Laptops
Is it me, or do most laptops out there just suck?
I'm required to get one for the MBA program, so I started looking around. The Dells just look cheap, the HPs look even cheaper. Sony's are a fortune for one you'd actually want. I won't consider a Mac....
I guess I haven't looked at Alienware yet, but are there any good laptops out there otherwise?
I'm required to get one for the MBA program, so I started looking around. The Dells just look cheap, the HPs look even cheaper. Sony's are a fortune for one you'd actually want. I won't consider a Mac....
I guess I haven't looked at Alienware yet, but are there any good laptops out there otherwise?
It's not me, it's someone else.
Are you sure it was water?Troy wrote:Before i spilled water on it and broke it, my IBM T41 was one helluva machine... everything you need without all the expensive little addons or Dell software BS.
I had a guy bring a laptop into the shop because it stopped working. He claimed to have no idea why.
I took it apart and beer dribbled out. I found puddles of beer throughout.
I called him, and he did a "Oh yeah, we did spill can of beer on it the night before" thing. Dumbass.
I'm nost sure if I got it working or not. Sometimes you can dry those things out and they'll start up.
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For what it's worth, I'm on my second HP Pavillion. I bought one about 4 years ago, and it is still running fine. It was a PII 650 mhz. Gave it to the wife when I got my current one, about 6 months ago. P4, 3.2Ghz w/a gig o ram.
The main reason I bought HP again was service. I had to get a new power supply and a new keyboard on the first one. And HP service was excellent both times. And Oddly enough, I just got this one back today from service. Yes, they do break, but they fix them quickly. I had to have the motherboard repaired where the power supply connects. I just sent if off on Tuesday, and got it back today. That is pretty damn fast in my book.
The main reason I bought HP again was service. I had to get a new power supply and a new keyboard on the first one. And HP service was excellent both times. And Oddly enough, I just got this one back today from service. Yes, they do break, but they fix them quickly. I had to have the motherboard repaired where the power supply connects. I just sent if off on Tuesday, and got it back today. That is pretty damn fast in my book.
I'd rather have a laptop from someone with really really shitty service, but never breaks. I've had a cheap Compaq from Best Buy for about a year and have had zero problems with it. SP2 slowed the Network interfaces (wireless and RJ45) way down. But, there was a hardware patch that sped it right back up. Only beef I have with it is, the volume is way too low when playing DVDs. Music plays fine, but you can barely hear the DVDs. Also, it warns you when the batteries are low and needs to be plugged in about 6 seconds before it hibernates. So, it's a mad scramble to get it plugged in when it warns you. Knew a kid going to college to be an engineer. Took his Compaq with him everywhere. Never had any issues with it. That's what I based my purchase on. If he could beat on his and not have problems, I should be able to take care of mine and be doubly fine.
I've seen alot of Dells over the years. Had about a 10% break down rate. Saw prolly 20 of them in corporate use, and at least two of them had to be repaired. However, it's always unknown if it's a user caused issue, or manufacturing. You just get the laptop with a "I dunno. It just stopped working." explination. However, of the 2 that I used for about 4 years, neither ever gave me any trouble and I liked them alot. And for comparison, every PC I've ever seen in corporate use had about the same breakdown/repair rate. About 10-15% would have issues. From the days of Compaq Deskpros in the mid/late 90's to the Dell Dimensions being put on corporate desktops. The only brand that stands out is Fujitsu. Of the 20 I saw in use, about half broke down to the point that it was too expensive to fix them. I ended up saving 10 of them from the dumpster. Changed parts enough to get 4 complete, and 3 usable laptops out of the group. By 3 usable, I mean, one didn't have sound or a CD drive, the other didn't have a CD drive, and one had a darker than you'd want screen and no CD drive. Anyway, Fujitsu has a very bad history with me. Most recent Dell issue I was aware of was: Sister inlaw called and said her keyboard wouldn't work. Would boot up. Mouse worked, etc, couldn't type. She called Dell and they had her hold a series of keys down while rebooting and things like that. No BIOS changes, or anything. The keyboard started working again. No idea what it was, but it was fixed with a phone call.
Paul wrote:Troy wrote:Before i spilled water on it and broke it, my IBM T41 was one helluva machine... everything you need without all the expensive little addons or Dell software BS.
Are you sure it was water?
I had a guy bring a laptop into the shop because it stopped working. He claimed to have no idea why.
I took it apart and beer dribbled out. I found puddles of beer throughout.
I called him, and he did a "Oh yeah, we did spill can of beer on it the night before" thing. Dumbass.
I'm nost sure if I got it working or not. Sometimes you can dry those things out and they'll start up.
Umm....How would you go about cleaning baby puke out from under the keys of a laptop? The only way my 9mo niece would stop cryin was sitting on my lap watching the mouse go around the screen. Well, then she decided to puke all over the keyboard. I was able to clean most of it off but there's some under the keys that I cant get to....ugh.
Sucko! Regular keyboard keys simply pop out and in. Laptop keys are a pain to deal with, and they have little clip-things under there that have to re-attache just right. Plus they can break if you don't pull them out correctly.
Try *gently* pulling off a key that you don't use. Then clean and reattach it. Go slowly and methodically.
You may want to remove the keyboard from the laptop, so you can spend time on it. You can just plug a regular keyboard into the laptop in the meantime.
Try *gently* pulling off a key that you don't use. Then clean and reattach it. Go slowly and methodically.
You may want to remove the keyboard from the laptop, so you can spend time on it. You can just plug a regular keyboard into the laptop in the meantime.