my Win7 debacle

[PRISONER 24601]

Ordered a copy of the Windows 7 Pro DVD (29 bucks for students), and on a whim I picked up a Lenovo S10-2 along with it. Free shipping, decent price, why not? I needed a netbook anyway.

The next day I found out they got my address wrong, called MS, talked with Indians for 2 ****ing hours, got the address thing worked out. I also cancelled the Lenovo order cause I found a good deal on those Latitude 2100 netbooks on the dell education refurb site.

Anyway, I get an email from UPS for tracking, (late as usual) it said "DELIVERED, LEFT ON PORCH" etc etc. ffffffffffffffffff
The ppl at MS never changed my address, and they never cancelled the Lenovo. Those jackasses assured me that the address was fixed and the netbook would not be sent.

Now, my whole order (new netbook and win7) is probably at one of my neighbor's houses, gonna have to go over there and "meet" them tomorrow. Hopefully they haven't already torn the box open and discovered their new "presents"... What the hell? It's got MY name on it, I better not get screwed by M$, gonna phone them tomorrow and express my disapproval.

I just wanted some windows, should it really be this difficult? For the first time in my life, i'm not stealing Microsoft software, instead it's getting stolen from me. Oh, the poetic irony. The woe of it all!
 
I really hope I don't have to sue someone over this. Microsoft is turning this into the winter of my pissedofedness. All this after a kickass summer, now it's all cloudy and I feel like jumping in the ****ing ocean.

[D-EJ915]

since when does MS sell lenovos...

[skriefal]

Since the release of Windows 7:

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Computers-Netbooks/category/411

[timw4mail]

Wait, since when does Microsoft have the reputation for good customer service?

[alexlzl]

Your best bet probably is calling your credit card company and dispute this order. If you have the phone call history etc it will be helpful.

[PRISONER 24601]

My nice neighbors swung by and deliver the package this morning (without even asking). What a nice gesture!

Open the package, and the "white" Lenovo I ordered is pink and covered in flowers.

sigh, well, i was gonna return it anyway.

[PRISONER 24601]

Microsoft is making a BIG HIT with their online store I see.

Hi, I'm a PC and I'm sitting here on hold with customer support listening to "stars in your eyeeeees" over and over again

it's a good thing i have plenty of xanax

[Kraicheck]

Open the package, and the "white" Lenovo I ordered is pink and covered in flowers.

This is your own fault, the pictures clearly show the pattern and colour.

[microsoft windows]

There's an advantage in not being too interested in any computer gear mainstream people would ever want.

[ch_123]

People still buy software?

[ironcoder]

Yep and they better keep doing it at least until I retire.

[ch_123]

I was rather fortunate in that not long after I stopped pirating software, I started college and thus got free Windows licenses from MS.

[Viett]

Open the package, and the "white" Lenovo I ordered is pink and covered in flowers.

Haha. They got you good.

[D-EJ915]

yeah the colouring of the lenovo is pretty obvious on their page...

[ch_123]

Speaking of Lenovo, I recently got a set of these for my T61 -

Link.

[PRISONER 24601]

I didn't order it online, i ordered it over the phone and the rep told me it was the 'white' model. I was at school.

I got the managers involved and they're pissed off, I'm gonna get some form of compensation I hope.

[PRISONER 24601]

So, they're sending me a free copy of Win7 Ultimate. Thanks a lot Microsoft. Now I have three copies I'll never use.

[iMav]

I love my HP mini 2140 HD.  I don't think I'd considering using a netbook again with less than 768 of vertical resolution.  (it was painful doing anything useful with my Acer Aspire One).

[iMav]

Thank Intel for the silly screen and RAM restrictions on netbooks.  Ram is  getting better as is screen resolution but boy it's going slowly.

My HP has 2GB ram and 1366x768 screen resolution.

[ch_123]

Thank Intel for the silly screen and RAM restrictions on netbooks.

Given how Intel and MS don't really like Netbooks, I often wonder why they don't just abandon the market to Linux and ARM... It would create a nice seperation between Netbooks as they were originally intended to be used, and proper PCs, which is what the big companies want to sell lots of because they are more profitable.

[itlnstln]

For Intel, it's simply a matter of sales.  There's another, lucrative revenue stream in Atom.  MS, though, I wonder about more.  Other than their relationship with Intel, I'm not sure why they cater to the netbook market.  I wonder, too, if AMD will get into the netbook mix.

[PRISONER 24601]

I have a Dell Latitude 2100 coming in the mail. The thing is built like a Russian Tank, and colored like a Cuban Tank. Best of both worlds: east meets west.

It's covered in dodgeball rubber and outspecs my Lenovo nicely... It was also 100 bucks cheaper.

[ch_123]

They seem to offer Vista as an OS for it... I thought it was rather sly of MS when they said that manufacturers could sell Vista as a downgrade of W7 if the customer desired.

