Re: Off Subject (Sort of) Looking for notebook recommendation

["Bill Daniel" <bogeybunky@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Although not a laptop I have had the same experience as Owen with Compaq.  I
will never buy another Compaq.  On the other hand I also have a Dell
Inspiron 7500 and have owned numerous other Dells over the years.  As far as
I am concerned Dell is worth a few extra dollars and the customer support
has been great.  Specifically speaking about the laptop I think it is a
great machine.  Like all laptops you have to get use to the touchpad rather
than the mouse, but that doesn't take long.

Bill Daniel
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Owen Davies
  To: omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx ; Stewart Taylor
  Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 11:51 AM
  Subject: Re: Off Subject (Sort of) Looking for notebook recommendation


  Stewart Taylor asked us to recommendation good laptops.

  Sorry, I can't do it.  But I can recommend against one widely
  available brand:  Whatever you do, don't get a Compaq.
  Unless things have changed since I last looked, and I doubt
  that a whole lot, their proprietary add-ons to Windows are
  buggy as all get-out, and there is no way to run the machine
  without them.  On some models, also, (including the one
  I made the mistake of buying) it's impossible to fix any of the
  cumulative problems without reinstalling the entire system,
  destroying all your programs and data files.  While using the
  thing pretty much constantly, I had to strip it down the the bare
  drive and start again three times in the first six months -- and
  I've heard of worse records.

  In fairness, I have to admit that as a once-in-a-while, Word-
  and-IE-while-on-a-trip machine, it isn't too bad.  Then again,
  few computers are too bad if you hardly ever use them.

  As for the Dell, see if you can lay hands on one before buying.
  I used one for a week or so in someone else's office and found
  that the touchpad wasn't recessed enough to get it out of my
  way.  Whenever my attention wandered to my work, rather than
  to controlling my thumbs, the cursor ran all over the screen.
  Other folks have found this less of a problem, but I couldn't adapt
  to it.

  Owen Davies