[wplug] (OT) Laptop Durability

[Ryan W. Frenz]

I'll third the IBM recommendation.  I've had a P2 366 ThinkPad for 5 years 
now, plently of carrying it around, and NO hardware problems ever.  I've run 
at least 4 different distros on it (mdk, rh, freebsd, slack) with no problems 
past any other desktop system.  Every friend of mine who's looked for a 
laptop, I've recommended IBM...and on the other side of the coin, my brother 
has had a Dell Inspiron 8100 for 1.5 years with numerous problems (mobo 
shorting out, usb controller problems, LCD, you name it).  IBM laptops are 
rock solid...

Ryan

On Wednesday 19 November 2003 22:46, Gentgeen wrote:
> I have to second the IBM post.  I have a 2nd hand 380D (circa 95 I think).
> I got it from a friend who had no problems with it during his ownership -
> and he does a lot of travel for presentions and such (within the US).
> When you look at the laptop, you can see that it is well travelled (small
> scratchs, dull "coat", occational floating pointer, etc)  but in wonderful
> working order.  I have now had it for a year now, with only the occational
> floating pointer, and a battery that does not hold a great charge (2 hr.
> MAX). When I got it, I installed Debian, and had NO problem with the
> hardware at all.
>
> My second vote would have to go to the iBooks, but that is conditional. 
> The last school I worked at had leased iBooks for all teachers and students
> in the district.  The teachers got the clam shape ones (also called tolet
> seats) and the kids got the first series white square ones.  The clam
> shapes were WONDERFUL as far as durablility, although a bit heavy for a
> modern laptop.  The white ones were CRAP, even if you take into account
> that they were used by students.  (I'm sure the students were not as
> careful as the teachers were.)  The keys could pop off way to easily, paint
> chipped, CDROM trays would regularly break, latches would break, etc. Apple
> did confess that the CDROM and latches breaking was a design defect, and
> said they would fix it in the next generation.
>
>
> On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 13:53:23 -0700
>
> "Mark Haney" <mh2g at xinterra.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm thinking about getting a laptop, which I would dual boot with Linux
> > and FreeBSD. I've never had one, and I'm a bit concerned about their
> > durability. I know that many wplug subscribers have experience with
> > computer support, so this may be a good forum to ask some of my
> > questions about laptops.
> >
> > How long do they generally last? (I would probably be carrying it back
> > and forth between school and home daily.) Are there certain brands that
> > have a good reputation for durability? How easy is it to have failed
> > parts, such as a bad hard drive, replaced?
> >
> > Of course one reason I'm interested in this is because laptops are
> > expensive and I want to use it as long as possible! Another reason,
> > though, is that I'm thinking about purchasing a refurbished laptop to
> > save some money. Has anyone had any notable experiences with refurbs?
> >
> > Thanks for any insights you can share,
> > Mark Haney
> > _______________________________________________
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