It’s a really great thing that Dell offers buyers multiple choices when it comes to laptop batteries: there’s usually a 4-cell, 6-cell, and 9-cell battery option. Dell always lists the watt hours information as well - great!

But what’s ridiculous is that there are no images, illustrations, or written information about the exact sizes of the batteries: specifically, which batteries will stick out of the laptop (the “hump”). This is a really important thing to know, because when I’m buying a laptop I usually want to get the biggest battery possible, but one that doesn’t stick out. I just ordered a Vostro laptop today (for my church) and was given the choice of three different batteries - yet no indication of which one(s) was actually flush with the laptop.

In general I find that the “More Information” links on the Dell Web site do a poor job of providing the customer with the information they need about the given accessory or feature option. The explanations of screen finishes are equally weak. I’ve posted this over on Dell’s IdeaStorm site, so if you have a minute (and agree with me), please go over there and vote for my request.

I’m usually pretty good at working the system, but this morning I got worked over by the system. Yesterday I ordered a cheap Dell Vostro 1000 laptop to donate to my church - we needed something ultra-basic for registrations and whatnot, so the base $499 model was a good fit. I wanted something with 14″ screen rather than a 15.4″ screen, but the price jumps up by $200 to get the smaller screen (go figure) and I didn’t think it was worth the price jump. I did add in a DVD burner and opted for the six-cell battery, which bumped the cost up to $564. I thought I’d have several options at the $499 price point, but the Dell Vostro was the only one I could find from any of the online stores.

This morning I checked my email and Best Buy had one-day only $300 price reduction on an HP 2610ca laptop, offering it for $599. That was pretty close to the $564 I was spending on the Vostro, but it had a faster CPU, bigger hard drive, and a 14.1″ screen. No brainer. There were about 62 left when I added it to my cart and went all the way through to the end of the ordering process. While I was doing this, I was waiting on hold to talk to a Dell customer service agent to cancel my order. The whole order cancelling process took 19 minutes, but I didn’t want to order the HP laptop until I was sure my Dell order had been cancelled (I’ve had problems with Dell not cancelling my orders in the past and didn’t want to end up with two laptops). Once the Dell order was cancelled, I flipped back to my browser and clicked SUBMIT to order the HP laptop. Nope, sorry, you have to log in again because your session timed out. I did so, and wouldn’t you know it, the system wouldn’t let me order the HP laptop because they were now all sold out. So back to ordering the Vostro I go…

You have to be a Star Trek geek to some degree to understand how funny this is…