Just an update. I went back today and it was a different fella at the tech guy counter - He had a completly different attitude to the other tech guy.And he gave me a full refund after looking at my screen grabs of the transfer rates of the drive. Infact,he was very polite and helpful - And even apologised for the other tech guys behaviour. So i got a happy ending in the end ! I'd like to thank everyone for the help and advice on these forums - Its much appreciated. Thank you. Colin.

Sorry to hear about your troubles with argos.Hope you get some sort of result. And i will keep you updated - Ive managed to get a lift on monday (its 12miles away). Cant drive myself because of an eye condition that prevents me from driving ,so i have to rely on other people. I also will never,ever go to PC World again.

Thank you very much for your advice and info. If i dont get a result at the store,i will certainly give this a try. Wish i'd never even walked into that store now - When i went to complain about the laptop i was made to feel like a criminal and a liar.Very upsetting all round really. Should have bought the same laptop from argos - £20 more,but at least they dont treat people like this. Oh well,i suppose we learn from our mistakes.

@gioia - Thanks - I'm not letting this go.You havent got the address of the MD have you? I'd ask for it at the store,but i'm willing to bet they would be less than helpful in this regard. Anyway,i'm going back to the store next week with the weight of evidence of collected (screen grabs,videos of other computers doing the same tasks,photos - And ofcourse,the laptop).I'm still awaiting a reply to my PM from the man i was advised to contact on here (tech guy). - When i get there i'm asking for a full refund.I dont want to deal with this company ever again. I dont think its right the way they treat honest people.With genuine complaints - Its not as if its months old either,its been like this since i bought it. And finally,after hours of searching ive found the full specs of my DVD-Drive. Which backs up what i have been saying. TSST TS-L633C 8x Slim DVD+-RW DL Drive SATA Interface MFG: TSST (TOSHIBA SAMSUNG STORAGE TECHNOLOGY) MODEL: TS-L633 8X DVDR Write 4X DVDRW Write 2.4X DVD+R Double Layer Write 8X DVD-ROM Read 3X DVD-RAM 24X CD-R Write 10X CD-RW Write US 24X CD-ROM Read Horizontal or Vertical Mount External Dimensions (W x H x D): 128mm x 12.7mm x 126.1mm BEZEL: BLACK INTERFACE: SATA The drive is clearly stated as 8x DVD and 24x CD -As most laptop drives are today. I wish my faulty drive could even manage 4x - It cant even get past x2. Burn speeds are completly normal for a 8x drive- No problems there.

Sorry,i could find no way to edit above post. Just to confirm there is something wrong with the drive. I found this site (along with many others). http://www.osta.org/technology/dvdqa/dvdqa4.htm Which gives the average transfer rates for drives (by speed). According to this site and all the others i have read,my 8x speed drive should be giving me an average transfer rate of 10.5mbps. My average transfer rate is 2.5mbps (not even 2x speed) ,which goes lower and lower the longer the copying of files goes on (transfer rates should increase,not decrease).Infact,the lowest it has gone is 888kbps ! - Yes kbps,i can download files faster than that !. Ive taken screen grabs of various graphs on websites as proof to show PC World what the transfer rates of working drives should be.Whether this will help me,remains to be seen.

Thank you - Maybe i'm naive,but i didnt expect any problems when taking it back. After all,i was willing to show them the problem so that that they could see it for themselves. I was absolutly gobsmacked when he said there was nothing wrong with it. I'm a quiet person by nature and dont like confrontations - And this has caused a lot of stress for the whole family. We simply cant afford to throw away £500 (like most families). I know stores dont like taking goods back - But when something doesnt work as described,the law is there to protect people. I'm just shocked by the stuff i was told by this "Tech Guy" - It simply wasnt true. And anyone with a basic knowledge of computing would back me up.

