Ok, this is not orchid related, but my laptop died and I just need to vent a little. Well, in some ways it is orchid related since I cannot blog about my orchids the way I want to because of it. I am using dear husband’s computer right now, but he has none of my favorite toys installed, like Photoshop or Dreamweaver… so I am limited as to what I can do. You don’t realize how dependent you are on your gear until it breaks… I can still bitch about my situation however, so I will!!
My high performance Dell laptop was only 2,5 years old. Perhaps I am naive, but I had expected it to live at least twice as long. I had the graphics card replaced in March just before the warranty ran out and I thought I was lucky then. Well, that “new” graphics card (I just learned it was actually a refurbished card they put in) just gave up on me too – after only 5 months use. So, I call Dell and learn that they only offer 90 days warranty on new parts. The tech I talked to even admitted that this particular laptop model (Inspiron 9400, or E1705 in the US) has a design flaw that makes it eat graphics cards (not enough cooling) – but company policy is law and he cannot do anything about it. Since I am no longer covered by warranty they don’t give a damn about me or my computer.
In a nutshell… they know they messed up with the design, they installed a refurbished card in my machine that died after only 5 months use, but still won’t help me out. Nice!! What they will offer me is tantamount to extortion! To replace the burned out card they want a mere 4 500 Swedish kroner (about $630) and they probably won’t have any cards to put in it until next year since so many people are having problems with the card. Hmmm… let me think. Should I put in another shitty refurbished card in this thing and hope I get more than 5 more months use out of it, or buy a brand new computer for about the same amount of money??!! Tough call.
I have ordered a new computer, and let me tell you… it is NOT a Dell!
