From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 7 09:26:47 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 3374137B405 for ; Wed, 7 May 2003 09:26:47 -0700 (PDT) Received: from main.gmane.org (main.gmane.org [80.91.224.249]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0DA0443F85 for ; Wed, 7 May 2003 09:26:44 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from freebsd-mobile@m.gmane.org) Received: from list by main.gmane.org with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 19DRgJ-0007hd-00 for ; Wed, 07 May 2003 18:22:11 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from news by main.gmane.org with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 19DRc2-0007GT-00 for ; Wed, 07 May 2003 18:17:46 +0200 From: "Jesse D. Guardiani" Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 12:19:11 -0400 Organization: WingNET Internet Services Lines: 54 Message-ID: References: <200305071538.IAA04908@mina.soco.agilent.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org User-Agent: KNode/0.7.1 X-Mail-Copies-To: never Sender: news Subject: Re: ideal laptop recommendations? X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: jesse@wingnet.net List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 16:26:47 -0000 Darryl Okahata wrote: > "Jesse D. Guardiani" wrote: > 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. ;-) That is certainly useful info. I appreciate it. > > 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. How long have you had the Thinkpad? And do you know where I might purchase one besides On-line? (Bestbuy and Circuit City don't carry them) > -- Jesse Guardiani, Systems Administrator WingNET Internet Services, P.O. Box 2605 // Cleveland, TN 37320-2605 423-559-LINK (v) 423-559-5145 (f) http://www.wingnet.net