From: "Gerhard Fiedler" <lists@connectionbrazil.com>
> So, Russell... question still stands: If Dell service and parts
> availability is bad, which company do you recommend for service and 
> parts
> availability? It doesn't help me if I don't buy Dell, but don't buy 
> any
> other either... :)

I wasn't going to pass on my friend's subsequent comment but, seeing 
you asked :-)

_____________

Ken said:

    Gerhard misses the point  - if something can be repaired (i.e. the
manufacturer has the spares) but refuses to sell them to customers of 
its
products but rather insists that a warranty be purchased they should 
say so
up front when the item is purchased  - that way the customer has the
necessary information to make an informed choice as to whether to
purchase  - or to find some other manufacturer with a more enlightened
customer support policy.

Dell have every right to behave like this  - but customers should have 
the
knowledge that they do.

_________________

And I say:

In my case I was thinking more of desktops.
I tend to buy no-name brand "clones" that have motherboards, RAM, 
drives etc that I can buy replacements for from dozens or even 
hundreds of stores locally. I'd avoid any desktop that I know needed 
special drives or motherboard or video card or RAM. The exception is 
if the RAM is available from a third party supplier at a not too 
excessive premium. I have seen "name brand" PCs that were uneconomical 
to upgrade or maintain due to the horrendous cost of a replacement 
hard disk at a fraction of going size when any clone could have had a 
standard drive fitted at say 10% of the cost for 5 x the size of 
drive.

For laptops I tend to buy on price-capability mix. I have an Acer 
(screen dead)(haven't tried to replace as price exceeds PC value with 
recent market trends), 3 x Thinkpads (unbeatable $ deal), 1 x HP. For 
friends recently I have bought Asus and Acers. I have  a gaggle of 
older Toshibas that just happened and 2 x Toshiba Librettos that are 
niche-useful enough * to still justify running a Pentium 75 :-).

For any laptop I expect to be able to obtain RAM and drives when/if 
required.
I accept that the motherboard and eg keyboard and *internal* power 
supply and case components are custom and I am at their mercy. As with 
Dell.

* One of these days I want to try VNC from a Libretto to a modern 
motherboard and HDD living in a small black box. Should give the 
Libretto a new lease of life for eg in car use. Tiny but almost 
useable keyboard, nice TFT display with a miniscule footprint. Add 
WiFi and ... :-).




            Russell


-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist