Laptops, Laptops, Laptops (",)

[epsilonreturns]

I have recently been after investing in a new laptop. See the only thing is I am after something quite cheap and my main purposes will be for essays and music as I am a dj :cool:
Just wandering if ya knew of any sweet offers that were about at the mo or if you had any advice. :rolleyes:

[server_crash]

My advice: don't get a Dell.

[BeastOverlordH6]

Don't get a Dell.

[server_crash]

Don't get a Dell.

I'm starting to like you more and more. I spent my whole life savings on a $1600 dell laptop and it didn't even last a year. It had major problems while under warranty, but those were fixed. As soon as it went out of warranty, behold, great and mighty mishaps disabled the laptop to a point where I refuse to give dell another nickel.

[BeastOverlordH6]

Two of my friends have Dells additionally. One was helplessly bloated with nameless amounts of software Dell stuffs on there initially (along with around four keyloggers, so... yeah...), the other, a laptop, which sported a thick rainbowish column of dead pixels.

Fortunately, Bartus still had warranty on his laptop and I was able to reformat Sears' desktop.

God damn. There's always HP. :cheesy:

[server_crash]

Please don't use that word in your last sentence.

Anyway, I prefer alienware laptops. We've had a few gateways and nothing went wrong with them ever.

[deonnanicole]

My brother got a Dell probably a little over a year ago and has had problems with it also. I was on the verge of getting a Dell laptop but his problems convinced me otherwise. So I would agree with the others....might want to go with something besides a Dell. :)

[EriCartman13]

I would recommend an hp for your needs. They last a long time and are cheap.

[belama]

I have an Acer laptop since almost 3 years ago and I've never had a problem with it... and like server_crash said, Alienware laptops are pretty good.

[Dani]

I have a Toshiba Tecra M4 and I'm very happy with it :)

[alc6379]

I like Dells.

I'm sorry, and I've discussed this before. Why is it when you had the choice to buy additional warranty service, and you chose not to, all of a sudden you're up in arms because the product went bad, and even though you had a chance, you didn't get a warranty.

Don't complain about that. The computer company gave you the opportunity to get more warranty coverage. If you want to talk about how a laptop performs, fine. Talk about how good or bad the battery life is. Try talking about a machine's price vs features ratio. Talk about the quality of the screen. What happens to a machine outside of its warranty is irrelevant, especially if you just picked the default warranty coverage. 90% of hardware failures occur in the 2-4 year range of a system, and that's the range most manufacturers offer extended warranties for.

I know people that spend $500 on systems and they last for ages. Then, others buy the latest, greatest $3,000 system and then have it go bottoms-up on them within a year. Electronics is a crap-shoot, and the only thing that you can depend on is that parts fail.

I don't care what kind of system you get, there's always going to be someone with a horror story. I know of people that curse Alienware every time they hit the Enter key. HP, Toshiba, and IBM/Lenovo are no different. Everyone can say something "sucks" -- how many can say quantifiably why they like something, rather than why the alternative "sucks"?

Personally, I like Dells. My all-time favorite system is an Inspiron 8600. AWESOME battery life, great wifi reception, CPU power to spare, and the screen is good sized. My sister has a Toshiba Tecra, not sure what model, but she certainly is impressed with it, and I was as well. I'll say this much-- that screen had awesome color purity.

I hope I don't sound harsh when I say what I do, but let's not turn this thread into a bashing of one particular computer maker or another. Instead, justify why your choice is as such; Server_crash, you mentioned you like Alienware laptops. What are your reasons? Personally, I don't like the case coloring, I've never been impressed with the battery life on any of their models, and I think that desktops are more suitable gaming machines. So I've mentioned why I dislike them, (note I never once mentioned warranty coverage), why do you like them?

[server_crash]

Is it normal for a computer to go bad in a couple of months???? We've had all kinds of computers and Dell simply is the worst and their their tech support is terrible. I shouldn't have to buy an extended warranty for my computer to last 1.5 years, but if you get a Dell you better be ready to spend an extra 5000 on warranties. All it is is paying for the crap before it happens, because IT WILL. So, I chose not to buy a warrranty because I shouldn't have to. They put junky parts in their computer with obvious intentions. After my laptop had a billion SERIOUS problems in less than a year, I just threw it on the shelf. Yeah, I could have bought the parts to fix it, but I'm not giving Dell another dime. Instead, I decided to build my own computer.... and you know what? For the same prices that Dell charges for their CRAP parts, you can buy the best quality out there and get 10 year to lifetime warranties. Oh, and that was without any extra cost.

