Laptop

thcri · Mar 12, 2006

About a week ago I started getting the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" on my laptop. Today I no longer can get it to work at all. So I do have a good back up from a week ago but any emails that were sent to me in the last week are probably gone.

My question is my laptop is 5 years old and has been great. It is a Dell and I have been very happy with Dell over the years but am concerned about them shipping everything over to India.

Anybody got a good recomendations for a brand you have been very happy with?

murph

johnday · Mar 13, 2006

thcri said:
My question is my laptop is 5 years old and has been great. It is a Dell and I have been very happy with Dell over the years but am concerned about them shipping everything over to India.

Hey Murph, when did you move to India?

HGM · Mar 13, 2006

Murph,

I've been using a Dell at work for 4yrs and a Toshiba at home for about 5.. Both are very good computers.. I see your point about India, but are there realy any computer companies that are truly supporting the US? Its a loosing battle, I feel..

Big Dog · Mar 13, 2006

thcri said:
About a week ago I started getting the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" on my laptop. Today I no longer can get it to work at all. So I do have a good back up from a week ago but any emails that were sent to me in the last week are probably gone.

My question is my laptop is 5 years old and has been great. It is a Dell and I have been very happy with Dell over the years but am concerned about them shipping everything over to India.

Anybody got a good recomendations for a brand you have been very happy with?

murph

I bought one of these.......

http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?sku=6089448&SourceID=k15506
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=12813798

from this guy on e-bay.............

http://stores.ebay.com/Cruisin-Fun_W0QQsspagenameZFAVQ3aFQ3aSLLRQQtZkm

With rebates I gote it for $1K. It's a athlon processor ready for 64bit.
I've had it since my operation around Thanksgiving. Been on it everyday for extended times and it runs great. I also have an older Sony thats been great too. Good Luck

BD

Doc · Mar 13, 2006

Murph,
If that's all it's doing, unless you were planning to replace it anyway, I'd format it and reload a new OS. Then restore your data. You might get a few more years out of it. I had to do that with my 5 yr old dell latitude a year or two ago, and it's still going strong. But, I mainly use it to remote into my servers. The primary software i run on it is VNC (remote desktop software).

Dargo · Mar 13, 2006

I'd agree on formatting your drive and reloading first unless you want a newer system. Lately I have been getting Foxfire and IE locking up quite frequently. I've sent MS so many of the frickin' error reports they ought to know me by name! Anyway, I had a horrible experience with Dell late last year and can not in good faith recommend anyone purchase from them.

Nobody will ever convince me that Dell does not intentionally screw people out of the rebates they advertise.

Unless you have the time and desire to chase the rotten bastards constantly for months, forget getting your rebate. They didn't used to be this way. Now, they disconnect you over half of the time after you've been on hold for 1/2 an hour, lie to you, charge your credit card without your permission for bogus bullshit "training manuals" they claim that they thought you'd "appreciate" them randomly sending you etc. They are a very bad company that apparently must be in bad financial trouble to resort to the cheating and deceptive ways they have. When I called my credit card company to complain about Dell charging the Windows XP training shit I never ordered, Capital One never even had me fill out the usual forms required when you deny a charge. They apparently handle complaints against Dell every day and know Dell's scam well. I'm honestly shocked that there hasn't been one of those news shows about Dell and their cheating ways.

To be blunt, count on Dell cheating you on the purchase and then totally avoiding you after the sale/ripoff. I've officially joined the "anybody but Dell" crowd, even though I'm using a Dell crap box right now.

Melensdad · Mar 13, 2006

Murph there is no secret that I am in love with Apple computers, but at the office we have several IBM, Toshiba and I think one or two Dell laptops. Given my choice of windows machine, I would grab the IBM in a heartbeat. It is a better designed unit in so many ways that it almost rivals an Apple! The Toshiba and Dell systems seem primitive by comparision.

jwstewar · Mar 13, 2006

B_Skurka said:
Murph there is no secret that I am in love with Apple computers, but at the office we have several IBM, Toshiba and I think one or two Dell laptops. Given my choice of windows machine, I would grab the IBM in a heartbeat. It is a better designed unit in so many ways that it almost rivals an Apple! The Toshiba and Dell systems seem primitive by comparision.

Too bad you can't buy an IBM box anymore. I have yet to hear anything good or bad about Lenovo, but I'm skeptical and don't think I would be buying anything from them at this point. Maybe in a year or so, but not right now.