[microsoft windows]

Who would want Vista in the first place?

[ch_123]

Before WIndows 7, there was a case to be made for 64-bit Windows Vista being better than 64-bit Windows XP (the latter had some rather lackluster driver and software support). Of course it's all irrelevant now because 7 beats them both anyway.

[itlnstln]

I didn't really like XP x64 much.  It's not that it was bad, in fact, it was probably more stable that its 32 bit cousin, but since it was a "port" (more or less) of Server 2003, some of the UI and usability elements seemed a little kludgy. And like ch_123 said, the driver and software support wasn't particularly stellar.

[tamasrepus]

With the quality of Microsoft's products, did you really have high expectations from their online store, OR them doing anything where they have to interact directly with customers?

[ch_123]

I had to set up a printer on my neighbour's brand new Dell Windows 7 machine. The machine had 4GB of RAM, and an Athlon X2 CPU - the same configuration I had before I basically got to upgrade to a quad core for free... Anyway, the thing was frighteningly slow to use for a machine that was fresh out of the box. In particular, after logging in, it would completely freeze up for 2-3 seconds before giving you control of the cursor. On my machine at home, the much less stable and optimized betas and RCs ran like a dream, even several months after installation.

It really makes you realize - Windows may be far from the finest OS ever conceived, but what really lets it down is the crappy software that people write for it, and the way OEMs implement it on their machines. One might say that this is a massive cop-out argument because for the vast majority of cases, these are the two sides of the same coin. The point is moreso that if Mac OS X or Linux was the de facto standard, they'd have just as many problems as Windows does now, and we'd hate them just as much.

[itlnstln]

Pretty much.  I put a clean install of Win 7 on my Dell Quad Core, and it is noticably faster than my previous XP x64 install (another clean install).  For it to be slow on your friends PC, there must have been a ton of OEM bloatware in that Win 7 install.  You're right though, in many cases it's the OEM bloatware that gives Windows (or, potentially, any OS) it's bad name.

[Shuki]

Not to be an internet cliché but Dell directly injects failure into any PC it puts together.

I've seen this on so many Dell machines ;_;

[PRISONER 24601]

Not to be an internet cliché but Dell directly injects failure into any PC it puts together.

I've seen this on so many Dell machines ;_;

I used to think this

Then I bought my first latitude a few years back... Fine notebooks they are. Very sturdy, good screens, great keyboards, and classy design. I'd rather pay a slight premium for a Latitude than get a 'budget' notebook with **** peripherals and slightly better specs.

Notebooks are made for utility, not pure performance.

[ch_123]

I hear Latitude is an ancient Chinese word which roughly translates as "Plasticky Thinkpad ripoff"

[PRISONER 24601]

these days even thinkpads are plasticky thinkpad ripoffs:redface:

imho latitudes are pretty good for the price

[ch_123]

That's unfortunately true, it's rather telling however that they are probably still the best made laptop that you can get.

[PRISONER 24601]

that was my 100th geekhack post. i should have really saved it for something less confrontational

but yeah, at least ms gave me some form of comeuppance. maybe i should just craigslist my copy of ultimate for a cool 200 bucks and pirate windows like in the old days. you know, just to stick it to the man and what not.

[itlnstln]

I'll hang with you, Prisoner.  Every Dell I have had in the last 5 years has been fantastic.  I have not had a single problem with 3 desktops and 2 laptops in that time period.  I agree, that as far as utility and quality goes, Lenovo is probably still leading the pack, but TBH, I would buy a Dell with my own money these days.

[PRISONER 24601]

They make good machines. Working on them is a different story, with all the proprietary stuff they pack into those desktops... they're not made to be modded or ****ed with. If I had to recommend a solid desktop to someone non-computer savvy, something that would rarely falter... it would be a dell.

The latitude series is tip-top. Just a step behind thinkpads but leagues ahead of everything else in terms of build quality. I can't speak for their other notebook lines, but I imagine they leave something to be desired.



crappy pic of my 2100. It's got this thick rubber coating on the top and bottom and a nameplate thingy on the battery. pretty nifty. Also, check those hinges. the lid is basically deadbolted on there. Very nice.

Weighs more than your average netbook but not by much.

I should also mention that it was made specifically for the K-12 market:cheer2:

[timw4mail]

They make good machines. Working on them is a different story, with all the proprietary stuff they pack into those desktops... they're not made to be modded or - with. If I had to recommend a solid desktop to someone non-computer savvy, something that would rarely falter... it would be a dell.

I'd recommend a Mac first. Better built, and don't come with crap installed.

[Rajagra]

I'd recommend a Mac first. Better built, and don't come with crap installed.

I thought the whole point of a Mac was that it does come with some crap installed, that's how they justify the price, by what it can do out of the box.

