Comment not my experience at all (Score 3, Informative) 258
I have the same laptop and have had terrible problems with mine. Actually, most of the problems have been with Best Buy support, but still...
Upon opening the packaging, I discovered no power supply. Back to the store I went. Several days later, keys were falling off the keyboard, and I couldn't get them to stay on. Back to the store yet again (and remember, this is Best Buy. A trip to get service necessitates at least 1 hour in line, waiting for the one guy in the service department to get around to you). Finally, a week later, I discovered that more than half of the screws had fallen out of the case. Once again, back to the store for replacements. When I got home from that service trip, I plugged in the laptop at home, only to see a curl of smoke rising lazily from the power supply connector. Needless to say, the laptop would no longer boot.
That is when the fun began. I took it back to Best Buy (4th time in 2.5 weeks!!!!) and was told that it would be fixed in 14 days. 14 days came and went. Phone calls revealed that the 'service center' had not even opened the package until the day before it was due to be back in my hands. Once service did finally open the box, they discovered, not surprisingly, a burnt out motherboard. Oops, that part has to be shipped in from overseas. Imagine that, a laptop service center that doesn't have a single spare motherboard in stock! Once again, this is Best Buy, so don't forget that each of my phone calls required at least 40 minutes of time on Hold, occasional accidental hang ups, circular redirections to multiple departments, the works.
Finally, nearly 2 full months after I had sent it in (well over 30 business days), I gave up and sent my story to the technical editor of every relevant magazine in the industry, and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The very next day, I got a call from the Best Buy service tech with tnews that the laptop was shipped that day. I imagine they just ripped teh motherboard out of a new model to avoid bad publicity.
I finally received the laptop, which I had delivered to Best Buy on 2/12, on 4/4. Meanwhile, I had been accused of taking the laptop apart myself, since it had mismatched screws in the bottom, and was told that the missing soundcard (huh? Turned out, the parts sheet the service tech was looking at was incorrect) would have to be replaced by me at a cost of about $500. THat was resolved after a bit of yelling and screaming on my part, but not before I was hung up on by one tech. I won't say I wasn't being rude, but still...
The thing is still working now, in late April, but I have still not owned it for even half as long as it has spent in service (no, I didn't do the math).
The good news is that Linux works really well on it, except for ACPI support. The nvidia drivers for the video card seem well supported in Linux with at least one update since I purchased the hunk of junk. The sound card works fine, but doesn't have ALSA drivers. The wireless card was a no brainer, but has terrible range. It can't find the linksys access point in my kitchen from my bedroom, 30 feet away, through open doors. Actually, I suspect that the tech neglected to reconnect an antennae or something. I just shove in my old wavelan card and don't worry about it for now. The wavelan ahs excellent signal strength at the same distance. I am not about to relinquish the thing for another 2 months in order to have them look at it.
Win2K support was terrible. I dumped XP both because my work required Win 2K and because I couldn't stand the way M$ took such an active interest in my registration status. Getting drivers and such to work was a royal PITA. Downloading the latest drivers from the VPR website resulted in malfunctioning everything. Reverting to the drivers from the support CD did eventually get most things up an running , and selectively applying some of the updated drivers fixed the rest.
The widescreen is great, and the slot load DVD/CD-R would be nice if it didn't scratch the heck out of the DVD-R dics that are inserted for playback. I had some DVD-R discs with some missed tv shows on them, and they would each play the first time I inserted them, but once they had been ejected, they would never play again, presumably due to the hairline scratches that were all over the discs. I ruined the entire season 2 of a certain show on HBO trying to diagnose the problem.
One last thing. Nearly 3 months after purchase, I still haven't received the $300 in rebates I am owed.
Conclusion: This laptop is a complete and total hunk of sh!t. I woulnd't recommend that my worst enemy buy one. It is poorly constructed, has cheap components, and terribly supported.
If you really must have one, you can buy mine.
--sam
Upon opening the packaging, I discovered no power supply. Back to the store I went. Several days later, keys were falling off the keyboard, and I couldn't get them to stay on. Back to the store yet again (and remember, this is Best Buy. A trip to get service necessitates at least 1 hour in line, waiting for the one guy in the service department to get around to you). Finally, a week later, I discovered that more than half of the screws had fallen out of the case. Once again, back to the store for replacements. When I got home from that service trip, I plugged in the laptop at home, only to see a curl of smoke rising lazily from the power supply connector. Needless to say, the laptop would no longer boot.
That is when the fun began. I took it back to Best Buy (4th time in 2.5 weeks!!!!) and was told that it would be fixed in 14 days. 14 days came and went. Phone calls revealed that the 'service center' had not even opened the package until the day before it was due to be back in my hands. Once service did finally open the box, they discovered, not surprisingly, a burnt out motherboard. Oops, that part has to be shipped in from overseas. Imagine that, a laptop service center that doesn't have a single spare motherboard in stock! Once again, this is Best Buy, so don't forget that each of my phone calls required at least 40 minutes of time on Hold, occasional accidental hang ups, circular redirections to multiple departments, the works.
Finally, nearly 2 full months after I had sent it in (well over 30 business days), I gave up and sent my story to the technical editor of every relevant magazine in the industry, and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The very next day, I got a call from the Best Buy service tech with tnews that the laptop was shipped that day. I imagine they just ripped teh motherboard out of a new model to avoid bad publicity.
I finally received the laptop, which I had delivered to Best Buy on 2/12, on 4/4. Meanwhile, I had been accused of taking the laptop apart myself, since it had mismatched screws in the bottom, and was told that the missing soundcard (huh? Turned out, the parts sheet the service tech was looking at was incorrect) would have to be replaced by me at a cost of about $500. THat was resolved after a bit of yelling and screaming on my part, but not before I was hung up on by one tech. I won't say I wasn't being rude, but still...
The thing is still working now, in late April, but I have still not owned it for even half as long as it has spent in service (no, I didn't do the math).
The good news is that Linux works really well on it, except for ACPI support. The nvidia drivers for the video card seem well supported in Linux with at least one update since I purchased the hunk of junk. The sound card works fine, but doesn't have ALSA drivers. The wireless card was a no brainer, but has terrible range. It can't find the linksys access point in my kitchen from my bedroom, 30 feet away, through open doors. Actually, I suspect that the tech neglected to reconnect an antennae or something. I just shove in my old wavelan card and don't worry about it for now. The wavelan ahs excellent signal strength at the same distance. I am not about to relinquish the thing for another 2 months in order to have them look at it.
Win2K support was terrible. I dumped XP both because my work required Win 2K and because I couldn't stand the way M$ took such an active interest in my registration status. Getting drivers and such to work was a royal PITA. Downloading the latest drivers from the VPR website resulted in malfunctioning everything. Reverting to the drivers from the support CD did eventually get most things up an running , and selectively applying some of the updated drivers fixed the rest.
The widescreen is great, and the slot load DVD/CD-R would be nice if it didn't scratch the heck out of the DVD-R dics that are inserted for playback. I had some DVD-R discs with some missed tv shows on them, and they would each play the first time I inserted them, but once they had been ejected, they would never play again, presumably due to the hairline scratches that were all over the discs. I ruined the entire season 2 of a certain show on HBO trying to diagnose the problem.
One last thing. Nearly 3 months after purchase, I still haven't received the $300 in rebates I am owed.
Conclusion: This laptop is a complete and total hunk of sh!t. I woulnd't recommend that my worst enemy buy one. It is poorly constructed, has cheap components, and terribly supported.
If you really must have one, you can buy mine.
--sam
