Laptop or Desktop or Other?

[SteveRiley]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

Congrats!!!

That repair process shown by the video was very extensive and elaborate. Taking a laptop apart far enough to remove the mobo, is NOT an easy task, and getting it back together again is even harder if you can't remember how to retrace your steps, or, you do end up with an extra screw of two and have to tear things apart to make sure those screws are put where they belong. It gets especially hairy on older laptops when the plastic connectors & plugs are brittle and they break.

Thanks! It wasn't my first time to delve into such a project. I replaced the LCD on my HP Mini 2140 a while back -- it originally came with a 1024x576 panel, which is practically useless. Later models came with a 1366x768 panel, which works just fine in the original model. I found a panel online for $50 or so, and it made the computer much more useful.

If I had to go that far into a laptop to do a repair, I would just tell the customer that it is not economically repairable. Remove the hard drive and mount it in my computer and back up their data and throw the rest in the trash.

My wife's computer is only about 15 months old. I felt like we hadn't gotten our $800 worth out of it yet, so I didn't mind spending a couple hours on the repair. The guys in that Florida shop can probably do it even quicker.

[Detonate]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

If you are working on one of your own computers, then you don't charge yourself for labor and you may be satisfied with using used parts from Ebay, but if working on a computer for a client, the labor costs and the cost for new parts are going to put those in the not economically repairable range pretty fast. They can probably get a new laptop, better than the old one for less that what they would have to pay me to fix it. and I might give them $50 bucks for the old one to use for spare parts.

[NoWorries]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

I have a desktop which was bought in 2004 and has a 1.8Ghz AMD processor and 1.5GBytes RAM. This is used by my wife and currently I use it to test Kubuntu 11.10. For what my wife does on the computer, 11.10 is more than satisfactory. I am very impressed with 11.10 and look forward to having it on my Laptop.

My Laptop is an ASUS FJ3R and was bought in 2007 and has Kubuntu 11.04 installed. Once Skype and Acroread are available from the 11.10 repositories, I will install 11.10 on my laptop. As far as laptop repairs are concerned, I replaced the battery earlier this year and then about two weeks ago I replaced a noisy fan. This is the only trouble I have had with my computers.

[charles052]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

I just got me an HP Pavilon DV6-6110us from Staples for a pretty good price- $500 after easy rebate. I'm pretty impressed with this computer, even though it is only running Windows. I decided against installing Kubuntu on it because I've already got 2 computers running it and I need a Windows computer for school. It's got the new AMD A6 series dual core processor in it, and I'll say I'm very impressed. It seems to run the Kubuntu CD very well with the exception of not being able to detect the wireless card.

Still thinking about building me a new Kubuntu desktop computer, but I might just go with a cheap build instead of going all out, six core and all. Might change my mind.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

...
It seems to run the Kubuntu CD very well with the exception of not being able to detect the wireless card.
.....

Have you used Cheese or guvcview to test the webcam? If so, is the image upside down?

[charles052]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

...
It seems to run the Kubuntu CD very well with the exception of not being able to detect the wireless card.
.....

Have you used Cheese or guvcview to test the webcam? If so, is the image upside down?

I'll check it out tomorrow and find out. I never mess with webcams, so it might take me awhile.

[charles052]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

Okay, it took some doing since cheese didn't want to install from Kdpackageit, had to do it from the terminal, but it worked fine. No upside down images or anything.

Just so you know, the touchpad on the DV6-6110US does not have the scroll on the side or the bottom of it. You use 2 fingers to scroll down or sideways with it Unfortunately, the scrolling doesn't work with Kubuntu, it's only on Windows. I guess Kubuntu either doesn't have the drivers for it on the cd, or it's a special configuration. No doubt you can figure it out if you want.

I just looked at Staples and the computer I got is no longer on sale. But I'm sure you can find a deal somewhere or find an HP a lot like it.

