I had a Dell Inspiron 2200 since about October '07, and all of a sudden the monitor just died. It's not totally ded, because I can still see vague shadows of what's supposed to be on the screen, sort of like how you can see a few vestigial images on the LCD after you turn the screen off, but it's always like that now. Sometimes if I shut the lid and open it back up, I get a full-power screen for like ten seconds, and then it goes back to almost-back again. I have no idea how this happened on a computer I've had for less than two years, and one that was pretty good about power-saving (blank screen after 10 minutes idle, hibernate after 45). I think it just sucks. So now I don't really have a computer anymore.
Chat! culturecrossfire.slack.com
Well, I guess I need a new laptop.
- Thread starter Czech
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Sabre
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Sounds like a loose cable. Could be easily fixed.
Spaceman Spiff
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Tighten it up!
Black Lushus
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Sounds like an expensive fix...might as well go new.
wnyxmcneal
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Dell laptops are awful
They are? I have one that I've had since 2004 that still works well, the only issue I've had with it was the volume key sticking. We have nothing but Dell in the house and have had no problems.
That said, my old laptop has contracted a virus and will not boot in safemode...I think it may be time to put her down.
That said, my old laptop has contracted a virus and will not boot in safemode...I think it may be time to put her down.
wnyxmcneal
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I had a Dell laptop that had a motherboard crash after 13 months, conveniently a month after the warranty expired.
I hate laptops in general, and owning one did nothing to dissaude me. I'm a Windows desktop kinda guy
I hate laptops in general, and owning one did nothing to dissaude me. I'm a Windows desktop kinda guy
I got three great years out of my old eMachines laptop, but all the keys started falling off and the fan died, meaning it would overheat and shut down all the time. But what a fantastic display it had.
As for displays, I'm currently jury-rigging my way through the dilemma by running the picture into my television with a VGA cord, though this forces me to have my head at a 30-degree angle at all times, because the television is a shelf and a half above and to the right of the laptop here on my desk/bookshelf combo. This is untenable for anything longer than another week or so. What can I get for like $400 to $500.
As for displays, I'm currently jury-rigging my way through the dilemma by running the picture into my television with a VGA cord, though this forces me to have my head at a 30-degree angle at all times, because the television is a shelf and a half above and to the right of the laptop here on my desk/bookshelf combo. This is untenable for anything longer than another week or so. What can I get for like $400 to $500.
Bestbuy usually has a few decent ones in that price range in their weekly ads as well.
I don't really ask much from my laptops. They don't really go anywhere, I'm not particularly hard on them, and I don't play lots of really complicated video games that require a lot of processing or whatever. I just need to be able to use the Internet, Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Winamp, AIM, Cool Edit/Audition, Soulseek, emulators, and Austrian Dungeon Porn Simulator v3.0.1. I'm not exactly computing hard here.
Twisted Intestine
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I have a desk top running through my TV, and a wireless mouse/keyboard that I use on my couch. I recommend everyone go this way, I've never been happier.
After some arm-twisting with the folks at Best Buy, I ended up with the Acer AS6530-6522 for $400. When I walked in the store, that first guy at the door told me that the laptop I was looking for was not in stock, and was directed to customer service where I could possibly order it. Then customer service said they have three in stock, but cannot sell them, because they're waiting to roll them out on Sunday, when the sale (laptop+case+mouse+printer) will no longer apply. So I asked how they could have them in stock but not sell them while the sale is ongoing, which is really kind of unethical, if not just plain wrong, and the customer service girl said she'll make an exception for me. So I was directed to the computer department, where a very nice girl helped me get the laptop I want/need, along with either the listed throw-ins or similar items of similar value, which was quite gracious. I'm sure the retail mongs here are going to pour in and tell me what an awful human I was for questioning someone's ethics like that, but I made up for it by being nice and thankful to the people that helped me, and look, it's not as if Best Buy (or any retailer) really has us consumers by the balls these days. You can sell me $500 worth of computer shit for $400, or you can gfy. All things considered, I think it was a pleasant transaction.