Ok, you wanted to talk about a few things:

Talk about how good or bad the battery life is

Terrible. It was excellent for the first few months and LITERALLY died down to where it only lasted 20 minutes. There's your good battery life.

Try talking about a machine's price vs features ratio.

It sucks. My desktop costed barely more and it STOMPS the dell.

Talk about the quality of the screen.

Around the third month I had the screen it went bad. The poorly designed laptop has some SERIOUS overheating problems. It caused a large burn on my screen.

90% of hardware failures occur in the 2-4 year range of a system, and that's the range most manufacturers offer extended warranties for.

Well crap, my failures happend from the time I got it to the time it went out of warranty. Not even a year old

What happens to a machine outside of its warranty is irrelevant

Yep, I can tell you work at Dell...To me what happens outside the warranty is the most relevant. Seems like they design them to go out after a certain amount of time.

let's not turn this thread into a bashing of one particular computer maker or another.

I love bashing Dell. They deserve it for ripping people off with their garbage. My goal is to steer everyone I can away from the horrors of Dell.

Server_crash, you mentioned you like Alienware laptops. What are your reasons?

Well, first of all, I don't even have to mention warranty coverage because they actually put quality parts in the machines. My oldest brother has had the same alienware laptop for around 5 years and NOT one problem. Not one call to tech support.... I would be interested if they outsource their tech support to india so no one can understand them ( I think this purposely done). The parts they put into the computer are way above that of Dell. He also spent around the same amount as I did and his computer still outperformed mine (the time I had it) by a mile. My second oldest brother has a gateway laptop. It's lasted for at least 4 to 4.5 years without a problem and also outperforms mine with lower tech specs. It's sad stuff. Both of those laptops stay pretty cool. My dead dell overheated very quickly and I had to buy a laptop cooler for the poorly designed piece of crap. There was actually a lawyer online taking cases against all the design flaws of the 600m, but there was such a huge waiting list he wasn't accepting anymore.

'DUDE, DON'T GET A DELL'

[BeastOverlordH6]

I was gonna argue that a machine shouldn't just crap out after a few months of usage...

I've seen bad things with Dell, and I wouldn't want to fund them further. Kinda like Best Buy, and how I never find anything I need or want there. It's like a curse or something.

Agreeably, Alienware does make fun laptops. Very sleek, well-performing devices. :cheesy:
However, I care little for portables, as they are often expensive, fragile, and unmodable. ;\

[El Edit]
Sweet, this is my hundreth post. More cheesies: :cheesy:

[alc6379]

Is it normal for a computer to go bad in a couple of months???? We've had all kinds of computers and Dell simply is the worst and their their tech support is terrible. I shouldn't have to buy an extended warranty for my computer to last 1.5 years, but if you get a Dell you better be ready to spend an extra 5000 on warranties. All it is is paying for the crap before it happens, because IT WILL. So, I chose not to buy a warrranty because I shouldn't have to. They put junky parts in their computer with obvious intentions. After my laptop had a billion SERIOUS problems in less than a year, I just threw it on the shelf. Yeah, I could have bought the parts to fix it, but I'm not giving Dell another dime. Instead, I decided to build my own computer.... and you know what? For the same prices that Dell charges for their CRAP parts, you can buy the best quality out there and get 10 year to lifetime warranties. Oh, and that was without any extra cost.

What companies offer lifetime warranties? Certainly not any major computer manufacturer. That would add so much to the cost of a PC, no one would be willing to buy one.

Ok, you wanted to talk about a few things:

Terrible. It was excellent for the first few months and LITERALLY died down to where it only lasted 20 minutes. There's your good battery life.

If that's happening, most companies cover that for a year after date of purchase. That's a policy that Dell, HP, and IBM hold, and there are probably others.

It sucks. My desktop costed barely more and it STOMPS the dell.

Portables are ALWAYS going to have less performance than their desktop counterparts. Desktops don't have to deal with power consumption, and can have faster hard drives, more powerful processors, and beefier video cards.

Around the third month I had the screen it went bad. The poorly designed laptop has some SERIOUS overheating problems. It caused a large burn on my screen.

Was this within warranty? If so, did you contact Dell, and have the unit serviced? If the device was indeed bad, it would have gotten taken care of.

Well crap, my failures happend from the time I got it to the time it went out of warranty. Not even a year old

Yep, I can tell you work at Dell...To me what happens outside the warranty is the most relevant. Seems like they design them to go out after a certain amount of time.

I don't make it private who I work for. But, on this forum, I speak for myself, and no one else. And, as someone who simply works "in the industry", I can tell you that there is NO major computer manufacturer that designs computers to fail at any given time. There are, however, such concepts as Mean Time Between Failures, which do give reasonable expectations of how often things may fail. Warranty offerings are based on those types of metrics.

