Got a new laptop- love it!

[Fritzo]

Just got an EMachines Athlon 3200+ laptop. Great wide screen, comfortable keyboard, sleek looking...thought it was the best laptop I ever seen! So I bought it and took it hope.

After using it for an hour, I'm now annoyed by the fact it has no CTRL key on the right side- I use CTRL-Enter instead of typing www.com in my URL's. Also, theres no on screen display for the volume. Kind of hard to tell what the volume is set at (it has an up and down volume button).

What should I do? Should I return to for those minor reasons or live with them?

 

Return it and get a dell .

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Phocas
Return it and get a dell .

Having a corporate account with Dell, I can honestly say that Dell's laptops STINK. The screens on the Inspirons tend to go dim within a year, their keyboard quality stinks, and a host of other things I've had experiences with. That's why I used a company voucher to get my own laptop instead of the ones we usually get from Dell.


EMachines was bought by Gateway, and since then their quality has gone up 10 fold! Just these little annoying things that bug me. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get used to it.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Phocas
Return it and get a dell .

Sure, if you like talking to India on a regular basis.

IBM all the way

 

[desteffy]

return and get a powerbook

 

[randumb]

I got a Compaq A64 3200+ laptop (R3000) and there is a ctrl button on both sides.

 

[BHeemsoth]

I just got a new IBM t42, it kicks ass.

 

[imported_Phil]

I used to service the eMachines laptops, and a friend picked on up for an absolute steal- it's now used as a Netstumbler device
The only irritations (don't know if these have changed now) was the lack of a PCMCIA slot, and that you have to remove the base plate to get to the battery.

 

[Trente]

Originally posted by: desteffy
return and get a powerbook

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Dopefiend
I used to service the eMachines laptops, and a friend picked on up for an absolute steal- it's now used as a Netstumbler device
The only irritations (don't know if these have changed now) was the lack of a PCMCIA slot, and that you have to remove the base plate to get to the battery.

This one has a pcmcia slot, a media card slot for CF, SD, and memory sticks, 4 USB 2.0, 1 firewire, 1280x800 15" LCD, ATI 9600, 512 MB and a 60gb HD. The battery pops out like a cartridge (no panel to remove), and there's a slot on the bottom for a "mini PCI" (which I'm not sure what I'd use for). This was $1249 after rebate from Best Buy. They only give $1400 for a voucher so a Thinkpad is out of the question.

I think I can live with the Ctrl key- maped the "menu" key to the Ctrl key, now it works fine

 

[daveshel]

That is a nice laptop, and Dell, bring the public relations arm of intel, has no A64. Get used to the quirks - I've had my eye on those since they came out.

 

[Hubris]

Just use Firefox. It'll automatically add www and com if you type something in the address bar.

 

[shekondar]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: Dopefiend
I used to service the eMachines laptops, and a friend picked on up for an absolute steal- it's now used as a Netstumbler device
The only irritations (don't know if these have changed now) was the lack of a PCMCIA slot, and that you have to remove the base plate to get to the battery.

This one has a pcmcia slot, a media card slot for CF, SD, and memory sticks, 4 USB 2.0, 1 firewire, 1280x800 15" LCD, ATI 9600, 512 MB and a 60gb HD. The battery pops out like a cartridge (no panel to remove), and there's a slot on the bottom for a "mini PCI" (which I'm not sure what I'd use for). This was $1249 after rebate from Best Buy. They only give $1400 for a voucher so a Thinkpad is out of the question.

I think I can live with the Ctrl key- maped the "menu" key to the Ctrl key, now it works fine

The mini PCI slot is for a wireless card - you can pick these up on ebay for about $30, then you don't have to use a PCMCIA wireless card

 

[deejayshakur]

not to thread crap but damn this is a nice laptop (sa...he igp) im gonna get.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: Phocas
Return it and get a dell .

Having a corporate account with Dell, I can honestly say that Dell's laptops STINK. The screens on the Inspirons tend to go dim within a year, their keyboard quality stinks, and a host of other things I've had experiences with. That's why I used a company voucher to get my own laptop instead of the ones we usually get from Dell.


EMachines was bought by Gateway, and since then their quality has gone up 10 fold! Just these little annoying things that bug me. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Wait, you were complaining about the quality of a dell so you bought an EMACHINE?

 

[csyberblue]

Originally posted by: DaiShan

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: Phocas
Return it and get a dell .

Having a corporate account with Dell, I can honestly say that Dell's laptops STINK. The screens on the Inspirons tend to go dim within a year, their keyboard quality stinks, and a host of other things I've had experiences with. That's why I used a company voucher to get my own laptop instead of the ones we usually get from Dell.


EMachines was bought by Gateway, and since then their quality has gone up 10 fold! Just these little annoying things that bug me. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Wait, you were complaining about the quality of a dell so you bought an EMACHINE?

from what I've heard, emachine's laptops are pretty good

 

[HermDogg]

Originally posted by: deejayshakur
not to thread crap but damn this is a nice laptop (sa...he igp) im gonna get.

*Shudder* I've had experience with 3 Compaqs (My dad bought two, my grandpa bought one when he lived with us). After the first one, I told 'em not to buy, but they never listened. I will never buy another Compaq for as long as I live. Also turned off to HP, owing to the fact that after we bought one with the $400 ISP rebate (Compuserve), the modem in the computer WASN'T COMPATIBLE WITH COMPUSERVE. Still shaking my head over that one.

 

[IamElectro]

Originally posted by: desteffy
return and get a powerbook

Everybody (4 people) I know that has one wishes they did not. Besides ppaying a ton of cash for it they have all returned them for repairs at least once. The problems have been display, battery, and cd/dvd not ejecting.

 

[n0cmonkey]

I would have gotten an AMD64 notebook if I could have found one that was 6lbs or under. Went with a powerbook instead.

 

[sciencewhiz]

Originally posted by: aphex

Sure, if you like talking to India on a regular basis.

IBM all the way

Last time I called IBM support, it was India. I still got through very fast, though.

 

[DurocShark]

Send it to me. I'll ship you my ultra-thin HP laptop with a high speed P3-700 and a CTRL key on the right and onscreen volume display.

 

[MDE]

I have an eMachines laptop (3000+ model) and to all of you geniuses bashing them, walk into BB or CC and play around with their A64 models, they're solidly built and I've only had minor issues with mine. Fritzo, check out my thread in the SFF\Notebooks forum if you have any questions, there's a bunch of M68xx owners in there.

 

[RossMAN]

MDE, did you buy an extended warranty for your laptop?

 

[Grouchyoldguy]

StatBar http://www.statbar.nl/ has an on screen volume display/control and many other great laptop features. Try it, you won't be sorry!
Did emachine correct the problems with the lid hinges cracking?

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
MDE, did you buy an extended warranty for your laptop?

Yes, got it through Best Buy.

Originally posted by: Grouchyoldguy
Did emachine correct the problems with the lid hinges cracking?

I believe they have corrected the problem. If it does crack, you can always take it back to the store or send it to eMachines.