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April 16, 2006

Did I Mention...

... that I hate this computer?

While I'm at it... the up arrow key cap fell off after about three weeks, in early 2004. About six months later I lost the little rubber membrane thing that made it slightly easier to push the arrow. Since then, I've been typing by pushing down on the little connection thingy on the keyboard tray.

It's been shedding pieces of plastic too. I've never dropped the computer once, but pieces of the shell have begun to snap off.

When I first got it, when the secondary battery was in place, when the primary drained the machine would hibernate, even though the secondary was present! Pretty awful bug to ship with. There was never a solution that I could find. Speaking of batteries, the primary battery is pretty much toast... it won't go for more than 5 minutes before shutting down. It began doing this at around the 12-18 month mark. And the battery light permanently flashes orange whenever the system is on.

Why don't I call the hotline? I guess I'll have to, before my warranty runs out. I don't because it usually involves 45 minutes on hold or explaining to someone who only has a script to read from that the issue involving a missing up arrow doesn't require restarting Windows or running some stupid diagnostic tool. I could have paid more for "premium support" at build-time but I found that concept sort of insulting: why should I have to pay extra to speak to someone who is smart and doesn't think I'm a moron?

And I don't want a Thinkpad either. I hate those computers. They have old-fashioned 4:3 displays, and the function key and left Ctrl key are reversed. I know I could map them differently but why would I? Why couldn't IBM just have designed the product correctly in the first place? Oh, and I'd sooner drink paint than run the awful IBM access connections software to connect to a wireless network, or deal with the fact that the Num Lock key seems to reset to ON every time the system is rebooted.

Why doesn't someone make the perfect laptop? I'd be interested to hear from someone how long the compile times are for FirefoxDebug on a 2.16GHz MacBook Pro...

Posted by ben at April 16, 2006 7:11 PM

Comments

Well, it's 160Mhz slower, but I do have a 2Ghz MacBook Pro and would be happy to give my CPU a break from brute forcing the 13th labour card from Perplex City if you can tell me how to compile FirefoxDebug on OS X, or link me to a guide that'll explain it.

Posted by: julian at April 16, 2006 7:44 PM

I've always avoided laptops for those reasons, if something breaks it's usually all or nothing. Plus I can't stand Function-lock keys on any keyboard - the default setting is always the one I don't want and there's no way of changing it.

Posted by: ant at April 16, 2006 8:13 PM

Thinkpads do not only come in 4:3 displays. There are widescreen models.

Posted by: Chris at April 16, 2006 9:36 PM

I've found the Toshiba laptops to be very reliable and robust, and know numerous others who will echo that sentiment. My present one has the secondary battery still working a treat, although the battery life is down to ~5 1/2hrs from both batteries in total (when new I'd get approx 8hrs). It's 2 1/2 years old now and still going strong after frequent regular use (and abuse).

Posted by: Antony at April 17, 2006 3:37 AM

Plastics can become brittle if exposed to sunlight a lot. Otherwise, it's Dell's fault.

Posted by: Alex at April 17, 2006 3:59 AM

1 hour?! Hah!

It takes me 2 hours on a G4 powerbook.

Posted by: Matt Sayler at April 17, 2006 6:50 AM

> I could have paid more for "premium support" at
> build-time but I found that concept sort of
> insulting: why should I have to pay extra to speak
> to someone who is smart and doesn't think I'm a
> moron?

I'm stunned at your sense of entitlement. What is Dell supposed to do? Has it escaped your attention that personal computers are highly commoditized and the profit margins tiny. Dell offers basic support--which means outsourced callcenters in emerging markets countries--to keep the base cost of the computer down. If your *time* had value to you, you should have purchased the premium support contract as my company has done. Or you should have purchased a laptop whose higher base price included a premium support contract.

We have Dell Latitude D810 laptops which are virually the same as the Precision M60. The only differences are that the M60 rubber grip strips on the case and an NVidea video card instead of the ATI X600.

