[TriLUG] laptop shopping

Wed Feb 5 21:29:24 EST 2014

OK, honestly, I have a plethora of horror stories about Dell support 
running from 2001 through the present, in both their server-class and home 
PC and laptop classes.  I refuse to touch a Dell unless I'm forced to use 
it by $WORK or I have the opportunity to throw it in the trash.  I'll 
anonymize them in summary:

1. $MEDIA_COMPANY had 3 successive Dell-configured Red Hat 7 boxes crash, 
trashing the RAIDed disks.  Turned out to be a hardware RAID controller 
issue.  Dell said they wouldn't fix it.  The first two instances, Dell 
told $MEDIA_COMPANY that they had to by replacement servers at cost as it 
was just a fluke.  Nope, not a fluke. (2001/2002)
2. $SIBLING1 had a Dell tower where the hard drive failed.  Called Dell 
tech support.  Dell sent out a rep whose entire plan was to drop off the 
disk and run.  $SIBLING1 pointed out that he wasn't a computer dude.  Rep 
installed the hard drive, then ran, leaving $SIBLING1 to reinstall his own 
OS and drivers (back in the day when you had to find your drivers on the 
Dell web site.) (early-mid-2000's)
3. $SIBLING1 bought a replacement Dell tower when the old one began to 
fail.  It had hard drive issues.
4. $SIBLING1 then bought a Dell laptop to replace the 2nd tower.  It's 
hard drive failed too, necesitating a replacement drive purchase (from 
Best Buy).  That drive actually lasted for several years. (late 2000's)
5. $SIBLING3 asked for advice on laptops.  I suggested ThinkPads.  He got 
a Dell (because it came with a free printer).  Then he had to buy Dell ink 
cartridges for the "free" printer.  He's since gone to Toshiba and Lenovo. 
(2010's)
6. $PARENT1, after years of supporting Compaq against my better advice, 
ignored my Dell advice and bought a Dell tower.  Dell forgot to ship their 
fancy adaptor cable that goes from the video card to the DVI cable on the 
monitor.  When he called Dell tech support, the first tech suggested he 
"borrow" (steal) one from his office.  The second tech fell asleep on the 
call for a good 5 minutes.  Eventually he got the video cable (3-6 months 
later) only to have hard drive problems.  Having replaced his hard drive, 
I had to walk him through downloading his network drivers from the Dell 
web site so he could actually use his PC (guess that sort of thing is 
still an issue). (2013)
7. $CO_WORKER bought an AlienWare laptop for his daughter, pre-Dell. 
Pre-Dell AlienWare support was, apparently, very good.  Post-Dell, awful. 
Apparently there was a problem with the power supply that caused it to 
short out all sorts of things.  Dell's response (when they finally 
responded (after he threatened to call the company's corporate support 
reps)) was to swap out bits of hardware (including motherboards) until 
finally they decided to replace the power supply.  A couple of 
motherboards ad several odd other components later, it now works.

No Dells for me.  Never, ever, ever, ever.  And every time I tell a story 
to someone thinking about getting a Dell, they go, "nah, it isn't that 
bad.  Oh... I do know someone with a Dell that has problems...."

William Sutton

On Wed, 5 Feb 2014, David Brain wrote:

> Been pretty happy with a variety of fairly recent Dell laptops -
> couple of Vostros & a Lattitude - all ran Ubuntu with no fuss (had one
> with an a/b/g/n/bluetooth card - that was a bit fiddly untill Ubuntu
> 13.10 came out, but that was the only real issue).  Their business
> laptops seem decent - at least for the price, not so sure about their
> consumer end though.
>
> David.
>
> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 12:02 AM, William Sutton <william at trilug.org> wrote:
>> Any recommendations for a laptop that has suspend-to-disk (hibernate to
>> disk) and Just Works (TM)?  I used to love the feature on my old Sony Vaio
>> PCG-505GX, but it's been out of date for a decade, and my current MacBookPro
>> (which doesn't have it) is showing signs of advanced age.
>>
>> Preferences:
>> 1. small-ish (17" is too big... 12"-14" would be nice)
>> 2. supports suspend-to-disk under Linux
>> 3. decent video card (NV would be nice)
>> 4. wireless works under Linux without too much trouble
>>
>> I like Sony and I like Lenovo, but I'm not stuck on either one.  I refuse to
>> use Compaq/HP/Dell.
>>
>> Looking forward to the suggestions....
>>
>> William Sutton
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