[kwlug disc.] looking for techie thoughts on laptops

[Bob Jonkman]

My advice is always to buy as much computer as you can afford at the 
time.  The pace of hardware obsolesence is rapid, but the cost of 
used or refurbished equipment doesn't reflect the rapidly declining 
value of older equipment.  Memory is relatively cheap, disk space is 
cheaper and getting cheaper yet.  A new computer will have more of 
both, at a relatively lower cost compared to trying to buy new RAM 
or HD on an older laptop.

Find out as well what the college requires for a laptop.  MS-stuff?  
Linux?  Not all the big-box laptops deal with the various Linuces 
gracefully.  Ignoring the advice of knowledgeable list members I 
bought an inexpensive laptop from a big box (apparently a model 
customized for that chain), but I'm having a tough time trying to 
get various Linuces to recognize the screen size, the WiFi, the 
Bluetooth, &c.  If I needed a Linux laptop that "just worked" I 
should have listened and bought from my local Linux supplier.  Ah 
well, another learning opportunity.

And for extended warranties:  The stores are in it to make a profit.  
On average, they need to take in more money from extended warranties 
than they spend in servicing those warranties.  Conversely, on 
average you'll pay more for an extened warranty than you receive in 
service.  Statisticly, it is a bad idea to buy the extended warranty 
(and batteries are almost always not covered, no matter what they 
tell you up front).

--Bob.


On 4 Aug 2008 at 13:27, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:

> [...] Laptops tend to break easier and not easy to replace parts, so
> the difference for a new one for warranty is worth it. Even buying
> extended warranty to cover a couple more years is worth it too. One
> battery replacement and it pays for itself. 
> 
> On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 1:05 PM, Robert P. J. Day
> <rpjday at crashcourse.ca>wrote:
> 
> >
> >  not strictly speaking a linux question but, given the abundance of
> > HW expertise out there, i thought i'd ask, anyway.
> >
> >  a friend is sending her son off to college this fall, and needs to
> > get him a laptop.  i pointed her at tigerdirect.ca and told her to
> > poke around.  she came back asking about an acer celeron-based
> > laptop for $640. celeron.  gack.  so i suggested she check out a
> > refurbished gateway, of which i have a number and all of which have
> > behaved pretty well so far.
> >
> >  it appears that you can get pretty decent deals on refurbed
> >  gateways
> > these days.  i mean, there's this:

[...]

> > rday
> > --
> >
> >
> > ====================================================================
> > ==== Robert P. J. Day Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel
> > Pedantry:
> >    Have classroom, will lecture.
> >
> > http://crashcourse.ca                          Waterloo, Ontario,
> > CANADA
> > ====================================================================
> > ==== 

-- -- -- --
Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com>         http://sobac.com/sobac/
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