View Full Version : stupid laptop rant
this isn't the sort of thing i'd usually do.. but i'm irritated as all hell, and interested to see if i'm alone or not.
in the past couple years, i've had 5 different laptops. 2 dells, 1 toshiba, and 2 lenovos. on every single one of these things, the damn DVD drawer panel constantly falls off! its freaken irritating as hell- and it's not just that it falls completely off, it's that it falls halfway off, leaving dangling by nothing more than a couple little brittle plastic fasteners prone to breaking if you even look at them mean. and, of course, the stupid thing always wants to come loose as you're about to stuff it into your briefcase/notebook bag, so that you thoroughly snap it off when you slide the notebook in. now that half the fasteners are busted, the stupid thing is gonna fall off 3 times a day..
WTF, man? what happened to the days when shit was built sturdy? out of these 3 totally different manufacturers, nobody can come up with a better way to secure the mother ****in DVD drawer panel?
that was the only problem i had on the toshiba- that was an otherwise rock-solid computer, and i thoroughly repent the day i put my fist through the screen over something that was no fault of the computer.. but dont even get me started on other crappers- my hard drive used to like to randomly eject itself from my last Dell... especially if i hadn't yet saved me work, of course. the keys liked the pop off the keyboard on my last lenovo- sure is great trying to type up a 16-page contract, in a hurry, when you have no A, N, or T keys. and many, many more complaints.
and the reason i've gone through so many notebooks? because crap like this pisses me off- and when i get pissed at inanimate objects, they get fists through their screens, or get frizbied into walls.
:mad:
Thomas M-4
10-08-10, 16:28
The dell shitted the hard-drive because it was scared you were going to punch the screen out:sarcastic:
Cant say much my HP over heats constantly.:eek:
Von Rheydt
10-08-10, 16:35
Made me laugh, thanks.
Try herbal tea and yoga. It won't fix the laptops, but it'll keep your blood pressure down.
Unfortunatley laptops now are just a throw away tool.
As you know most items are completely made over seas and the tolerance levels for quality have been sacrificed. I have had pretty good luck with my current Dell, but know that if it does fail then I only have like $550 in it. If I replace it every 3 years or so on average then I have had the luxury of it for the measily cost of .50/day or $15/month.
To me it's most important to have a proper back up system when they do fail. Murphy has a funny way of showing up when you least want him to. Good luck with your situation. If the DVD drive is your biggest complaint then I believe Apple has the only answer to your liking.
lethal dose
10-08-10, 17:19
Buy a MAC. No dvd drive cover panel.
+1 on the Macs. Several Macbooks and Macbook Pros in the family, only problem over that last 5 years was a dead hard drive on one of them a couple of years ago.
Rmplstlskn
10-08-10, 18:28
Those drives are mostly generic size and then manufacturer just throws a faceplate on that matches whatever machine it goes into...
But honestly, unless you use it a lot or claw it out by the edges, those faceplates are not usually a problem. I'd look at how you pull out the slide and maybe change the way to do it...
Rmpl
i never, ever, ever use it.
Moose-Knuckle
10-08-10, 20:40
There all pretty much made in the same hut, in the same village, some where in the Orient.
And the lithium battery dies and you might as well by a new laptop for the cost and memory upgrade.
Most computer manufacturers are merely just assemblers buying cases, LCDs, memory, hard drives, batteries, motherboards, processors, etc from the same suppliers and then assembling the parts into a product. Some don't even do their own assembly. I think it's possible that 2 or more of the DVD's or cases were made by the same company.
I only use a laptop for work and it is supplied by my company. I've had IBM and 2 Dell's now and they are all pieces of crap. As long as they are under warranty we will not get a new one. My current one is about a year old and has had several issues, most recently the hard drive and LCD both crapped the bed within 24 hours of each other.
My BIL works for Dell and tells me that mine is the "white work truck" of laptops.
I much prefer desktops and build my own.
Sorry to hear of your issues, I hope knowing you are not suffering alone helps ease your anguish. If not let me know next time and I'll give ya a hand teaching the machine some d$%^ respect!
Belmont31R
10-09-10, 13:15
Its nearly impossible to buy anything anymore that isn't a cheaply made POS.
I don't even buy my kids plastic toys anymore besides Lego's. Some of the other ones Ive broken just trying to get them out of the box. Half the time the parts don't even fit together right (non Lego toys). If they do they are so cheaply made they end up breaking within a few days of normal use. My MIL bought by boys a $50 Buzz Lightyear doll, and within a half hour one of the arms was broken off. They didn't hit it against anything, throw it on the ground....the joint was a little tiny plastic piece that just wasn't strong enough for what it was being used for.
