ideal laptop recommendations?

[Jesse D. Guardiani]

Darryl Okahata wrote:

> "Jesse D. Guardiani" <jesse at wingnet.net> wrote:

<snip>

>      My previous laptop was a Dell Inspiron 7500 and, while I did
> consider getting another Dell as a replacement, my Dell laptop wasn't
> exactly problem-free:
> 
> * DVDROM died after a year-and-a-half or so.  I ended up paying to have
>   this fixed, but I've forgotten if Dell's warranty did not cover this
>   (I had a 3-year warranty), or if I just could not wait.
> 
> * Battery died after 1-2 years (sorry, it was a while back).
>   Admittedly, this isn't too unusual for laptops ....  ;-(  Not covered
>   by warranty.
> 
> * The plastic over the right-side display hinge cracked and broke off.
>   (If I recall correctly, the entire hinge became broken, and so the
>   display was largely supported by only the left-side hinge.)  Fixed
>   under warranty.
> 
> * A large, vertical-column-shaped area (~1.5-2" wide) became
>   "discolored" on the display (from top to bottom).  My guess is that
>   the display connector was getting tarnished, and reseating it would
>   probably have fixed it.  (However, the laptop was out-of-warranty, I
>   didn't feel like disassembling the laptop, and so I used this as an
>   excuse to dump my 3+ year-old laptop.  ;-)

That is certainly useful info. I appreciate it.

> 
> On the plus side, Dell's repair service was quite good (I only used it
> once, though).  I've heard a lot of horror stories about Sony's, and so
> I now try to avoid Sony whenever possible.
> 
>      Although I did consider Dell, I ended up getting an IBM Thinkpad,
> largely because I found a deal that I couldn't pass up.  It's very well-
> built.  Also, replacement parts "should" be easy to find, although, as I
> seem to have one of the "rarer" Thinkpads (an A31), I'm not sure if this
> is true for me.

How long have you had the Thinkpad? And do you know where I might purchase
one besides On-line? (Bestbuy and Circuit City don't carry them)

> 

-- 
Jesse Guardiani, Systems Administrator
WingNET Internet Services,
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