GatKong |
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Tetris Mason
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My son has saved up his money and wants to buy this laptop.
Anybody know if this is one of those cheap Chinese crap-laps or is this a good deal for a hard working money saving kid to spend his cash on? Or alternate better deals for the same cash.
He specifically likes to play games.
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: GatKong]
#302710 - 01/17/13 02:32 AM
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I've owned a few Asus motherboards before and don't recall having any problems with them.
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| redk9258 |
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Regular
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: Smitdogg]
#302713 - 01/17/13 03:14 AM
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> I've owned a few Asus motherboards before and don't recall having any problems with
> them.
Same here. At least you will know who makes the internal stuff.
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: GatKong]
#302720 - 01/17/13 04:08 AM
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> My son has saved up his money and wants to buy this laptop.
>
> Anybody know if this is one of those cheap Chinese crap-laps or is this a good deal
> for a hard working money saving kid to spend his cash on? Or alternate better deals
> for the same cash.
>
> He specifically likes to play games.
With that setup and price it will suck for FPS games.
Goto fry's and test some laptops. Normally they won't care if you install games.
He will need to spend at least $1500 for a decent gaming laptop. Get a desktop PC if he wants it for games.
Is he LAN PC GAMER that wants it for competitions?
Edited by satan (01/17/13 06:04 AM)
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: GatKong]
#302721 - 01/17/13 04:16 AM
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I just finished setting one up for one of our higher ups at work.
Quite nice for business use, but it really sux for any decent gaming.
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| R. Belmont |
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Cuckoo for IGAvania
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: GatKong]
#302723 - 01/17/13 04:55 AM
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Any "Ultrabook" is going to be shitty for games. They're designed to be very thin and thus they're not very powerful (Intel on-board graphics).
Beyond that, I have an ASUS gaming laptop that's about 18 months old now (17", looks kind of like the Stealth Fighter, quite heavy). The power connector fell off the motherboard after 3 months, leaving it unable to charge the battery; ASUS did repair it under warranty no fuss after exchanging some Chinglish emails ;-) It's served me pretty well other than that; the Nvidia GPU makes short work of most games at pretty high settings, the 1080P screen is nice, and the CPU's fast enough for MAME.
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: GatKong]
#302726 - 01/17/13 05:23 AM
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I've got an Asus G1 laptop that I bought back in February of '07 and it still working just the same as the day I bought it (except it needs a new battery -- this one holds about a 30 minute charge). No loose keys, monitor looks good, and it doesn't seem low-quality as far as build is concerned. Have been very happy with it.
Like someone else mentioned, though -- that Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics chip isn't going to offer very good performance as far as gaming is concerned.
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: GatKong]
#302730 - 01/17/13 07:01 AM
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Looks decent.
The HD is a little under spec'd but the SSD will make up for that if you set it as a cache (write back not write thru if you like your data). I set mine up as write back and lost the laptop in 3 days to a bluescreen. That was after installing about 250 games on the thing...
The screen is a bit meh but most laptops these days are. You are going to have to spend quite a bit more to get a better screen.
The 802.11 is 2.4 ghz only but at least N(150 not 300). This is the latest trick a lot of manufactures have been using to shave off 10-20 bucks yet still throw that N label on it. Look for a/b/g/n. If you seen b/g/n its usually a 1 channel so will only get you a 150 datarate.
The battery life on it I would estimate at 3-4 hours new. For games older than say 2010 you will have very few issues with it (I have the same chip on mine with a nvidia for more hefty games). You will not be playing crysis 3 on it... I set my wifes to use the 4000 for about 80% of her games and she has no complaints. Anything mega 3d though I aim the nvidia at it (which eats batteries). Nice thing is how cool the intel runs and how it sips at the battery.
For the ~600$ cost it is an 'ok' laptop. If I were going to get win 8 with it I would seriously save up a bit and get a touch screen one.
I would not worry too much about ASUS. HP/Dell/whoever buy them from the same companies anyway slap a stick on them with a bit of OEM software...