What happens after warranty is entirely irrelevant, because it's unreasonable to expect any company to support a product after that warranty has elapsed. The company gives you the opportunity to buy more warranty coverage. You chose not to. That's not the company's fault.

I love bashing Dell. They deserve it for ripping people off with their garbage. My goal is to steer everyone I can away from the horrors of Dell.

Fine and dandy. You had a bad experience with a company. I had a bad experience with Office Max yesterday, so I'm going to make it my mission to tell EVERYONE I KNOW that Office Max is horrible. :rolleyes:

If a company was so bad, it would be out of business. Statistics show that the dissatisfied customers are ALWAYS the loudest complainers. Why? Because the satisfied people are busy enjoying their products.

But, of course, the unsatisfied people are going to be loud. They're going to congregate, and make themselves heard. So, you're going to get in with those people, and then you're just going to be further convinced that the notion that your situation is the norm, because everyone else that you seek out is going to be in the same boat as you.

Well, first of all, I don't even have to mention warranty coverage because they actually put quality parts in the machines. My oldest brother has had the same alienware laptop for around 5 years and NOT one problem. Not one call to tech support.... I would be interested if they outsource their tech support to india so no one can understand them ( I think this purposely done).

Newsflash: ALL COMPUTER COMPANIES USE THE SAME PARTS. Go buy an Apple, a Dell, and an Alienware. Guarantee you that they will have the same integrated audio chipsets, the same network chipsets, hard drives, optical drives, etc. Even in the case of portable systems, the LCD panels are the same, the batteries are made by the same companies, etc. Did you not hear about the exploding motherboard capacitor issue a while back? It affected nearly every major computer manufacturer because they ALL bought capacitors from the same manufacturer. Heck, in most circumstances, the same plant in China or Taiwan often times makes systems from different companies, all under the same roof, with the same parts manifests.

The parts they put into the computer are way above that of Dell. He also spent around the same amount as I did and his computer still outperformed mine (the time I had it) by a mile. My second oldest brother has a gateway laptop. It's lasted for at least 4 to 4.5 years without a problem and also outperforms mine with lower tech specs. It's sad stuff. Both of those laptops stay pretty cool. My dead dell overheated very quickly and I had to buy a laptop cooler for the poorly designed piece of crap. There was actually a lawyer online taking cases against all the design flaws of the 600m, but there was such a huge waiting list he wasn't accepting anymore.

'DUDE, DON'T GET A DELL'

I'd say your brother is lucky, really. Either that, or your experience is outside of the norm. Dell ships about 44,000 systems a day. If even 5% of those customers are not satisfied, that's a whopping 3,000 or so customers that could have the potential to be loud about their problems. So, a lawyer could easily be overwhelmed by something like that. Then, you couple it with the fact that every person who's EVER had a problem with a 600m, whether related to a design flaw or not, is going to jump in to get a piece of that action. Just because someone is sueing doesn't mean that they're going to win.

But, like I said, let's discuss why we like a particular system, not why we think another sucks. Let's also not say system A sucks compared to another. Let's be objective when providing advice to folks.

[server_crash]

What companies offer lifetime warranties? Certainly not any major computer manufacturer. That would add so much to the cost of a PC, no one would be willing to buy one.

This was a custom built pc for the same amount that performed 10 times better. I think it was my video card and a few other things that had a lifetime warranty... My HD has a ten year warranty, while in my crappy dell it died in a year.

Was this within warranty? If so, did you contact Dell, and have the unit serviced? If the device was indeed bad, it would have gotten taken care of.

Yep, that problem was under warranty. They were extremely fast in fixing it too. Sent someone out to my house, which impressed me.
I did complain about my cd/dvd drive not working properly and they never emailed me back... Then I called after the warranty was up and they said I never sent any emails, which really pissed me off, because I sent two about that problem.

I don't make it private who I work for. But, on this forum, I speak for myself, and no one else. And, as someone who simply works "in the industry", I can tell you that there is NO major computer manufacturer that designs computers to fail at any given time. There are, however, such concepts as Mean Time Between Failures, which do give reasonable expectations of how often things may fail. Warranty offerings are based on those types of metrics.

I disagree. My dad knew someguy that worked at some tv manufacturing place and said they were specifically designed to go out after the warranty (these weren't top of the line though, but cost money none the less).

What happens after warranty is entirely irrelevant, because it's unreasonable to expect any company to support a product after that warranty has elapsed. The company gives you the opportunity to buy more warranty coverage. You chose not to. That's not the company's fault.

