<p>it's definitely a reach.</p>
<p><a href="really%20a%20Sony%20problem">quote</a>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thanks. You gave me a (VERY SOUND) reason to reject sony laptops.</p>
<p>
[quote]
a sound reason to not buy one of these laptops.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sure, a fire hazard is really not a sound reason to reject a laptop....really? I could buy a dell and risk burning down my house, or I could take my business elsewhere where the product won't be a hazard to my safety. With apple, levono, whatever, I acknowledge that there are some problems, but those are isolated incidents, with a few. Dell has had a HISTORY of batteries melting down whole laptops. </p>
<p>Besides, there's a significant difference between a history and a few isolated incidents: the former is a trend, and will be a part of the company's image, and the latter is a fluke and therefore a non-issue.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Sony was the maker of the battery
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Then Dell shouldn't have outsourced the production of that CRITICAL part of their laptops. No matter what, it bears the Dell name, therefore Dell is the one that should be held responsible here. Dell COULD HAVE and SHOULD HAVE inspected those thoroughly or produced the batteries inhouse. No matter what, the blame goes to Dell, and therefore Dell, NOT Sony, should be held accountable. </p>
<p>I see a class-action lawsuit coming pretty soon.</p>
<p>Dell always tries to find the cheapest parts that they can to put in their laptops, and it's just unfortunate that Sony made them the cheapest battery they could make. Dell should have inspected the parts before they put them in their laptops.</p>
<p>All manufacturers outsource components of their products. With laptops, the outsourced components are almost always the hard disk, display, battery, fans, power supply, CD/DVD drive and most other components - basically almost every part of the PC/laptop. All of the manufacturers do this. When it comes down to it, there are a limited number of manufacturers of the actual individual components so the same components tend to be in many manufacturer's PCs. For example, name a US laptop manufacturer that makes a hard disk. There aren't any that I can think of. Hitachi is a leading hard disk manufacturer but they don't make laptops for the US marketplace. I wouldn't resist buying a Sony laptop due to this battery issue.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong - you don't want a defective battery in your laptop. Check to see if yours is on the recall list and if it is, replace it. When I said it shouldn't be a reason not to get the laptop it's because the actual incidents are very small and there's a fix for it. This problem of defective batteries has hit many ther laptop makers as well and by now, they all have 'trends'. I fundamentally agree that Dell's QA department should do a better job in the source spec'ing and inspection in the battery area as well they should in the power adapter also since safety is involved. Maybe after these expensive recalls, they will. Apple, Sony, HP, Lenovo, and others should do so as well since they have the same problem. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Dell always tries to find the cheapest parts
[/quote]
The PC market is very cost cometetive. All of the manufacturers will reduce costs by obtaining cost-effective parts that are likely to be a compromise between cost and reliability. As pricing pressure continues to push prices down, there'll be even more pressure on reducing manufacturing costs.</p>
<p>
[quote]
do you think the 1505 be the overall best choice for college when it comes to the dells?
[/quote]
It's a good choice. the 'best' choice comes down to user preference. For example, gamers might prefer a larger screen and choose the 17". People who'll be carting their laptop around constantly might opt for a smaller screen since it's lighter. The 1505 is a pretty good compromise between the two as are the 15.4" laptops from other manufacturers.</p>
<p>Overall, it seems pretty good, but I have had a couple of problems. The most vexing is that the mouse on the keyboard sporadically acts as a left click. While rolling over something, it will access it as if you clicked on it, very disconcerting. Contacted Dell, they gave me a bunch of instructions to de-install and install mouse drivers TO RETURN THE SETTINGS TO THE FACTORY SET-UP. My question, yet to be answered by Dell, is how did they get OFF the factory settings in the first place? I set it up with Dell on the phone, so whatever was done was done by them.</p>
<p>herb:</p>
<p>Support people stating to 'return to factory settings' is a stock answer for most problems since it gurantees that the problem isn't related to something the user did such as changing settings, adding new software, new drivers, etc. </p>
<p>The mouse pad is designed to function as a 'left click' if it's tapped. It could be that you're either tapping the mouse pad inadvertently as you're using it or yours is overly sensitive.</p>
<p>There seems to be some confusion over laptop manufacturers and the QC process. Regarding batteries and major components, it’s typically the component manufacturer that bears the burden to certify that its part meet the specifications set out by the purchaser (Apple, Dell, HP, etc.). Specs for a battery include physical size and weight; the voltage and wattage, operating temperatures and discharge rate under load. The contract will spell out how defects and associated replacement costs will be covered by a formula agreed to between the purchaser and supplier.</p>
<p>All computer companies use this model. Your suppliers can “make or break” you. As for some manufacturers being better than others because their “QC” is better, let’s play with some numbers! See the following article from C/NET about the Apple and Dell battery recalls: <a href="http://news.com.com/Apple+recalls+1.8+million+batteries/2100-1041_3-6109198.html?tag=nefd.lede%5B/url%5D">http://news.com.com/Apple+recalls+1.8+million+batteries/2100-1041_3-6109198.html?tag=nefd.lede</a></p>
<p>Using information provided by the article and from the Dell and Apple websites, we know the following:</p>
<p>Dell: 4.1 million batteries recalled out of 22 million laptops shipped from April 1, 2004 through July 18, 2006 (28 months).</p>
<p>Apple: 1.8 million batteries recalled out of 5.6 million laptops shipped from Oct. 2003 through August, 2006 (35 months).</p>
<p>Without more detailed information from Apple and Dell, some numbers of batteries were sold as either an extra or as a replacement. For the sake of argument, we’ll assume a one-to-one relationship between one laptop and one battery. </p>
<p>By this measure, Apple’s affected battery recall percentage=32% of all laptops shipped for the recall period (35 months). For Dell, the affected battery recall percentage=18.6% of all laptops shipped for the recall period (28 months). </p>
<p>If you read a headline that compared the Dell and Apple recall and only concentrated on the 4.1 million vs. 1.8 million affected batteries, you may believe Apple did a better QC job than Dell. Then again, if the headline read: Apple recalled 32% of all laptop batteries shipped in a 28 month period vs. Dell recalling only 18.6% of all laptop batteries shipped in a 35 month period, you might draw another conclusion.</p>
<p>Even more fun with numbers: With the IDC sales figures for Apple and Dell for the battery recall periods (35 vs. 28 months and 5.6 vs, 22 million units shipped), you can get an interesting look at the monthly sales figures between the two companies. Roughly 10 Dells are sold for every 2 or so Apples. And when you factor in all the other Windows based laptop manufacturers…</p>
<p>I just got back to this today. Thanks for the info, it is spot on. More than I can say for Dell email chat, who had me doing 2 pgs worth of uninstalling. It looked wrong to me, so I went to Dell on call (excellent, btw) and had it cured in about a minute going to the mouse function in the control panel. For anyone buying a Dell, the Dell on call 30 day setup feature is superb! Highly recommended!</p>