From owner-freebsd-mobile Fri Nov 8 9:20:45 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6728337B401 for ; Fri, 8 Nov 2002 09:20:44 -0800 (PST) Received: from snoopy.gwr.com (snoopy.gwr.com [198.88.88.198]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F401C43E75 for ; Fri, 8 Nov 2002 09:20:39 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from welch@igillc.com) Received: from localhost.localdomain ([127.0.0.1] helo=rune ident=[zX/s6pzXXastu75wTDR9r5H01nYIoXh5]) by snoopy.gwr.com with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 18ABzJ-0006lP-00; Fri, 08 Nov 2002 11:28:05 -0500 From: "Arun Welch" To: "'Brian T. Schellenberger'" , "'Bakul Shah'" , Subject: RE: using a laptop as a main machine Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 11:19:34 -0600 Message-ID: <000001c2874b$0316ad70$c77ba8c0@rune> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.4024 Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: <200211080925.45799.bts@babbleon.org> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org > THE most important feature on a laptop BY FAR is a good warrenty. >=20 I couldn't agree with this more. Get the longest warranty you can. > I insist on a three-year warrenty, which is why I buy Dells. Their=20 > service is excellent. I didnt get "on-site" service, but=20 > they pick up=20 > and deliver via Airborne Express, and if I ship it on Friday=20 > I have it=20 > back by Tuesday morning, so never without it for more than three days. >=20 With a Dell you really need the 3-year warranty. Unfortunately, the last year or so will be a real crapshoot, as Dell doesn't keep enough parts on hand to actually last 3 years after they stop making a laptop. Mine spent a month as a no-longer-portable (the motherboard stopped recognizing the battery) because they'd run out of motherboards and had to get them remanufactured. The local repair techs have been out here so often that I know them by name and coffee preference, and they no longer need directions when I need to call them in. I finally got them to refund the cost of the last year of the warranty by bitching to the BBB. The loophole in their "next-business-day" warranty is that they're not responsible for parts made by someone else, but since the whole thing is made by someone else they're off the hook. My previous laptop was an Acer rebadged as a Samsung, and that thing was solid. Warner's using it for testing purposes now. Everyone I know with Dell's has had to get them serviced, even people I know who leave them on their desks 90% of the time. The one before that was an IBM, and now that you can get them with a touchpad that'll be my next one too. ...arun To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message