I'm throwing my Dell under a truck...

[soakwashrinse]

My current Dell laptop (a maxed-out top-of-the-line Inspiron 8000 bought in early 2001) has been nothing short of a nightmare. I foolishly bought it with a 1 year warranty, expecting things would be okay--my previous 10+ years of computer purchases being largely fault free.

Of course, a few weeks out of warranty things started to go bad. First the screen developed a fault--intermittently casting a green/purple haze over its entire area. A faulty connection somewhere I presumed. Dell quoted me some exorbidant price to get it fixed--I declined, instead opting to purchase an external CRT to use as a dual monitor when needed.

Not soon after, with no prompting, the built-in ethernet port somehow disappeared off the Windows Device Manager. Boom, without a trace. I reinstalled drivers, reinstalled Windows, upgraded and then downgraded the BIOS--nothing fixed the problem. Dell were unwilling to help, even downright condescending--that *I* had somehow done something wrong, that nothing was wrong with their computer. Needing a quick solution, as I was flying off to Europe in a few days, I bought an ethernet PC Card.

A few months ago, the keyboard decided to stop working. Well, I could temporarily correct the issue--by unscrewing and taking the keyboard out, and reseating the cable. Tape didn't help. After much frustration, I gave up.

Currently, it's connected to an external monitor and a external keyboard, tucked under my desk. So much for a "laptop".

And there's Windows XP--that ugly bloated mess that has me pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL a few times a day to terminate some crashed application. Forcing me download some large patch every few days to block some newly found security hole. Startling me with the stupidity of its UI as I wade through screens and screens to turn of some enabled-by-default annoyance.

I ordered a 15.2-inch PowerBook the other day, and I can't wait.

[Independence]

heh. and i thought dell was supposed to be good. my 10 year old ibm thinkpad still runs like a dream.

[mactastic]

Take some pictures if you do chuck it under a vehicle of some kind!

[MrMacMan]

Yeah take a video or some pictures.

The worst thing me and my friend have destroyied was a subwoofer the school was throwing out...

[tazo]

lol my friend had 2 like 200mhz P1s and we took hammers and baseball bats to em....twas fun :) I umm eviscerated a few cd rom drives it was awesome :P

I wish we had filmed it and put it to say gangstas paradise like they did in Office Space with the printer :D

[Freg3000]

Anyone remember those Mac Addict videos of their staff dragging PCs behind trucks? Or using a sledgehammer to beat the crap out of the PC? Those were great. Maybe you could make your own. :)

Have fun switching. :)

[MacsRgr8]

Let me be the driver of the truck :D

[XnavxeMiyyep]

Record it in slow motion.:D

[vollspacken]

Beat the crap out of that stupid Dell and give it what it deserves!!!

DIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!

vSpacken

[MacsRgr8]

Also record that in slow motion :D

[Abstract]

Can you send a video to Dell. Or better yet, send it to America's Funniest Home Videos.

[applemacdude]

That's nothi' i kill peecee's every saturday @ www.accrc.org one week ill make a video of me and my friends torching a dell or a hp.

[Tommy!]

can i have it? :confused:

[lmalave]

Originally posted by soakwashrinse
My current Dell laptop (a maxed-out top-of-the-line Inspiron 8000 bought in early 2001) has been nothing short of a nightmare. I foolishly bought it with a 1 year warranty, expecting things would be okay--my previous 10+ years of computer purchases being largely fault free.

Of course, a few weeks out of warranty things started to go bad. First the screen developed a fault--intermittently casting a green/purple haze over its entire area. A faulty connection somewhere I presumed. Dell quoted me some exorbidant price to get it fixed--I declined, instead opting to purchase an external CRT to use as a dual monitor when needed.

Not soon after, with no prompting, the built-in ethernet port somehow disappeared off the Windows Device Manager. Boom, without a trace. I reinstalled drivers, reinstalled Windows, upgraded and then downgraded the BIOS--nothing fixed the problem. Dell were unwilling to help, even downright condescending--that *I* had somehow done something wrong, that nothing was wrong with their computer. Needing a quick solution, as I was flying off to Europe in a few days, I bought an ethernet PC Card.

A few months ago, the keyboard decided to stop working. Well, I could temporarily correct the issue--by unscrewing and taking the keyboard out, and reseating the cable. Tape didn't help. After much frustration, I gave up.

Currently, it's connected to an external monitor and a external keyboard, tucked under my desk. So much for a "laptop".

And there's Windows XP--that ugly bloated mess that has me pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL a few times a day to terminate some crashed application. Forcing me download some large patch every few days to block some newly found security hole. Startling me with the stupidity of its UI as I wade through screens and screens to turn of some enabled-by-default annoyance.

I ordered a 15.2-inch PowerBook the other day, and I can't wait.

Congrats on your Mac purchase. I bought my iBook after being disgusted that my maxed-out Dell Inspiron 5000 lasted only about 2 years (end of 2000 to end of 2002). So much for Dell quality. My iBook is a rugged little workhorse, not to mention 3 pounds lighter than my Dell brick. I fully expect that the only reason I'll replace my iBook in a couple years is because I want a new toy, not because I really need to. (and hopefully said new toy will be the first G5 iBooks sometime in 2005).

[Lord Bodak]

Originally posted by tazo
lol my friend had 2 like 200mhz P1s and we took hammers and baseball bats to em....twas fun :) I umm eviscerated a few cd rom drives it was awesome :P

I wish we had filmed it and put it to say gangstas paradise like they did in Office Space with the printer :D

Hey! My primary machine is a 200MHz P1!!!!!
At least until my 12" PB ships...

[cubist]

Hey, have mercy on the truck. It may be an awful computer (the laptop from Dhell, as some say), but chances are it will have something inside it effective at damaging tires.

This has to do with what one SF writer referred to as the "innate perversity of inanimate objects". I've noticed several times that things that sit around for a while don't do any harm, but when I pick them up to throw them away I get cut by sharp edges, or drop them on my foot, or things like that. Vicious things. Be careful!

[simX]

As much as I'd like to bash Dell and Windows, sometimes these things can just be lemons. I know I've seen a few threads around Mac forums like these who basically say the same thing. You could still probably have all those problems with a Mac (although, admittedly, the actually interface of Mac OS X is probably not nearly as annoying as Windows XP reportedly is :p ).

My motto: when in doubt, buy the warrantee, even if it's a Mac.