Linux-ish Laptop Question

[Ian Stokes-Rees]

Dan,

I would get a Harvard 13" white MacBook and BootCamp it or VirtualBox it
to Linux and/or Win7.

On 4/7/11 8:46 AM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote:
> This is now a pure tangent - but just to avoid people flaming me over the
> warranty comment - I like the dell complete care + gold support warranty
> because I get to call in, say I'm a tech, and then they'll replace any part
> I say I want replaced.  Next day, onsite, either ship me parts or optionally
> dispatch a tech with it...  Including accident damage.  But when I get the
> super duper warranty on lenovo, they do all the same stuff except accident
> coverage must go through their depot which incurs shipping wasted time and I
> have no control over what parts they're going to replace.  That's all.  It's
> a small difference but it matters to me, managing my CEO's and other
> peoples' laptops.
A few comments on warranties, Dell, and Apple:

I know a lot of people rubbish Dell, but I had a few Dell laptops and
while several parts failed (keyboard, trackpad, etc.), the warranty
servicing was great.  They collected the machine next day, and I had it
back every time within 48 (or perhaps 72) hours.  Once it was out of
warranty their online support provides PDFs will full tear-down
instructions so I could replace internal parts myself with ease and
confidence, plus eBay is full of parts.  Anyway, from that and other
laptops I've learned that any machine worth >$500 and with a hoped for
lifespan of >2 years needs to have a 3+ year warranty.  Things break and
parts are expensive or (near-)impossible to DIY repair.

I had similar problems with a very expensive Mac Book Pro this time last
year and after 3 attempts by warranty servicing folks to remedy it I
finally had to take matters into my own hands (while on a 5 day trip to
Canada and critically needing my laptop working), but was totally
stymied by the small star-drive (torx?) screws in the interior of the
MacBook Pro.  The silver lining on that story was that I went into
Chestnut Hill Apple store (for those in the know, the best place to go
to ask for Apple repairs -- they are, supposedly, 3x more likely than
the average store to immediately offer a replacement, probably due to
the demographic of their typical customers) very angry about my
chronically sick MBP and within 5 minutes was given a brand new i7 MBP
(only 2 weeks on the shelves), in exchange for my unhappy, 2.5 year old MBP.

Anyway, my advice: seriously consider a warranty, and look into what
accident damage insurance you have from home or work.  My wife dropped
her MBP and cracked the screen last week -- Apple quoted $1500 to
replace (out of warranty, no accident insurance).  $100 for parts (and
DIY) or $250 for 3rd party mail-in repair -- looks like I'll be buying
some small star-drive screwdrivers.

Ian

-- 
Ian Stokes-Rees, PhD                       W: http://hkl.hms.harvard.edu
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