# Laptop Purchase



## Daranavo (Oct 5, 2005)

Hey, not that TTF family feud isn't interesting in its own right, I do have an issue. 

I recently bought a laptop. (desktop replacement) I purchased it from Cyberpowersystems.com online and it was about $2500. I am in the 3d CAD Mechanical Design field and run some pretty heavy programs. I wanted something mobile as well. I thought this was a good idea though expensive. Its quite heavy though for a laptop at 13.5#. But it sure is powerful. SOme stats are p4 3.4ghz 2mb cache, 2gb ddr2 ram, ati x800 256mb video card, 60gb 7200rpm hdd, sound, video, tv-tuner, wi-fi card, 17" screen etc. etc. Well, I had it 3 months and was getting the ole blue screenies. Sent it in for repair and have not gotten it back in a month. I need it now though but they say they are still having problems with it. I would like a refund or them to send me either a new one immediately, do I have any recourse? How long can they hold something I purchased before I have a recourse? I think a month is ample time for them to see whats wrong with it. From what they have told me, they have the video card manufacturer send them video cards then they install and test them. However, they have had no luck into getting it to work right. I am guessing they do not want to ask for more video cards then they really need so they do it one at a time. Do I have any recourse here?


----------



## Barliman Butterbur (Oct 5, 2005)

Had you not said you already put out 2500 simolians and are cooling your heels waiting for them to repair it, I would have recommended a top-of-the-line G5 Mac iBook running Virtual PC so you could run the CAD. You would have had the best of everything!

Barley


----------



## David Pence (Oct 5, 2005)

Well, this sure fits as an 'off-topic' post.

My first concern about the information you've given here is that very few (if any) laptops these days have a separate video card. The video adapter is usually (if not always) incorporated into the motherboard. So, their saying they are replacing one seems to be something of an issue.

BSODs tend to be associated with hardware glitches, usually involving the driver for that particular piece of hardware, or a conflict with another piece of hardware or it's driver. Usually upgrading (or in rare cases, retrograding) said driver(s), solves the problem. In XP, you can check "Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Event Viewer" for more details on why your machine produced the BSOD.

So, my advice would be to call and tell them if they can't complete what they feel to be the appropriate repair(s) within a week, to return the unit as it was shipped, and explore the methods I've described above.


----------



## Daranavo (Oct 5, 2005)

Ok, well, what they have said is that the video card was damaged. Also, when they attempted to replace the video card and run benchmark tests, it failed. Which is causing the hold up. However, it does not change that I am out $2500 and I have NO laptop. I can not wait til friday to force the issue again with them. Not a happy consumer. 

http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/company/warranty.asp

Here is the link to the warranty info and I did not see anything about length of time for repairs. Not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing. However, in small claims court, to NOT have a reasonable length of time stated on a warranty would probably be considered bad for the company and good for the consumer.

Barley, how expensive are Macs these days?


----------



## Talierin (Oct 5, 2005)

www.apple.com/ibook
www.apple.com/powerbook


----------



## Sathos (Oct 5, 2005)

Barliman Butterbur said:


> Had you not said you already put out 2500 simolians and are cooling your heels waiting for them to repair it, I would have recommended a top-of-the-line G5 Mac iBook running Virtual PC so you could run the CAD. You would have had the best of everything!
> 
> Barley



I agree! About a year ago my family bought a PowerBook G4 (what I'm using right now, in fact) and more recently a 20" iMac G5. They run _wonderfully_. It's gotten to the point where it feels strange and slightly annoying to use a PC


----------



## Barliman Butterbur (Oct 6, 2005)

Daranavo said:


> Barley, how expensive are Macs these days?



Generally they're more expensive than a Dell or an IBM, but the differences are immeasurable. Getting one of those latter two instead of a Mac is like buying a Toyota Echo instead of a Bentley. You could drop anywhere from $1500-$3500, depending on what you're after. Talieren's Post #5 (see above) links you some of the prices and specs. 

If your livelihood depends on your own reliable computer, I'd opt for Mac every time. What you have in OS X is essentially a rock-solid UNIX foundation operated by a gorgeous user-friendly GUI overlay. 

It would also be very much worth it to see if there are any CAD apps that are native to OS X. If so, all the better, and you wouldn't need Virtual PC.

Barley


----------



## Talierin (Oct 6, 2005)

Yeah, macs are amazing! I"ve had one for roughly 16 years now. Currently own a gorgeous 20" G5 iMac (the brand new ones), it's awesome


----------



## Daranavo (Oct 7, 2005)

Yes, but their laptops are very expensive. I looked at the price it would take to be even close to the specs I needed and it was over $3k


----------



## Barliman Butterbur (Oct 7, 2005)

Daranavo said:


> Yes, but their laptops are very expensive. I looked at the price it would take to be even close to the specs I needed and it was over $3k



Unfortunately, you're right. And Steve Jobs is in large measure to blame. His ego and emotions got in the way of a clear marketing strategy. Bill Gates saw the straight path to lots of money and took it by putting the emphasis on _holding the rights to the software_, rather than manufacturing excellent computers (controlling the hardware). Apple started to allow other companies to manufacture machines that would run the Apple OS, but then they (stupidly) backed off — by then it was too late. But the fact remains: Macs will always be the superior (and more expensive) machine.

Barley


----------

