Inspiron 8600

[HRGraham]

I just bought an Inspiron 8600 with the nvidia video card. Does anyone know if you can buy the mobility radeon 9600 video card and upgrade your laptop? I know that on some laptops you can't do this.

-Graham

[Tammy]

I think you are in luck. I understand that you can do the upgrade on the i8500/ i8600 but not the earlier inspirons. Earlier Dells have the wrong form factor and heat sink problems. I would call Dell support and confirm.

[Fuzzylogic]

Let us know how it turns out, I was actually wondering about the same thing myself :)

[fac3less]

Maybe hes right - but I would never recommend upgrading a vid card in a laptop. Sounds like you would be chancing it. Definately talk to the dell team. They'll know what they're not talking about!

(get it? :b k.. stop shipping tech support off the coast!)

[Fuzzylogic]

Well many of the newer laptops allow you to swap out video cards, which does make a lot of sense.


As for Dell they have finally started moving their higher end tech support back into the country. This if course makes things much easier for tech support when they are located near the rest of the organization. It allows them to resolve problems much more quickly.


However, many of the other tech companies are still outsourcing their tech support which as we all know can make getting help difficult. Simply because they rarely train their employees well.

[fac3less]

outsourcing like that really annoys off. Sure I'm a captalist and can understand but sacrificing quality for price is not something i enjoy doing.

Then again compaq/HP/Dell already know a lot about sacrificing quality for price. Although dell's prices don't show it. :b

[Fuzzylogic]

I think you forgot Gateway in there.

On the upside companies are FINALLY starting to see that once again you often get what you pay for.

Many outsourced jobs are costing anywhere from 2 to 3 times as much as they first expected.


However, why anyone would ever think that moving a project across the world and across a language barrier would make it cheaper and easier to do is beyond me....

Example: Writing software is already hard enough trying to understand what the user wants when they are right next to you.

You can imagine how difficult it becomes when they are across the world and from a different culture.

[HRGraham]

You can actually save A LOT of money by moving jobs overseas. I don't believe in it and I think its horrible but you can definitely save money. It is probably more appealing when everyone else is doing it and you have to do it to stay competitive. AOL just outsourced some work to India I believe.

-Graham

[fac3less]

AOL already sucked though - so thats okay.
No complaints there, I'd like it if they just all moved there themselves. ;)

[HRGraham]

hehe yea I don't care for them much either.

[Fuzzylogic]

Originally posted by HRGraham
You can actually save A LOT of money by moving jobs overseas. I don't believe in it and I think its horrible but you can definitely save money. It is probably more appealing when everyone else is doing it and you have to do it to stay competitive. AOL just outsourced some work to India I believe.

-Graham

Well yes and no.


See when you go over seas for many things there are unexpected costs and project delays.

This of course costs much more, and don't forget the negative PR impact.

[johnb]

you can definitely save money.

In the short term, certainly. Beyond that, I'd have to disagree (with regard to customer service/support positions).