From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 7 08:38:34 2003 Return-Path: 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 8260437B401 for ; Wed, 7 May 2003 08:38:34 -0700 (PDT) Received: from msgbas1x.cos.agilent.com (msgbas1x.cos.agilent.com [192.25.240.36]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BE92C43F85 for ; Wed, 7 May 2003 08:38:33 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from darrylo@soco.agilent.com) Received: from relcos2.cos.agilent.com (relcos2.cos.agilent.com [130.29.152.237]) by msgbas1x.cos.agilent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 592F9146DC; Wed, 7 May 2003 09:38:33 -0600 (MDT) Received: from mina.soco.agilent.com (mina.soco.agilent.com [141.121.54.157]) by relcos2.cos.agilent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id E1DB0594; Wed, 7 May 2003 09:38:32 -0600 (MDT) Received: from mina.soco.agilent.com (darrylo@localhost [127.0.0.1]) SMKit7.1.1_Agilent) with ESMTP id IAA04908; Wed, 7 May 2003 08:38:32 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <200305071538.IAA04908@mina.soco.agilent.com> To: jesse@wingnet.net In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 07 May 2003 09:33:30 EDT." Mime-Version: 1.0 (generated by tm-edit 1.7) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 08:38:28 -0700 From: Darryl Okahata cc: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ideal laptop recommendations? X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Darryl Okahata List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 15:38:34 -0000 "Jesse D. Guardiani" wrote: > I have yet to hear from a single sole who actually owns a Sony or Dell and > isn't happy with it. Sounds like a bunch of "buy IBM" propoganda to me. > > I know a programmer who owns a Dell laptop and is VERY happy with it. My previous laptop was a Dell Inspiron 7500 and, while I did consider getting another Dell as a replacement, my Dell laptop wasn't exactly problem-free: * DVDROM died after a year-and-a-half or so. I ended up paying to have this fixed, but I've forgotten if Dell's warranty did not cover this (I had a 3-year warranty), or if I just could not wait. * Battery died after 1-2 years (sorry, it was a while back). Admittedly, this isn't too unusual for laptops .... ;-( Not covered by warranty. * The plastic over the right-side display hinge cracked and broke off. (If I recall correctly, the entire hinge became broken, and so the display was largely supported by only the left-side hinge.) Fixed under warranty. * A large, vertical-column-shaped area (~1.5-2" wide) became "discolored" on the display (from top to bottom). My guess is that the display connector was getting tarnished, and reseating it would probably have fixed it. (However, the laptop was out-of-warranty, I didn't feel like disassembling the laptop, and so I used this as an excuse to dump my 3+ year-old laptop. ;-) On the plus side, Dell's repair service was quite good (I only used it once, though). I've heard a lot of horror stories about Sony's, and so I now try to avoid Sony whenever possible. Although I did consider Dell, I ended up getting an IBM Thinkpad, largely because I found a deal that I couldn't pass up. It's very well- built. Also, replacement parts "should" be easy to find, although, as I seem to have one of the "rarer" Thinkpads (an A31), I'm not sure if this is true for me. -- Darryl Okahata darrylo@soco.agilent.com DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Agilent Technologies, or of the little green men that have been following him all day.