Are you sure you want to buy a Dell?
Anyone that has cared to pay attention is well aware of the dirty tricks that Dell has played in the past. Such things such as refusing to provide software drivers to their customers because they did not know who the original owner was, has in the past turned more than one Dell machine into an expensive paper weight.
I want to make consumers aware that Dell has not stopped taking business lessons in dirty tricks from Microsoft.
I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 1000 laptop. It is now vital that I run the laptop off of 12 volts on a trip into Baja Mexico and to run off an inverter is way too energy inefficient for my setup. I have discovered that Dell does not sell a 12V adapter for this particular lap top.
In addition they refuse to give engineering data or in some other way have purposely created a product that neither IGo nor Taurus make an after market 12V adapter for.
I measured the output of my 120V adapter and it provides 19.3 V DC. The IGO tips number 3 and 4 both seem to fit (all other Inspirons take tip #20) but I find out that it is the tip that sets the voltage for the IGo and they do not publish what the voltages are with various tips. Ok I could go and measure the output voltages on both tips and see if they provide the correct voltage.
The last straw was finding out that Dell has managed to engineer their laptops so that the IGo chargers will not charge the batteries of a Dell lap top!!!
I just wanted to publicly thank Dell for making me a $600 paperweight and to warn others that if they choose to buy a Dell that they may also be investing in a very expensive paperweight. Dell is STILL up to its old tricks.
Joe
Fort Myers, Florida
United States Minor Outlying Islands
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