I've got a 7 year old Toshiba that has been great w/ absolutely no problems - other then the fact now it is so slow and so old that it is now painfully slow. For Christmas we go the kids a Winbook AMD Sempron w/ 15" screen, DVD-ROM/CD-RW for $399. It is a good little laptop, I've been using it as my Toshiba is to the point it isn't even a good web surfer and sometimes the wife is on the desktop that I custom built. I need to build another one for the garage and get me a new laptop, but I also need a Backhoe for the tractor, a new work car, and we want a bigger house and ......... :yum:

I just need your money Bob.

working woman · Mar 13, 2006

have to agree with Dargo on the Dell. Just worked with a girl last night who bought a Dell laptop a few months ago. She is already experiencing problems with her computer freezing up on her. She has yet to see her refund check as well.

OkeeDon · Mar 13, 2006

My 3 year old Toshiba has had problems -- cooling fan twice, keyboard failures twice, and the keyboard is acting up again. When it was under warranty, Toshiba repaired it promptly and free, even sending me a box and paying for the shipping both ways. As soon as it was out of warranty, they didn't want to hear from me -- they refused to make the repairs, even though I was willing to pay whatever they charged. I took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy, and they sent it off to their own repair facility, repairs were prompt and lower cost than expected, usually even lower than their own quote.

Toshiba has also sent tech support off shore; when I was trying to get them to repair my machine, I went up through several layers of advanced tech people before I got to an American. Dell's facilities are not all in India; when we recently visited Panama, our tour guide was a former Dell call center employee.

Ny wife has an identical Toshiba laptop; hers has been problem free (except that the batteries in both of them are toast). I carry mine more frequently and use it about 10 times as much. I would buy another Toshiba, but not necessarily over any other brand. Price is the most important factor for me; our Toshibas are the lowest priced Satellite models, costing me about $750 each (after $300 in rebates). The same basic laptops are available today for about $600. I don't need anything better; I don't play elaborate games, and my laptop has enough power to run TurboCad and design my house. I will get more memory in my next one, but can't see the advantage in the more expensive models.

OregonAlex · Mar 13, 2006

How about a Sony?

Dargo · Mar 13, 2006

OregonAlex said:
How about a Sony?

I like Sony. :wave:

pixie · Mar 13, 2006

Another vote for Apple, here.

But MacMall rips you off on the rebates , too.

I find the Apple system much more understandable and I always liked to be a little different ;D

Melensdad · Mar 13, 2006

pixie said:
I always liked to be a little different ;D

Pixie . . .Well we won't hold that against you!

murph . . . The more I use my new MacBookPro the more I like it. I don't know if you travel with your laptop and use it in odd places but my typical laptops last for about 3 years. Mine are "on" for roughly 10 to 12 hours a day, every day. And they go with me most everywhere I go. This new MacBookPro is an expensive computer but I love some of the features that I really didn't think about. The screen dims when the room lights dim and gets brighter when the room gets brighter, it makes it much easier to see what you are looking at!!! Also, when the room lights get really low then the keyboard begins to glow so you can see the keys. That makes it IDEAL for use inside an airplane cabin, car, or truck while on the road.

The downside is that the MacBookPro is on the high end of the price scale, a bit more expensive than a high end Windows computer (but worth every penny of it!)

thcri · Mar 13, 2006

Bob,
I hav checked in the Apple's but found that the major program I use is not stable with it. In fact the writer of the software has come right out and said you can not use the Apple with his software. Now I know there has been discussion on this over there at that other site but what I have found from others that the software does work but look for lots of quirks. Quirks that I can not afford to take a chance on.

My existing Dell is over 4 years old so it has done me well or at least I think. My first thought was a Dell but then thinking about what I have read here lately I am thinking time to at least think different.

murph

OregonAlex · Mar 13, 2006

Hope you find these two graphs useful. I would pick the one with the most acceptable reliability and tech support rating.

For PCs, I think that used to be IBM. Which as Bob states is no longer making PCs.

sorry Murph.. looks like the attachment posting has been changed... and does not work with Safari for some reason.
Here they are.

thcri · Mar 13, 2006

OregonAlex said:
Hope you find these two graphs useful.

Where is the graphs or am I mising something here?

murph

OregonAlex · Mar 13, 2006

sorry about that Murph.. see my edit.
From looks of things it looks like Toshiba might be a better idea then Dell.. Better reliablity and tech support then Dell.. but not by much.

too bad gateway has the worse reliablity out of the bunch.. if they got their reliablity up then they would be the clear favorite now that IBM is out of the picture.

Dargo · Mar 13, 2006

OregonAlex said:
too bad gateway has the worse reliablity out of the bunch.. if they got their reliablity up then they would be the clear favorite now that IBM is out of the picture.

