Posted: 8/5/2002 4:34:14 PM EDT
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Is there a good place on the web to purchase NEW laptops at a good price? Brands like HP and Sony. Thanks |
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inspiron 3800; Dell service had to come to my job site, today, (fee service) to fix a broken mouse button (second time). This time I watched what was replaced, to fix a $2-$10 plastic part they replace the entire cover, below the key board, the part with the glide pad and speakers, this part cost them at least $75. The battery is good for 2 hours, IF I don’t listen to mp3s while I work. I’m just glad I’m not paying for the leases. SSD |
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i wan't gonna mention the mouse buttons but since you went there. Keyboard controllers fail frequently Display back lights fail frequently Broken LCD panels Broken keyboard buttons Modem failures Speaker Failures These are some of the most common problems just on failures i see. Lets not even talk about a drop test. You have just totaled it. The dell warranty is good. Next day service typically and a no fault repair. Just remember when that warranty runs out you have a disposable 1300.00 laptop. If you are going to buy a laptop DO NOT GO CHEAP! You really do get what you pay for. Look for the strongest case you can find mike |
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Quoted: i wan't gonna mention the mouse buttons but since you went there. Keyboard controllers fail frequently Display back lights fail frequently Broken LCD panels Broken keyboard buttons Modem failures Speaker Failures These are some of the most common problems just on failures i see. Lets not even talk about a drop test. You have just totaled it. The dell warranty is good. Next day service typically and a no fault repair. Just remember when that warranty runs out you have a disposable 1300.00 laptop. If you are going to buy a laptop DO NOT GO CHEAP! You really do get what you pay for. Look for the strongest case you can find mike My only complaint about the IBM "T" series is the lack of a "Flying Windows" key and the top cover is too damm soft. Too easy for your finger to make impressions onto your screen. Also a touch pad/pointing stick combo would be preferable. Dude, I still like my Dell. I prefer it over the "T" series Thinkpad. |
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i agree about the t series lcd case. very flimsy. Although i did watch a market rep bounce his off the ceiling and hit the floor demo'ing it to a customer. No way i'd try that with a dell or a sony. As for the Tpads about the only problem i see is display backlights and modems burned out from hooking to digital phone systems or power hits. The display is usually a loose cable. 10 min fix and no parts. mike |
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I used to have a dell inspiron, and it was a POS, but it had been through a couple other people before me, so it's hard to say what a new one is like. I can say that I replaced it with a thinkpad, and it rocks! I am very rough on laptops too, as I have to use them on construction sites, installations etc. I have had no problems with it so far. |
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Dell support is the only good thing that i can say. The AC adapter on the motherboard has a bad connection. It changes from battery to regular electric. I talked to dell and they said it would be 300 to 400 bucks for a new board. I said to hell with that. I found that there were 3 cold solder joints on the adapter. I have solder'd it several time. I think the land might be in bad shape. At any rate among the hard drive failure that i have experienced and other various problems i have decided to get another notebook. Just not a dell. Maybe i just got a lemon. A VERY expensive lemon. |
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Quoted: Dell support is the only good thing that i can say. The AC adapter on the motherboard has a bad connection. It changes from battery to regular electric. I talked to dell and they said it would be 300 to 400 bucks for a new board. I said to hell with that. I found that there were 3 cold solder joints on the adapter. I have solder'd it several time. I think the land might be in bad shape. At any rate among the hard drive failure that i have experienced and other various problems i have decided to get another notebook. Just not a dell. Maybe i just got a lemon. A VERY expensive lemon. if thats the only problems you have had i'd say you got a good one. mike |
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Well... All my kids have 600-series ThinkPads, My wife and I run with T20's, and I have an X21 that I travel with. I also have my old 760XD that I keep all my gunsmithing and ammo information on (segregated in the event of an inspection) and all are screaming along just four-point-oh, thank you very much. I find the ThinkPad to be a rock solid machine, and it DOES help that I have a contact at IBM that keeps me supplied... I have run everything from DOS3 to Win2K Server, and have also had several versions of Li8nux going as well on some of these machines with no trouble. I have used Dell, Compaq, HP, Toshiba, NEC, Panasonic, and Apple laptops, and the IBMs remain my favourite. I would follow them with HP's, then maybe Toshiba. FFZ |
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Is there a good place on the web to purchase NEW laptops at a good price? Brands like HP and Sony. In order to get the right answer, it's always helpful to[url=http://www.apple.com/ibook]ask the right question[/url]... [img]http://a1776.g.akamai.net/7/1776/51/3899ec404468d0/www.apple.com/ibook/images/index_top04232002.jpg[/img]... |
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Well.. A few things: 1) AVOID! INTEL! PRODUCTS! Intel's CPUs are under-powered for their clock-rates (think 10,000 RPM-red-line 140hp Civic as opposed to 6,000RPM 330hp Trans Am: Which is faster?), and quite expensive. This, of course, means NO DELL! 2) Make sure it has a nVidia (GeForce) or ATI Radeon 7x00 video chip. All others are crap. Especially Trident and VIA (S3, Savage, etc) video chips. ATI 'Rage', 'Mobility Radeon', all pre-7x00 series products, and such are also crap. 3) If your vendor lets you, DO NOT GET WINDOWS XP! It's slow, piggy, and has the real annoying habit of second guessing what you want to do (or just doing stuff for you automatically). 4) 3rd-party laptop vendors seem to be the best deal right now. Compaq and IBM use really bad video systems, Dell has their intel addiction, HP is out of the laptop business (HP-Compaq merger = no more 'old-HP' PCs), and Gateway is, well, Gateway. |
