On Wed, 2009-03-04 at 22:49 +0000, Alec Wright wrote: > I bought an inspiron 6400 with ubuntu preloaded back in the ubuntu > feisty days (about 1.5 years ago). I'm afraid I'm gonna have to agree > - their build quality is poor, as is their support. I'm not going to > deny that my laptop does take a bit of a beating being carried to and > from school every day, but this is a bit ridiculous: the left speaker > doesnt work, I've had to replace the keyboard after several keys > stopped working, the clip at the top of the screen jams, the screen's > hinges wobble, the CD drive keeps falling out, the xD card reader > doesnt work, the power cable fell apart (had to buy a new one), the > hard drive failed once - devouring my maths coursework (luckily i had > an only slightly out of date backup), the battery's at 63% and falling > of its nominal capacity (55.3 Wh compared to the 86.6 Wh that i payed > for), the bluetooth doesnt work, the carry bag's disintegrated, and > the heatsink has a kinder bueno wrapper in it. > Ok maybe the last one's my fault, but you get the idea
I have had one of those since they came out and it's still fine. Mine was a bit more of a base model, no bluetooth and so on, but the only problem I've had was a HD failure, and that was a HD I bought to upgrade the one that it came with. (Oh yeah, and I no longer have an x key, but that's because I took it off to get something out from under it and broke the little metal clips that hold the key in....) I do agree that the build quality isn't as good as a Thinkpad, you just have to treat them that little bit more respectful. I got a laptop backpack to carry mine in, and it's suffered no damage at all being carted around the country, back and forth into Uni and so on. Oh, and the battery in mine is now saying "Capacity 79% (Fair)" which is 68.9 Wh instead of 86.6 Wh. But I expect that kind of degredation from a laptop battery of this size anyway. Come a year or so when that drops a bit more it'll probably be new computer time anyway. -Matt Daubney -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
