Who can school me on laptop computers???

[Brad J]

Most of the systems I work on are Dell. I had 17 service calls today just in Utah county, all Dell except for one Gateway.

Wayne, Who do you work for? I've been w/ Qualxserv (WANG) for 8 years.

Thanks, Brad J

 

[way2nosty]

only as a business - their service for regular people has been lacking recently but they are getting that pulled back in check as they consolidate their call centers back state side.

Really - Dell makes a truely medocre product, but they support it extremely well. I buy Dell for desktops and Toshiba for laptops because I have had a lot of issues with The Dells for starters a lot of 140 C series Latitudes ALL of which had to have new Motherboards due to a faulty thermal limit switch and fans. they took care of the problem, but it leaves a bad taste in your mouth,

Bang for buck Dell makes a killer product.

 

[waynehartwig]

back to the point disk speed is more important then cache. one laptop that has a SATA disk -MINE- http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c...famoid=-26374&coid=-30275&seg=HHO&poid=307765

I bet you do a lot of C-800 and C-810 Motherboards and Fans. and the New D Series come apart pretty slick.

Ever fixed a Toshiba Satellite P85 --- my last laptop there must have been 400 screws - looked like a HP.

Ok, you named one.

No, I've never worked on Toshibas. I even said so earlier.

Actually I don't work on any C800 or C810's any longer. They are too old and out of warranty....Occasionaly I'll get one, but I definately would not say I work on a lot of them. I think over the past year, I've probably seen 2?

So they have 400 screws... Maybe the CEO's brother owns a screw factory.

 

[waynehartwig]

I realize that, but for the Lay-person, it demonstrates the point. I've been in the IT industry for a long time, there are only 3 laptop vendors TI-SONY-HP, thats it. next time you look at a Dell MB look at the TSOP between the nic and the Video Card - You'll find it there. The TSOP will be labled with TI - true they make a ton of chips, but this one is special

I've been in the industry a long time as well. I started back in 78 programing punch cards on Sperry Univac mainframes.

 

[way2nosty]

Ok, you named one.

No, I've never worked on Toshibas. I even said so earlier.

Actually I don't work on any C800 or C810's any longer. They are too old and out of warranty....Occasionaly I'll get one, but I definately would not say I work on a lot of them. I think over the past year, I've probably seen 2?

So they have 400 screws... Maybe the CEO's brother owns a screw factory.

You're probabbly right! I was just amazed.

 

[TRNDRVR]

That looks like a good box for what you want. The 15.4" screen is really nice for DVD's, too!

The memory you can probably get cheaper at www.crucial.com than by buying the upgrade through Dell. But it looks like it's only $100 more to go to 1 gig from 256. I'd do that if it was me. RAM can make or break computer performance. Especially on laptops.

I would also get XP Pro with it, and not the Home edition. XP Pro and Centrino/Mobile processors work very well together. It enables some of the features in the processor that Home won't. Saving you precious battery life. It also offers more security with your wireless devices.

So,
Dell B130
Pentium M processor
1 gig ram
XP Pro
???

If you have a way to purchase it through BYU, I would look into that. I believe they include the complete care service agreement in the cost (free basically) and discount the cost of the laptop. There are probably literally 30,000+ Dell computers on the BYU campus, between students, school and faculty. In other words, they have a lot of buying power. Plus the CEO? of Dell is a BYU graduate.

I wish. I don't even know where BYU is.

Thanks,
Dan.

 

[waynehartwig]

Wayne, Who do you work for? I've been w/ Qualxserv (WANG) for 8 years.

Thanks, Brad J

Unisys. It was a two day contract that is going on 4 years....

 

[way2nosty]

I've been in the industry a long time as well. I started back in 78 programing punch cards on Sperry Univac mainframes.

Longer then me. I started on a 400 mainframe writing Dbase, gets interesting sometimes when you write wrkdevd device on your windows box just out of habit.

 

[Greg]

I think UP employees get a decent discount on Dell products... Dan, you know anyone that works for UP?

 

[Brad J]

Unisys. It was a two day contract that is going on 4 years....

I thought so I live right next to Tony Narcomy and Jacob Cowley.

 

[waynehartwig]

I thought so I live right next to Tony Narcomy and Jacob Cowley.

Don't know 'em... Tony sounds familiar... I work south of th epoint of the mountain. I've been at the Utah office for 1.5 years and I've probably been up there a dozen or so times? My boss knows I take care of the area, and as long as he doesn't hear anything, I don't hear anything. I think out of 4 years I've had 3 complaints? out of thousands...

 

[waynehartwig]

So,
Dell B130
Pentium M processor
1 gig ram
XP Pro
???

I wish. I don't even know where BYU is.

Thanks,
Dan.

That's what I'd do... Get as much warranty as you can afford, too... Laptops really get abused.....

 

[Brad J]

My boss knows I take care of the area, and as long as he doesn't hear anything, I don't hear anything. I think out of 4 years I've had 3 complaints? out of thousands...

 

[MattL]

That's what I'd do... Get as much warranty as you can afford, too... Laptops really get abused.....

I would agree. If you could I would get the complete care package.

 

[NoTrax]

I Have owned 2 Toshiba's 1 Dell, 2 Hp's and one compaq.

Best = Dell
Worst = Compaq

Compaq was quite a few years ago before they merged with HP.

Dell by far has the BEST service and their backup cd's are packaged so if you reload your system you can do it and pick and choose what you want. Not stuck with a simple restore disk that installs all that other 3rd party crap.

If I was to buy one it would be a Toshiba or a Dell, Happens to be im on a HP DV1420us, My wife bought it when I was away......anways

1gb M processor or centrino, 15.4" or larger hard drive size is sort of moot for you, You can get an external 2.0 enclosure for 25 bucks from EBC and throw in a 300 gig from sams for 150 bucks or even 99 bucks after rebate, its really a sweet storage method when working with mobile computing.

 

[waynehartwig]

Here's one for you....

About 5pm, the hard drive on my Dell D600 laptop died. Completely, no longer seen (anyone know who can recover the data?). I sent Dell an email stating the BSOD code I received before the hard drive was no longer seen.

A few hours later I received an email from Dell stating they would ship a new hard drive to me, with instructions on how to send the old one back.

Looking on Dell's website a little bit ago, the new hard drive is already on it's way with an ETA of tomorrow morning! How cool is that? And how's that for service and support! I've said it once, and I'll say it again.... The best service/support in the industry!

FWIW... It was a Fujitsu 60gig 5400 rpm drive that gave up the ghost....

 

[NoTrax]

Damn wayne thats horrible! bUT i AM GLAD TO HEAR THEY GOT ON IT RIGHT AWAY!

Damn caps lock key....

I dont know anyone local who does hard drive recovery thats something out of my league(sp?)