[CLUE-Talk] Laptop Solution

[Kevin Cullis]

On Fri, 2003-02-14 at 12:01, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:
> 
> First, they only have a seven day return policy for laptops,
> and that's with a 15% fee for returns. When you're spending
> more than $1,000, I think that you should have a little time
> to decide if something is what you really want without penalty.
> Also, if it doesn't do what I want it to do, it's defective
> as far as I'm concerned -- that means that if it doesn't run Linux,
> it's defective. Unfortunately, Micro Center doesn't see it that
> way.

Regarding the 7 day window for "returns" the issue is not likely to
change.  When I use to work for a computer store, we had a 30 day return
policy until we found out many a customer would "buy" a laptop, which
really meant that they used it for trade shows and then returned it. 
Much like women buying prom or evening dresses to be used just one night
and then returning them, even unwashed!!  Sorry that you are taking the
brunt of a few who make it bad for the rest of us.

> 
> Second, the salesperson was pretty rude when I told them
> I wasn't interested in their warranty. I might have been,
> but to get a three-year warranty for the laptop AND screen,
> it was more than $300 -- that's an f---ing ripoff. Odds are,
> I'd never use the warranty, and I shouldn't have to pay almost
> a third of the price of the item to get a decent warranty.
> 

While I agree that YOU don't need one, there are SOME cases, not many,
that their warranties is important: one is for a non techie who is
extremely dependent on his/her computer but does NOT have the time or
skills to fix broken stuff.  Look at FedEx, it came about because of
poor Postal service, at this does not mean that MC is any better with
their warrenties, but don't throw the baby out with the bath water. :-)


> If you're shopping for a laptop, I heartily recommend burning
> a copy of the latest Knoppix distro to CD and taking it with
> you. Insist on booting Knoppix on the machine to see if it's
> Linux-compatible at the store. I did, and I left confident
> that the Toshiba would work just fine with Linux. I installed
> Mandrake 9.1beta3 on it last night, which went on just fine
> -- if a little slowly.

Excellent point!!

> 
> All in all, it was a decent deal, and I'm looking forward to
> finding a Linux compatible wireless card so I can enjoy
> portability...
> 
> Zonker
> --
> Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier
> http://www.dissociatedpress.net/
> 
> _______________________________________________
> CLUE-Talk mailing list
> CLUE-Talk at clue.denver.co.us
> http://clue.denver.co.us/mailman/listinfo/clue-talk
-- 
Kevin Cullis <kevincu at orci.com>