I'll chime in here in the hope it will be helpful. I bought the 3 year hardware maintenance agreement and had to use it. The motherboard and keyboard failed on my unit, another Dell model. Telephone service was good offshore support. The technicians were patient and thorough. An onsite repairman was scheduled and arrived within 24 hours of the time the telephone technician determined there was indeed a hardware problem.
That was the good part. Now, what wasn't so good--and here's where this has direct bearing for a list of screen reader users. In order to determine that there was a hardware problem, the technician had to run several tests on the equipment. All of those tests required sighted assistance on my end. The remote software never installed properly. With it installed, it might have been possible to work with at least less sighted help than I needed. As it was, I ended up imposing on a coworker for what turned out to be the better part of a morning. Maybe it's unrealistic to think this works better with other computers that offer remote assistance--but had I not been fortunate enough to have the help of a friend, I would have had to pay a local technician to work with the Dell phone support person. Dell replaced the motherboard and keyboard, which was significant, but purchasing local help would have offset much of the advantage I gained through the extended warranty. This might, in the future, move me toward the purchase of a unit that I would send in for repair. If one has sighted assistance who can be counted on to assist, the extended warranty is a good deal. Without sighted assistance, some advantage is lost if you have to pay someone to work with telephone support. Richard Petty ILRU - Independent Living Research Utilization [email protected] (E-Mail) -----Original Message----- From: John Ramm [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 3:54 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: ot: a nice laptop Sounds lovely, Chip. I've always liked Dell machines and I'm writing this on a Latitude now although I can't remember the model. I was wondering whether you went for dell's 3-year warranty as I've found their service to be absolutely excellent in the past? I missed the application key to the right of the spacebar as it sometimes brings up a menu that is different to the menu you get with shift plus F10, (specifically in the music software Sonar). I have solved this by installing a tiny program called Sharpkeys. This sits in the background and can modify key behaviour. I've chosen to lose my dedicated mute button and it now behaves as an applications key - neat! Enjoy your new machine John At 21:04 21/01/2013, you wrote: Hi, Chip. Bought the same laptop, slightly differently configured, with Win7 64-bit. So, far, like the laptop a lot. Besides, you get better support with business-oriented laptops. Don't buy consumer-grade; you'll get lousy support and wait forever when you have a tech support call.--Matthew Chao At 02:06 PM 1/21/2013, Chip Orange wrote: >Hi all, > >I bought myself a new laptop a few weeks back, >and while I know no one ever says "don't buy >what I just bought ... it's terrible!", I thought >to share what I found in case anyone was looking for the same type of item.. > >I wanted a powerful fast laptop with a large >comfortable keyboard, and if possible, a numeric >keypad built-in. I didn't want to spend a lot >of money on a touch-screen or a high-resolution >tablet that I couldn't use; and I didn't want it >to be too heavy to easily carry around. > >I inlisted the help of some sighted relatives, >and finally decided on a Dell E6530 (the primary >reason was that their laptops were very >configurable when you ordered one; you had an enormous number of options). > >To get one which had more emphasis on >capabilities, and less emphasis on touch screens >and gaming features I had to order from the Dell >Small Business collection. This is important to >know if you want the same type of >notebook/laptop; small business usually means less trendy graphics options.. > >I got a 15 inch screen, but with a large >comfortable keyboard which has a numeric keypad, >and a full set of modifier keys on both sides of >the spacebar (the one key which is missing is >the "applications key", usually found to the >right of the space bar, it can be used to bring >up a context menu, the same as shift-F10). > >It has a full set of function keys (which are >configured as function keys and not preset to >execute various programs), a set of "six pack" >and arrow keys, and buttons for mute and volume controls. > >I chose the 32-bit form of Windows 7 (you had >your choice of Win 7 or 8, and 32 or 64 bit; my >reading tells me the extra memory usable by the >64 bit version of windows is rarely a big >enhancement, while the troubles and >incompatibilities of the 64-bit requirements can >be quite aggravating; in any case, you can have it your way whatever you want). > >I chose an I7 dual-core processor (next to their >best; their best being a quad-core, but which >automatically upgraded the graphics card and the >resolution of the monitor, throwing a lot of >money into the graphics options). The >performance numbers for the process and memory >are all around 7.2 and 7.6. I chose a hybrid >hard drive (a standard hard drive which has a >very very large memory cache to enhance speed >and reduce power consumption by allowing the >drive to spin down). You also have choices for >just a traditional hard drive of different sizes >or a SD hard drive (which is small, but which is memory only). > >It has a bay for removable devices where I keep >the CD/DVD RW device mostly, but if you buy >other devices you can pop out the optical device >and put in something else (another battery, I'm >not sure what all they sell for the bay). > >It weighs around 5 pounds, and I got the 9-cell >extended battery, which gives me around 5 hours >(or sometimes more) of operating time. You need >to buy a larger capacity charger when you buy >the extended battery, because it has a feature >where it can charge the battery to 80% capacity in less than an hour. > > It's physically somewhat wider than my > last 15 inch laptop due to the full-size keyboard. >It's very cool when sitting on your lap. > >You can get a cell modem as an option, an SD >card reader, a wireless link for the video to a >monitor somewhere in the room, and of course >various levels of WiFi and bluetooth. It also >has several USB 2.0 and 3.0 connectors. > >An unusual option I purchased is a docking >station; it allows you to keep the power and any >external video and USB and Ethernet devices >plugged into the doc, and you can just lower >your laptop into the dock and it can start using >all of these without you having to fiddle with >the connections (and the dock will accommodate >the extended battery). The dock also comes with >the larger capacity charger mentioned above. > >One unusual feature is the audio connector for a >headset. It's a new standard in that it accepts >a four connection 3.5 mm plug for a stereo >headset with mike, but will also except a >standard 3.5 mm stereo earphone connection (no >mike). When I went looking on the internet, I >had trouble finding a stereo headset with mike >which had one of these new four connection 3.5mm plugs. > There is no separate 3.5mm mike input, but > you can buy an adapter from places like Radio > Shack which gives you the separate mike and > headphone jacks. I see a 2.5mm jack as well, > which I think is for a cell type of headset > connection, and another which I think is a mike input. > >The internal speakers are extremely good (and >quite loud) as compared to my last laptop. > >There's also a mini-pci card slot, and an e-sata >connector (for external disk drives I >think). If you need to share with a sighted >user they also offer this in a variety of screen >sizes and resolutions, and a separate graphics >card for anyone who wants "gaming level graphics". > >The price is so dependent on your choices for >all of the options that it makes little sense to >place any value on the number I finally paid >(somewhere around $1400 I think); it's not going >to be the cheapest notebook, but it can be >configured to be anything you want, and it >certainly is easy and comfortable to use. With >that price I obviously chose every expensive option. > >Oh, BTW, Dell made a point of saying they gave >you an option of having no extra >software installed from third-parties by them >(which I chose), and indeed, it came with no >"shovelware" at all! Not one thing! > >Finally, I purchased a backpack carrying case >from them instead of the traditional shoulder >bag; I'm very impressed with the backpack, which >has a lot of places for books and water-bottles >and cell phones, not just the laptop (and is black with orange trim). > >Hth, > >Chip If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.