[charles052]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

Dangit! When I had to do a restart, Windows thought something went wrong with the boot up or something. There's not problems! No files were altered or damaged! It's just pulling some crap and right now I'm looking at a panel on a blue screen saying 'Attempting Repairs.'

Stupid Windows!

Ah, it finally realized nothing was wrong. Only took it about 15 minutes. >

[SteveRiley]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

Alas, the symptoms I thought I fixed on my wife's HP laptop have returned. I'm unwilling to repeat all that work I did before so it's time to chuck this thing in the trash and replace it with something else.

Although I've always and only bought HP gear for home, the uncertainty regarding HP's PC division makes me reluctant to continue that habit. The only other brand I have decent experience with is Lenovo, which I've received from every employer I've had. So I'm leaning toward buying a Lenovo for my wife.

She wants a 17" screen, and the only Lenovo equipped with a display that large is from their "Essential" series, which I'm unfamiliar with. Anyone here seen one of those? Or are there other brands that you've found to be reliable?

[oshunluvr]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

Hey, if she wants screen space, try one of these
http://www.gscreenlaptop.com/

Personally, HO and Dell have fallen IMO. For budget models Acer is OK and Asus has very nice higher-end models I've heard good things about but I've never owned one.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

I second that about HP and DELL. Where I retired from we had a vendor contract with DELL, and all of our desktops and laptops were DELL. The return rate was 30%!!! A lot of the stuff came DOA. I retired almost four years ago, so I don't know what their vendor arrangements are now, or what DELL's quality is.

Lenovo's 17" Essential G770 line has several offerings. Some of them have rather poor ratings on Amazon, where I do almost all of my online shopping. One, however, is rated very high:
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-10372KU...m_cr_pr_sims_t because of good reviews. The reviewer does note the obvious: that one will have to use a partition manager to create a partition to dual boot Linux. At Linux Laptops the Lenovo's G500 series is recorded as working perfectly with Linux, but no G700 series report is available.

Here is a video review of the G770 10272KU. I like the fact that it has a port for an external wireless antenna! ... plus the usual stuff.
I especially like the keyboard, and I'll wager that your wife will LOVE it. A five hour battery life is not shabby. At just under 7 lbs she'll need a strong tote bag. In fact, I've been thinking about replacing my Sony and this G770 is looking pretty good.

Over the last 8 or so years I've purchased several Acer laptops. I have had excellent results running Linux on ALL of them. The first were several (for clients) Acer Aspire 3600 series. The most recent is an Acer Aspire One OD521, a netbook with a 7", not 17" screen. An Amazon listing of a half dozen new (not used) Acer 17" laptops is here.

And, last night I got a Skype call from a relative who had just purchased a Lenovo ThinkPad E520. It was a LOT faster with the Skype traffic than his old HP, and the webcam picture was sharp and colorful. It was only 15.6", but our shakedown of it showed it to be a good machine. How well it ages only time can tell.

[SteveRiley]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

http://www.gscreenlaptop.com

There, I fixed that for you:

Lenovo's 17" Essential G770 line has several offerings.

I looked at those, but they've cut some surprising corners. For example, the Ethernet is only a 10/100 -- when's the last time you saw one of those? Yes, gig-E is important here at home.

I ended up ordering a custom-built T520. The screen's only 15.6", but she seemed satisfied with that (save your jokes about inch satisfaction, oshunluvr ). Got a 15% "weekend" discount, so the price came out very nice.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

Yeah, gig-E is in full use here too. Silly not to have it these days. That thing is a behemoth so I didn't think you'd really consider it! Besides, you can just tell your wife the T620 is 17" - I'm sure she'll beieve it...

[GreyGeek]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

Boooo!!!

I'm not going to let my wife read that last sentence! She'd ban me from the forum!

[SteveRiley]

Re: Laptop or Desktop or Other?

I'm not going to let my wife read that last sentence! She'd ban me from the forum!

Boy, there are so many potential ways I could respond to this but I'm still too new here to risk getting kicked out myself! Hahahahaha