Laptop troubles

[Carl Navarro]

Almost 2 years to the date my current laptop is dying. Being
chea^h^h^h^h frugal, I'm serioulsy looking at an Acer Aspire with
Bluetooth, Wireless, Wired and 1G memory and 120G HD for $600.00.

It has Vista something equivalent to XP Media Center.

It's a cheap computer which usually means fragile, but I can't afford
a Toughbook. I'm serioulsy considering springing the $129 for a 2
year warranty AFTER the 1 year Manufacturer's warranty. That would be
unusual, because I can't ever remember keeping any laptop for 3 years
and I've used one for 20 years.

Since all of my manuals are on CD and all the new phone systems
require PC's, what do you guys all use? Any happy stories, or is it
just keep putting aside $30 a month for technology maintenance and
grab another laptop two years down the road?

Carl Navarro

[Rich Piehl]

Post by Carl Navarro
Almost 2 years to the date my current laptop is dying. Being
chea^h^h^h^h frugal, I'm serioulsy looking at an Acer Aspire with
Bluetooth, Wireless, Wired and 1G memory and 120G HD for $600.00.
It has Vista something equivalent to XP Media Center.
It's a cheap computer which usually means fragile, but I can't afford
a Toughbook. I'm serioulsy considering springing the $129 for a 2
year warranty AFTER the 1 year Manufacturer's warranty. That would be
unusual, because I can't ever remember keeping any laptop for 3 years
and I've used one for 20 years.
Since all of my manuals are on CD and all the new phone systems
require PC's, what do you guys all use? Any happy stories, or is it
just keep putting aside $30 a month for technology maintenance and
grab another laptop two years down the road?
Carl Navarro

I used a Dell, but I bought it used. It was a couple years old so it
wasn't at the edge of technology or OS, but was still current enough to
be usable for several years. And the price was 30% of what a similar
new one would have run so that if something did happen to it I wasn't
out megabucks.

Even with manufacturers warranty a lot of the problems I've had with
laptops wouldn't have been covered. Like the one where it was in my
closed up van on a 105 degree day and the screen cracked. Or the one
where the pins on the serial connector broke loose from their mounting
point and fixing it would have required replacing the mother board.


Take care,
Rich

God bless the USA

[T]

Post by Rich Piehl

Post by Carl Navarro
Almost 2 years to the date my current laptop is dying. Being
chea^h^h^h^h frugal, I'm serioulsy looking at an Acer Aspire with
Bluetooth, Wireless, Wired and 1G memory and 120G HD for $600.00.
It has Vista something equivalent to XP Media Center.
It's a cheap computer which usually means fragile, but I can't afford
a Toughbook. I'm serioulsy considering springing the $129 for a 2
year warranty AFTER the 1 year Manufacturer's warranty. That would be
unusual, because I can't ever remember keeping any laptop for 3 years
and I've used one for 20 years.
Since all of my manuals are on CD and all the new phone systems
require PC's, what do you guys all use? Any happy stories, or is it
just keep putting aside $30 a month for technology maintenance and
grab another laptop two years down the road?
Carl Navarro

I used a Dell, but I bought it used. It was a couple years old so it
wasn't at the edge of technology or OS, but was still current enough to
be usable for several years. And the price was 30% of what a similar
new one would have run so that if something did happen to it I wasn't
out megabucks.
Even with manufacturers warranty a lot of the problems I've had with
laptops wouldn't have been covered. Like the one where it was in my
closed up van on a 105 degree day and the screen cracked. Or the one
where the pins on the serial connector broke loose from their mounting
point and fixing it would have required replacing the mother board.
Take care,
Rich
God bless the USA

Agreed - the biggest failure points are hard drives, CD/DVD drives, and
system fans.

That's the thing about my Dell XPS M140, it's very easy to take apart.
Just dropping a couple screws on the bottom of the machine gets you at
the wireless card, bluetooth device, RAM, CPU, hard drive and optical
drive.

I recently upgraded the RAM in my machine to the 2GB maximum (Prices on
Crucial.com keep dropping like a rock!) and even though I had to slide
the keyboard out it was easy to do. Two screws and pry up the panel
above the keyboard and flip keyboard forward.

Of course I did manage to find all the documentation on doing these
things on Dell's service web site.

[Carl Zwanzig]

Post by Carl Navarro
Almost 2 years to the date my current laptop is dying. Being
chea^h^h^h^h frugal, I'm serioulsy looking at an Acer Aspire with
Bluetooth, Wireless, Wired and 1G memory and 120G HD for $600.00.

I've been using IBM Thinkpads for years, and so far they've been the
best I've seen. Not as robust as the panasonics, but enough for most
people. You can usually find refurbs for reasonable prices and memory/
batteries/disk/etc are cheap enough.

Post by Carl Navarro
It has Vista something equivalent to XP Media Center.

Then add the cost of installing XP back on it, vista is generally not
ready for prime time, and some of your programming apps probably won't
run on vista.

z!

[T]

Post by Carl Zwanzig

Post by Carl Navarro
Almost 2 years to the date my current laptop is dying. Being
chea^h^h^h^h frugal, I'm serioulsy looking at an Acer Aspire with
Bluetooth, Wireless, Wired and 1G memory and 120G HD for $600.00.

I've been using IBM Thinkpads for years, and so far they've been the
best I've seen. Not as robust as the panasonics, but enough for most
people. You can usually find refurbs for reasonable prices and memory/
batteries/disk/etc are cheap enough.

Post by Carl Navarro
It has Vista something equivalent to XP Media Center.

