This is my blog, and I'll post to it if I want to.
Why Do Computers Hate Me?
Posted 10-01-2011 at 02:40 AM by Free Xue
For those following my ongoing struggles with notebook PCs, here's the newest chapter. Enjoy.
When we last left our heroine, she was celebrating her recent fortunes, little aware that Atrox Fortuna is always hanging out nearby, waiting for an opening to kick her in the teeth.
Yes, my new Sammy - MY FUCKING NEW BARELY A MONTH IN MY HANDS SAMMY - bit the dust last night. And as one might expect, or rather as I would expect, it did so in a way that makes tech specialists at Geek Squad shake their head and quickly hand you over to the exchange counter. Did you know closing a PDF file in Adobe Reader can cause a blue screen? You do now. But that was just the start, because after the blue screen came the weird, random and long freeze ups in Windows 7. That sort of felt like data corruption on the hard drive due to the ka-blue-y event, but I sadly never got far enough to test my theory because after 2 attempts to get chkdsk to run and a mind-mumbingly slow "Windows is updating, please do not take a chain saw to the power cord or bitch slap your computer until it shuts down" session, I watched the screen slip past BIOS but then flick on and off on an infinite loop.
It hits just about when the MBR would take over, but it sure didn't FEEL like a problem with the MBR. The Geek Squader seemed to agree and figured I was better off with a box with another Samsung in it. Which despite having to reinstall EVERYTHING all over again, etc, etc, actually seemed to be a good thing if not for the fact the Samsung I got is
NOT THE SAME SAMSUNG I BOUGHT.
Apparently, in the past month Samsung came out with a slightly modified version of the QX411-W01 that BestBuy now carries. The mod? No discrete Nvidia graphics card riding alongside the Intel built-in. In fact, no second card at all. And on my short list of things that MUST be in my next laptop when I went shopping in August, right near the top was this line: NVIDIA CARD. So it's another trip to BestBuy for me on Saturday. I just hope they have the *previous* model of the QX411-W01 with the Nvidia card either there, or in one of their nearby sister stores because I'm really really really not up for another shopping session to find my next notebook PC.
In the vast, life sucks and people are dying horribly all the time scheme of things, this is not a real problem. Or at least it's a teeny tiny one. So why am I crying about it?
Total Comments 9
Comments
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Because it is *utter total frustration*. I had similar issues with a very expensive Asus that threw BSODs at me almost daily right from the start.
The place I bought it (huge chain in France) sent it back to Asus, and it took FIVE WEEKS, so I was without a laptop to travel with because 'ooops we do not have the free spare ones we advertise while yours is repaired at the moment'.
I had to buy a mid-range one as, y'know, working tool. So, clenching teeth, I bought a Toshiba and so far so good.
So back comes the Asus, with a new graphics card, new hard disc, new everything, so I considered setting it up as Main Machine (it has FABULOUS graphics). But thought noooo, let's just wait and see.
Uploaded Windows, Office, SL and not much else.
Two months, no problem.
Then I replaced a mouse. A MOUSE. The laptop crashed as I put a Logitech USB connection into it. Impossible to even get into safe mode, no way it would do ANYTHING... until all on its ownsome it ran chkdsk. And now it (reluctantly) starts, but is SOOOO SLOOOOW.
I hate the bloody thing.Posted 10-01-2011 at 09:39 AM by Ariadne Korda
- Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.Posted 10-01-2011 at 10:46 AM by Coyote Momiji
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*tech frustration hug for Ariadne*
I'm in a better mood this morning, though not by much. Instead of hitting the road I hit the BestBuy web site as well as picked up the phone, and hey of COURSE no one has that original Samsung model in stock anymore. The supervisor I talked to at the local BB store was surprised (probably more like annoyed) my exchange yesterday showed I got the same model. I guess someone wasn't following the bar code swipe rules or something.
So I have a perfectly good, powerful laptop literally in my lap right now, but the lack of an Nvidia card makes for slow, ugly going in SL, as well as in general attitude. And it's also just not the machine I bought. So there's that.
