Computers

[andrewducker]

My desktop is about 7 years old. My laptop isn't great for games. Logic dictates that I should get a new PC, but I couldn't really justify it.

Until this morning, when the laptop died. Totally refused to turn on, with the caps-lock light flashing 5 times in succession, a signal that the internet informs me means "motherboard fucked".

I phoned HP, who do out of warranty repairs, to be quoted £260. As it only cost me £400 this seems a tad silly. A part of me wishes I'd got the three year warranty with it. I'd never bothed with a desktop, but laptops don't have replaceable parts in the same way.

So it looks like I'll be buying a new PC in the near future. Not that we can really afford it. It's going to have to be a cheap one.

A quick google tells me that an Athlon 630x4 and an ATI 5670 are both at the right point on the price/performance graph for me. Anyone want to tell me different?

(Figures from here and here)

Comments

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

I'd try involving trading standards as HP producing goods not fit for purpose. A laptop should have more life expectancy than 18 months, regardless of warranty - especially considering you don't carry it around like a laptop or overly abuse it. Worth contacting citizens advice for some support.

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, seconded.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

Actually, quite possibly - I'm sure I heard recently of a friend of a friend successfully calling Dell out on a year anna half old laptop as not being up to reasonable wear and tear.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain, dude.

My laptop which I got two and a half years ago is doing shit that the internet tells me means "electrical system fucked, your laptop will die in the next few weeks."

I'm lucky in that my uncle is coming to visit and wanted to bring me a present from the family members who have not been able to give me christmas presents in the past 10 years I've been out of America so I will soon have a new laptop.

I do wonder - could I send you my Toshiba motherboard? Would that solve your problem? I don't think there is any problem with my motherboard yet - it seems that the electical system is just shorting out all my "cards" whatever the fuck they are.

I also have a five year old HP laptop - I am a tech idiot but could that motherboard save you?

[andrewducker]

Naah, it's not likely that either of those motherboards will even fit properly inside my case, let alone hook up to all of the peripherals. Thanks though.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Oh well.

I do feel your pain. This thing is shutting down randomly about four or five times a day - not great when I am in the middle of crafting elaborate business plans for my client.

[ami-bender.livejournal.com]

You should be covered by the "The Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended"

18 months is not a lifetime a "reasonable person" would expect. Do you have legal cover on your home insurance? If you do, then I think you can get access to a lawyer for any legal query (or at least I do on mine)if you want to check and get some advice on how to complain. There are also some advice on complaints on th office of fair trading web site.

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/after_you_buy/know-your-rights/SGAknowyourrights/

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

My desktop PC is now about 5 years old -- its youngest components -- and I kinda want a new one for games but also know I don't have time to play games any more :(

I'll be taking note of what you buy if you do!

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

What they all said ...

... just to throw out another option (which I don't think is worthwhile, but you never know ...) ... buy a secondhand duplicate of your laptop from ebay that has a broken screen so you can get a cheap motherboard.

I'll be keeping an eye on what you buy, as I'm worried about my 7 year old tower PC.

[andrewducker]

So far it looks like I could either spend £500-ish to get something perfectly fine, or £700 to get something with a small SSD boot disk and quiet case/fans/etc.

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

My first instinct was "is that small reduction in noise and decrease in boot time worth £200?" ... and then I realised that my ideal machine would be for music recording as well as everything else, and so should be as fanless and noiseless as possible.

So, for that £500/£700 are you including buying an OS? 4Gb of fast RAM? (or more?), bluray burner?

[andrewducker]

4GB of RAM, no Blu-Ray, no OS (I have a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate on the shelf).