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F.O.A.D.

On 9/5/13 2:43 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 05 Sep 2013 14:04:06 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

...I continue to appreciate the good customer service. The three year
warranty on my desktop iMac expired in April, but I got an email today,
inviting me to bring my computer to the apple store so the guys/gals
there can replace, at no cost to me, the one terabyte hard drive. Apple
has had some problems with "premature deaths" of the Seagate drives that
were first installed in these machines. I was aware of this but
basically forgot to bring my machine in for the replacement. So, now I
have an appointment for a "bring it in at lunchtime, go eat lunch, and
we'll have it ready for you when you come back" repair.

Running the second of two backups now, will take the machine in in the
next couple of days.

Gee, I could have had a Dell, or an HP, or ... and been dealing with a
non-English speaking script reader in Pakistan, eh?

Is this warranty or did you buy a service contract?

I agree I wouldn't buy a Dell myself, HP has been OK for me though.
I have at least 3 here (I would have to go around and count to be
sure) but I think the most "solid" machines are the IBM/Lenovos I
have.
I have 3 Thinkpads and 2 desk tops.
Two of the Thinkpads are pretty much mothballed (W/98 machines) but
the other tablet convertible is the one take on trips.
One desktop is in the Tiki bar as a MP3 player and RADAR machine, the
other is what I am typing on.

These are all "off lease" machines I got for $100 or less, so if they
do break, I put them on the curb for the scrappers.

I canned all of my PS/2s and Aptivas a while ago but they were all
still running.

If there is a hobbyist collector out there, I still have a
"convertible" with a Serial/parallel slice, a printer slice and a
composite video monitor slice. Free to a good home ;-)

I bought the iMac with its usual one year warranty and paid about $120
for the no questions asked two year AppleCare extension, but all of that
expired in April.

I wouldn't buy Dell or HP. I've had "tech support" encounters with both
that were...disappointing.

I bought a Thinkpad T21 something or other in 2002 or maybe 2003 and it
served me well until 2008 when I sold it and bought my first apple
computer, a Macbook Pro, which I kept for three years and then sold to a
friend to help pay for an iPad, which I kept for a year and sold because
to me it was more than less useless. I don't like the absence of a
traditional file system on these devices, and the lack of a mouse. Used
the proceeds from that sale to help pay for a Macbook Air, which is the
best by far laptop computer I've ever used.