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| B2K24 |
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MAME @ 15 kHz Sony Trinitron CRT user
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: GatKong]
#302733 - 01/17/13 07:17 AM
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If it were me I would look for something similar that also had NVIDIA GeForce instead of Intel HD
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: R. Belmont]
#302734 - 01/17/13 07:50 AM
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> The power connector fell off the
> motherboard after 3 months, leaving it unable to charge the battery; ASUS did repair
> it under warranty no fuss after exchanging some Chinglish emails ;-)
The same thing happened to my friend, just after his warranty expired. He had it repaired by a guy who specializes in laptop repair. The repair guy claims that he's repaired "hundreds" of that exact same power connector issue on various ASUS laptops. There's obviously some sort of design problem there that needs to be addressed.
That said, I picked up a cheap ASUS laptop last year from Best Buy for $400 and I haven't had any power issues yet, but I'm VERY careful to not put any stress on the power cord. Here's the specs...
Asus K53E-RBR4 Laptop
Intel Core i3-2330M (2.2GHz)
15.6" (1366 x 768) LED
6GB DDR3
640GB HDD
HDMI
WiFi-N
DVDRW
Webcam
6-Cell battery
Win 7 Premium 64-bit
$399.99 (purchased on 03/05/2012)
Best Buy SKU: 4776005
I've successfully played Age of Empires III on it quite a bit, though I need to turn down some of the eye candy (shadows, smoke, etc...) or it bogs down really bad during battles.
I've also played Portal on it, outputting via HDMI to my 1080p HDTV. Though, again, I need to turn down some of the eye candy like the portal draw depth. Even with settings turned way down, Portal still locks up or crashes from time to time. I'm not sure that the Intel HD 4000 graphics are really up to the challenge (or even meet the minimum requirements).
I wouldn't spend over $500 for anything in this class of laptop if you plan on doing anything beyond mild gaming with older games. For anything more serous, I'd spend a little more and get something with dedicated graphics. Just stick with Intel Core CPUs.
Also, and this is just a pet peeve, but I really HATE laptops that have a full dedicated numeric keypad on the right side. It forces your hands off center to the left, which makes it uncomfortable to type. Who the hell uses keypads anymore other than accountants? They should leave out the keypad and put speakers on the sides of the (centered) keyboard instead.
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| GatKong |
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Tetris Mason
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I appreciate everyones input.
[Re: GatKong]
#302736 - 01/17/13 08:00 AM
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It's good for him to read this coming from someone other than his Dad.
He has his heart set on this particular laptop, and my advice was just Dad being Dad.
He's mulling over all the advice, and will decide how he thinks its best to spend his money.
Of course a $1,500 laptop would be better than a $600 one, but that's not his budget. And yes a desktop PC is better suited for gaming, but one of his big priorities is to be able to take it places and lose or break it.
Thanks again everyone.
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Re: I appreciate everyones input.
[Re: GatKong]
#302737 - 01/17/13 08:15 AM
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Re: I appreciate everyones input.
[Re: GatKong]
#302738 - 01/17/13 08:24 AM
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This doesn't seem like a bad laptop for the price, other than it coming with Windows 8, which is pretty much a given these days...
TOSHIBA Satellite S855-S5380 Notebook Intel Core i5 3210M(2.50GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory DDR3 1600 750GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi AMD Radeon HD 7680M
$649.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216035
Or maybe this one with a bigger screen (but less memory, sadly)...
lenovo IdeaPad G780 (59347664) Notebook Intel Core i5 3210M(2.50GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M
$599.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310625
I'd check out that site that compares laptop graphics chips to see which is better, but either one is probably miles better than integrated Intel HD 3000/4000 graphics.
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| Tomu Breidah |
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No Problems, Only Solutions
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Re: I appreciate everyones input.
[Re: krick]
#302742 - 01/17/13 08:45 AM
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> bla bla bla is probably miles better than integrated Intel HD 3000/4000 graphics.
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Re: I appreciate everyones input.
[Re: GatKong]
#302748 - 01/17/13 11:06 AM
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Windows itself will warn you that some things won't display properly with a vertical resolution of less than 960, yet most modern preassembled computers ship with monitors that have lower resolutions than a good television.
This has been the case for all his life, and half yours. Before LCDs, resolutions were headed into the thousands. My crappy Dell monitor of 199x could do more than 1400 lines, and games support v.resolutions over 2000.
For any computer purchase, that's my first filter. Built-in or included monitor must be => 1080p television.
