Hey guys,
Great week for the E&P and service longs and an ignominious ending to the remaining refining puts.
Shortly after the close I heard a slow steady but quiet "plinking" sound coming from the direction of my PC. There was no pulse and it was unresponsive to multiple strings of obscenities. I've already taken it to the local gurus and they're telling me Monday (maybe) for a new hard drive. I'll be around this weekend if you need anything but I'll be on a borrowed box so it may take a little while.
Looks like it's time for a new Dell. Again, thanks for a great week and I will (I hope) see you all Monday.
~ Z
Seriously, a new computer over a failed hard drive? That’s about the easiest thing to replace in a computer! How old is the computer/hard drive? Some drives have warranties up to 5 years, so you might want to try that route first. Now, getting back your data is more complicated…
Oh, and if you’re tired of crappy support and crappy systems from Dell, and you want to stick with a big vendor, try an IBM. But if you use local PC support anyway, might want to try a third-party vendor that actually knows how to build a decent system. I’d recommend endpcnoise.com.
Cheers,
Thanks but it’s actually a HP laptop and it’s time had come. It was a whole year old! lol.
zman,
please don’t turn me off. Can’t we talk about this..
… Hal
Just checking in. It was probably those peak oil hit men that have been shadowing me. lol.
Let’s get a show of opinions. Dell, HP, Compaq, Lenovo… etc. I’m going for a pretty high end desktop and will get the laptop repaired as a backup. All thoughts or welcome. tia.
I’ve bought too many PCs over the years, desktops and laptops. A few years ago, I bought only from corner stores. Rarely had any issues. Last few years, I bought name brands, most refurbished from big stores. The reason: they’re actually cheaper than corner stores. I’m most happy with Compaq: had both a laptop and desktop from them. Least happy with HP. Bought most from them probably because they’re on sale more often. Had a laptop from Dell and was mostly happy. Just bought a Gateway for $499 CAD from tigerdirect.ca. Should’be even cheaper in USD from tigerdirect.com. Had it for a week and am quite happy. It supports dual monitors out of the box.
IMO, no matter what PC you buy, you’re probably be fine. I don’t see much quality difference.
The new PCs are generally very quiet. A HP I bought a year ago was very quiet and only got little bit noisy recently. A Compaq I bought at least 4 years ago is still pretty quiet now. The new Gateway I’ve had for a week is super quiet.
I should be up in the morninmg.
Thanks for the feeback. went with the hp
dual core fast athlon, lots of ram. so far so good
Nice! Enjoy it..
Z, just remember to back up your data !. Then a lost drive is no big issue.
A year and the laptop’s dead? HP must make laptops as poorly as Dell. My IBM’s easily last 3 years, and I can still sell them for several hundred dollars. I’ve bought a couple Lenovo’s since they changed over and haven’t had any problems; built quality is just as good, hardware support is just as good, and software support is even better than before. The T60’s are great workhorses and decent travelers, the X60’s are great travelers and decent workhorses.
And no major vendor can build a desktop system as well as a good independent, but the major vendors will be cheaper. Cost falls on larger scales, but quality generally does, too. That’s why support becomes so much more important, and it’s why Dell is so awful. And if HP couldn’t get you up and running after just a year, they’re pretty awful, too.
Best of luck, though.