Boyink! - Spring Forward on the Web

Looks the average lifespan of a laptop is about 2 years for me.  I just killed laptop #2 - a Compaq Presario 2100.  It’s developed a case of the lock-upsspontaneousrebootsBSODs.  It might be salvageable, but I can’t spare the time to mess with it.  Laptop #1 was a Dell Latitude that developed a case of the “monitorwon’tlightupitus” after 14 months or so.

Overall I haven’t been happy with either #1 or #2 - they both lost hard drives under warranty and #2 killed a battery that wasn’t covered, even though I had an extended warranty.

Soooo…#3 is a Gateway MX3230.  We’ll see how the dependability is, at least you can get a decently small/light laptop now at a reasonable pricepoint. 

Oh…the joy of getting a new computer to a usable point again….

Comments are closed, but you can read the comments other people left.

1. rob on August 11, 2006

   How is the new Gateway working? First impressions?

2. Michael Boyink (Author) on August 11, 2006

   Size is great - nice and light and at least an inch and a half shallower than the Compaq I was using.

   Needs more memory though - in a boot up race the Compaq was still quicker even though the processor is slower and the memory is equivalent.

   I’ll throw another 256M in at some point.

3. rob on August 12, 2006

   Thank you for the update, we are holding rain check from the BestBuy sale.
   ($399)
   What do think about service contracts? BB is offering a three year contract for $129.

4. Michael Boyink (Author) on August 12, 2006

   I bought the service contract as it covers the battery.  I had to replace the battery on my last laptop and paid $150….

5. rob on August 15, 2006

   I had the same experience with my HP Compaq nx9010. The service contract paid for the replacemet battery within one year. When you upgrade the RAM in the Gateway will it need any tweeking? I am not very savy about these things, thanks in advance.

6. Michael Boyink (Author) on August 15, 2006

   No, pretty much plug and play AFAIK…

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