laptop

[arminnie]

Forevryoung...
It's basically just the luck of the draw on any of those units.

I agree. As unhappy as I am with Compaq, I'm not sure I could really recommend any of the others either. Gateway has been a nightmare with it's closing of stores, etc.

I think next time I will literally buy the cheapest one I can find, back up everything all of the time (I do that anyway), and just think of it as a disposable item. Sad.

 

[Forevryoung]

Forevryoung...

I had mentioned the thing about the hard drive. Again...it's the same thing with all of the parts of the computer.

Of course- I know of know brand that *everyone* has a good experience with. But I have had two Dell computers in the past two years and have had horrible luck with both of them. Fluke, probably, only because I have so much patience

The only laptop I would think of getting myself is a Mac and I know people who have bad experiences with them as well

I know people who have had horrible experiences at Disney as well and will never go back there

 

[speedyf]

Forevr...

You are right. Especially with computers....you will not find a system that no one has ever had any problems with. If I were in you situation, I would definitely not want to buy another Dell.

On a similar note...we had a horribly bad experience with Delta a few years back and we will never fly Delta again unless it's a death in the family type emergency and they are the only airline available. I will pay $100 more per seat before I fly Delta again.

Anyway...before I get way off topic....

Original Poster....good luck with your decision. Hopefully, you get a great system that will not give you any problems for a few years.

Speed

 

[CajunDixie]

We have an older HP that started as FIL's work laptop then was donated for our use in 3 different non-profit organizations and it's worked great.

Whatever you decide to purchase, I suggest if you're going to order online you check out some of the points for shopping sites such as MyPoints, Memolink or something like UPromise. To see a list of sites that give points/credit for shopping at a specific computer site such as Dell or Tiger Direct go to $Drawer and click on "Shop by Site Name" For example for DellHome they have several reward sites listed:
BabyMint 2%
bCorner 0.8% - 2.4%
BigCoop 1%
BonusTree 1% shared
ClicktotheMagic 1 point per $
ClubMom 4 points per $
CreationsRewards.net 1 point per $
Ebates 2%
Freeride 5 points per $
Goldpoints 5 points per $
Greenpoints 10 points per $
Milesource 2 miles per $
MillersRewardShop 1 point per $
Mypoints 2 points per $
PCHPoints 5 points per $
PiePoints 50 points per $ must forward purchase confirmation email
PointPool 1 point per $
QuickRewards.net 0.5% - 0.75%
SchoolPop 2%
UPromise 2%

 

[VWLMember]

Another vote for Dell, I am posting on a 4 year old Dell laptop that has given me no problems other than viruses which are not Dell's fault. I have owned other models in the past and none have stood up to the Dell. This laptop has been to Florida many times, Las Vegas, Rome, Sicily, London, and North Carolina. For the $999 I paid it has most certainly been worth it.

We also use Dell exclusively at the company I work for, and have hundreds in the system. We have not had any major issues since switching from Compaq/HP which were nothing but problems.

AngieinOH, the issue was possibly your IT department. If you do not have a good IT staff (which is very hard to find!), these problems will get blamed on the manufacturer in a game of pass the buck. This rings true for any brand of equipment since they all buy their motherboards, processors, hard drives, etc from the SAME suppliers! I know this because I work in the semiconductor business and sell products to manaufacture these components. EVERY hard drive manufacturer on the planet buys our products to manufacture the drives! The same can be said of processors, there are only two companies in the world that supply the raw material to produce these chips and memory.

 

[SylviaL]

DH is a Mac addict and I have to admit that I love them, too. We have a desktop and 2 laptops. DS4 and DS2 use the iBook so it gets pretty beaten up but has held up fine. The operating system is pretty easy to learn. I haven't used a PC in a few years so I couldn't tell you the differences. Two good reasons to buy a Mac (besides how cool looking they are):
1. If you have a problem and you live near an Apple store, you just take it to the "Genius Counter" at the Apple store and they will help you.
2. Since it is a different operating system, it is far less susceptible to all those viruses that PCs get hit with. Most of those viruses are written for PCs. I don't have to worry about opening spam.

Hopefully, another Apple fan will chime in!

 

[horseshowmom]

I'm a Grant Coordinator for our school district, and, as such, buy lots of computers. I really like Dell.

One of the previous posters mentioned it being near the end of the quarter. I just talked to my Dell guy this morning and got some incredible prices on a large order due to that very fact (tomorrow's the end of the quarter).

My experience with Dell service:

All of my laptops (Latitude D610s) have a 3 year total customer care package (means they service it - no matter what).

I had an employee drop his new laptop on a hard tile floor (tile on top of concrete, no less). The top now has a large chipped out place, and the screen flickers. You have to keep trying to position it "just right" to be able to see it.

I called Dell yesterday (expecting to have to mail it in). They set up a date to come to us (we are in an extremely rural area - not close to much of anything) to repair the laptop (including replacing the part that's chipped).

 

[mickysayshi]

Personally, I like my Dell's. Never had a problem with any of them.

I also got them pretty cheap after rebates and coupons.

I get my coupons from whatsyourdeal.com - Look for the coupon link on the top right of their page. Literally hundreds of coupons.