Category: Geeks r Us
Okay, not sure where to put this, since it's half rant and half question, but anyway. My friend told me that the hard disk in my netbook is pretty much shot. I could go and get another or, if under warranty, send it back to Acer to get fixed. But what I'd really like to do is find a high quality computer for XP that won't break down. Out of my two favorite brands, IBM's turned into garbage with the selling to Lenovo and Compaq no longer exists. And I don't care what anyone says. They may have the best tech support, and the kindest people, but Apple is way too expensive and subquality too these days. Ever since I was a child, I've trusted Japanese technology. They're far superior in that regard. Yet, sadly, even they've succumbed to the outsourcing frenzy and companies there are now buying cheaply-made parts from other Asian countries, not to mention outsourcing their labour. Even worse, the consumers are buying these cheap imports of inferior quality! In fact, they've switched so quickly over to them that it's downright alarming.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/193521
I've also learned from various sources that Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Sharp and Fujitsu are all outsourcing, and the first three were on the top of my good list. So where can I find computers that are actually made in Japan? If no one knows that, then what's the cut-off year for good tech from there? I highly doubt it, since they do it more than almost anyone, but is there actually a good American brand out there? What about consumer electronics? Thanks.
to be honest, it is very hard to get a real "japan brand" product that is "made in japan" unless you reside in Japan itself. if you want something decent with decent price, try Samsung. they aren't Japanese, they are from Korea, but heard good things about their product. and their after sales support usually above average
I might do that. Mom actually said if I call the company and specifically ask for one made there, that I could get it. It'll cost more, but that's a hell of alot better than it breaking after less than a year (Acer) or breaking down four times in two years (Mac). I could definitely go for another one that lasts well over five years.
Given your track record with computer technology breaking as it does, I think what you need to find is Tiffany-proof technology. I promise, you have more horror stories over tech than anyone I've ever encountered! I've never had a Mac break, aside from having to replace a hard drive, which is common to all computers. Had one Toshiba wich just was a piece of inferior tech, two HP's which were both very nice, and died from old age, and this is my 3rd Mac laptop, and they have all been good to me, and all are still working just fine somewhere else. I sold my old ones to upgrade. Also, my 17-inch iMac is still active every day, and rarely gets rebooted. It's all in the way you treat hardware. We know it's cheap, so don't abuse it.
My KeyNote, which is based off a Toshiba, is at least 14-years-old and still works, the desktop that I'm using downstairs is at least 7-years-old, my HP Pavilion lasted for about five and a half years before quitting in 2007 (connector separated from motherboard, not my fault/can be fixed). So I don't know what's wrong with these last two, but I'm very disappointed.
No idea, but I assure you, the millions of satisfied customers of their products can tell you they're not having problems. I also have a Keynote, and it'll still boot, but it had plenty of problems in its lifetime, and fortunately, I knew people who could fix the problems.
You have a KeyNote? Seriously? what kind? Is it the KeyNote Gold laptop or the Companion? Does the synth still work? Do you have the cable for it and the battery for the laptop? I've got two of the laptops, one working adapter three batteries that are useless and one VoiceCard synth with a cable. I guard that last pretty much with my life, since it's impossible to find them these days and I want to use it in my palmtop once I get it. I do, somewhere, have another VoiceCard, but only Hermes knows where it is.
Bravo Eleni. Try watching your typing before posting! that's what happens when I get excited.
I have the Gold T2000. Had to replace the keyboard, Cmos chip, and battery, and the power connecter needs to e messed with to make it happen, but I do have them. God knows where though!
Hmm. I've got the 1200XE. I wonder who has the newer one? Would you be willing to sell it? I wonder if the power cord itself is bad or if, as they said, it's a defect in that particular model. They said that about mine but, thankfully, I haven't had any problems with either one so far, though I don't like the sound of the motor/drive on one of them now.
I don't like Acer, their shit. (most of their computers taht I've seen/ have used were shit,) parts breaking down in a year and such. But if you want a good computer, why not go custom, if you really want the top-notch stuff.
I'm thinking of going custom for my Palmtop. But for a Windows machine, I'd rather see what's already out there, since it'll probably cost alot to get a modern machine made. Right now, I just need something to get me on the net so that I don't have to go downstairs to take my Greek lessons. But I'd like something that I could trust for the future, and if I can find one now at a decent price, I'll take it.
I just remembered that I could install XP via Bootcamp on the Macbook, so I might do that as a temporary fix. But that still doesn't answer any of my original questions.