Anyhow, I do have a Dell XPS gaming laptop, a few years old now, but I have no complaints about it. At the time I bought it it was the best gaming laptop around, as cheap as the competition and lighter. (I didn't buy the highest spec though, and bought extra memory from Crucial.)

[ch_123]

I'd recommend a Mac first. Better built

Debatable, very debatable.

[timw4mail]

Debatable, very debatable.

Well, I don't know how a plastic and steel case can match a solid aluminum case in build quality, for one.

[itlnstln]

Well, I don't know how a plastic and steel case can match a solid aluminum case in build quality, for one.

They use "off-the-shelf" parts just like everybody else.  Case materials don't really impress me other than aesthetics, and how aluminum can be of better build quality than a steel frame is dubious at the very least.  The only thing aluminum buys you is weight savings and, potentially, aesthetics.

[Rajagra]

Well, I don't know how a plastic and steel case can match a solid aluminum case in build quality, for one.

In WW2 they "improved" warships by welding the parts together to form a solid structure. They assumed this would make them stronger than older ships that were rivetted together.

The new ships developed cracks all through the bodywork...

The Mac unibody is nice I agree. But it isn't that clever, and it may not be durable. Aluminium is pretty soft, you can bite straight through the pure stuff.

[PRISONER 24601]

The mac unibody IS nice.... but remember you're paying TWO THOUSAND plus dollars for the thing, versus half that for an equally rugged dell.

Hell, they're probably the best built laptops out there. If i had one, I wouldn't ever take it anywhere (which sort of defeats the purpose of a laptop for me) for fear of dropping the thing or finding it stolen.

Sure, plenty of people carry them around. People with lots and lots of money to blow.

[timw4mail]

I also just don't like Dell, for certain business practices:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2355465,00.asp

[ch_123]

Well, I don't know how a plastic and steel case can match a solid aluminum case in build quality, for one.

Last time I checked, Magnesium Alloy > Aluminium.

I must say though, the new Macs are quite nice. The keyboard is a bit iffy, but aside from that it's nice stuff.

[PRISONER 24601]

I also just don't like Dell, for certain business practices:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2355465,00.asp

omg lol

yeah... those bastards. how dare they... do that... think of the children!

[Rajagra]

Last time I checked, Magnesium Alloy > Aluminium.

Here's a sheet of Apple's aluminium wobbling on the production line, before it has been machined into the unibody.

Taken from halfway through Apple's video.

[Rajagra]

I also just don't like Dell, for certain business practices:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2355465,00.asp

Aaaah, the cartoons make sense now. :lol:

[CX23882]

I too have found Dell to be solid machines, hardware-wise. (I think I've mentioned the Optiplex GX280 being the exception. More than half of the GX280 towers in our company were ****ed (pardon my French) after 2 years and required replacement motherboards thanks to crap capacitors.)

My biggest complaint is the amount of crap that comes pre-installed, from the likes of AOL, McAfee etc, but the same stuff comes pre-installed on HP and Toshiba machines I've seen. Having said that, I've seen a few Optiplex, Vostro and Latitudes with zero or very little pre-installed apps, so perhaps they treat consumer vs business differently. I know that my Dimension desktop and Inspiron laptop came with a ****-load of junk. Out of the box they ran XP worse than a clean installation of Vista but it doesn't take long to clean up if you want to stick with the Dell installation.

[microsoft windows]

Optiplex GX270's (in addition to the 280's you talked about) all have faulty capacitors in their motherboards that make them go bad right after the warrantee expires. I had to deal with them at work for a while.

Some other infamous creations with the Dell logo include numerous Pentium 4 Inspirons which overheated due to cheap design. A friend of mine has one and it's such a piece of cheap junk. OP, yeah, and I forgot to tell you all about those lovely exploding batteries from Dell too! Oh, and guess what? Dell knew about all this but still sold that hardware. Call that honesty!

I'm not buying a Dell. Ever.

[Langley]

I've had two Dell laptops where the casing started to crack and split the second they hit five years old. On one of them, the monitor's casing split so bad it's literally held together with duct tape. I hear they're much better with heat these days, but I'm still not gonna touch one.

[bigpook]

I have/had a Dell 510 laptop at work that I used for the past 4 years and it has held up pretty good. Its had a hard life, being turned on and off multiple times, crappy phone rooms with lots of dust. The occasional near miss with some diet pepsi : ) It  looks pretty beat up but still functions. The company is replacing them and I have a chance to buy it for 50 bucks. I may just do that just to have a beater laptop to play with at the house.

I recently got a Dell 1545 if only because it came with linux pre-installed. Aside from the shiny black plastic it does seem well made. I am using it at work until the new ones come in, but even then I will probably continue using my own. The corporate data guy doesn't get to touch it and I can basically spin it whichever way I want.