Laptopness

A brief history of my computer ownership:

October 2005, purchased very pretty, yet very overpriced Sony Vaio VGNFS742W laptop from Circuit City, complete with their not so awesome 2 year service agreement, for the low, low price of $1299. Sometime in 2006, spilled milk in the keyboard. Circuit City didn't cover it, Sony wanted $250. I said "Screw That" and decided to put $$ toward a new one, and just attach a keyboard to use it until I could afford it.

October 2006, now that Nursing school was in full swing, needed a new laptop. Now working full time as DI/WI/FI sup at Avon BBY, could afford it. I decided to go with a Toshiba A105 series, with the 3 year accidental damage coverage to protect against future milk spillage, and little did I know how much other stuff would get covered. I think I spent around $1050 for all of it. I really ended up hating it though, because the keyboard was smaller than average, and typing was a pain. Also, it always seemed to have power issues.

March 2008, my last day before leaving Avon to join the project team, impulse purchased my current HP DV2660se, during a blizzard (got a killer deal r/t the blizzard) with the 2 year accidental damage coverage. I did this so I could have one that was a little bit smaller for traveling, knowing that we were Texas bound less than a month later. I gave the Toshiba to my mom, and the HP has been pretty awesome, minus a small hard drive issue, that led to me getting a replacement hard drive.

Total repair $$ spent since 2006 = $0

All repairs done:

-New screen, motherboard, power supply put into the Toshiba
-New hard drive in HP
-5 replacement power cords via mail

EVERYTHING was covered under the service plans, and the service bills came back reporting over $1300 in repair costs, all covered by the approximate $270 spent on service plan coverage... Maybe I'm single handedly taking down AIG :-P

My point... Today, I am taking the Toshiba, and the HP both in to get fixed. The HP will not power past 54%, and the Toshiba STILL has an ongoing problem with some kind of short causing it to spontaneously power off while using it. Both fixes are hardware issues that will be covered under my plans.

I am not liking the idea of being without my HP for 2 minimally weeks with the semester in full swing. I definitely need to get it working again though. I have way too many important projects coming up to no have it near the end of the semester. I have backed up all of my school stuff onto my external hard drive, and I'll be using the ol' ghetto Vaio.

The Toshiba is almost at the point where I can get a replacement under the no lemon exchange part of my service plan. When that happens, I'll be taking that new one, and giving the HP to my mom. She doesn't mind my hand-me down electronics. ;-)

The moral of the story... Don't buy a Toshiba laptop! Or, (sorry this will sound like advertising) at least buy the service plan with any laptop, from a place you know will cover it if something does go wrong with the hardware! Make sure it covers accidental damage. If you don't, don't cry about it when it does break! All but one of my mentioned repairs were not accidental, and stuff just happens. I know this because people constantly bitch about laptop problems!

So, even though it's going to be a pain for a couple weeks, it really is nice knowing it will all work out, and soon, I will most likely have a new computer. I warned my friend in Geek Squad at Avon that I would be bringing them both in, but I can't wait to see other people's reactions when I walk in with 2 broken laptops!

:-)