Dell Latitude XPI CD M166ST Notebook (166-MHz Pentium MX, 32 MB RAM, 2.1 GB hard drive)

by Dell

Product Details

• Item Weight: 14 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 14 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005OBP1
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,864 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1973

Product Description

Dell's new Latitude XPi is an imposing notebook. At 61mm thick, people are going to sit up and pay attention when you put this one on the table.The big surprise, though, is that it doesn't weigh as much as a double-decker bus. In fact, it comes in at about 3.3kg, which is perfectly reasonable for an all-in-one multimedia notebook. The build is solid, and although the whole thing has a slightly hollow, plastic feel to it, it's actually tolerably robust and should last the course.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Workhorse (But Outclassed), March 11, 2007

By 

Noe Valley Jeff - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dell Latitude XPI CD M166ST Notebook (166-MHz Pentium MX, 32 MB RAM, 2.1 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

Dell's XPI CD is my favorite laptop of all times. However, it's not as nimble as it would like to be any more. So, unfortunately, there's only reason to keep this baby around: if you want the easiest typing experience available in a laptop.

== The Good ==
The trackball in this machine is by far the best pointing device I've ever used. You can drag/click and drag/right-click across the whole screen without contorting your hands or wrists into carpal tunnel syndrome candidates.

The keyboard is good, very good - good action on the keys, tactile feedback, and relatively easy to clean.

It's wonderfully solid. I dropped mine any number of times without suffering screen, keyboard, or other problems.

== The Bad ==
At 166 MHz and 64 MB max RAM, it's not suitable for anything past Win98 (I recommend the most recent Win95, if you have disks).

The optical drive is read only (no burning) and is painfully slow compared ot more recent versions.

2.1 GB of storage doesn't leave room for much (this will not be your MP3 storage device).

For modern internet, you'll also need some type of PC Card ($40-100) and there's no USB built-in.

== The Ugly ==
As much as I love this machine, it's not worth more than $50 in my opinion. You can get a 30 gig iPod for $250, which will allow you to store more pictures, music, and even software files. If you're willing to part with $400, you can get a Vista-ready laptop that's lighter, speedier, and more versatile.

== Conclusion ==
There is one overwhelming reason to buy the XPI: for the trackball. If you can't deal with trackpads, this is the machine for you. If you only need the machine to write the great American novel while you're at the beach... and you don't need to logon to the net, you'll be fine with the anemic features. (Make sure you have a home computer that you can synch up with often, to keep this machine from being too cluttered.)

== [A note about Dell] ==
I have bought about 8 Dell machines over the years (for myself or as gifts). I've never experienced significant problems except for the first machine, which was a nightmare (the Texas-based tech support misdiagnosed the problem on the first call and it took a half-dozen calls and about 30 hours of my time to get it right). However, the company recognized they had sold me a lemon and eventually replaced the machine with a faster version, with more memory, upgraded the hard- and optical-drives.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Honestly - the worst customer service ever!! DO NOT BUY A DELL, January 4, 2007

By 

A Mother's Logic (Sunshine and Happiness, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dell Latitude XPI CD M166ST Notebook (166-MHz Pentium MX, 32 MB RAM, 2.1 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

I would give this product negative stars if I could. My advice, buy an Apple, their customer service is unmatched by any other I have experienced.

I have 3 Dells, nearly all the same system. My problems started with the last one purchased. From the moment of setting it up, it NEVER worked properly. We called the tech support - and the nightmare began!!

Now I have issue with any company who makes a majority of their money in an American market, whose entire sales staff is all American, or at least speaks without accents, and then suddenly when you call tech support with your valid issues you are only speaking to foreigners with such heavy accents and very little regard for American customs and ways of life.