So it's not their fault the computer didnt even last a year??

If a company was so bad, it would be out of business. Statistics show that the dissatisfied customers are ALWAYS the loudest complainers. Why? Because the satisfied people are busy enjoying their products.

I've heard you whine about that before, buy why do some products have many good reviews while others dont?

But, of course, the unsatisfied people are going to be loud. They're going to congregate, and make themselves heard. So, you're going to get in with those people, and then you're just going to be further convinced that the notion that your situation is the norm, because everyone else that you seek out is going to be in the same boat as you.

Seems like I'm not the only one complaining here.
Notice you are the only one here supported Dell (for obvious reasons).

Newsflash: ALL COMPUTER COMPANIES USE THE SAME PARTS. Go buy an Apple, a Dell, and an Alienware. Guarantee you that they will have the same integrated audio chipsets, the same network chipsets, hard drives, optical drives, etc. Even in the case of portable systems, the LCD panels are the same, the batteries are made by the same companies, etc. Did you not hear about the exploding motherboard capacitor issue a while back? It affected nearly every major computer manufacturer because they ALL bought capacitors from the same manufacturer. Heck, in most circumstances, the same plant in China or Taiwan often times makes systems from different companies, all under the same roof, with the same parts manifests.

NewsFlash :rolleyes: My new asus delux top of the line mobo isn't found in dells. A 1.4 ghz intel p4 isn't the same as a 3.6 p4.

Either that, or your experience is outside of the norm

Didn't you just say that the systems aren't designed to go out after the warranty? If that's outside the norm, then you just contradicted yourself.

But, like I said, let's discuss why we like a particular system, not why we think another sucks. Let's also not say system A sucks compared to another. Let's be objective when providing advice to folks.

I am being objective. I want to save as many as I can from buying a Dell.

Bottom line: A computer should last more than est. 9 months... Do you agree?

[alc6379]

server_crash:

I tell you what, let's continue this discussion in PMs. I'm more than willing to discuss this further, but this particular thread probably isn't the place for it. Keep in mind, though, I'm not speaking as a Dell employee in this regard-- I speak as a computer professional who's worked with my fair share of machines, in both software and hardware contexts.

My point is this, with regards to this thread: When I say "be objective", I mean discuss the features of a unit. You had a bad experience with a company, so natuarlly Discuss the pros and cons of a particular system, or why you really like that machine. I don't care what company is in vogue to hate, let's just not turn this thread into a bash-fest on one company or another.

[BeastOverlordH6]

Well, my personal conclusion:

1.) Naturally, computers shouldn't die after an amount of time with "month" in it.
2.) Dell uses components similar, not identical, to their counterparts in other brands. I've seen their take on a nVidia GeForce card...
3.) Dell's hardware is not the only issue. A new hard drive is sure to be full of software no one wants, or no one trusts is useful.
4.) Somehow, in one way or another, I've found most Dells that I worked with had some sort of dysfunction, big and small. It is not one, but a solid several accounts of unsatisfication. I find the older ones were decently designed, and seemed a little more stable, however. "Older" = beige-boxes.
5.) I suppose a lot of people buy from Dell because a lot of advertising is used to sell their products. And from what I've seen, they sell.

Of course, building a custom is much more fun and effective than any company-produced box. :cheesy:

[server_crash]

I agree. The older models seem to be really nice. My uncle has about 3 of the really old latitudes that are really small and sleek and those things are nice. He's had them for close to 7 or 8 years... I could be wrong about those figures, but I know they're close.

I guess you have to look at it with the marketing perspective. If a computer never broke, then you would only need one and the company would never make money. Take for instance washing machines. Even though technology has progressed they seem to die A LOT earlier than the really old models which had the intention to last.

[sennetor]

I've got a Presario R4000 Mobile gaming machine and even though it gets hot & the battery life is really really crap..the gaming experience is awesome... :D
Funny you should be talking about Dell's, My organisation is looking to put in an order for some new Latitudes with biometric protection built in and we've hit a problem.. Alc do you know how to remove the biometric protection if it was applied in error at a bios level? (We have a prototype D620) even if we can't do it would Dell be able to remove it without too much hassle?
BTW We haven't told Dell yet as we were asked to return the prototypes in full working order and some idiot in our organisation used an inappropriate body part on the scanner & no override password was set. We will be telling them on Monday if we can't fix it ourselves anyway.

BTW Dell have an excellent tech support service for business customers and HP supply superior printers & servers but their tech support side is weaker. To be honest the followup support from Dell is why were going with them for the notebooks & workstations(I think)