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Re: I appreciate everyones input.
[Re: TriggerFin]
#302762 - 01/17/13 05:44 PM
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> For any computer purchase, that's my first filter. Built-in or included monitor must
> be => 1080p television.
On a laptop, you really need a 17" widescreen as a minimum for 1080p.
Most cheap laptops have 15" screens so the resolution is lower.
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Stiletto |
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They're always after me Lucky ROMS!
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Re: I appreciate everyones input.
[Re: krick]
#302764 - 01/17/13 05:56 PM
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> > For any computer purchase, that's my first filter. Built-in or included monitor
> must
> > be => 1080p television.
>
> On a laptop, you really need a 17" widescreen as a minimum for 1080p.
> Most cheap laptops have 15" screens so the resolution is lower.
I have seen 1080p screens available on pricey gamer 15.6" laptops. No good?
- Stiletto
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| R. Belmont |
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Cuckoo for IGAvania
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: krick]
#302765 - 01/17/13 06:05 PM
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> The same thing happened to my friend, just after his warranty expired. He had it
> repaired by a guy who specializes in laptop repair. The repair guy claims that he's
> repaired "hundreds" of that exact same power connector issue on various ASUS laptops.
> There's obviously some sort of design problem there that needs to be addressed.
Wouldn't doubt it. I switched to a third-party power brick where the connector is a right-angle instead of straight out after the repair which helps keep stress off it.
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| R. Belmont |
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Cuckoo for IGAvania
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Re: I appreciate everyones input.
[Re: Stiletto]
#302766 - 01/17/13 06:20 PM
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> I have seen 1080p screens available on pricey gamer 15.6" laptops. No good?
Those are generally good. The problem has been (and there was an awesome rant about this on the latest AnandTech podcast) that LCD laptop screens started out great (hi-res IPS displays were somewhat common on P4-era laptops, at least as a higher-priced option) but have been a race to the bottom driven by price ever since. Anand says he had been pleading with PC makers for years to put quality panels in laptops and market them as a worthwhile feature, and they all scoffed at him and went with super-cheap 1366x768 TN displays that turn purple if you move your head off-axis.
Then suddenly a few months ago they became very interested in display quality again after some fruit company started marketing high-quality laptop displays as a worthwhile feature and had good success doing so. So things should improve again in 2013, just beware of TN panels if you can 
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Re: I appreciate everyones input.
[Re: R. Belmont]
#302771 - 01/17/13 09:27 PM
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> some fruit company started marketing high-quality laptop displays as a
> worthwhile feature and had good success doing so. So things should improve again in
> 2013, just beware of TN panels if you can
Yeah, I'm seeing pocketable devices advertised on TV with 1080s. They should be able to fit three or four thousand (I'll skip the math) vertical if those are real. Good news on hope for improvement, thanks.
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: GatKong]
#302784 - 01/18/13 01:40 AM
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I have an Asus laptop but I would stay away from them especially with the HD4000....
Check this out.
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| DMala |
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Sleep is overrated
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: ]
#302790 - 01/18/13 02:20 AM
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> I have an Asus laptop but I would stay away from them especially with the HD4000....
>
> Check this out.
Ugh, I wouldn't use an HP if they paid *me* $600 to take it away. They used to make good stuff, but their products these days are garbage and their support is a pathetic joke.
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: DMala]
#302792 - 01/18/13 02:27 AM
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I'm not sticking up for HP but does any PC company give good support these days?
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Automatically shut the thread down when you are done with everyone's input (nt)
[Re: GatKong]
#302798 - 01/18/13 04:11 AM
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| DMala |
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Sleep is overrated
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: Smitdogg]
#302809 - 01/18/13 05:22 AM
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> I'm not sticking up for HP but does any PC company give good support these days?
Well, there's bad support and then there's deliberately running your customers around in circles until they give up and go away. I spent six hours on the phone with those fuckers, and at the end of it they refused to fix a laptop that locks up at the slightest hint of ESD. My wife abandoned it for a Mac after less than a year. I finally got it working well enough to screw around on, but it was still $1000 wasted. I'm gonna throw a party the day HP finally runs themselves out of business.
