Almost sold on NP9280

[siawash]

Hi, I am very interested in getting my hands on this machine. The only thing stopping me is I reside in Dublin Ireland and worried about hardware problems such as dead pixels, keyboard. It seems dead pixels are very much a roll of the dice.

Since I work in tech support am wondering if Xotic provides a full diagrammatic manual on how to fit or remove the screen, keyboard to send instead of having to send the whole laptop. Thus saving a lot on shipping. Or does this invalidate the warranty.

What is the turn around time of any repairs.?

I wonder how many International customers Xotic actually has and what type of warranty is most suitable.

[Anewbus]

First of all hello and welcome Siawash! All the way from Dublin Ireland, what a treat!:)
XoticPC has a fair number of international customers, but I don't know the details.
A suitable warranty for you would be an Asus global warranty, but that means you would have to consider an Asus machine instead of the NP9280.
I suggest ringing up the folks at XoticPC and discussing this for full detail. Perhaps there is an answer I just don't know about for sure. It is a toll free number here in the states, would it be free for you as well? I'm not sure how that works from your end.:-/

[siawash]

Thanks, wow just one reply! Asus has a very bad name here in Ireland both in terms of build quality and their customer service. So I am only interested in the Sager NP9280.

I have been in contact with Xotic via email and have been recommended the 3 year Sager warranty as apposed to Xotic's plus an additional screen warranty. Though they have not mentioned whether they will cooperate with hardware support instructions below. Calling the US is not all that expensive and I guess I am going to have to do that. It's just that I would have liked to touch base with some satisfied international customer here.

I work in support I would want all the relevant diagrammatic instructions on how to replace parts without voiding any warranties. Xotic have not addressed this for me yet. It would save on shipping if could send the parts instead of the whole laptop and I would get to know the guts of my laptop. Hopefully I will not have to take it apart.

Xotic have told me in case of hardware problems I would have take the hit for any shipping, which if was to be the whole laptop would run into a couple of hundred bucks each way. Having said that, I will be visiting my sister in Phoenix later on in the year and intend having it shipped there for my collection.

I have never had any problems with my Dell laptop and am hoping a higher quality machine such as Sager to be less problematic. Hope I am right in this assumption. Though I keep reading about dead pixel issues. Since the duration of my US visit is no more than a week I want to avoid any such hassels.

Additionally, while I will be purchasing a windows licence for backup purposes, I will be using this primarily with Linux. Again, I hope this does not void my warranty.

Do you think it would be good idea to purchase the zero dead pixel warranty or would this be over kill?



First of all hello and welcome Siawash! All the way from Dublin Ireland, what a treat!:)
XoticPC has a fair number of international customers, but I don't know the details.
A suitable warranty for you would be an Asus global warranty, but that means you would have to consider an Asus machine instead of the NP9280.
I suggest ringing up the folks at XoticPC and discussing this for full detail. Perhaps there is an answer I just don't know about for sure. It is a toll free number here in the states, would it be free for you as well? I'm not sure how that works from your end.:-/

[Anewbus]

I think in certain instances you can just send the part instead of the whole machine. The build quality of the Sagers is excellent so you should not have any problems. If you do it is usually something you can replace yourself without voiding the warranty such as HDD or RAM or Optical drive, even keyboard, etc. I'm not saying that will happen, just letting you know those things don't require full laptop shipping and don't void warranty.
These machines will last with proper care.
I don't know that XoticPC is authorized to send something like the diagrams you are after. I think you have to go to the manufacture for that. Even then, I doubt they would freely release that.

As for Dead Pixels: That is kind of hard to say. I think sometimes it could be a matter of perception, sometimes just one or two, sometimes a real problem, know what I mean? I don't think its terribly common though. Sometimes if it is just one or two you might be able to get rid of them yourself.
If you can order the machine allowing enough time to have it shipped to XoticPC first and then to your sister it would give Xotic a chance to check it out themselves with their own quality inspection which is better than the quick once-over the plant gives it.

Yes, the Dead Pixel warranty is overkill as it is extra money and only good for 30 days.

[siawash]

Hi, I don't understand why as an owner I am not entitled to the diagrams. I know you would get these for Dell machines posted on their websites along with all drivers and motherboard firmware upgrades.

[Anewbus]

Perhaps I am not understanding you exactly? Every machine comes with a drivers disc for all the firmware. (It is also preloaded, but you do get the disc as well). Also if you order an OS with your machine you also get a physical official licensed disc (OS is also preloaded).
What you will not get is a "Recovery disc" of the OS like Dell gives you. Those are coasters in my opinion. I'd much rather have the actual full OS officially licensed and all. You also do NOT get Bloatware! (Bloatware = un-needed, buggy programs that take over your system, slow it down to a bare crawl and are hard to get rid of in some cases).

As to diagrams: I'm just thinking there might be copyright issues and such, but I don't know for sure. Does Dell really give diagrams to the inner-workings? I'll do some investigating on all that and let you know or have one of the nice folks at Xotic get back to you.

[Anewbus]

Hi Siawash,

I have some further info for you on the diagrams question.
In the user manual which is located on the Drivers disc you get with the machine it will have diagrams and explanation on how to replaces things like the keyboard, Optical drive, memory, HDD, GPU but not things like the screen or motherboard and such. Unless the unit arrives damaged (a most unlikely event) or if you drop or step on the screen or something, you should not have to have it replaced. For something like the screen or motherboard you would have to send the whole unit back.

I hope that clears it up a bit for you.:)

[siawash]

Thanks for that useful reply. Although I suspect one occasions you would replace the screen is unacceptable number of dead pixels. Or are these issues resolved with software utilities???



My Dell laptop eventually keeled over with PSU issue. Before that happened the screen was flickering badly and was tempted to purchase refurbished screens. Some outfit based in California, who's name escapes me, offered these screens.

Apart from warranty issues once the system goes past it's warranty I like to be able to replace the parts as needed myself.