So! I'm risking my credit card limit, and possibly some return policy violence in a few weeks, by having the store order a new Sammy (*my* Sammy) for in-store pickup. But it won't be there until October 17th! Talk about convenience. This leaves me with *this* Sammy until mine shows up, but at the risk this will all get munged and I'll spend a day at Best Buy convincing them to give me my money back. Because there's no way I'm walking out of there with a fucking $749.99 store credit.Posted 10-01-2011 at 11:03 AM by Free Xue - Why do you keep using Best Buy ? They are sort of like buying from Sears/K-Mart, Target, or Wal-Mart. Their stuff is brought in through the same supply chain that brings in all the rest of their merchandise. They sell whatever the current flavor of the month is from whoever the highest bidder is among their vendors. Do you think the vendors are going to offer a great deal on something they haven't figured out how to make a profit on ? How DO they make such and such notebook computer significantly cheaper than what seems to be comparitively the same in the competitors model ? Usually its through 'softening the standards', and the QA, and running a bunch of 'marginally passing' products through the production lines very quickly and shipping it out in a large bulk deal. They figure that even with a certain percentage of returns they will still make out pretty well in the end.
My advice is to steer clear of the 'fantastic' and 'limited time only' deals that seem like such a good break on the price for similar products, feature wise, and go to stores that deal more with customers and with the specific tech your interested in, rather than videos, music, games and, oh yeah, the computers over in the corner type of stores. I recommend places like Microcenter, TigerDirect/CompUSA, and similar stores, and then if all else fails, maybe, just maybe, Fry's Electronics.Posted 10-03-2011 at 06:22 PM by Lord - To shop a Micro Center or CompUSA store requires having them located somewhere near you. Unfortunately I presently live in the electronics wasteland that is New Hampshire. Does Fry's even exist East of the Mississippi?
So to answer your question, BestBuy is where I found the only system (without going online and custom building something) that fit the price range and hardware requirements I set down before I started looking. And that is why I bought this machine, not because of some special price or whatnot. Ongoing, it's where my money's tied up on this purchase. I'm not walking away and getting stuck with a hefty store credit I'll be highly unlikely to use until the next time I'm shopping for a computer, something I was hoping would be 18 months or more in the future.
As I alluded, I could shop online - in fact I was tempted to take a chance and order a notebook from MSI. I've yet to meet someone around here who's even heard of them, but they seem to have some interesting notebook configs for ok prices. But I'm a tactile sort who likes to get her hands on a machine and play around with it a bit before I pay good money for it. For that, unless I'm willing to travel down the coast a few hundred miles, I'm limited almost exclusely to places like BestBuy and (ugh) Staples.Posted 10-03-2011 at 11:28 PM by Free Xue
Updated 10-03-2011 at 11:39 PM by Free Xue -
I've never had serious "my computer died" moments, but my boxes have always been custom builds with parts recommended by people who seriously know their sh*t, and for the rest I tell the salesman "I want stuff with a good track record". There are so many cheap-ass parts out there and anything you get from big box stores is going to be full of that kind of crap, because most people would rather save 10% and gamble rather than make sure they have a solid system in place.
But I do hope you get a good machine and no more worries.Posted 10-04-2011 at 09:11 PM by Soen Eber 
- Skipped lunch on Friday and picked up Sammy Mark III. It came in a bit early. Well it came in on the 6th, but I didn't see the email letting me know till the 13th. I really need to check that email account more often...
I was a while at BestBuy as the customer service clerk went through everything, but it turned out the store manager knew all about the exchange screw up and set up some sort of process to handle it. So I didn't have to fist fight anyone to get them to do a return plus exchange thing. They even made the first purchase the refund, so I walked out with an extra $20 from the cost difference between the original store purchase and the online one. Lunch at Wendy's is on me!
And yes, I quadruple checked the system spec sticker on the box before I walked out with it. Of COURSE I did.
The rest of the afternoon the notebook sat sidewise on my desk at work as I downloaded near everything I remembered installing on my first Sammy. I do need to grab and reinstall the Second Life viewer. Something is not quite right with Hitomi's Starlight skin and I can't reset by re-adding just that. Other than that - and the time I'll spend today configuring some developer tools - it's much where I had things back in late September. Minus the no starting thing, I hope!Posted 10-15-2011 at 08:36 AM by Free Xue -
They've been around a long time -- they make decent Video Cards and Motherboards -- I've been buying their video cards for a while, mainly because they come with better cooling than stock.Quote:MSI. I've yet to meet someone around here who's even heard of them
Don't know about the quality of their laptops though.Posted 10-16-2011 at 09:21 AM by Beezle Warburton - FWIW:
Best & Worst Laptop Brands 2011: Overall Verdict
Look carefully, though -- Apple only came out on top because of reviews. And few Apple owners aren't drooling fan-boys.
Posted 10-16-2011 at 09:26 AM by Beezle Warburton
