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urbanriot
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join:2004-10-18
Canada

urbanriot to MaynardKrebs

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Re: Being lazy: laptop suggestion for desktop replacement

I agree with MaynardKrebs, HP Probooks and Acer Travelmates are oriented towards business people rather than young folks, so they focus more on a quality build than the 'bling' that kids want. Both of those lines have different phone support as well, the Travelmates in the US rather than the Aspire's overseas.

Edit: Although I also do endorse the aforementioned Lenovo lines with Intel CPU's and Intel's HD graphics, same quality.

corster
Premium Member
join:2002-02-23
Oshawa, ON

1 edit

corster to Gone

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to Gone
said by Gone:

said by Guspaz:

That said, I would challenge somebody to point out the law that says you can't sell a US keyboard laptop in Canada unless you also have a French model...

There is no Canadian law. Quebec is a different story, which is why Canadian companies that do business there (e.g. Future Shop) end up restricting US keyboard shipments to Quebec and stuff like that. A company like Dell shipping out of the US probably couldn't care less, and there'd be no way for the province to enforce the law.

Here's a Globe and Mail article that covers the issue pretty well:
»www.theglobeandmail.com/ ··· e544374/
MaynardKrebs
We did it. We heaved Steve. Yipee.
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join:2009-06-17

MaynardKrebs to urbanriot

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said by urbanriot:

I agree with MaynardKrebs, HP Probooks and Acer Travelmates are oriented towards business people rather than young folks, so they focus more on a quality build than the 'bling' that kids want. Both of those lines have different phone support as well, the Travelmates in the US rather than the Aspire's overseas.

One more thing.....

Toshiba Satellite Pro models come with an international warranty (at least Canada & US) vs. the Satellite (non-Pro models) which come with either a US or Canadian warranty depending on which country they were purchased in. Satellite Pro & Tecra models are Toshiba's business lines, hence the wider warranty support for traveling professionals.

Link Logger
MVM
join:2001-03-29
Calgary, AB

Link Logger to donoreo

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I quite like my Alienware MX18, I'll likely buy another one. I'm not a gamer, but I'm a developer so I like horse power and Alienware seems to deliver it by the bucket and being an 'older' developer the large screen is helpful as well.

Blake

elwoodblues
Elwood Blues
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join:2006-08-30
Somewhere in

elwoodblues

Premium Member

You realize that since Dell purchased Alienware it's nothing fancy anymore? They're standard Dell MOBO's, pretty much the same you'll find in the XPS series.

They look really good, but for what you are sing it for, you could easily use a 17" Vostro or Latitude.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

Alienware machines are no different now than they were prior to the Dell purchase. They looked all fancy, but under the hood they were really no different than any other off-the-shelf stuff.

A Lurker
that's Ms Lurker btw
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join:2007-10-27
Wellington N

A Lurker to donoreo

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Without going to make and model, I have to say I'm quite happy with the Lenova Thinkpad (i5) I bought last year. It was purchased specifically so it came with Windows 7 Pro (as something I wanted to run said it was a requirement). It's a pretty decent machine and runs what I want. At the time the i7 was just a little more than I could justify.

Full use battery time isn't fantastic (I forget 100%, but when away from power but 3 hours of constant use was an issue.) However, if I made a point to put it into sleep mode when I wasn't actually using it the time was obviously much better.

ETA: Before that I had an Acer, bought when I was going to be travelling out of the country a fair bit (it had the international warranty). Even though at the time people told me it was a bad purchase it pretty much did what I wanted it to (and ended up doing a huge amount of video conversion which wasn't planned).

digitalfutur
Sees More Than Shown
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join:2000-07-15
GTA

digitalfutur to corster

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I've purchased HP and Acer retail desktop packages, and never once saw a French keyboard. I guess it depends who the manufacturer is.

Gone
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join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

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The one and only computer manufacturer I've ever encountered that includes Canadian Multilingual keyboards in their desktop retail boxes is Acer.

Wolfie00
My dog is an elitist
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join:2005-03-12

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said by Gone:

Alienware machines are no different now than they were prior to the Dell purchase. They looked all fancy, but under the hood they were really no different than any other off-the-shelf stuff.

