Danno

"If I save my data, I lose the cost of the laptop. If I try to save the cost, I might lose my data. HP won't guarantee that the won't erase it, even though I KNOW its not the hard drive. Right now, I'm thinking of putting labels all over the thing begging them to leave the hard drive alone."

I say you find that 'other' HP service facility that won't hurt your hard-drive. It really comes down to the technical expertise of the person working on your laptop. I would guess from HP's response that the've got high-school interns following a checklist.

Anyway, if it's possible to boot from a floppy to do the FDISK /MBR procedure, you can also backup your hard-drive and data as well. Iomega ZIP drives can be used from boot-floppies to make backups. It's even possible to make a boot-floppy with environment variables set so you can then run Windows after booting from the floppy.

Good luck!

Bill

John D,

What cell phone are you using to achieve your wireless connection? I attempted to connect my nokia to my sony pcg-932a and it did not work.

nwehtje944

one of the funny things is that it doesn't matter who you get the laptop from, bcs dell, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, and many others don't even make the laptops. they outsource them to a little company in taiwan called "Quanta."

check it out

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/25/technology/circuits/25LAP.html?pagewanted=print" target="_blank">ABC News</a>

FormulaOne10

I work directly in the IT field and have seen and ordered many different types of laptop computers. The bottom line is that the average user won't really have a problem from one laptop to the next. That being said, I have had the best support and reliability with Dell. In addition to this you can customize your laptop at Dell whereas Toshiba and many others force you to go with a "cookie cutter" (no pun intended) option. Nevertheless those "cookie cutter" options are generally cheaper and offer most everything the typical user will utilize. In the end Dell is better if you can afford it but other options wil probably not disappoint you.

deni durrell

this is a cool topic...

in any order:

Toshiba, Dell (which absolutely does not suck, thank you very much), and IBM are the three top brands.

So many geeks here. Nice to feel part of the group (not surprising that we all meet here though, huh?)

I avoid anything that says "Presario" on it. Compaq sucks crap with consumer level PCs- but ok with corporate level. A couple of bad experiences on several different occasions is what I use to draw this conclusion. However, I rarely have had issues with ML380s or other models. They excel on the enterprise level.

OT: I never* use Win98/ME because 90% of crappy performance comes from the OS. I stick with Win NT/2000/linux (XP makes me feel stupid- I'm tired of searching around the lame Microshaft OS to find System Properties or some other stupid trick. i did that enough with win2k last year)....

(*this doesn't include that machine in the corner that only runs one thing: "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed")

Next topic:
1. what is the best software to interface with the car (for real time diagnostics) and
2. how would this be interfaced (I/O) and where?
3. what OS and/or platform would it use (Palm, Linux, Wintel)


...another IT grunt trying to earn a dollar in silicon valley/sf/sj. danno- how do you do it!!??

Danno

"Next topic:<ol type="1">[*]what is the best software to interface with the car (for real time diagnostics) and [*]how would this be interfaced (I/O) and where?[*]what OS and/or platform would it use (Palm, Linux, Wintel)"[/list=a]Depends on how 'geeky' you want to get and what your needs are.

Personally, I like a general-purpose data-acquisition package such as the National Instruments DAQ/LabView package. It comes with an analog-to-digital transducer box which then plugs into your laptop with a PC-card. The NI-DAQ/LabView software runs under Win98/NT/2000 and gives you the software version of an oscilloscope. You can specify time-intervals for sampling as well as the data/voltage ranges. Depending upon the model, you can monitor and capture up to 32-channels of data down to 10,000th of a second.

Other options on the PC-card is a GPIB interface to hook up just about any lab-instrument you have on your bench. And the Simulink software lets you export data in realtime to other analysis software that can be custom-tailored to your needs.

"...another IT grunt trying to earn a dollar in silicon valley/sf/sj. danno- how do you do it!!??"

