Anyone recommend a good netbook?

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How many do you want ? Most people probably don't post on the web, those that do post in all different places not just the DELL replacement parts site. Add them to the ones on the other links I already provided and you have maybe 100 ?

I expect many people call DELL and get the standard 'your motherboards broken' please send in as an out of warranty return, minimum price £200 for shipping and diagnosis, fix could be extra, thats what I got. Faced with this most people probably just bin the laptop. Those in warranty again swallow any old fannel as they are just happy to get a working lappy from engineer.

It also possible that popular models did get better adapters or new BIOS patches that removed the ID check. I can only speculate, as I checked for my laptop and there was no BIOS fix and my 'new' adapter from non DELL source was same as old model.

http://blog.kingj.net/2008/11/10/me/dell-laptop-ac-power-adapter-fault/
http://getsatisfaction.com/dell/top...perate_slower_and_the_battery_will_not_charge
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/22527/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/211812-dell-xps-m1730-performance-issues-2.html
http://www.cheapbatteryshop.co.uk/blog/dell-xps-m1330-battery-not-charging-on-ac-power/
http://batteriesworld.blog.co.uk/2009/10/24/dell-xps-m1530-battery-charging-problem-7234702/
http://www.avforums.com/forums/laptops-netbooks/781952-ac-adapter-will-not-charge-battery.html
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=643344
http://www.avforums.com/forums/general-chat/974084-dell-power-pack-faulty.html
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57194

Its literally all over the web if you look for it, remember most people struggle to diagnose the fault.

 

We pay pennies for the extended cover, tis a good 4/5 years before the old ones make it to the heap.

 

Agreed, If I knew what I know now I would NEVER let a DELL warranty lapse, the computers only as good as the length of the waranty in their case and be prepared to have to send it back or pay extra for on site fix on regular basis.

This may be fine for some businesses but its not for others and certainly not good for the average consumer.

An extra two years extended warranty can cost a consumer 20-25% of the cost of the laptop, hardly pennies if you ask me, most people expect a laptop to work for three years without major issues, so they choose not to add 25% to the cost. Combined with the devaluation of the laptop over time you are generally better off buying good hardware and making it last. In the rare cases that you get a chance bad 'friday special' from a good company puting the 25% depreciation and the 25% warranty savings toward a new laptop. Spending on refurbing an old model out of warranty is rarely a good investment.

Thats my whole point, for the past few years, DELL's just not been good hardware...

 

100 out of how many millions of units sold? Yes, I realize that not everyone complains. But that's an extremely small percentage. If the problem were as widespread as you allege, then the news would be as widespread as it was for the IBM Deskstar ("Deathstar") 75GXP, with half of them dying within a year. I'm pretty sure there have been more Dell laptops sold than IBM Deskstar drives, yet there aren't nearly as many public complaints about this power adapter ID chip as there were for the 75GXPs.

By all means, D, get upset at the failures that exist. I encourage you to do so, because that's the way to make companies listen. The only thing I disagree with is how widespread the problems are.

 

Just out of interest, how many was it?

 

Over my 12-year career, I haven't counted. If you'd prefer, let's go with the low figure of just "over a hundred".

In any case, the actual figure is irrelevant. Whether it was "over a hundred", 243, or just 25, I've administered much more than "a few", and none of them have had this problem. If the problem is as widespread as mentioned, I shoulda had at least one go bad on me. But perhaps I'm "just lucky".

 

No it's not