That's actually a nice fix. One thing you will want to get though is a copy of Sharp Keys, which is on the Internet, just to add two key mappings that you will need from time to time. Granted, there are other workarounds, but this is the easiezt.
1: Remap your right command key to the Applications key.
2. Remap your right option key to be the insert key.
If you are too reliant on muscle memory, you may want to switch the command and option keys around, so command would be alt, and option would be the windows key, but I've adapted just fine to the difference, so not a problem for me.
Get a UNIVAC -
It's all knobs and tubes so you know there's no graphics to make it inaccessible.
- It's from the time period when developers weren't lazy
- It doesn't use shared libraries ... what's the psychology term you used? Codependent?
Oh and last but definitely not least ...
It hasn't been updated in awhile: a *long* while ... bet there's a UNIVAC facts / myths rag mag out there too
Ah yes! The old Univac, or maybe you could get a VS Weng terminal?
Actually Tiffany, you can get a good custom-made desktop computer from Magic Micro for like $500 or so. www.magicmicro.com. If you go with Alien ware/ widdo PC and other companies like that, those computers will cost you, since those are gaming computers. Don't get me wrong, Magic micro makes those same computers though.
I was looking up the Toshiba Librettos to see if I could find a nice 100Ct or 110CT and I actually found some newer models with XP on them. The first is the L3. It's at 10.49 with 1 bid and 6 days and two hours on it. The second is the U100 It's at $1.25 with 3 bids and 9 days and 1 hour on it. The third one is the U105. It's got a reserve on it, (I hate reserves) and is at 0.99 with 1 bid and 4 days and 15 hours on it.
None of these machines have anything wrong with them, except a minor scratch, a worn track ball and a bad battery, each on a different one. All are way over what I'd need in a Windows machine, since I don't need breakneck speed (Pentium 3 or 4 or their equivalents is fine) and don't need a huge hard disk (the biggest here is 60gb, which is more than enough for me and the smallest is 20gb, which is still fine for XP. But the L3 was made in and for Japan. So I know the quality is superior. It was made in 2001 and already has XP Home built right in. The other two are pretty much the same machine with different options and were released in 2005 with XP Pro, which I'd need to change to Home. Since the 100U has the docking station and the 60gb hard drive, I'm assuming it's the European model not the U.S. One. I found all this info here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_Libretto
The L3 is the one with the bad battery, but that can be bought. The others have built-in wireless and have dvd players, though I don't really use the latter. .
I don't know when started outsourcing production. I've never had any problems with products made by Toshiba and I don't want to start now. So what should I do? Should I go for the Japanese one, should I hedge my bets on one of the others or should I bid on the L3 and then on one of the other two if I don't win it? I'm sure the prices won't stay this low and I don't want to waste good money if I don't have to. For now, though, I'm using a laptop that my boyfriend left me for the week and I'm gonna see about installing Windows via Bootcamp on the Mac, as I said.
Lol about the Univac. That's actually old enough to be pure American tech. It's also old enough to make my apple IIC look like a baby! To be a wise ass, I looked on ebay and, aside from the ads, the manuals and the books from that time about it, I found a memory core module, a few 8 reel tapes and a 90 column program card. This isn definitely not for lazy people. It's for crazy people! *smile* But I've got one that absolutely no one can beat... The Antikythera mechanism. lol I dare anyone to go older than that.
Welcome to the modern age .. where its cheaper and more effecient to replace things instead of fixing them .. so as a result every thing is pretty much made from the same basic parts in the same factory or 3 somewhere in china or korea and imported with the respected brand slapping their name on it . I haven't had any issues with acers myself in fact i used some of their parts a while back when building my own pc .. back when all they made were compoments and didn't build their own systems. so seeing as how all computers despite brands have alot of the same basic parts in them i find it doesn't really matter where they are made since you can still make a computer in america with shit import parts. Also given the high capacity of modern hard drives coupled with the fact that we are using them in more and more portable machines the failure rate is definately gonna go up on those And well you can always go for older machines with smaller drives .. but then you gotta realize .. those drives are well into their life span already and getting up there in age. So i say spend the money where you know you will get great customer service and things fixed and replaced in a timely manner when .. not so much if anymore .. they do break. I've heard lots of good things about lonova btw from lots of good ppl in the industry. i must say you really do seem to have the worst luck with apple products out of anyone i have heard .
