Re: Unplanned Obsolescence

JohnO wrote:

Most of all though, laptops are simply flimsy and break easily. I've hardly ever
seen one without damage unless it's brand new.

You're probably not using the right laptops then.


Care to suggest a brand that's reasonably rugged ? I've seen all sorts of 'name
brand' laptops suffer. The hinge for the screen seems to be a particularly weak area.

I've used a variety of IBM ThinkPad laptops in assorted IT "road warrior" jobs - they've always been sturdy and reliable, with excellent keyboards, and they're just about the only ones left that still have the TrackPoint (the eraser-nub pointer) instead of limiting users to those horrid touchpads.


My Latitude D600 has both. I put it on a desk at work, and use a Kensington trackball. I've carried laptops since 1991, and the wireless and battery performance on this one make it my favorite of all.

Hmm, can't stand trackballs either, myself... I once had an IBM TrackPoint keyboard - full-size for desktop PC keyboard that is, with a TrackPoint in it. Loved that thing. It also had that wonderful solid classic IBM keyboard feel.

IMO, upgrading hard drives and memory in laptops is easier than in desktops. Just pop a cover, and there they are.

If you just want to replace the existing drive, yes. Most laptops don't let you ADD drives (I have two optical drives and three hard drives in my tower machine, with room for more :), or if they do, it's just one drive through some kind of expansion bay.

USB and firewire external drives, however, are becoming more reliable and cost-effective...



---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0533-0, 08/15/2005
Tested on: 8/15/2005 11:11:31 PM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2005 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Beware new laptops
    ... Unless you have a one-of-a-kind gold plated keyboard, ... of course they send the consumer to laptops. ... wasn't a "brand name" machine like Toshiba or Acer. ... second hand, and they could not help me. ...
    (comp.sys.laptops)
  • Re: Keyboard occasionally nonresponsive on bootup with Debian Sid
    ... I'm fairly certain the keyboard fails to work when I haven't ... laptop (a Dell Latitude), but then I got a brand new IBM Thinkpad X40, ... laptops would both have the same keyboard/connector flakiness, ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: Free Sun hardware for the taking
    ... I've got three brand new 128Mb kits for the ... Arrays take standard SCA SCSI drives so you ... 2 - Rackmount hardware RAID chassis for six SCA SCSI ... I've got Netra T1 rackmount kits and SunFire V120 rackmount kits, ...
    (comp.sys.sun.wanted)
  • Core 2 wont boot - ACPI, S3, PAE
    ... logitech optical wheelmouse and PS/2 keyboard, ... Intel SCSI RAID controller with dual RAID 1 mirrored ... 36Gb drives, ... In the end, it never booted, and I am back using Core 1. ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: OT: Hard disk mirror with Paragon on USB stick?
    ... work with that brand / model of portable PC and is preconfigured? ... with the usual pain and suffering of installing FP1, ... Otherwise all sorts of registry settings will end up in the machine ... 64GB thumbnail drives are still a bit pricy so it's more expensive. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)