Ride the wave, but know when to get off!!! The dot.com mania was one of the best opportunities EVER!!! I remember this saying that was popular with a lot of investment clubs in '97-99: [quote]"Many say the fools are dancing in the [stock] markets, but the greater fools are on the sidelines watching them!"<hr></blockquote>

Heh, heh.... Anyway, I took my money and ran when the end came (left some in my buddies' start-up to save the friendship). Now I'm into drugs (the legal kind), health-care and security (bomb-sniffers, alarms, sensors and snooping).

deni durrell

[quote] ...I like a general-purpose data-acquisition package such as the National Instruments DAQ/LabView package.... <hr></blockquote>

Nice!

<a href="http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/nioc.vp?cid=1381&lang=US" target="_blank">National Instruments LabVIEW</a> and <a href="http://amp.ni.com/niwc/labview/lv_41win.jsp?node=1382" target="_blank">LabVIEW - DAQ Made Simple</a>

Re: your exploits, I remember you saying that before. I had forgotten about the various things you were talking about (over pizza).

Danno

My question is: What the h*ll are you doing up so late?

Only reason I'm up is I gotta finish my rod-bearing inspection and redo my oil-pan gasket so I can make it up to Bill & Gabe's Excellent Barn Raising this weekend!

Manning

OK, I'm a little late here, but I have to chime in. I help support over 100 associates at work and have seen a lot of systems come and go through the door under the arms of vendors and clients. The ones that have been the easiest for my as a tech to support have been the IBM and Compaq computers. That said, my company uses Compaq computers (DeskPros and Armadas), servers (Proliant) and handhelds (iPAQs) exclusively. Why, because despite what many will tell you, they really, really do not suck in any way shape or form, and their customer service is far better than virtually anyone else out there. Try sitting on the phone with a Dell tech support person. You get bounced from prisoner to prisoner (yes, many help desks are actually staffed by inmates) and wind up resolving the problem yourself.

Our staff travels a lot and we have seen and heard it all, and all along the Compaq Armada notebooks just keep humming (ranging from the 4120 up to the E500 series). We have had very few problems that were not caused by spilled soda, airport security or something along those lines. Do not even think about those really light and thin notebooks like the Viaos. That is all BS. The computer itself is light (and fragile at that), but it also has no CD drive, an external power supply and in some cases requires an adaptor or dock to use a floppy drive or any other devise (mouse, keyboard, the aforemetioned CDrom). WTF! Add it all up and it is as much to lug as any standard notebook.

Admittedly we do our own tech support and repair work, but that is actually not very often. And when we do have to call Compaq for support it is quick and painless. Cannot say the same for Dell or HP.

And don't get me started about Dell's (lack of) build quality.

FormulaOne10

Few things I forgot to add. Most fortune 1000 companies used to use mainly Toshiba, IBM, HP and Compaq computers. Today Dell is by far the most widely purchased. Dell got to that point for good reasons.

I would also like to add that contrary to many people's experiences or claims, Dell has almost always come out #1 in independent tests of service and support. As for being "bounced around" from person to person on Dell tech support, that is usually the product of the customer initially contacting the wrong person or department. So I guess you could blame Dell for not training every tech rep in every aspect(software, hardware, sales, returns, etc.) of all the computers and services they sell. I have many times had a sales rep not be able to help me with hardware upgrade issues, and tech reps not be able to answer a question about a promotional sales deal. But I have never had a rep that could not answer a question based on his employed expertise at Dell. I'm sure it happens, but I don't think it is a common occurence.

Manning

Dell got to that point though marketing their products well. Gateway does the same thing. You always hear about the great corporate deals these companies offer, but when you really boil it down you wind up not saving very much. Any CFO is going to jump at the best bid and sadly will do so without consulting the CIO. Remember, the **** party marketed themselves pretty well initially, and look where that got us.

Hell, think about how misunderstood Macs are. The Mac OS is pretty universally accepted by computer experts as a significantly better OS, but the average Joe user will cringe at the idea of buying a Mac. Macs are also pretty well know for excellent build quality, but you always wind up hearing about the batch of Power Books that had exploding batteries (early to mid 90's?). Does anyone ever bother to recount the instances where early P2 notebook supposedly caught fire? And everyone bemoans the claim that there is no software written for Macs. Really? Ever heard of Office X, or virtually all Adobe products. Lots and lots of other graphics packages and games too. And this is due in part to bad marketing by Apple from time to time.

