On Wed, Aug 06, 2003 at 09:14:02AM +0000, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
As to Dell laptops, I too am rarely impressed by them. The price/performance ratio isn't too bad but IMO the build quality of the machines leaves a lot to be desired. In my previous job we had a pool of 10 Inspiron A400's, after 18 months the only one working properly was the one I completely rebuilt after a Coke spill. It was not unusual for me to have to go around every 6 months tightening case screws that were nearly falling out, replacing floppy screen hinges, dead batteries, broken keyboards.
IMO Sony's aren't too bad, Toshiba's are good, Compaq/HP have improved a great deal and are currently my favourite, Thinkpads (apart from the Acer built ones) are king (at least for X86 laptops anyway).
Urgh! Sony suck, if your laptop breaks in warranty (very likely from my experience) put it in the bin as their warranty is worth nothing at all they send them off to Belgium and if you are lucky you will see your laptop in around ~3 months. Toshiba are not to bad on the warranty front but unfortunatly you end up having to return them every 3 weeks because something else broke at least my experience of them was this.
I feel that Dell are about as bad as other laptops (ie likely to break often) but at least it seems all new Dell laptops come with a 3 yr onsite warranty.
I also agree that Thinkpads are the bees knees of x86 laptops, although most people say "its 40% more than the equivalent *" but don't realise the benefits you get from them, things like stocking parts for years after they finish production is the first that comes to mind.
The main thing to remember if you do buy a Thinkpad is not to install lm-sensors or run sensors-detect until you are certain it will not kill the laptop instantly.
Adam