What is interesting is that Apple uses these same "rent a builder" huts in the Orient to manufacture their notebooks. But they are much more robust, better built, etc (I am not talking about design, though that has something to do with it -- solid made from one piece metal enclosures will be better than plastic paste together ones, nor am I talking about the SW -- purely the notebooks HW).
I have a 6 year old Powerbook that still works and is in good condition despite the fact that my son (3-7 years old) played with it a bunch (except my wife broke the tip of the charging plug off inside the charging receptacle so it cannot be charged anymore but that is not a manufacturing problem). I also have a 3 year old MacBook Pro and a 2 year old MacBook. All of which have been carried around, used, abused etc. None are falling apart and both work fine (the MacBook Pro has some video problems but was built using faulty nVidia graphics chips -- many PC notebooks of the era have similar problems and I will be getting it fixed by Apple).
These PC companies could have better build quality if they wanted it. But then they would have to charge Apple prices. (Again, I am not talking about the OS or anything in this post -- merely build quality of Apple laptops/notebooks which are built in the same factories as the PC ones)
Its nearly impossible to buy anything anymore that isn't a cheaply made POS.
I don't even buy my kids plastic toys anymore besides Lego's. Some of the other ones Ive broken just trying to get them out of the box. Half the time the parts don't even fit together right (non Lego toys). If they do they are so cheaply made they end up breaking within a few days of normal use. My MIL bought by boys a $50 Buzz Lightyear doll, and within a half hour one of the arms was broken off. They didn't hit it against anything, throw it on the ground....the joint was a little tiny plastic piece that just wasn't strong enough for what it was being used for.
Ain't this the truth. We have all sorts of broken toys laying around. And my mom still has some of my toys for the grandkids to use -- stuff I had 35-40 years ago.
Legos are my favorite toy to get and they last. And they also foster creativity and thought on the part of the kids.
Moose-Knuckle
10-09-10, 20:01
Legos are my favorite toy to get and they last. And they also foster creativity and thought on the part of the kids.
This and because they are molded in one of two plants in Denmark and Czech Republic.
No worries for lead lead contamination.
What is interesting is that Apple uses these same "rent a builder" huts in the Orient to manufacture their notebooks. But they are much more robust, better built, etc (I am not talking about design, though that has something to do with it -- solid made from one piece metal enclosures will be better than plastic paste together ones, nor am I talking about the SW -- purely the notebooks HW).
I would imagine it is just like AR parts. Many parts are from the same source but the requirements from Colt would be must higher than from say Bushmaster.
Buy a MAC. No dvd drive cover panel.
I'm going to second this. I'm typing right now on a Mac G4 laptop that is still running, and I can still run my professional business from it. It's been to 4 countries, and on over 20 planes. It's been dropped on its power cord and it only cost me 150 bucks to replace the damaged part, and it's completely free from viruses.
Do I want a new computer? Yes.
Do I need one? No.
I would suggest going to Mac, and spending the extra money.
this isn't the sort of thing i'd usually do.. but i'm irritated as all hell, and interested to see if i'm alone or not.
in the past couple years, i've had 5 different laptops. 2 dells, 1 toshiba, and 2 lenovos. on every single one of these things, the damn DVD drawer panel constantly falls off! its freaken irritating as hell...
:mad:
dude, calm down. you got a nail gun, don't you?...
dude, calm down. you got a nail gun, don't you?...
nail guns and things that take lithium batteries don't mix. i had to catch a cedar shake roof on fire to figure that one out.
Mac, no questions asked. I am on my second and the first is still working 100%, just wanted to step to a Macbook Pro, so I gave the other to my sister. That older one survived a car wreck and being thrown from the front seat to the hatch area in the back, while open, and the only thing the Apple store could find wrong was that a couple keys popped off(I already knew that of course) which they replaced for free. Thing was a tank. Got an aluminum macbook now thats 2 years old and it still feels and runs like its brand new(save for a few tiny dents and scratches in the aluminum).
After I got my first one 3 years ago, my dad bought a macbook a few months later(still running 100%), and we got my mom an IMac which is great even with my 3 year old niece constantly abusing it(had to replace the mouse once already).
MarshallDodge
10-10-10, 13:32
Buy a commercial grade laptop, not a cheap "Best Buy" special.
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