleTax. My next purchase will be a Lenovo Thinkpad, it will have windows but I will mostly use RedHat
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I've got colleagues who use those and are actually ok with them. That said, if it was me, I'd slap on a copy of Ubuntu and VMware Workstation to run any WinBlows I need to. :-)
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I have three Dells in the house now (mine, wifes, and sons). Had problems with my sons and called Dell and raised holy hell and they finally (after about three days and 20 phone calls) sent a tech to the house to repair it at no cost to me.
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I have used IBM/Lenovo notebooks for the last 5 years with minimal problems. I had one motherboard have an issue, and it was my fault by picking it up by one corner when open. Other than that they are rock solid. The one I am using now is 2 1/2 years old, and I don't plan on replacing it any time soon. They are great with warranty as well. They had to replace a DVD burner, and they overnighted it to me. Just one thing make sure you find the tech number for Atlanta they are the best.
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Might be my next one as well. Although I love my Toshiba and have had no problems in 3 years (never formatted)!
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I only have Dell's right now. Typing on an Inspirion 6000 at the moment. It's old, has to be at least 5 years and still chugs along. I wish it was faster, but I think I have gotten my moneys worth out of it. Recently I have been kicking around the idea of buying another laptop. My wife really wants a Mac, but I don't know if it will work on my wireless system. I have to find out. Back on point is that I don't feel that Dell is necessarily the good deal they used to be. They really are not out pricing anyone anymore.

Don't really know the point of this post, just my :-). :-)
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Lenovo / IBM ThinkPads are the best general laptops. They are the industry standard workhorse, and have been for over a decade. Yes, they look dull, but if you want 4+ years out of your laptop, ThinkPads are the way to go. Their history and peformance records speaks for itself.
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I have had a couple of Apples, and they worked on any wireless system I was ever on with them.

My mom still has an old R40. I bought it before they came with DVD drives because it only has a CD drive in it.
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