The sobering thought on Dell is that they are doing exactly the same thing that Gateway did a few years ago when they got into financial trouble and their quality and support plummeted. They invented the non-existing rebate scam. There is no doubt that Dell will be a strong challenger for the worst on both reliability as well as support. Gateway wrote the book on how to plunge from near the top to the bottom. Dell is following that gameplan very closely.

OregonAlex · Mar 13, 2006

Dargo,

Is this supposed to explain why people are trying so hard to install Windows on Apple HW? It never made any sense to me why anyone would want to take a beautiful piece of engineering and INTENTIONALLY run windows on it. Its all becoming clear now... LOL

however, I am not sure Apple will give you "ALL RED Circle" type support if you called them about a Mac running Windows.

ddrane2115 · Mar 14, 2006

I have a Toshiba. I also have the court papers asking if I want to be part of the class action suit against them for faulty MB/FAN/RAM/ etc. I dont fall into the "time frame", but I have had all these and more. Harddrive went out, bought a new one, it went bad, Drive Solutions replaced it free, even shipping............if you need a new drive try them.

If you need a new laptop, anything but Dell, and I dont like Sony, hard to network them. Someone make check out TigerDirect.com also. They have some deals at times, but watch closely, some are refurbs..........and they do tell you this right up front. I actually bought my Toshiba from them after 2 as in 2 as in at one time, bad dells.

Doc · Mar 14, 2006

Since all users are not at the same 'computer savy' / knowledge level, I would not put a lot of confidence in the Brand Reliability chart posted above. Maybe that's just me ......

thcri · Mar 14, 2006

Chart is pretty interesting. Dell does good on the desktop but not so good on the laptops. Toshiba is up there pretty good.

murph

HGM · Mar 14, 2006

thcri said:
Chart is pretty interesting. Dell does good on the desktop but not so good on the laptops. Toshiba is up there pretty good.

murph

Its funny, although they are older, we have many more problems with our desktop Dells than our Laptops..

I guess it all comes down to what you need it for..

OregonAlex · Mar 14, 2006

I think the only thing you can deduce from the charts is there are no outstanding PCs manufacturers anymore. Highest rating seems to be all "NEUTRAL - White Circle". That is sad, and I guess we kind of already knew this from our informal poll. Comparing this white cicle ratings it reminds me of the $1000-2000 lawn tractors market.

OregonAlex · Mar 14, 2006

Looks like Apple might be going the same way soon

http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/03/14/jobs.plans.india.trip/

it is unforunately what happens when people demand cheaper and cheaper computers. You get what you ask for, I guess.

thcri · Mar 14, 2006

OregonAlex said:
Looks like Apple might be going the same way soon

http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/03/14/jobs.plans.india.trip/

it is unforunately what happens when people demand cheaper and cheaper computers. You get what you ask for, I guess.

The cheaper and cheaper computers have been ok for me. I have many cheap Dells here and have been working longer than I ever thought. The thing that will make me change my mind is the service after. Dell and now the Apple has taken the wrong path as far as I am concerned. The product is great but when you talk to a person overseas that you can't understand is no good. And people will get frustrated with that as time goes on. I made a call for one of our Dells a while back and decided to call elsewhere. Another call was made to another vender from overseas and I could not understand at all. It was for a wireless card. I ended up taking it back and getting a different brand all because I could not understand the person on the other end.

murph

OregonAlex · Mar 14, 2006

of course you realize that the service you receive is directly related to the premium you pay for the product.

One of the reasons MB, BMW, Lexus, etc do so well in consumers ratings of the dealer service deptment themselves.

When at the BMW service dept, they offer you an Espresso
When at the Honda service dept, they offer you a normal coffee.
When at the KIA service dept. they point you to the vending machine.

no offense to anyone intended.

Dargo · Mar 14, 2006

I bet the Kia is heavier.

HGM · Mar 14, 2006

OregonAlex said:
of course you realize that the service you receive is directly related to the premium you pay for the product.

One of the reasons MB, BMW, Lexus, etc do so well in consumers ratings of the dealer service deptment themselves.

When at the BMW service dept, they offer you an Espresso
When at the Honda service dept, they offer you a normal coffee.
When at the KIA service dept. they point you to the vending machine.

no offense to anyone intended.

I believe allot of that comes down to marketing.. If you pay more for a name(percieved quality) and the service is top notch, it must be a better quality(right??).. I think human nature makes one believe that if something goes wrong, its more acceptable because they still belong to an exclusive group.. The cheaper product isnt always inferior, just cheaper...

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