We (my department) constantly have coworkers ask us what computers to look at and we always tell them they should at least look at Compaq. Because of the reputation Compaq has of using proprietary hardware (tweeked for better performance actually), the uneducated get spooked and look at lower priced computers (Dell and Gateway). And every single associate I work with who has purchased a Dell has had problems, either with initial build quality or setup, or later on down the road with customer support.

Now let me say this is all based on MY personal experience. If you have a Dell and think it is hot-diggity, well keep at it, because you are a satisfied customer.

FormulaOne10

First of all I respect all of your opinions, even though I may disagree.

As far as I know it was not only marketing that got Dell where they are today. In fact business analysts praise them most for their supply-chain management efficiency, customer service system, made to order computers, and corporate solutions. I have never once seen their marketing mentioned. Once again, these are still opinions of people, not necessarily facts.

I feel it is really unfair to say that "Any CFO is going to jump at the best bid and sadly will do so without consulting the CIO." That is a gross generalization that is really based on absolutely no factual information. Quite a bold statement.

As for "boiling-down" the savings of a Dell corportate solution to very little, where did you get this information from? I'm not questioning the validity of it, I'm just curious since as an IT person, I have never heard this or seen evidence of it.

I'm just gonna skip over the ****-Party example for lack of relevence.

"Mac's are universally accepted as better by computer experts." In my opinion, Macs are better in many categories that really don't weigh in for a company. I really don't think businesses are not buying Apples for their lack of "image" due to poor marketing. I feel its more of a "why would we spend money converting everybody to Apple when our PCs do the job fine?" Sure Apples are compatible with a good portion of today's software. However, If I had to bet a million bucks on which type of computer would statistically be more compatible with a wide variety of software and solutions, I would pick the PC hands down. I do agree that Apple builds a pretty solid system these days though, it just isn't practical for most businesses to go that route. Again, this is my opinion.

As for the pricing schedules of Dell, Gateway and Compaq, Dell has always been criticized for higher prices. I don't know where you are getting your info from, but a quick comparision between similar computers on the websites of Dell and Compaq should show an across the board price increase for a Dell. In a few cases the Dell can be cheaper because the customer can eliminate un-eeded items on the computer and customize it to their liking. The general increased price can be argued as a bad thing but I feel the extra dollars are worth the service and support you get from it.

Manning

[quote] I'm just gonna skip over the ****-Party example for lack of relevence. <hr></blockquote>

Yeah that was way out there, huh? My vague point was that even they apparently seemed like a good thing at first or else they would never have come to power (over simplification there). Again, a comment on the power of "marketing".

[quote] Mac's are universally accepted as better by computer experts <hr></blockquote>

Not exactly what I said, but pretty much the case. You are correct about Macs not being a good choice as a business computer at this point. In fact I never meant to imply that Mac would be a good choice for a modern business (unless you are into graphics/advertising). However, had Steve Jobs released his grips a bit back in the early 90's and let people build clones, perhaps that would be different. Heck, there even used to be a version of AutoCAD for the Mac OS.

That CFO/CIO thing was a bit off base. However, I have reviewed price scheduling for corporate purchases on Gateway and Dell, and sadly when we got right down to it, there really wasn't much to gain (maybe at the time) by making a large corporate purchase versus ones and twos as needed. Well, other than the fact that now you are sitting on a lump of depreciating inventory.

And yes, a lot of this is opinion.

Danno

Again, a comment on the power of "marketing"."

Ahhh, isn't marketing wonderful? You all know about the cliché about selling refridgerators to Eskimos right?

Also I think the market tend to be very price-sensitive. As such, a better product doesn't necessarily win out if it's not offered at an attractive price premium. For example Beta vs. VHS.

FormulaOne10

Oh BTW, for the record I use a a Dell desktop and a Compaq Armada for the road. I'm very happy with both computers. <img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" /> Also, I was reading my last few posts and in hindsight they came out much more agressive than I had intended. Sorry if they seemed a bit harsh or condescending. <img src="graemlins/soapbox.gif" border="0" alt="[soapbox]" /> That was not the type of message I was trying to communicate, I was just trying to have a friendly discussion <img src="graemlins/a_smil17.gif" border="0" alt="[blabla]" />