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Quoted: Well.. A few things: 4) 3rd-party laptop vendors seem to be the best deal right now. Compaq and IBM use really bad video systems, Dell has their intel addiction, HP is out of the laptop business (HP-Compaq merger = no more 'old-HP' PCs), and Gateway is, well, Gateway. Ok, who are some examples of 3rd-party laptop vendors that meet your criteria? (me be ignorant) Although, I do miss my IBM Tpad A series. Anyone know where to get a deal on one of these? |
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Go to IBM and HP, and do a search for "refurb" or "refurbished." I have bought A LOT of refurb gear over the years, and have had excellent luck! You can probably expect a markdown of 25-50% (in some cases - usually more toward 25%) on gear that is internally factory new and warranted, and there are probably only cosmetic problems if any at all. Most of the refurbs I have bought are indistinguishable from new once taken out of the box... FFZ |
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I do Sony tech support, I'd stay away from Sony they're still not much of a computer company lots of crappy built into the mother board components, even on the desktops. and if you ever need something fixed after the warranty is over be prepared to be screwed $300 to replace a $5 CMOS battery |
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Quoted: Dell support is the only good thing that i can say. The AC adapter on the motherboard has a bad connection. It changes from battery to regular electric. I talked to dell and they said it would be 300 to 400 bucks for a new board. I said to hell with that. I found that there were 3 cold solder joints on the adapter. I have solder'd it several time. I think the land might be in bad shape. At any rate among the hard drive failure that i have experienced and other various problems i have decided to get another notebook. Just not a dell. Maybe i just got a lemon. A VERY expensive lemon. 302HO, Why did support want to charge you for the motherboard? Is your system out of warranty?? I used to work in Dell Portables support, now I'm in another group, but I can tell you, you should have been able to get the MB replaced under warranty for a faulty AC adapter jack. Unless you dropped the darn thing, or physically broke it. |
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I went to Best Buy [puke], bought the display model, saved $200 or so, and spent $120 on the extended warranty. The $200+ battery died this year and I got it replaced for free. Extended warranties are good for laptops. See if you can get a display model from a store - it won't be the latest but you can save a bunch. And if you want the extended warranty from best buy, you can usually get the blue shirts to throw in some free stuff that sells for almost as much as the warranty costs. |
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I guess you get bad stuff everywhere, but I have had good luck with all of mine so far. You also need to figure out what you want it for. For instance if it is your main machine and you don't travel much, the sony viao is the one I picked for home use. It has a 16 inch screen. It is unfortunatly xp, but I have it set up so I can run 98 on it as well. This runs around 2500 dollars. For work and travel you need a smaller laptop, the screen should be in the 14 inch range or smaller if you can deal with it. IBM think pads are the work horse here at work. IBM bends over backwards for support if it is under warranty. We also have a couple of Dells, but they have been pita's the whole time. The only reason we have them is they were cheaper at the time for a faster machine. These run anywhere from 1200 to 1700 depending on the load out. |
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Quoted: I'll never buy a DELL for two reasons: 1.Dell treated gunsmith Jack Weigand like a criminal. see link: [url]http://198.64.129.160/inboxer/outrage/dell.htm[/url] 2. that kid on TV drives me nuts ! I agree that the kid on TV sucks. If he came here, the guys in support would probably kick his ass. About the Weigand thing, I think he's kinda a jackass. Yes, I work at Dell, yeah, the situation sucked. Instead of contacting someone higher up at Dell than a customer service peon, Mr Weigand went and cried bloody murder on EVERY forum he could find. He acted like a crybaby pointing fingers and whining as loud as possible. What happens is, we have a questionaire we send to everyone who is a new customer, and one of the questions is something like "will you use your Dell machine in any illegal way?". Mr. Weigand either didn't get the questionaire, or saw that question, and thought it was discriminatory, and got upset. He acted like someone of a minority calling racism and descrimination because his Big Mac was undercooked and he didn't like it. Dell has no problems selling to buisinesses like Mr. Weigands. Heck, I looked into this situation myself and found that Wilson Combat had ordered several machines with NO PROBLEMS back in January. If you want to side with the whiney cry baby Weigand, go ahead. I can tell you this with absolute certainty, Dell does not discriminate against gun owners. |
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I've got a Gateway Solo laptop, one step up from their cheapest model. I wanted the TFT screen. The battery doesn't last a long time, the touchpad mouse gets really sensitive every once in awhile, the hard-drive is undersized and the 550mhz celeron is too slow for a lot of games. Am I complaining? Not really. It runs very reliably (even on WindowsME). With the exception of a couple of games, which I don't really need to play anyway, it does everything I need it to do. Longer battery life would be nice, but I just keep an eye out for plugins. I could have gotten a faster CPU, larger hard drive, better battery, etc, but I would have spend another grand to get it. So, in summary, I got what I paid for and it has worked reliably and well all the time I've used it. No hardware failures of any kind. |