Wondering if anyone can advise - I bought an Inspiron i5 15 7590 via ozbargain direct from Dell 8 weeks ago.
After a slightly extended covid wait time, it arrived and has since had issues.
It was pretty new when bought and there wasn't a lot of info on it (similiar, but not same), though it looked good on paper and was a good deal.
9th Generation Intel Core i5-9300H
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5
8GB, DDR4, 2666MHz
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe
Thunderbolt 3 Type-C
Many of the issues with these units are now documented:
- Fan issues - constant fan up, then down, firmware updates make better but don't fix and also cripple clock speeds and undervolting (so rolled back to original firmware and am using trinity of "dell fan utility", throttlestop and HWinfo to control temps and fan - it's usually better, but still quirks, restarts seems to reset, then all good again).
- Thermal issues up the wazoo - hitting >95 degrees within 5mins with any CPU load IS NOT NORMAL (fixed by above, sort of with new firmware, which really just masks issue).
- HDMI/GPU glitches - sometimes flickers, then 2 sec black screen, have read reports of no-fuss returns and repairs for this.
- Possible battery issues - or just have not sorted out how to get decent battery life with the trinity of temp/fan apps (see above).
I've clearly got at the least a dud GPU that would be fixed under warranty, yet after spending time with this unit it's obvious it's just a lemon of a build - there's just no way the thermal design can manage what they've put in it, and no way to use it for what I bought it for - lightweight video editing (I've added 32gb ram, additional NVME for 2 x NVME totaling 1tb).
Seems Dell are offloading components and chucking them in a case that was never designed for the components, and hence the firmware fixes aren't actual solutions, but just mask the actual issues.
The unit clearly isn't capable of effectively using it's components, and given this i'd much rather get a new unit than have this repaired or replaced.
Any advice/experience on getting a refund, credit, oz rights, process in regards to this with Dell?
Thanks cuzzes!
Morgs
Thermal issues and HDMI/GPU glitches, are Dell's expertise. When I got my Alienware I experienced the same issue but since it had onsite support the technician was able to fix it with a motherboard swap. If you still want the device then you can ask Dell to send you the parts and replace the motherboard yourself.