Ordered a XPS? What's your status?? - Page 4

Originally Posted by LurkingJayhawk

I don't think mine was in testing much longer. I came back from vacation on Sunday and it was in a build status, by yesterday afternoon is was boxing. I would really rather them not waste a great deal of time testing, I'm quite capable of that and will be a little more thorough. I would only hope they look at the screen, test the power, HD, DVD/CD, and memory. I figure if they hook it up to Sisoft (or something similar) and do the system test, and check the screen that'd be fine with me. I found out from reading the article in CGW that you can have them do a default OS install, with only OS and Drivers (everything else on CD), I wish I had known that a couple weeks ago, it would have saved me the time of doing a reinstall.

Originally Posted by cdd543

I agree--I better have a perfect screen--sager couldn't do that in 2 tries for me. Dell does tend to have a lot of bloatware--I opted out of all of the free trial software so I wouldn't have to deal with it. I read on the dell community forum that someone has been in boxing for 5 days with their xps. I guess we shd all be prepared to be patient.

Originally Posted by cdd543

I agree--I better have a perfect screen--sager couldn't do that in 2 tries for me. Dell does tend to have a lot of bloatware--I opted out of all of the free trial software so I wouldn't have to deal with it. I read on the dell community forum that someone has been in boxing for 5 days with their xps. I guess we shd all be prepared to be patient.

Originally Posted by Karl

Typical of Dell. Boxing phase means the bare unit is shipped from Malaysia to their Tennesee fulfillment center (3 days from everything i've read on Delltalk). From there it's really "boxed" with your extras and shipped to you (another day).

Ordered mine friday, just hit the Build stage today. Not too shabby.

Looks like I'll see mine beginning/mid next week.

And yeah, first thing I do with a prefab box like a Dell is download all the software I need (or use the included Driver Recovery CD), format the HD and put my company's corp version of XP on there. No bloat, no muss, no fuss.

Originally Posted by LurkingJayhawk

Thanks for the info. I probably would have been a little ansy if it were in boxing for 3 or more days if I didn't know that. Heck, I was getting a little ansy after 1 day!

Originally Posted by Karl

Yeah, went through all this the first time with an 8200. Been asking around on delltalk, and it looks like things are still the same. Built in Malaysia, shipped to TN, then boxed/shipped.

Also, it may not ever read as "shipped" on their order status screen. In fact, with my 8200, it never got out of the Boxing phase even after I was carrying it around for a week

A lot of times it simply shows up while it's still in either the "testing" or "boxing" phase. If you ordered overnight, keep an eye out for it.

Originally Posted by lgriffin

ESTIMATED SHIP DATE: on or before Mar 16, 2004


Well i just pulled the trigger on an XPS! I Used the $175.00 off coupon posted in the coupons section of this site (nice). After looking at the other notebooks with desktop processors & 128 meg cards, i think this machine is really the best option, considering all the various factors. Here are the pros as far as I see it:

Pros:

-The only laptop currently for sale with the ATI 9700
-We'll prolly get the opportunity to upgrade our vid card to 256 meg version in late summer
-Very good initial reviews by all the major hardware sites / geek tech sites.
-I had an 8600 a year or so ago, and Dell was always good about keeping their drivers updated when i found imcompatibilities, etc. with games i was running
-Cooling. From the looks of it, vents, etc., I think this machine will stay cool - i hope this machine doesnt' sound like a hair dryer.
-Even if, in 3 weeks, Alienware, Vodoo, Sager, etc.., release comparable machines, I'm confident that in the long run, this type of laptop would be better purchased from a large manufacturer like Dell, because of the support, drivers, and quality control (hopefully there's a high standard of that)

Cons:

-Not the prettiest machine in the world. ( I have 3 macs at home )
-The 8600 i used to have, had a poor build quality. It just felt cheap, and the top case scratched easily. Hopefully this problem is fixed.
-I wasn't able to purchase an additional hard drive in checkout. Doesn't the XPS support a secondary hard drive where the CD / DVD bay goes?
-The snap on covers are kind of gay. It would be nice if they offered like 100 different kinds. Nevertheless, i got the Cipher.

Has anyone ordered one with Skullz?

Originally Posted by TurKisH MaFiA

Umm, in one of the threads you wrote that Dell is the only pc that offers an ati 9700, and that 256mb 9700 wont come out until the summer. I mean to say this in the politest manner possible, but you are wrong. www.eurocom.com already has a laptop with an ati 9700 256mb

Originally Posted by TheNiXXeD

Mine went through testing in about 4 or so hours...

Do they usually sit in the boxing stage for a while? I'm really hoping to get my laptop by this weekend so I can get testing and benchmarking and reformatting and all that stuff out of the way... and I plan on LANning a bit with my friends since I'll have quite the nice computer by then...

Originally Posted by kwick7

ahh... the boxing stage. I ordered an 8600 when they came out last year, it was in the boxing stage for over 3 weeks. Cancelled my order.

Originally Posted by TurKisH MaFiA

Umm, in one of the threads you wrote that Dell is the only pc that offers an ati 9700, and that 256mb 9700 wont come out until the summer. I mean to say this in the politest manner possible, but you are wrong. www.eurocom.com already has a laptop with an ati 9700 256mb, and the screen is 17 inches, plus it has dual channel memory, it is like that 8790 that Sager is supposedly gonna come out with soon. So you might wanna check that out. Also i have bought 3 computers from Dell, and I have to say I would not recommend it, their technical service does not know anything, and they send you refurbished parts if one of your computer's parts malfunctions, so watch out, and so far on all 3 of my computers, some part burned out, from the hard drive to the sound card. Well, i just wanted to give u a heads up. Good luck.

Originally Posted by TheNiXXeD

Be nice to me! (At least don't lower my hopes... Having a bad week and hoping that expensive laptop shows up or I'm going to order something else...)

Originally Posted by kwick7

I think mine was an odd coincidence, long story, stupid dell. You should get yours soon. Sweet machine, too.

But i still hate dell.

Originally Posted by natedog81

Thats funny, you hate Dell but you have a Gateway? wtf is up with that?

Originally Posted by Geed

Wow, my order just hit the Testing phase... awesome! I ordered mine with overnight shipping because I cannot stand to wait for anything in transit. Plus, I have learned through past experiences that expensive, delicate items seem to arrive in mint condition via Overnight. I have had problems with damage when doing the 3-5 day ground shipping in the past (not with Dell though). For me it's either Next Day delivery or nothing at all.

-Geed