BOUGHT A NEW COMPUTER TODAY

[CARBIZ]

Nothing was wrong with my 4 1/2 year old MDG (Canadian brand) desk top. It has a DVD burner that I added 2 years ago, 256 graphics card, operates at 1.7 ghz, has 768 mb RAM, operates on XP, but I was working on putting all my MPEG-4 movies from my trips to Brazil onto a DVD, interspersed with my digital pics , maybe even a soundtrack, but this proved to be impossible with the old system.

Roxio and I had a falling out about 3 weeks ago, resulting in my smashing the original program discs into a million pieces (while my horrified partner and our dog watched), then uninstalled anything to do with Roxio.

Nero is far more intuitive and user friendly, but I knew I was going to be hitting a technological wall, so.................

Today I bought a HP notebook. The usual duocore operating at 1.6, Vista, 17" widescreen. So far, so good, atlhough (like when we bought our plasma TV 6 months ago), the computer proved to be only about 60% of the price: the software, and warranty cost almost half as much.

It still amazes me that computers are supposed to be so great, but the warranty is only a year, yet people demand their vehicles be covered for 3 or 4 years.

Any, only one call to the tech center to get my internet working (my disc from last year was not Vista ready!) and so far, so good.

The shopping experience was not great. Five years ago, the guy at MDG jumped up to greet me and was very knowledgeable. My trip to MDG last week was met with boredom and lots of looking at his watch. The guy at Future Shop was far more enthusiastic and knowledgeable, so he got my $2k.

[Intrepidation]

Congrats, notebooks car kewl.

[Halo]

AWSOME! My grandmother's ME can no longer access the internet due to damaged hardware so now she's getting a new one. It's one of the cutomizeable Dimensions and she' letting me pick out what we want with it.

Edited June 4, 2007 by Halo

[Intrepidation]

AWSOME! My grandmother's ME can no longer access the internet due to damaged hardware so now she's getting a new one. It's one of the cutomizeable Dimensions and she' letting me pick out what we want with it.

Here's the first thing to pick out: something that is not a piece of $h! Dell. Get an HP, or if you are looking for a desktop, build it.

[loki]

Here's the first thing to pick out: something that is not a piece of $h! Dell. Get an HP, or if you are looking for a desktop, build it.

well.. if you're familiar with linux at all ..... dell is selling boxes with that preinstalled.... hard to beat those prices sometimes if it's just going to be a basic computer. but i like to build mine.

sounds like a cool notebook. remember when they were always called laptops? hahaha

[trinacriabob]

I do not feel like a complete person.

My best friend from college who now lives in Sandy Eggo said, "As much as you hang out in coffee places, you need a laptop." I think he's right. I will get around to it.

Congrats, CARBIZ! So it was $ 2K CDN, eh?

*trembling as I divide $ 2K by 1.08, the most pathetic exchange rate for us "colonials" that I recall*

[frogger]

*trembling as I divide $ 2K by 1.08, the most pathetic exchange rate for us "colonials" that I recall*

Try 1.06 :-).

[frogger]

Good call getting an extended warranty, last year my brother's HP notebook had his 17" screen go when it was 2 years old, it would have cost him almost as much to repair it as buying a new notebook.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Congrats and good luck with it!

[CARBIZ]

Just as long as everyone takes note that on any major purchase, whether a computer, plasma TV or car there will be a lot of extra charges. My computer, as advertised, was $1,099; however, it was $299 to upgrade to Vista Home Office & Student, get MS version of firewall/anti-virus, have them load everything and test it out, then another $29 for a HP printer (hell, the ink is worth more than that, so I took it and now I have two HP printers!), then $349 for the 2 extra years coverage, which he "discounted" to $269. :AH-HA_wink:

Interesting to note that on the actual receipt, the computer was knocked down in price but the warranty stayed at $349, which leads me to suspect he is commissioned higher on the warranty. Hmmm. I let that one pass. I got another $50 knocked off for accepting a computer that was already out of the box, but clearly not used yet. So, the computer was $1,049, everything else was $600!

Then, the great Canadian taxes kicked in, almost $231! Ouch. Still, on my Future Shop card I don't have to pay for 90 days.

It was the same story when I bought my plasma TV 7 months ago: TV & surround system $3,400; cords and cabinet another $1,500 or so.

Next time someone buys a $20k vehicle and bitches about a $295 admin charge I will kick them in the rubber parts!

[trinacriabob]

Try 1.06

Yeah -- I saw that last night AFTER I made my post. Unbelievable. I think Americans may tread more lightly on Canada as a vacation destination as a result of this; that is, unless prices are adjusted a little bit.

[Hollingsworth]

Get an HP, or if you are looking for a desktop, build it.

Or a Mac. Outside of gaming, there's virtually no excuse not to buy one anymore.

[FAPTurbo]

Yeah -- I saw that last night AFTER I made my post. Unbelievable. I think Americans may tread more lightly on Canada as a vacation destination as a result of this; that is, unless prices are adjusted a little bit.

Analysts are predicting that our dollar will match the Yankees' in a couple years... and then be worth more.

[Sixty8panther]

I love my notebook, even though the darn left hinge is broken clean off.

[capriceman]

Panasonic tough books are the best though. I love folding them and throwing them across the shop floor to the guy that needs it next.

although the Secretary of purchasing gets pissed when she sees us bouncing it off the walls.