I buy things for keeps, not so that I have to keep pouring money into them because, though they're new, they're made like shit. And I won't except anything but close to the best. I say close to because I can't afford to have a totally new machine made by the best people with the highest quality parts. The labour and importing alone would be astronomical. So I'll go for an older one that was made that way. A hard drive I can replace. But I'm not spending money to have a machine break, to then have to spend more to have it fixed by incompetent people, or even if the technitians are fine, with garbage parts. I've heard, and this could be a rumour, that Toshiba actually outsources their repairs to UPS. Yes, you actually read that right, U P S. So much for honour.
If you really think a 2002 machine is less likely to break on you than a 2009 one for, say, the next 3 years .. go ahead, I would feel comfortable betting you if I bought a 2009 computer now vs your older one, mine will outlast it.
Hard drives wear out, no matter how good they are initially, they spin constantly and there is wear and tear on them, files are magnetically written and erased, all of this will break a hard drive, just matter of time.
I'd rather retrofit a computer with a solid state hard drive, 40gb are around 90 dollars I think, you might be able to find smaller for less, or get a 7 inch netbook with a solid state drive.
Also a netbook is the cheapest computer, with cheapest components, you can find and so one shouldn't expect too much out of them, though my Samsung NC-10 has had no problems, despite runninf 24/7 for weeks when it was my main computer on a trip.
I custom built myself a pc that has run more or less 24/7 for 3 and a half years and no problems.
I agree with Linovo thing, the quality seems to actually ahve gone up after IBM sold it.
My X200 is a fantastic machine, easy to restore (I installed a bunch of screen readerers and uninstalled them with components and it caused a minor problem to Office, I just cleanly reinstalled the system rather than fxing Office, and had no issues).
Also one should point out the latest NetBooks now come with 500gb online storage, where you don't have to worry about ahrd drives failing, and also Google, I would imagine, is headed that way, with small and light machines with online storage.
If the 2002 machine is made with better parts, the odds are it'll outlast one made with inferior ones, unless you managed to find an upscale one or something. Of course, I wouldn't bet against your home-made one, since you chose the parts and I'm sure that you were very careful in doing so. But with the way in which things are made today, I have no doubt that they'll break quicker and last for a shorter period of time, under heavy use, than the older ones. You're right about solid state drives. If worse comes to worst, I could just use my compact flash cards. I've already got a 4gb one on which I've saved all my files, so I could easily get 32 gb or a bit less to use as a primary drive and still save my files to the other as backup. If I were that nervous, I could spend a load of money and get an industrial model that would last a ridiculously long time. I know that this was already done on a Toshiba Libretto 110CT, both with DOS and with Windows.
http://www.josephn.net/solid_state_libretto
So I'm assuming that it can also be done on the newer models.
If anything, the thing that scares me about older tech is the batteries. While they can be replaced now, this may not always be true.
Several manufacturers use UPS.
Here's the real story: UPS contracts technicians to fix the computers. This isn't your UPs driver or Larry the Cable Guy fixing it no matter what some rag mag talking about how terrible we are now and how much better they were then.
UPS has simply gone into the contract computer repair business. What that means to you is the system is delivered from you by UPS to the UPS facility where technicians (many manufacturers actually certify their own) repair the machine, then UPS sends it back to you. Bar none, UPS has the best pickup / delivery rate, and the best tracking system, in the world. The additional leg was just the contract repair people.
Not all new ideas are bad. Disembowelment of political criminals was quite an old idea. Doesn't make it good though.
Well, it's certainly not the worst idea I've ever heard but it is one of the strangest. I mean, a postal service hiring people to fix computers? But I guess so long as they're certified and no what they're doing, it's okay. The most important thing after that is parts. You could have the best techs in the industry but if the parts suck they suck and there's no getting around that.
thats actually is a good idea .. because they are using ups they have the ability of haing distribution centers all around with country with techs so th e turn arround time for getting your machine back especially since its in the ups system the whole time is quicker.
Yes! I hit the jackpot! After a little research I found that the Toshiba QOSMIO (G30), all Fujitsu lifeboats, the Sony TZ series, Z series, G series, the Sony VAIO VGN-TZ150N/B and all Panasonic Toughbooks are still made in Japan. Not only that, but Panasonic still makes almost everything themselves! Now I can get something good for me and help my boyfriend find a great laptop too, since they have the small ones that I want and the big ones that he wants. I just hope they don't cost a fortune on Ebay. *smile* Still, they'll last, so it'll be worth it.