Laptop - accept offer of replacement, or return?

[£15]

I ordered a 'scratch and dent' laptop from an outlet store, for a little under £362, over a month ago and it was lost in transit. The retailer has now dispatched a replacement, which is new and of a different specification. I was hoping for a second opinion on whether I should accept the replacement, or return and buy again.

The laptop was for my wife and kids as I am taking the XPS15 away with me on a course. All my wife really needs is internet, facebook, email, office apps; my kids - youtube, minecraft.

Sorry if talk of competitors laptops is against the rules and I will gracefully accept thread deletion.

Original order

Inspiron 15R - 5521 Windows® 8.1 1 301.48£

• Inspiron 15R - 5521
• 1 TB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
• Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-3517U (1.9GHz, 4M Cache) with 2 GB AMD HD 8730M Graphics
• Information SKU - Remanufacturing Order
• Software Drivers (No Media)
• Software
• Windows® 8.1
• Wireless : Intel Centrino Advanced-N 2230 (2x2, a/g/n) + Bluetooth
• 8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz Memory (2 DIMMs)
• Software
• Internal Qwerty Keyboard
• Shipping Material
• 3 Pin 1M 90W AC Adaptor
• MOD,LBL,DEO,ESTAR 5.0,1018
• Scratch and Dent: Refurbished and factory tested. Great at performance with possible considerable cosmetic blemishes
• Back Up Media Not Included
• Display : 15.6in Full High Definition (1920X1080) AntiGlare WLED LCD Panel
• Windows® 8.1 (64 Bit) English
• System Software
• 8X DVD+/- RW Drive
• LCD Back Cover : Moon Silver
• Battery : Primary 6-cell 65W/HR
• Power Supply: 90W AC Adapter
• Software Drivers (No Media)
• Scratch and Dent
• ARB - 1yr Standard Service for your PC

Replacement

Inspiron 7000 Series 7537 BTX
Base

• LCD Back Cover - Silver (Touch)
• 4th Generation Intel Core i7-4510U processor (4M Cache up t o 3.1 GHz)
• 15.6 inch LED Backlit Touch Display with Truelife and FHD resolution (1920 x 1080)
• Intel Widi Driver
• 8GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (4GBx2)
• 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• 65W AC Adapter
• 4-cell Lithium Ion (58WHr) Battery
• Intel(R) HD Graphics
• Facial Recognition Software Application version 4.0 Digital
• Intel(R) 7260BGN + BT4.0 [802.11bgn + Bluetooth 4.0, 2.4 GHz, 2x2]
• Backlit Keyboard with Multi-Touch Touchpad with ges ture support (English)
• Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
• OS Media Kit Not Included
• Microsoft(R) Office 2013 Trial Software Image (Multi-Language)
• Intel Wireless-N 7260 driver
• Standard Service - 1 year Collect & Return hardware support included with your PC

I have highlighted a few of the differences and my main concerns are the lack of dvd drive (although, this is manageable), lower capacity battery and apparent lack of dedicated graphics (for kid's gaming - minecraft, besiege)

 

[Orcvader]

For gaming it's a fair step down, for Minecraft the HD 4400 will be fine but Besiege requires a proper dedicated GPU which the 8730M should be able to handle. Apart from that everything else seems to befine.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

I ran Besiege on my 2010 Macbook, with rubbish Nvidia 320M GPU.
It'll work on the integrated GPU in the 7000 series, but the 8730M would have been quite a bit better.
Shame they've not given you one with dedicated GPU in it, but I'd probably still take it. Looks a decent laptop, should be a bit nicer portability wise. The smaller battery will be negated by the Haswell chip.

 

[Biz.Kid09]

I would return it, is there nothing on the outlet that is a similar price (maybe a little more) that has a dedicated gfx which will certainly come in handy!

 

[£15]

I asked about the dvd drive and dedicated gfx and this was their somewhat confusing reply.

I checked with the concern team and I can assure that the specification of the DVD drive and '2 GB AMD HD 8730M Graphics' would be available on the system however i would check about the 6-Cell battery. As of now we are facing few technical issues hence we are not Abel to check it in detail, however I can confirm that when ever we replace the system and if we are not Abel to find the right specification we would always upgrade the product and never downgrade as the parts would expire on daily basis,



I would update you once the order is delivered and more over I am a dedicated case manager to your order hence If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email me and I would be at your service.

On first read, it looks like he's agreeing the items I want are an option, but can't check if mine has them. It'll be too late once I've accepted it though!

 

[£15]

They offered me a 15% refund to keep the laptop. As it's just for the wife and kids (it seems to run Minecraft and Besiege ok) I decided to accept it.

If it's 15% of the purchase price (and not on pre-vat price) then that means it only cost me £308.

 

[gradyhawks]

for £300, its a great laptop! Managed to get lucky with it IMO!

 

[kristmace]

Keep it for a bit and see how it suits your needs. If you decide it doesn't, sell it. You should make at least your £308 back.