Buying a new latop and Dell support

Charmander · October 24, 2021

Hello,

I have a Dell Inspiron 14 5401 and have been having network troubles with it recently. I got the laptop last year in November and have a 1 year warranty. I tried contacting Dell and after running through many diagnostics, they told me that it was a software issue because I "installed Windows 10 Incorrectly". They also told me it would be an additional 130$ to get it fixed. This really concerns me because this laptop isn't even a year old and I am having issues with support. I was also looking at buying a XPS 15 for better battery life but don't know if its worth it or not.

Would you suggest me to stay with Dell or look else where?

5aberd · October 24, 2021

With Dell its either a hit or miss, if your still planning to get a new laptop I would recommend asus Zenbook or an Hp specter both are great alternatives for the XPS and both are known for quality laptop there's also the Lenovo X sereis although it's pricey but it's a great laptop with premium build quality.

Charmander · October 25, 2021

Ok, Thanks!

Qyygle · October 25, 2021

Have you tried just fully wiping and reinstalling the wifi drivers? I'm assuming network is wifi, not LTE or something. Make sure you have an ethernet adapter or another machine you can use to pull updated drivers with.

If they're saying it's a faulty windows install that's the problem, did they not recommend reinstalling windows from scratch? You can do a fresh windows install from a bootable USB, Microsoft hosts the images online, you can create the boot media yourself.

Create installation media for Windows (microsoft.com)

If you can't fix it through software changes, you can also try switching out the wifi card for something else. The model you have is actually pretty upgradable for a 14" machine. From the interior shots in this review, there're 2 SSD slots, 2 full RAM slots, and the wifi chip slot (chip with the 2 antenna lines). It could even be just that the antenna's are loose and you need to re-plug them in. You should only need a Philips head to get the bottom off.

Dell Inspiron 14 5401 review – new design, lots of features (laptopmedia.com)

All the large OEM's support is pretty terrible. LTT, Gamers Nexus, have all shown over and over that 99% of the time, they're useless for even the most basic of tasks. I'd definitely check a few more things before jumping straight to buying a whole new machine.