[CS-FSLUG] [OT] Laptops (Was: Re: Sony Laptops?)

[Nathan T.]

As a broader subject this interest me.

I've found that my HP Compaq 6510b is a very good laptop. Older
Toshiba Satellites from a few years ago were OK, but now they're not
even fit to be called landfill. Acer I've always held in low esteem
and I wouldn't even buy one if I wanted something cheap that I'd
replace in a year. Dell is a curiosity to me because it seems the
ratio of Dells that work compared to those that have come to us to be
fixed under warranty isn't that high, but sometimes Dell messes up big
time with warranty repairs (5 DOA warranty replacement motherboards in
a row for one client). I've also had way too many people tell me both
about Dell being awful and also being great so I really don't know if
I would buy one. Sony's have a lot of visual appeal, but because of
their media ties and a few incidents regarding rootkits I won't touch
the things. Gateway's tech support had the balls to hang on up on
someone twice while they were calling from in the store to find out
about their warranty, so I wouldn't buy one if I had a gun to my head.
Alienware has similar stories around here of abandoning people once
the computer is purchased. LG doesn't have any kind of reputation
because not enough people up here have them, but they do look
interesting. I've heard of, but never seen a Samsung laptop, and no
one up here has anything to say about them. Panasonic has a lighly
positive reputation because of the toughbooks, and I've never seen one
need repairs.

I'm very cautious these days about buying laptops. A company has to
have a very good reputation before I'll buy because I've seen way too
many poorly manufactuered laptops.

I can say one thing, Yellowknife does really need an Apple authorised
reseller and repair centre. I'm seeing more and more of the things
each day, but no one up here fixes them and none of the stores that
sell them know much about the things. I find I do more technical
support for Macs at work (where working on Macs is highly frowned
upon) than what gets done at the stores that are selling the things up
here. I keep telling people, bring me a petition to bring an Apple
store up here, or at least start a Mac Users Group, and I'll gladly
sign it.

On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 3:01 PM, Timothy Butler <tbutler at ofb.biz> wrote:
> Thoughts?
>
> I've had someone ask about the quality and support of Sony laptops. I only
> have significant experience with HP (bad experiences), Gateway (bad), Dell
> (good) and Apple (good).
>
>        Thanks,
>                Tim
>
> ---
> Timothy R. Butler | "Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.
> Editor, OfB.biz   |  Aim at earth and you get neither."
> tbutler at ofb.biz   |                                   -- C.S. Lewis
> timothybutler.us  |

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