Comments on: Well, that was an expensive mistake [My Voodoo, Part 4]

By: MaggieCat

MaggieCat — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 07:25:21 +0000

I’ve had my VAIO (this one) for about a year and a half now and I love it. Hasn’t even blinked at being dropped, having many things dropped on it, or the fairly callous way that pets relate to competitors for the human’s attention and lap space. I don’t do any gaming though, it’s pretty much exclusively used for internet/music/television series.

By: tekanji

tekanji — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:35:44 +0000

Rycuda: Thanks! I will look into the ATA to USB adaptor ASAP.

As for the VAIO’s, do you know which models the CEO types use as opposed to your sister and your housemate?

By: Rycuda

Rycuda — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:23:15 +0000

First off I’d suggest laying your hands on an ATA to USB adaptor to get all that data off your hard drive. You can pick them up from ebay for about 10-15$. It’s worth making sure you get one that will cover 2.5″ 3.5″ and SATA connectors. A few minutes with a screwdriver and you should be able to plug the drive straight into any other computer and save all that data.

A couple of Managing Director/CEO types at some of my clients use Various VAIOs and they seem to have survived being dropped, kicked, having coffee poured over them and a variety of other destructive events. The caveat to that is that both my sister, and one of my housemates have VAIOs, both are used more intensively for media and gaming than their business counterparts and both have failed multiple times inside of a year.

Personally I’m using an HP Compaq nc6120 that’s about two years old. Has been dropped, in two car crashes, scratched, stood on, used to prop open doors and dropped down the back of at least one server rack. The key thing with the HP systems I think is to go for the business lines and make sure you get a care pack with them. The support from that tends to be swift and quibble free.

By: Brinstar

Brinstar — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:20:32 +0000

When I was in the final two years of university I bought a second-hand Toshiba laptop. It definitely wasn’t for gaming, but it was really reliable.

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:34:50 +0000

I’ve got an IBM and while it gets finicky sometimes if I force it to turn off (if, say, it’s frozen for some reason or another), otherwise it’s doing pretty well. I’ve had it for about three years now too and it just keeps truckin’, despite all the abuse it suffers when I chuck it into my backpack and bang that thing around throughout the day — slinging it into the car, flipping it under a seat, lifting it by its screen (I know, I know, bad Sara), plopping it onto the couch, etc.

By: 100littledolls

100littledolls — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:16:37 +0000

I’ve had some close friends who had some trouble with their VAIOs, but it might be more of the tech support issue here in Chicago, or the people using them. Well, the thing that sucks with computers is that you never know what might happen. That really, really sucks about your Voodoo.

I have a Fujitsu and I’ve been pretty happy with it. But whenever there is an issue (which luckily have only been mainly minor ones in the past 3 years) I do find myself wishing I’d gone with a computer from a larger company.

By: tekanji

tekanji — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:45:28 +0000

Lake Desire: In terms of computer lifespan, I did just get it. *grumps* Although, you saying that about the gaming laptop makes me wonder if we just don’t have the technology up to speed yet to handle that kind of power… It wouldn’t surprise me that companies were selling unstable products in order to meet a market demand.

olwen: Good to know that you’re happy with your VAIOs. My family mostly has VAIOs as well and they seem to be working fairly well. I’m leaning towards that because the model I’d get allows me to pick my colour so I can have pink or red (there are other colours too, but I don’t care about those). I have to double check the graphics card, but I’m pretty sure it should let me play my games without problem.

By: olwen

olwen — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:18:56 +0000

I have so much sympathy for you right now - I’ve been really bitten in the past as well with laptops, and it’s just so expensive and heartbreaking when you make a bad decision.

I have two Sony VAIO laptops, one personal and one work, and they are fabulous. The personal one I’ve had for 18 months with no issues and it’s been a joy to use the whole time. The work one I’ve only had 3 months but I *did* step on it the other day and it seems perfectly happy still… so they seem tough little beasts!

… plus, the work one (SZ) has NVidia graphics and can play World of Warcraft. Win!

By: Lake Desire

Lake Desire — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:33:33 +0000

It feels like you just got that computer. That sucks it’s already gone. That’s 2 for 2 with friends who have had gaming laptops died prematurely even for laptops.