Then add the cost of installing XP back on it, vista is generally not
ready for prime time, and some of your programming apps probably won't
run on vista.
z!

Actually Dell is now letting people buy computers with XP instead of
Vista. The outcry was so loud that they had to do it.

Friend recently wanted to buy a new laptop and Dell was still pushing
Vista so she ended up going to HP and managed to get an XP laptop from
them.

[Carl Navarro]

Post by T

Post by Carl Zwanzig

Post by Carl Navarro
Almost 2 years to the date my current laptop is dying. Being
chea^h^h^h^h frugal, I'm serioulsy looking at an Acer Aspire with
Bluetooth, Wireless, Wired and 1G memory and 120G HD for $600.00.

I've been using IBM Thinkpads for years, and so far they've been the
best I've seen. Not as robust as the panasonics, but enough for most
people. You can usually find refurbs for reasonable prices and memory/
batteries/disk/etc are cheap enough.

Post by Carl Navarro
It has Vista something equivalent to XP Media Center.

Then add the cost of installing XP back on it, vista is generally not
ready for prime time, and some of your programming apps probably won't
run on vista.
z!

Actually Dell is now letting people buy computers with XP instead of
Vista. The outcry was so loud that they had to do it.

Yes. What a dilemma. For $699 I can own a Dell with a special
screen, same specs as the Acer Aspire, and Win XP, with a 12 month on
site warranty.

I may have to suck it up and get that deal instead.

Carl

[Rich Piehl]

Post by Carl Navarro

Post by T

Post by Carl Zwanzig

Post by Carl Navarro
Almost 2 years to the date my current laptop is dying. Being
chea^h^h^h^h frugal, I'm serioulsy looking at an Acer Aspire with
Bluetooth, Wireless, Wired and 1G memory and 120G HD for $600.00.

I've been using IBM Thinkpads for years, and so far they've been the
best I've seen. Not as robust as the panasonics, but enough for most
people. You can usually find refurbs for reasonable prices and memory/
batteries/disk/etc are cheap enough.

Post by Carl Navarro
It has Vista something equivalent to XP Media Center.

Then add the cost of installing XP back on it, vista is generally not
ready for prime time, and some of your programming apps probably won't
run on vista.
z!

Actually Dell is now letting people buy computers with XP instead of
Vista. The outcry was so loud that they had to do it.

Yes. What a dilemma. For $699 I can own a Dell with a special
screen, same specs as the Acer Aspire, and Win XP, with a 12 month on
site warranty.
I may have to suck it up and get that deal instead.
Carl

Any time you buy a computer you face the same kind of dilemmas - which
OS, when is a sale or a 'special offer' truly a special offer, do I want
the standard version of a preinstalled software or the 'deluxe.' It's
almost as bad as buy a new car.

Good luck.

Take care,
Rich

God bless the USA

[T]

Post by Rich Piehl

Post by Carl Navarro

Post by T

Post by Carl Zwanzig

Post by Carl Navarro
Almost 2 years to the date my current laptop is dying. Being
chea^h^h^h^h frugal, I'm serioulsy looking at an Acer Aspire with
Bluetooth, Wireless, Wired and 1G memory and 120G HD for $600.00.

I've been using IBM Thinkpads for years, and so far they've been the
best I've seen. Not as robust as the panasonics, but enough for most
people. You can usually find refurbs for reasonable prices and memory/
batteries/disk/etc are cheap enough.

Post by Carl Navarro
It has Vista something equivalent to XP Media Center.

Then add the cost of installing XP back on it, vista is generally not
ready for prime time, and some of your programming apps probably won't
run on vista.
z!

Actually Dell is now letting people buy computers with XP instead of
Vista. The outcry was so loud that they had to do it.

Yes. What a dilemma. For $699 I can own a Dell with a special
screen, same specs as the Acer Aspire, and Win XP, with a 12 month on
site warranty.
I may have to suck it up and get that deal instead.
Carl

Any time you buy a computer you face the same kind of dilemmas - which
OS, when is a sale or a 'special offer' truly a special offer, do I want
the standard version of a preinstalled software or the 'deluxe.' It's
almost as bad as buy a new car.

True - usually just go for one with bare minimums on it but a good
mboard. Memory and hard drives are dirt cheap now.

For example, 2 months ago I priced maxing out my laptop to 2GB, it was a
bit over $350. I bought the upgrade a few weeks ago for $143 and now I
see it's down to $117.

[T]

Post by Carl Navarro
Almost 2 years to the date my current laptop is dying. Being
chea^h^h^h^h frugal, I'm serioulsy looking at an Acer Aspire with
Bluetooth, Wireless, Wired and 1G memory and 120G HD for $600.00.
It has Vista something equivalent to XP Media Center.
It's a cheap computer which usually means fragile, but I can't afford
a Toughbook. I'm serioulsy considering springing the $129 for a 2
year warranty AFTER the 1 year Manufacturer's warranty. That would be
unusual, because I can't ever remember keeping any laptop for 3 years
and I've used one for 20 years.
Since all of my manuals are on CD and all the new phone systems
require PC's, what do you guys all use? Any happy stories, or is it
just keep putting aside $30 a month for technology maintenance and
grab another laptop two years down the road?
Carl Navarro

I've got a Dell XPX M140 (Which is now the Inspiron 1405 I believe) and
it's been pretty good. I've had it for a year but it has all the ports
EXCEPT a serial port. A USB-Serial adapter solves that but it does have
wireless, wired, modem, IEEE-1394, and USB-2.0 so I can't complain.