Re: Off topic: Need cheap new laptop, any suggestions?

[Peter Cassidy pcassidy@xxxxxxxx]

You mean Dell tries to weasel their way out of giving real service. I
basically treated laptops like disposable items, flinging them when they
break and getting a new one within hours, writing it off as the cost of
doing business. Bought an Apple in April of 2008. Noticed there was talk
about the batteries not being up to snuff. Few months ago, finally
called and told them the read-out on the battery. No questions asked,
had a batter the next afternoon. In SF video went out a couple of months
back. Ran down the street to the Apple store nearest the hotel. Pushed
my way to a tech, told him it needed to be fixed; he said next day, no
sweat, so I shoved $60 in his hand and said NOW, right now, any later
than now is not an option and got it back working in 1.25 hours. No
service charge. Still on warranty amazingly although I thought it was
long past - maybe it is extended for third-party parts flaws. I read up
on Mac sites that some of the NVIDIA chips had some kind of substrate
issue and they could separate over time. Apple could have said, in both
instance, call Sony about the battery and call NVIDIA about the chip,
have a nice day, sue us if you think we suck, a la Dell. Had one
exchange with Dell and it could only have been worse if they'd fire
bombed my house and sent cannibals into the wreckage to eat us.

Peter

Bill Troop wrote:
> I always buy Dell, mid-range, and have always been happy. But I have
> always also bought a 3-4 year onsite service warranty. That is de
> rigeur with any laptop, I think. Even with that, you're not out of the
> woods. Never offer any explanation for a malfunction, or it will be
> used against you. Deny any possible accident. Etc. etc. Unless you
> play dumb, all manufacturers will try to worm out of their warranty
> obligations. Just my opinion, based on years of bitter experience.
>
> At 6/17/2009 09:23 AM, you wrote:
>> Lisa Kleinholz wrote:
>>> My daughter's Dell Inspiron laptop is dying a slow death. With no
>>> money and great urgency, she is looking for a new one. Has anyone on
>>> the list bought something recently that is low priced and reliable
>>> (and smallish)? Mostly for word processing, web access, photos, &
>>> iTunes music.
>>
>> Having gotten a new laptop in Oct. 07, I'll presume to give some advice.
>> 1. You really need to see and feel the machine before buying, because
>> two of the biggest issues with laptops are screen size &nd resolution
>> and keyboard. With so few brick and mortar stores around Staples,
>> Office Depot, MicroCenter) that gets difficult. And I think Lisa once
>> told us she lives in the boonies? (N.B., once you've found acceptable
>> screens and keyboards someplace physical, write down the make and
>> model numbers--carefully: manufacturers have a gazillion models with
>> similar numbers)--and see if you can get it cheaper from a reputable
>> on-line merchant.)
>> 2. Don't accept anything with less that 1 Gb of RAM. Even on XP Home,
>> it crawls with less.
>> 3. Other questions to consider:
>> 3.1 Do you need long battery life?
>> 3.2 Is weight a consideration?
>> 3.3 Will it need to connect to a wired network?
>> 3.4 How will it access the Internet?
>>
>> The new class of Netbooks are cheap and lightweight, and a few have
>> long battery life. But their CPU (the Intel Atom) is slow and
>> underpowered by today's standards. You don't want to try photo
>> editing or anything else processor- and graphics-intensive on one.
>> But if all she needs is e-mail, Web browsing, and word processing
>> (esp. if she learned how to use lean and mean Xy), one would be
>> adequate. Note that they don't have CD/DVD drives, so backup would
>> have to be either to USB or some kind of a network connection, either
>> through the Internet or a wired LAN. (If the latter, you want to
>> check if it has an Ethernet, or CAT 5, port; if it doesn't, I
>> believe there are USB to Ethernet adaptors
>>
>> The July PCWorld magazine has a rundown of the latest Netbooks
>> (findpcworld.com/62994), and ComputerShopper.com (they've ceased
>> paper publication) probably has lots of reviews, if one can find them.
>>
>> RadioShack sometemes has Netbooks dirt cheap if you sign up for
>> Cellular Internet at the time of purchase. It's a two- or thre-year
>> contract, and not cheap (c.$70/month), but a very good way to go
>> online: anyplace you can get the signal, and much faster than
>> dial-up, if not quite DSL. And you can turn it off and on with a
>> mouse-click, so you don't have to be "always on," which I find
>> dangerous.
>> --
>> Patricia M. Godfrey
>> priscamg@xxxxxxxx