From what I've seen, Alienware tends to use better components, but charges a hefty premium and it's not clear that it's worth it. Plus, a sleazy trick that Dell likes to pull is to offer some of their best leading-edge components only on the Alienware line. Like high-end video cards -- no reason they can't be offered for a reasonable upgrade price on appropriately equipped Dells, but often they're just not an option.

elwoodblues
Elwood Blues
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join:2006-08-30
Somewhere in

elwoodblues

Premium Member

said by Wolfie00:

said by Gone:

Alienware machines are no different now than they were prior to the Dell purchase. They looked all fancy, but under the hood they were really no different than any other off-the-shelf stuff.

From what I've seen, Alienware tends to use better components, but charges a hefty premium and it's not clear that it's worth it. Plus, a sleazy trick that Dell likes to pull is to offer some of their best leading-edge components only on the Alienware line. Like high-end video cards -- no reason they can't be offered for a reasonable upgrade price on appropriately equipped Dells, but often they're just not an option.

I never buy anything of significance from Dell. Looking at the X51 from Alienware, to "upgrade" from the i7-3820 to the i7-3960X is $1200!!!!! Retail is a little more then $1000.

The last place I worked, I bought the smallest possible drive for the server, then buy the trays off Ebay and the drives retail for less then even the "discount" we got.

Wolfie00
My dog is an elitist
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Wolfie00

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Blanket statements like that are not always true. Back at the end of 2009, I managed to snag a Dell XPS 9000 with an i7-920 with the Radeon HD 5870, at that time a new top-end video card that had not even hit the store shelves yet. That was a fantastic system three years ago and offered at a great price, but that deal didn't last long. In fact it didn't last more than a day or two. Shortly afterward, the HD5870 was pulled from the Dell lineup and available only on Alienware, and boy, you got to pay through the nose for it.

elwoodblues
Elwood Blues
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join:2006-08-30
Somewhere in

1 edit

elwoodblues

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said by Wolfie00:

Blanket statements like that are not always true. Back at the end of 2009, I managed to snag a Dell XPS 9000 with an i7-920 with the Radeon HD 5870, at that time a new top-end video card that had not even hit the store shelves yet. That was a fantastic system three years ago and offered at a great price, but that deal didn't last long. In fact it didn't last more than a day or two. Shortly afterward, the HD5870 was pulled from the Dell lineup and available only on Alienware, and boy, you got to pay through the nose for it.

It's a blanket statement, because everywhere I've worked and bought Dell equipment it's held true. I buy Dell because enterprise support is excellent and they have a fantastic website for drivers and updates , that is unmatched with the other vendors.

Wolfie, go to Dell's website and start configuring a PC that has options, see what the upgrade costs are and compare that to retail.

Now I don't know if this holds true for all other vendors, but i refused to buy a DELL San, because I have to buy their hard drives.

Wolfie00
My dog is an elitist
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Wolfie00

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I agree that Dell makes big profits on upgrades, and engages in the kind of selective options offerings that were pioneered by profiteering car manufacturers (with less actual justification). All I'm saying is that there are deals to be had if you keep your eyes open.

donoreo
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join:2002-05-30
North York, ON

donoreo to elwoodblues

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said by elwoodblues:

Now I don't know if this holds true for all other vendors, but i refused to buy a DELL San, because I have to buy their hard drives.

Buying a Dell SAN is cheaper than an EMC even though it is made by EMC.

Gone
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join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone to elwoodblues

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said by elwoodblues:

It's a blanket statement, because everywhere I've worked and bought Dell equipment it's held true. I buy Dell because enterprise support is excellent and they have a fantastic website for drivers and updates , that is unmatched with the other vendors.

The problem is that if you buy your own drives you've pretty much murdered a lot of that excellent enterprise support to begin with. There's a reason they charge a lot for their drives, and it's not just because they're enterprise-grade drives.

elwoodblues
Elwood Blues
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elwoodblues

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The thing was that the drives are the same, so Dell buys a Samsung/Seagate et al drive sticks and they are OEM'd to Dell (based on the serial #).

No I don't murder that support,I can troubleshoot just about any problem and if it's a Hard drive I'll deal with it.
elwoodblues

elwoodblues to donoreo

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said by donoreo:

said by elwoodblues:

Now I don't know if this holds true for all other vendors, but i refused to buy a DELL San, because I have to buy their hard drives.

Buying a Dell SAN is cheaper than an EMC even though it is made by EMC.

Not anymore, they bought a company Compellent I think.

donoreo
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join:2002-05-30
North York, ON

donoreo

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said by elwoodblues:

said by donoreo:

said by elwoodblues:

Now I don't know if this holds true for all other vendors, but i refused to buy a DELL San, because I have to buy their hard drives.