I have called in to support a couple of times. Primarily for my external 24" flat screen monitor. The calls are about five minutes of very helpful people saying something like: "I'm sorry Mr. Reiter. You're replacement will be there in the morning." They don't try to make me prove that the system has a fault.

Furthermore, I can't agree about Windows spontaneously dissintegrating. An operating system doesn't spontaneously implode; something has to happen to change the state of the sytsem. Like installing a bunch of software haphazardly... Installing a bunch of spyware?

Based on your attitude you display in these posts, I'm willing to bet that you aren't treating your systems with a lot of respect. Perhaps you aren't competent to admin your own box? I'd be willing to bet that you log on as an administrator. Running as a limited user account (LUA) day-to-day will keep you from accidentally hozing your machine and the awareness of security issues will make you write better software.

Check out Aaron Margolis on LUA.

http://blogs.msdn.com/aaron_margosis/archive/2005/04/18/TableOfContents.aspx

Posted by: Brian Reiter at April 17, 2006 6:57 AM

Stunned at my sense of entitlement? Since when was not being treated like a moron a sense of entitlement? I understand that's the reality of the modern world, but it doesn't mean it's utopia. sheesh.

Every time I've taken my Mac to the Apple store to get prodded, I've been _listened_ to. Maybe I should just quit complaining and realize no PC exists that does what I want.

Posted by: Ben at April 17, 2006 9:22 AM

FWIW I think much of the slowdown is related to disk fragmentation. I can't defrag now because I don't have enough disk space. I fear the amount of time it'd take to complete too, on my 60GB disk.

Posted by: Ben at April 17, 2006 9:24 AM

Use Raxco's Perfectdisk or O&O Defrag to defrag the HD both do a much better job the the built in one.

If it's slow downs your annoyed about what sort of apps do you have running in the background lots of stuff e.g Quicktime,winamp,nero etc put silent loaders as start-up which you can remove.

Also don't know what kind of AV scanner you run with but Avast Anti-Virus is an excellent one and doesn't impact the system in any noticeable way compared to the bloatware apps like Norton & McaFee.

Posted by: Jake at April 18, 2006 3:40 AM

Personally, I think you should go Mac. You could still boot in Windows with Boot Camp but use OS X most often. I'm sure you won't regret it.

Posted by: Thomas at April 18, 2006 5:08 AM

If it really is Windows then format it and reinstall. It takes a few hours and puts it back to being "new".

Posted by: Mike Hearn at April 18, 2006 5:49 AM

Dell is not exactly reknown for their build quality. There's a reason they're so inexpensive.

You don't have to use IBM access connections. It's better now though.

The Num Lock key bug was only on the T22 and it was fixed in the BIOS several years ago.

You could always try Toshiba. Pretty much anything is better than Dell (well, except maybe HP)!

Posted by: quanta at April 18, 2006 7:00 AM

Since we're talking about laptops, where is a good place to buy one that doesn't include Windows? I've checked the local stores, but they're rather expensive. I need some cheap Chinese labor, people!

Posted by: Daniel Schierbeck at April 18, 2006 12:30 PM

I own a 1.8GHz MacBook Pro, and I can let you know that the Firefox trunk (before the code went 2.0) took somewhere around 30+ minutes to finish building. Since my Dual 533MHz G4 tower took over 1.5 hours to compile, I was pleasantly surprised at the speed boost. :)

Posted by: SK at April 18, 2006 2:38 PM

My experience with IBM tech support hasn't been like that at all. "My hard disk's broken, I need a replacement." "Ok, we'll send you a new one, and you send us back your old one. I need your name, address, serial number.." The only thing I had to argue about was getting a scratched display changed, because that's usually not covered under warranty. (Mine was badly scratched up because the keyboard was loose.)

According to Consumer Reports, which rated Apple, IBM, Toshiba, Dell, Gateway, HP, Sony, and Compaq based on 4,200 responses: Apple and IBM had the best tech support for laptops. Dell and Toshiba tied for third, but Toshiba got a low score for "solving the problem" whereas Dell scored pretty good for "solving the problem" and only fair on hold times.