Dell out-sources all of their tech support to India and now the Philippines, which are two countries that are far more economically depressed than ours. This becomes an apparent issue when you are trying to solve a serious tech problem and you are met with the attitude of being a spoiled and ungrateful American, and treated as if your valid problem is trivial. I chalk this up to the fact that what you spend on your computer as one purchase takes them a huge amount of time to earn. I could be wrong, but after dealing with the tech support for over two years, I feel as if I am experienced enough to make that call.

Another issue that is painfully apparent when dealing with the out-sourced tech support is that the accents are so heavy that it is very hard to understand what they want you to do, and when you repeatedly ask them to repeat themselves, they take offense. I often find myself telling them my phone has an awful connection and to please spell what they are saying. I never want to offend anyone, and usually on the phone with tech support I often feel as if my valid requests of speaking slowly and loudly and spelling do indeed offend them, and thus the quality of service dramatically decreases. I become frustrated, as do they. I don't blame the innocent support staff, they are just doing their job to the best of their ability and are human. I blame Dell for not providing the proper training for these people, if they are to troubleshoot the American market, perhaps not only computer classes are relevant, but to ease the stress of their staff, accent reducing classes would be appropriate. I have heard they may have begun that, but for this product loyal consumer it is a bit too late.

Honestly, that is just the tip of the iceberg, more a point of frustration. And if you purchase a Dell and it has any sort of issue, you will end up feeling as if you are on the Titanic and are slowly sinking to the demise of your pocketbook and sanity.

To make an extremely long story short, we bought a Dell that never worked properly, and were told that if trouble-shooting did not work that we could return it. While talking to tech support we were treated as if we didn't know how to turn it on, and were talked down to on well over 100 phone calls with tech support. Out drama began on the first day of setup and has not ended, and our warranty expired 3 months ago with the same case number as the first day of setup. Ridiculous. We were lied to, made false promises, told a million different things, insulted, and we spent about $1500 for the privilege.

We were told that there was nothing wrong with it, that it was us, 4 months and 30 phone calls later it was diagnosed with a bad motherboard. Still didn't work, again we were told firmly that it was not the computer but rather the user, 2 more months and at least 30 more phone calls it was diagnosed as a bad hard drive. Still never worked properly and ever since they replaced the hard drive they will not do anything else, claiming that the motherboard and hard drive are the computer and that there couldn't be anything else wrong - except for the user. I reminded them that they repeatedly told us that if the troubleshooting was not successful we could return the unit - and they had the audacity to tell us we were over our time and that returns need to be within the first 14 days, when we made the original complaint we were well within it!! Talk about pissed off!! We gave them the benefit of the doubt and did as they asked, we were treated as if our heads were firmly planted up our rear ends, we were told that someone would get back to us - and they never did (we heard this at least 75 times). We escalated the case - twice and were met with worse service.

Having the same case number since before my warranty expired allows the warranty to continue coverage - but no one will call back, as our issue is so great that they send us to several different departments. As soon as the warranty expired on all other issues, they stopped responding to the same one we have had since the very first day. The last week of October I left no less than 20 messages via email and voice mail with 3 different people and to date have still not received a phone call back, and most were with the people that the case had been escalated to, who are supposed to be professional and extremely qualified. My warranty expired on October 26th while actively dealing with the original issue. I have written letters, I have made phone calls, I have done as much as I have he time to do - and they have never replied. AWFUL!!

If you purchase a Dell and it has any kind of issue, you are in for a world of frustration. Like I said, we have 3, and the last one was a horrible experience, the first two never had a problem. I would never purchase another product by Dell. If I could afford to take out a full page ad in the New York Times for a year, I would do it to warn others of this horrible company.

If I had been paid a modest wage for the time I wasted dealing with tech support over this computer, I could have easily afforded to purchase a brand new, fully loaded, all the bells and whistles, wonderful customer service with an Apple computer, and still had money left over for a spa day and shopping spree. Plus I wouldn't have pissed away the original $1500 on the doorstop that Dell provided me.

RUN! RUN! RUN!

Honestly, the worst experience with any company ever.