Buying a Dell SAN is cheaper than an EMC even though it is made by EMC.

Not anymore, they bought a company Compellent I think.

Yes, the newer ones would be. Any I have dealt with were the older EMC ones.
MaynardKrebs
We did it. We heaved Steve. Yipee.
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MaynardKrebs to Gone

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Wasn't DSLr's infamous spring 2012 multi-week outage as a result of Dell gear failing in spectacular fashion (though not having a proper backup also helped a lot).

Gone
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join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone to elwoodblues

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said by elwoodblues:

The thing was that the drives are the same, so Dell buys a Samsung/Seagate et al drive sticks and they are OEM'd to Dell (based on the serial #).

No I don't murder that support,I can troubleshoot just about any problem and if it's a Hard drive I'll deal with it.

It doesn't matter. If you have an onsite agreement with Dell and a tech shows up only to see that you're using non-"Dell" drives, he'll wash his hands of any issue even remotely related to the storage system and not only will you be on your own to figure it out, but you'll be the one paying for the replacement drive(s) while waiting for an RMA to return.

That's why you pay more for Dell hard drives. It's more than just the drive. It's the entire service and support. When I was doing IT and we were Dell authorized we would never put our own drives into a system unless it was a) our own b) the customer signed off and knew what they were getting into.
Gone

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said by MaynardKrebs:

Wasn't DSLr's infamous spring 2012 multi-week outage as a result of Dell gear failing in spectacular fashion (though not having a proper backup also helped a lot).

That's what backups for for. It was a failure on many levels.

elwoodblues
Elwood Blues
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elwoodblues to Gone

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Are you kidding me. They wanted 75k for a 16tb SAN, I spent about 15K for over 45TB on a DAS that I then turned (several of them) into a NAS using Freenas.
elwoodblues

elwoodblues to donoreo

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said by donoreo:

Yes, the newer ones would be. Any I have dealt with were the older EMC ones.

Equalogic were the ones were looking at. That was also another bought company. Great product, but over the top expensive.

Gone
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Gone to elwoodblues

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said by elwoodblues:

Are you kidding me. They wanted 75k for a 16tb SAN, I spent about 15K for over 45TB on a DAS that I then turned (several of them) into a NAS using Freenas.

Right, and you're paying a premium for the support, not the hardware.

I could care less what you do, but as a former IT professional I consider it a matter of ethics if you are deploying hardware to clients and not making them aware that the way you are deploying the machine may have an affect on the warranty and service they're purchasing to go with it.

donoreo
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join:2002-05-30
North York, ON

donoreo

Premium Member

said by Gone:

said by elwoodblues:

Are you kidding me. They wanted 75k for a 16tb SAN, I spent about 15K for over 45TB on a DAS that I then turned (several of them) into a NAS using Freenas.

Right, and you're paying a premium for the support, not the hardware.

I could care less what you do, but as a former IT professional I consider it a matter of ethics if you are deploying hardware to clients and not making them aware that the way you are deploying the machine may have an affect on the warranty and service they're purchasing to go with it.

To his credit, he was doing what he was told. I know in his last position the mantra was to "find a cheaper way no matter what".

Gone
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join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

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There's nothing wrong with that at all, the customer just needs full disclosure and needs to be informed that there are caveats to doing it the way elwood has been doing it. Speed, quality and price. Pick two.

donoreo
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North York, ON

donoreo

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said by Gone:

There's nothing wrong with that at all, the customer just needs full disclosure and needs to be informed that there are caveats to doing it the way elwood has been doing it. Speed, quality and price. Pick two.

There was no "customer" it was his employer.
johnkim
join:2011-10-01

johnkim to donoreo

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+1 for the Lenovo refurb. I bought one at $379 and is rocksolid (knock on wood).

i5, 500gb, 6gb ram, hdmi, card reader, wimax. Faster enough for any heavy office use.

elwoodblues
Elwood Blues
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elwoodblues to Gone

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said by Gone:

There's nothing wrong with that at all, the customer just needs full disclosure and needs to be informed that there are caveats to doing it the way elwood has been doing it. Speed, quality and price. Pick two.

Clients give me a budget and I work with that. When I worked for someone, same thing, I have a budget and I work with that.

I'm very resourceful and can find many ways to save money.