What won't be pleasant is switching from comfy old XP to daunting new Vista. I'm grimly resigned to entering modernity, but it's probably going to be a huge pain. Oh well. Just give me two good years of this thing before it falls apart and sets itself on fire. Remember in "Hired! Part 2" when the salesman says "we hope you'll buy your next ten cars from us" and Joel goes "TEN CARS?!?!?!?" Laptops are the new Studebakers, man.
What won't be pleasant is switching from comfy old XP to daunting new Vista. I'm grimly resigned to entering modernity, but it's probably going to be a huge pain. Oh well. Just give me two good years of this thing before it falls apart and sets itself on fire. Remember in "Hired! Part 2" when the salesman says "we hope you'll buy your next ten cars from us" and Joel goes "TEN CARS?!?!?!?" Laptops are the new Studebakers, man.
Was anybody swatting at imaginary elves?
griffinmills
I finally changed this.
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Czech said:
I don't know why, but this has me simultaneously laughing and weeping. It's just the most amazingly ballsy, shitty, chutzpah-y, retail-y thing that sums up the state of the world today. ;D
The sheer amount of self defeating thought going on in that little story snippet is staggering. From the macro-level of, "Let's have a sale then not sell the thing that's on sale" to the micro level of, "Let's tell people that THAT is what we are doing" to then not even sticking to your guns and selling the item anyway is cake!
Yeah, it's a something. I felt bad, they were just kids repeating orders.
So far so good for the most part on the new machine, but it seems to slow down a little bit. I wonder if I have too many extraneous programs and processes running. Google Desktop. Is that just something that makes Vista run slower than it already does? Can I unload that?
So far so good for the most part on the new machine, but it seems to slow down a little bit. I wonder if I have too many extraneous programs and processes running. Google Desktop. Is that just something that makes Vista run slower than it already does? Can I unload that?
You can unload Google Desktop, but having used it for a few years now I've never associated it with computer slow down. 95% of the shit a laptop comes with though? Axe it and don't look back.
Vitamin X
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You really need 64-bit Vista and at least 4GB of RAM to make it run real nice.
Windows 7 is coming out in late September/October though, and I believe you can upgrade for free since you just got a laptop with Vista on it today. That's a much nicer system.
Windows 7 is coming out in late September/October though, and I believe you can upgrade for free since you just got a laptop with Vista on it today. That's a much nicer system.
Vitamin X
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Vista is a memory hog. Windows 7 will make everything run a lot smoother. I've tried out the beta test and the RC and it is far better at using memory.
Bump.
Months of rigorous malware removal seem to have fucked up the registry. Now I always get some "Host Process for Windows Services stopped working and was closed" message like every two minutes. I like this, because closing this prompt opens another one that says something like "Windows has found possible solutions: there are no solutions" or some similar semantic cul-de-sac. It also logs me out of The Real TSM and Facebook all the time, whatever this problem is.
I'm ready to give up and reformat, but I don't think I can because I've already had it professionally reformatted (some corrupted startup file had me seriously dicked; Windows wouldn't even load) so factory settings are lost and gone forever. I might just spring for Windows 7. I tried to cash in my Free Upgrade, but fucking Acer sent me to some other third party retailer for my upgrade, and their site was always crashed. I looked into cashing it in again, as all laptops purchased between x and y are allowed to do, but apparently they stopped giving away upgrades in March, when my computer ran just fine. I guess what I'm asking is where can I get a free Windows 7.
Months of rigorous malware removal seem to have fucked up the registry. Now I always get some "Host Process for Windows Services stopped working and was closed" message like every two minutes. I like this, because closing this prompt opens another one that says something like "Windows has found possible solutions: there are no solutions" or some similar semantic cul-de-sac. It also logs me out of The Real TSM and Facebook all the time, whatever this problem is.
I'm ready to give up and reformat, but I don't think I can because I've already had it professionally reformatted (some corrupted startup file had me seriously dicked; Windows wouldn't even load) so factory settings are lost and gone forever. I might just spring for Windows 7. I tried to cash in my Free Upgrade, but fucking Acer sent me to some other third party retailer for my upgrade, and their site was always crashed. I looked into cashing it in again, as all laptops purchased between x and y are allowed to do, but apparently they stopped giving away upgrades in March, when my computer ran just fine. I guess what I'm asking is where can I get a free Windows 7.