Quote: from OzX at 2:12 am on Oct. 14, 2003
$$$!!!!! anyone with me?90 day call in is standard
1 year parts
UPGRADE warranty costs like 300?
most basic ibook costs 999
most basic imac costs 1299
WINDOWS:
most basic laptop: 750 (toshiba/dell/compaq)
most basic desktop: 550 or less? (dell/gateway)
For one thing, how much does the extra warranty for a Dell cost? How long is theirs standard?
Checked on Dell's site, and it's basically the same warranty deal:
Limited Warranty2 and Mail-In Service: The Inspiron 1000 comes standard with a 90 Day Limited Warranty2 and Mail-In Service. But for ultimate peace of mind on this new PC, upgrade your service to 1, 2, or 3 years of Limited Warranty2 and Mail-In Service and add CompleteCare3 Accidental Damage Protection. See the Service and Support tab for more information.
The only problem is that it's MAIL IN service, and oftentimes they end up not being too careful with your data, and only support WinXP. Got Gentoo installed? Even if it's a hardware problem, and you are sure of it, they don't really wanna talk to you on the phone support. Take my iBook right into the Apple store (there's two within 10 miles, so i'm happy), and they'll fix it right there in front of me. I can also go into the "Genius Bar" and get help whenever I want it.
In addition, the most basic dell laptop... Does it have a 15" flat screen built in? No. How about you compare apples to apples (pun not intended). The iMac isn't even currently shipping, so you can't talk about it! And the eMac is the direct comparison, and you need to factor in if Dell is going to charge you for a 15" CRT in that too!
In addition, let me ask you, why do you care so much about another $250 dollars for a computer that's better in so many ways. The slowest Dell laptop will NOT make you happy in 2-3 years. My ex's Dell desktop is now 3 years old, and it SUCKS. I've used Macs that are 3 years old, and they still do the job great!
How about this? Buy a Dell now, i'll take my two macs. We try to resell them in a year to upgrade to the newest thing. I bet I will have less depreciation. Don't believe me? Check eBay for an older Macs and then Dells of the same era. The Macs still sell for their value. If I got a Dell a year ago, I wouldn't be able to sell it for much at all. My Dual processor G4, still will fetch quite a bit in fact. AND the Mac will still do what I need a few years.
It's like saying a Kia is a better car than a Honda. or that a Honda is better than a BMW, simply because of the price differences. But the margin on these computers is even less!
And in addition so many of these computer companies still ship with 128mb memory! What the hell? I haven't had a comptuer with less than 512mb in about 4 years! In the mid 90's I had ~160mb installed, when most people had 24mb at the same time, so i guess i'm ahead of the trends.
I've owned 75+ PCs (hard to count) and ran every OS I could get my hands on. I have two Macs personally, and another at work, and I will NEVER own another x86 based system.
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