Going Forward In Reverse.....

Well.... The day has finally come..... If anyone actually follows this blog, you may remember that I bought a Sony Vaio laptop about a year or so ago...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but after a year owning a Sony Vaio..... I have come to three conclusions.

1) I will never buy from Best Buy again.

2) I will never use Windows Vista again.

3) I will never buy a Sony computer again.

The sales girl I talked to at Best Buy was very nice, but wound up talking me into a pricier machine that I almost immediately did not like. Best Buy's return policy makes you wait 2 weeks for a refund, which is, for lack of a better word, utter bullshit.

I found quickly that if I were in advertising, my Windows Vista commercial would have been, "I'm a dumbass..... and Windows Vista was MY idea." I have had nothing but problems with Vista. Perhaps it's because I'm something of a power user, but no matter. I will never use it again. I also found that Sony is very proprietary, which I have never liked.

Therefore, I have sold my Vaio and bought an older HP Compaq N620 with Windows XP. Your results may vary, but don't look for me to recommend Best Buy, Sony, or Windows Vista.

Dude, You're Getting A Dell...... My Condolences, Dude.....

Okay, this is a warning to anyone who owns a Dell computer. Don't expect much.

I received a Latitude C610 laptop as a gift about five years ago, and while it has been a solid little machine, I have simply outgrown it.

I bought a Latitude C840 laptop through CSR Technologies on eBay, to replace it. Unfortunately, the machine has issues. It was not clear in the description that it was refurbished that I remember, and it is basically a time bomb. I am not saying in any way not to buy from CSR Technologies. Just be very certain of what exactly you are getting.

The 840 basically runs fine for two weeks or so, waiting until I get everything set up just as I need it, then begins crashing and corrupting Windows. It has been reloaded 12 times since purchase. I finally gave up and called technical support a few nights ago, only to be told that they can't help me because I am not the original purchaser and don't know the name of the original purchaser.

How exactly am I to know this when I bought it through a resaler off eBay? So I informed the technical non-support personnel that not only would I not be buying used or refurbished computers anymore, I would not buy Dell from now on, since Dell did not seem interested in standing behind what they manufacture.

I am not faulting Dell for the problem with the machine, I am sure this is an isolated incident. But when I am in the market for a new laptop, it is hard to justify buying a Dell when you can't get them to help you with one that you already own.

So after a few attempts to get advice from friends, some of which had time, some of which didn't, I went to Best Buy and bought a Sony Vaio. Nice machine so far, stay tuned. There is another blog about the sales process....