[ltp] IBM to sell its PC business

[Joel Ebel]

I've got some more statistics for you.  I worked for a university 
department that purchased about 25 Dell laptops.  Not one of them 
escaped the need for repair.  They weren't all the same model or 
purchased at the same time either.  Granted they weren't the best cared 
for laptops, but they had things break that never should have been a 
problem.  The most common was keys not working on the keyboard.  Other 
problems included mouse buttons breaking (They have trackpoint like 
pointing devices, but apparently the buttons under them weren't meant to 
be actually used.  If you use them, they break.), screens going bad, 
parts breaking off for no good reason, hard drives failing.  They were 
just poorly designed.  The keyboard had been a problem for years and 
Dell took forever to fix it.  The screens were made of more flimsy 
material that allowed the screen to be pressed against the keys and 
pointing stick leaving an imprint and usually several bad pixels. 
Maintaining those computers was a pain, and when I left I got a thinkpad 
T40.  I couldn't be happier.  Those were inspirons, and I I've heard 
that the latitudes are built better, but after my experiences, I just 
wasn't keen on Dell laptops anymore.  Now I don't know what I'll do when 
I need a new laptop.  I guess I'll have to wait and see.  My T40 still 
has plenty of life in it.

Joel

Richard Harding wrote:
> 
>>>
>>> .
>>>   
>>
>>
>> You ever had a Dell machine in your hand ??? From technical aspects Dell
>> Laptops aren't bad but the quality from the body is a shame. A friend 
>> of mine had a dell 8600 and after a while the screen hinges are
>> so lax that a breeze would tip the screen backwards.
>>
>> Greetz
>>
>>  
>>
> I have to agree. I had three friends buy dells at school. Two of them 
> had dead lcds inside of 1.5 years and the third was sent in twice for 
> cd-rom problems. I know it's not very statistical, but I know Dell 
> laptops are just not an option to me.
> 
> Rick