Dell XPS 9710 17" Laptop

I've had this laptop for a few years and, now that it's out of warranty, I have a few things that annoy me. I've owned Dell laptops for over a decade and I usually buy Dell because of there support. With each new generation of laptop, I've had need of support and they've been very good.  I imagine many of the other mainstream manufacturers are good as well, I just happen to have a good experience with Dell.

When I bought the 9710, I was looking for a MacBook alternate. I'm fully comfortable with OSX but I have many programs that only run on Windows. Plus we have the Office Family Plan which gives us a huge (1 TB) online store for backups, pictures, etc.

At the time I bought the 9710, it was the best I could find.  As I said, I had previously bought Dell XP 16" laptop and had a good experience with it. I owned it for well over 5 years but when Windows 11 came out, the 16's hardware would not support windows 11. I knew I could (and have since) forced the upgrade to 11 but I also like the fingerprint scanner and the full windows Hello support.  Furthermore, they boasted a much faster startup time which was appealing. My experience with the MAC is you open it up and can almost immediately start to use it. That wasn't true of my XPS 16 (and, unfortunately, is also not true of the 9710).

Main problems with the 9710:

1. They changed the fan direction. It now sucks from the bottom and blows out the top. The problem with this is if you have the computer on a table w/ tablecloth, it sucks the tablecloth into the vents which makes the fans rev and chews up battery very quickly. Also, it get's loud.
2. In addition, the fan appears to be an independent system and runs even when the computer turns off. I've had many struggles with dead battery after shutting it down and putting it into my backpack. I regularly find I have a hot computer when I pull it out of the bag. So, not only is it annoying that the thing ran when it wasn't supposed to, but now my battery is basically dead.
   
3. The new quick start feature is still not working properly after many BIOS upgrades. Probably 1 in 5 times I open up the computer to a blank screen. I have no idea why and can find no cause. I either hold power and force a power down (which then boots to a diagnostics screen which I then bypass and reboot again to get it working) OR I can sometimes close the lid or press power to soft-cycle it and get it working.
4. The trackpad can be very erratic. It is inconsistent. Sometimes it works like a charm but sometimes it becomes so sensitive that even the palm of my hand being "near" the pad will send the cursor across the screen.  I checked online and many folks think this is a hardware problem.  Since it's out of warranty I can send it in (takes a week) and they can replace whatever in hopes that this will "fix" the problem. If this was the only problem, I might consider doing that. I also worry that I've cooked the motherboard so many times by putting it in my bag and going to work - only to find it's hot and out of battery when I get there - that this caused damage to the system.  Good luck convincing Dell that this is the case.

Regarding the "hot bag" issue, I did contact Dell support many times while the system was under warranty and they had me do tons of changes to the software to try to fix it. Then, during the pandemic, I was mostly at home plugged into dual monitors so it didn't matter. 

Perhaps because I wasn't using the laptop trackpad, I didn't notice the erratic problem, I really don't know. Or it could have started later. I only noticed it over the past year.  I carry a bluetooth mouse now.

Generally, I don't have any other complaints about the hardware. The screen is nice, I like the touchscreen. I do like Windows Hello and using the fingerprint scanner to login to websites.  The keyboard is fine and speakers sound pretty good to me.

My dilemma now is what to do next. I spent a ton of time researching this system and I paid a ton of money (close to $2500) for it. How do I avoid such a costly mistake in the future? I never found a site that showed the actual boot time from open the lid (not saying they are not out there, just that I didn't find one when researching). No one mentioned the fan direction until after I purchased. It was a new release. And the trackpad worked great until after the warranty expired.

I would seriously consider a MAC - not because they are "better", they have their own set of problems - but I'm not plugged into the Apple ecosystem and don't really want to convert everything over to that. Plus I don't know how my windows only software will run on the M3 with emulation.

Lastly, my computer needs are pretty simple now so it's hard to justify spending a great deal to "upgrade". I can live with being plugged into a monitor and/or using a mouse. And I know to literally shutdown the computer before I go anywhere with it. Or I leave the bag partially open to let it vent if the fans run with the lid closed.