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| GatKong |
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Tetris Mason
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: Smitdogg]
#302810 - 01/18/13 05:45 AM
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> I'm not sticking up for HP but does any PC company give good support these days?
I have an athletic supporter, and it's never let me down. Has good back-up too.
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: DMala]
#302812 - 01/18/13 06:20 AM
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> I'm gonna throw a party the day HP finally runs themselves out of business.
I think Toshiba still makes decent laptops. Lenovo are generally well made, though they tend to be more business oriented. Dell is hit and miss. If you buy from their small business store, they're pretty good. I'm not crazy about their home line though.
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| GatKong |
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Tetris Mason
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Father knows best.
[Re: GatKong]
#308498 - 05/09/13 07:47 PM
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> but one of his big priorities is to be able to take it places and lose or break it.
Its broken. $600 in the trash now.
Tried to tell him.
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| Naoki |
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Reged: 11/10/09
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Re: Father knows best.
[Re: GatKong]
#308500 - 05/09/13 08:36 PM
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> > but one of his big priorities is to be able to take it places and lose or break it.
>
> Its broken. $600 in the trash now.
>
> Tried to tell him.
What happened? GPU failure?
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| B2K24 |
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MAME @ 15 kHz Sony Trinitron CRT user
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: Smitdogg]
#308501 - 05/09/13 09:20 PM
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> I'm not sticking up for HP but does any PC company give good support these days?
Probably not.
I've learned to fix/repair/maintenance them myself so I don't have to rely on any support.
When my wife's HP hard drive failed, they wanted me to ship them the whole laptop. I told them that's ridiculous and it's a 5 minute job to remove and insert a new one. Why can't I read the SN off the old drive and just ship me a new drive?
After some blah blah blah blah *hangs up phone*
I drove 10 minutes to Best Buy and bought a new one out of pocket.
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| GatKong |
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Tetris Mason
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Re: Father knows best.
[Re: Naoki]
#308502 - 05/09/13 09:27 PM
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> > > but one of his big priorities is to be able to take it places and lose or break
> it.
> >
> > Its broken. $600 in the trash now.
> >
> > Tried to tell him.
>
> What happened? GPU failure?
You know, I don't know. He brought it to me yesterday, showing me that it won't boot at all. I asked him for his recovery disk, which he said he didn't "get around to making." So I handed it back and told him to call his tech support.
I know I could be more instrumental in helping him fix it... but he bought it against my advice... then didn't follow my advice to make the necessary recovery disks. It's still practically new, so I'm sure it has some warranty... In another year he'll be a "grown man" and off to college, so... I'm leaving this on his shoulders.
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| Naoki |
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Re: Father knows best.
[Re: GatKong]
#308503 - 05/09/13 09:50 PM
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> > > > but one of his big priorities is to be able to take it places and lose or break
> > it.
> > >
> > > Its broken. $600 in the trash now.
> > >
> > > Tried to tell him.
> >
> > What happened? GPU failure?
>
> You know, I don't know. He brought it to me yesterday, showing me that it won't boot
> at all. I asked him for his recovery disk, which he said he didn't "get around to
> making." So I handed it back and told him to call his tech support.
>
> I know I could be more instrumental in helping him fix it... but he bought it against
> my advice... then didn't follow my advice to make the necessary recovery disks. It's
> still practically new, so I'm sure it has some warranty... In another year he'll be a
> "grown man" and off to college, so... I'm leaving this on his shoulders.
Fair enough. I'm sure my parents would have done a similar thing to me if I had of went and ignored them and picked up a arcade cab near, almost leave me to deal with it.
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| Naoki |
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Re: Asus... junk or gem?
[Re: B2K24]
#308504 - 05/09/13 09:52 PM
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> > I'm not sticking up for HP but does any PC company give good support these days?
>
> Probably not.
> I've learned to fix/repair/maintenance them myself so I don't have to rely on any
> support.
>
> When my wife's HP hard drive failed, they wanted me to ship them the whole laptop. I
> told them that's ridiculous and it's a 5 minute job to remove and insert a new one.
> Why can't I read the SN off the old drive and just ship me a new drive?
>
> After some blah blah blah blah *hangs up phone*
> I drove 10 minutes to Best Buy and bought a new one out of pocket.
But then even though it's ridiculous, it's free *Shrug*
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