My roommate has a Toshiba which has a flaky keyboard. She's repeatedly tried to get it fixed. It's been sent in at least 3 times with various parts replaced. They keep it for 3 weeks, then send it back. Eventually she gave up and bought an Averatec. She's pretty happy with the Averatec, and notes that there's a lively user community around the self-help forums.

With Windows XP, I'm pretty sure you can configure Windows to manage the wireless connection instead of the manufacturer's software. I've made that switch on a number of different laptops--forget whether I've done that on an IBM specifically, though. (I work part-time at a tech support center.) Lenovo has a new Z-series notebook which is very similar to the T-series, but has a wide-screen display. It also has a better set of ports than the equivalent T notebook.

Posted by: fantasai at April 20, 2006 12:27 PM

You know.. its funny, ever since firefox came along its become my "platform" of choice. everything from playing music, games, chatting, news, ftp, word processing is done with extensions to firefox. I runa dual boot linux/windows machine and often have to check which OS im in - coz when im in the browser, it makes no difference!

now to your issue - get a mac (you might wana look at something like the mac mini duo core instead of a second laptop, or get the latest macbook pro).
mac is the only system that will allow you to run all three OS's at once - plus is B-E-A-utiful!

if you do wanna go the wintel route, go to an ASUS reseller. you can select a barebone and handpick the parts that go into the system - they assemble it for you free of charge. you get much more control over stuff.
I am writing this on an ASUS z70Va and loving it.

oh and for windows, i use two partitions - the c: partition has nothing but windows - it gets a format every 6 months - its like going to the dentist really ;) but since all my stuff is on the other drive, it takes under an hour to set everything up again by using a norton-ghost image.
thank you so much for firefox - keep it up :)

Posted by: Arpit at April 21, 2006 7:09 PM

I'm webdeveloper and a big FireFox fan. Last week I bought a MacBook Pro. To my opinion this is the perfect laptop. It's really great!!

Posted by: Henk at April 21, 2006 8:04 PM

That sounds terrible, but hey, you haven't seen my computer yet! :D

Posted by: Devdive at April 24, 2006 10:55 AM

I enjoy reading through your blog. KarlaX

Posted by: KarlaX at April 25, 2006 10:18 PM

Other operating systems exist. Each has its own problems. You evidently chose to buy a Windows machine, even though you evidently are intelligent enough to have evaluated its strengths and weaknesses. So what are you complaining about?

Some cars require more maintenance than others. We know that, yet they have other benefits that make it worth it. I remember my Volkswagen bug always needed to be tuned up, or had problems with vapor lock, or some such nonsense. I knew that going in, so I had nothing to complain about. Yet today I don't have the time to baby a car, and so I drive something else.

You knew Windows had strengths and weaknesses, yet you bought a Windows machine anyway. Stop complaining, clean your registry, repair your Windows installation, and get on with your life.

Posted by: Kristofer Carlson at April 30, 2006 11:47 AM

I took issue with the laptop quality as well, and because I am pretty demanding, it took me a long time to decide which one I wanted - nothing seemed good enough. I finally selected a ThinkPad Z60m... 1680x1050 16:10 resolution, extended battery - which is typically lasting me 5 hours or more, ATI X600 w/128MB graphics, 100GB HD, Dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11a/b/g wireless & bluetooth, 2GB RAM & 2.0Ghz Pentium M. I never thought I'd buy a ThinkPad myself, but I'm pretty doggone happy with this puppy, and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg like I thought it would.

Of course, I wiped the factory load, which is usually the first thing on my to do list when I get a new PC. I typically run XP as my primary with Fedora Core on a second partition. I was happy that FC5 loaded, and the only thing I had to do was add the wireless NIC drivers (MadWifi) - and I was off and running. Comparing this to my older HP N610c, this one was a breeze to load.

You might want to at least look at the ThinkPads again, since they are updating things a bit over at Lenovo. I was pleasantly surprised, and maybe you will be too.

Oh.. and Firefox runs great on this thing ;)

Posted by: Douglas at April 30, 2006 3:01 PM

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