Thank you - Will give it a try. The last few days ive been thinking maybe i should just drop it. But i dont think its right - Especially the way i was treated when i went back. I love the laptop - But i'm going to try and get my money back. (dread going back mind you)

Thanks for the reply. I did look up the sales of goods act the other day. But the staff (1 tech guy anyway) said this is normal for these types of tasks on all computers (not true). So if i went back,they are going to say the same things - ie fob me off. They seem to think their customers have no knowledge about computers - Because he wouldnt have said the things he did otherwise. The things he was saying made no sense at all. I couldnt believe it when he come out with the "super duper computer" comment - About my old PC that works correctly.

Thanks for the reply. Ive taken it back home. Ive taken screen grabs of how slow this dvd-drive copies files.Ive also taken screen grabs of how fast a normal working drive should do an identcal task - From other computers (friends,family and my old PC). I forgot to mention.It makes a terrible noise trying to read some discs when 1st inserted.Its obviously struggerling to read discs. Ive also got error reports coming from event viewer (Index cd-rom errors).

Hello,i hope some could offer me and my family some advice. We bought a SAMSUNG r530 laptop (£479) just over a week ago. When trying out the laptop i discovered that the DVD-drive was reading very slowly (it burns at full speed) - This is with all types of discs. Its supposed to be a 8x speed drive but its only reading at 2.5mbps (should be around 8-9mbps).2.5mbps isnt even the speed of a 2x drive. This is making copying files off DVD backups of my data a nightmare. - For example, a backup of all my photos which is 1.5gig is taking over 11 minutes to copy off the disc - Compare this to 4 minute on my 8 year old computer. Ive also tried my brothers acer laptop to see how fast data copies of his drive and its much,much faster - Around 8-9mbps (normal for a 8x drive). I'd like to point out ive not installed anything on this machine,its a clean install. -------- Anyway,3 days after buying the laptop i took it back to PC World (stafford) telling them of my troubles and hoping for a replacement. Some hope. To say i was being fobbed off is a understatement - The tech guy took a look at it on the counter. He said all computers read DVDs/CDs at this speed (2.5mps) because when your copying a disc its encoding (not true)- When i pointed out i'm not doing any encoding just copying files by explorer,he just looked at me blankly and said its normal. He then started getting rude when i pointed out my old pc copies a whole DVD in 6mins 30 secs - Compared to 20+ minute on this new laptop. (14mins slower) His sarcastic reply was "you must have a super duper computer then".Basically calling me a liar. After this also he started blaming cyberlinks DVD suit (pre-installed) - When i pointed out i dont need that software to copy my files over i just use window explorer,he blamed my discs (all of them) - I took a few discs to show them. I only use quality media (verbatim).And besides,the drive is slow with all types of optical media. I then asked them to test these disks on other computers in the store ,to prove that other computer dont read discs this slow - He refused saying "its against company policy" Ive been using computers since the early 80s - Ive burnt/copied 1000s of dvds/cds in this time.And ive never seen a drive this slow. Its not normal and its a clear fault with the drive - I'm not an idiot,i know when a drive slows down to read its either a) A dying drive or b) a bad disc - I can rule out bad discs because it does it with every disc that ive tried. --------------------- In the end,i just gave up and asked for a refund - Which was point blank refused. To make matters worse he incorrectly packed the laptop up and had the powerpack pressing against the back of the screen which could have damaged the panel. I'm furious with PC World for treating us in this way. Its a clear fault with the drive,yet they are refusing to acknoledge this. There is no way on eath this is normal behaviour for x8 speed drive- Which could be quickly proven in seconds on other computers. I could buy an external DVD-Writer to show them in the store what is normal and whats not - But why should i spend more money to prove it? ( they already know the truth anyway) ...There is nothing to prove.Anyone with a basic knowledge cd/dvd copying would know this. Its now been over 10 days.And i know we have got 28 days to get a refund.But the staff instore are refusing to admit its faulty. They say as long as its working,its working - Slowly or not. I'm at my wits end.I never thought big store like this could behave in such a manner. Basically taking the money and running. Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance.