I don't care
Posted by Yanthor on 2004-07-08 07:37:02
World-readable
Really, I didn't mean to come across as "complaining that you didn't buy an IBM". Like I said, I fully understand budgetary restraint, and I must admit when I bought Anya hers it did occur to me that I could buy a $1000 laptop now, and another $1000 laptop during the same time that a $2000 good quality one might last her. I opted for the latter, but I think the former is also a viable option.Hah, as for your comment "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM notebooks" I will say that, yes, the reason my work uses them is that they believe IBM hardware in general has the lowest downtimes of any hardware. To a business, my machine being down for a few days hurts bad considering what they are paying me and what they are losing in productivity. To a home user, all it means is several days of massive inconvenience as tech support is contacted and the machine is taken hither and thither to get fixed. So maybe quality isn't as much of a concern to the individual. Personally, I hate inconvenience with a passion! I want to buy something and 5 years later it is still running great with no problems. I don't know if that is a realistic goal with computers these days, but since they are SOOOO much faster than we need now, I think they'll still be able to run everything (non-games) we need them to run in 5 years.
And regarding the "Microsoft Tax", I'm not sure you can get out of that with IBM. You might convince them or Microsoft to take the product back, but I looked hard during the ordering process for a way to order it without Windows and I couldn't find one. I did not see any EULA voiding clauses like you did, so maybe you could return it. Also, the Windows XP installation disks we got after specially requesting them (they don't come by default) are made to install on the IBM notebook in question. They install a custom Windows build with the IBM utility and all the IBM drivers already installed along with all other purchased software. So it is a piece of cake to rebuild the machine, but it would be a pain to try and use the Windows install for another machine.
If you remember me saying before, there is also that feature of restoring a factory install of Windows or your own backup image of Windows from a hidden part of your hard drive incase Windows gets screwed up for some reason. That is the same installation that is on the CDs so that is why CDs don't come by default. That hidden partition backup is lost if your harddrive dies since it is on the same disk.
Refund Day? (2004-07-06 11:23:45)
- Ask Slashdot (Jäger at 2004-07-06 10:40:58)
- Clarification (Kiesa at 2004-07-06 10:56:22)
- Name (Kiesa at 2004-07-07 10:22:36)
- Cost (Yanthor at 2004-07-07 14:05:17)
- EULA reintepertation (Jäger at 2004-07-07 14:32:07)
- Erasers (Kiesa at 2004-07-07 14:56:09)
- The most horrible pointing device in the world (Jäger at 2004-07-07 15:19:04)
- Laptop Hardware (cg4l at 2004-07-07 17:12:21)
- Mice (Jäger at 2004-07-07 17:59:04)
- Trackpad vs eraser (Linknoid at 2004-07-08 06:56:17)
- Touchpad precision (Jäger at 2004-07-08 08:54:29)
- Both (Yanthor at 2004-07-08 07:24:03)
- I don't care (Yanthor at 2004-07-08 07:37:02)
- Gateway Memory (humblik at 2004-07-08 11:37:41)
- Blue Kiesa (Jäger at 2004-07-08 20:52:46)
