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Groups > comp.sys.laptops > #801
| From | "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.sys.laptops |
| Subject | Re: External monitor color problem |
| Date | 2011-11-04 17:26 -0500 |
| Organization | A noiseless patient Spider |
| Message-ID | <j91oqu$8dc$1@dont-email.me> (permalink) |
| References | (1 earlier) <j8r85b$rst$1@dont-email.me> <j8s10u$7fl$1@dont-email.me> <ac296ade-f65b-4a92-94d1-45b5298ae64c@g7g2000vbv.googlegroups.com> <j8si1c$1kh$1@dont-email.me> <j91aoi$4pe$1@dont-email.me> |
In news:j91aoi$4pe$1@dont-email.me,
Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> typed:
> On 11/2/2011 3:58 PM, mike wrote:
>> I've been buying laptops of that vintage for a buck. Lately, they've
>> ALL had some sort of nvidia related problem. Stated another way,
>> the vintage is such that most of the laptops showing up at garage
>> sales have nvidia chips and currently or potentially have problems.
>> At a buck, I don't care. If I'd paid ebay prices, I'd be pissed.
>
> What brand laptops are considered of the best quality these days? I'm
> not sure if there is any reliable rating of them out there. I would
> consider buying a new one as the prices are pretty low right now. I
> think we could forget about HPs but it's harder to forget about NVIDIA
> chips because not only HP uses them.
Consumer Reports did a huge survey of laptop manufactures and
reliability over a period of 5 years among consumers. They found all
manufactures (the top ones anyway) ranked 16% to 21% with major
problems.
I don't disagree with their findings, but I think they missed the boat.
As all manufactures has their rock solid models and their lemons. The
manufacture to me doesn't matter that much. Although the chips they use
does.
And both ATI and NVIDIA use mainly the same video chips they use in
desktops in laptops too. They both create lots of heat and gets very
hot. This in turn reduces the longevity of the whole laptop. Intel
integrated graphics doesn't have that problem since there is no video
chip per se, but makes the CPU handle it all. This surprisingly works
really well without much heat.
Where this Intel integrated graphics doesn't work well (okay for some
stuff it is ok) is high demanding graphics like 3D games. Here we need
ATI or NVIDIA graphics and have to deal with the extra heat and reduced
longevity. Yeah I am saying this with two NVIDIA video cards in this
Alienware M9700 laptop (I now have three more just like this one). And
video card failure is very common here too. Although I do maintenance on
them and none of them has failed while I had them (knock on wood).
So if you want a laptop that will last and last, stay away from those
laptops that uses GPUs (aka video chips). A lot of laptops can suffer
from DC jack failures too. Why I haven't experienced one myself
(although I bought used ones that did), I like models that offer a
docking station an option and then you don't have to worry about the DC
jack.
Another thing that fails a lot on laptops is the florescent lamp or the
inverter. If you use an external monitor a lot, no big deal. But running
a laptop with the internal screen 24/7 is likely to fail after 2 years.
The inverter or the lamp costs about 30 bucks each (used and sometimes
new), so it isn't that expensive. Although the lamps can be very
difficult to replace. Most people replace the whole LCD panel which can
be very expensive.
If you want to avoid the whole lamp and inverter thing, look for a
laptop that uses LEDs for backlighting. LEDs can fail, but they use a
dozen or more LEDs and if one fails it isn't the end of the world. Plus
they last far longer than any inverter or lamps too.
--
Bill
Alienware M9700 ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
AMD Turion 64 ML44 2.4GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP3
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External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-01 20:49 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 04:03 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-02 11:09 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 11:17 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem Bob_Villa <pheeh.zero@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 15:23 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 15:58 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-04 11:26 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-04 17:26 -0500
Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-04 15:44 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-04 18:17 -0500
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-04 21:29 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-05 02:25 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-05 11:26 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem "~misfit~" <sore_n_happy@nospamyahoo.com.au> - 2011-11-06 12:24 +1300
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-05 19:27 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-06 05:06 -0600
Re: External monitor color problem "~misfit~" <sore_n_happy@nospamyahoo.com.au> - 2011-11-06 12:16 +1300
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-05 19:50 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-07 07:29 -0600
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-07 12:10 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-07 16:20 -0600
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-10 09:49 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-10 12:49 -0600
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-10 18:32 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-10 18:34 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-12 09:45 +0000
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-12 11:41 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem Bert <bert@iphouse.com> - 2011-11-12 19:47 +0000
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-12 14:31 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-13 04:43 +0000
Re: External monitor color problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-13 01:25 +0000
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-12 18:57 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-13 04:44 +0000
Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-10 10:50 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-12 09:43 +0000
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-12 11:46 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-12 12:42 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-04 11:19 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-02 06:10 -0500
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-02 10:55 -0700
Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-06 04:54 -0600
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-06 10:29 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-06 12:48 -0600
Re: External monitor color problem "Ryan P." <ryannewguy@nogmailjunk.com> - 2011-11-07 20:48 -0600
Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-08 00:49 -0800
Re: External monitor color problem "Ryan P." <ryannewguy@nogmailjunk.com> - 2011-11-10 20:03 -0600
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