Electronics

[peggyhbsl]

We have had several bad Apple products over the years. My daughter was treated very poorly in November by an Apple associate. They are not as good as they claim to be.

[funwun]

On 12/27/2014 Cha1k said:

***** Warning: Biased opinion below -- since the OP asked*****

Apple products have an excellent reputation for working seamlessly right out of the box. That's not to say there aren't occasional buggy devices released into the wild, but overall customer satisfaction is very high for all Apple devices.

So many people base their electronic buying decisions solely on price -- not saying the original poster did this -- to have problems with setup, incompatibility with peripheral devices, maintaining malware defenses, etc. In many instances the time and frustration dealing with an inferior product far outweighs the additional $$$$ that would have been spent on an Apple device.

I TOTALLY AGREE!!!!!

[Sunshine Kate]

I cannot wait until the day when all computers are made like a TV. Just turn it on and no problems.

I'm so tired of loading software and hope it works. The pop-ups are ridiculous. I don't have time to call tech support, can't understand them, and half the time they don't know.

Ugh

[Sunshine Kate]

On 12/28/2014 funwun said:

On 12/27/2014 Cha1k said:

***** Warning: Biased opinion below -- since the OP asked*****

Apple products have an excellent reputation for working seamlessly right out of the box. That's not to say there aren't occasional buggy devices released into the wild, but overall customer satisfaction is very high for all Apple devices.

So many people base their electronic buying decisions solely on price -- not saying the original poster did this -- to have problems with setup, incompatibility with peripheral devices, maintaining malware defenses, etc. In many instances the time and frustration dealing with an inferior product far outweighs the additional $$$$ that would have been spent on an Apple device.

I TOTALLY AGREE!!!!!

I agree with Apple products. However, other manufacturers should be able to do the same at a more reasonable price point.

[autumnsunset]

I returned a HP TSV's to QVC a few months ago didn't have trouble loading software and no pop-ups just did not care for the screen and a couple of other problems Hubby and I went to the stores didn't see what I wanted went to Dell's website nothing there.

I found a Dell on QVC i7 - 17 in with a lighted keyboard bought it from QVC because the price was cheaper on QVC then Dell I am very happy with it love the screen and keyboard I only put the software in I wanted Photoshop and Corel paint and I have had no problems had the laptop for 5 months I love my Dell laptop I'm happy stays cool too. It arrived before the EDD and I was sure happy about that and no damage to the box arrived in better packaging then the HP.

This is my first Dell and for me it was a good buy and I never had to call tech support for any help it was up and running right from the box.

[AutumnBlonde]

On 12/28/2014 peggyhbsl said:

We have had several bad Apple products over the years. My daughter was treated very poorly in November by an Apple associate. They are not as good as they claim to be.

Hmmm, I'm surprised that you had 'several' bad Apple products. I've been using Apple products since 1985 and any issues I had were minor and easily corrected. I purchase the TSV laptop by HP with a year subscription to Office. The Office software loaded in Spanish. So, I spent 1 hour with tech support having them uninstall it and reload it in English. I don't use the PC to surf the web because it is painfully slow. I use it only to learn how to navigate a PC and learn Microsoft Access (not available for Macs). This way I will be comfortable with the PC and software used in our office. It's been frustrating, but I'm determined.

[gardenman]

Okay. There are simple computers out there these days that are quite reliable and easy to use. They're called Chromebooks/Chromeboxes. They're virus/malware proof and quite cheap. They update automatically and they're pretty easy to use. They have their limitations, but if you want a simple computing experience, that's probably your best bet. They're as close as you can get to having something simple like an old style TV. (Modern HDTV's can make computers look simple when it comes to setting them up, so that comparison isn't so accurate any more but there are simple, plug and play computers out there.)

Apple products are great, but so are high quality Windows products. Most people don't spend Apple kind of money on Windows based PC's however so they end up with an inferior Windows PC. A well made Windows machine can be as well built, reliable, and easy to use as an Apple product. Most people don't get well-made Windows PC's though unless they build one themselves. Apple doesn't have a computer wizard who casts protective spells over Apple hardware. If you check the Apple support forums you'll find lots and lots of people having lots of problems with Apple products.

As to reliability, no matter the product (cars, TV's, computers, etc.) if you plotted the failure rate you would find a graph shaped something like the cross section of a bathtub. There's a steep vertical end (lots of failures at/shortly after time of purchase) then there are very few issues for most of the life of the product (the flat bottom of a bathtub) with a gradual slope upwards towards the end of the lifespan of the product. Anytime you buy something new there's potential for a component to fail early, or for it to be damaged in shipping. Once you get into that long flat section of the failure graph nearly every product works as anticipated. Warranties are designed to protect you from that initial vertical spike of failures. Extended warranties are designed to milk cash out of you for the time when the product is least likely to have an issue (the long flat bottom part of the bathtub graph.)

In the case of this particular laptop, my understanding is it ran very hot then wouldn't start up again afterwards. There are all kinds of options but I would probably start looking at the fan on the CPU if I was trouble-shooting it. If that fan fails (and manufacturers tend to go cheap on them) or became unplugged in shipping then the CPU would overheat. If the fan failed then in some cases the computer just won't start as a fail-safe to protect the CPU. It could also be a battery issue, or some other failure. It's under warranty though, so send it back and let them worry about it.

[AutumnBlonde]

gardenman - you are right with your analysis on technology in general. Nothing is perfect. I do wonder why the Chromebooks are malware and virus proof but they don't build that into all PCs. As I stated above I'm learning Microsoft Access with my 'cheap' PC. I understand why this PC is slow and I'm ok with it. I just don't understand why I have to weed through so many pop-up caution messages each time I'm on the Internet for 'MS help' info. I finally 'uninstalled' the McAffee Virus protection as it continued to display messages when I configured it to stop. I have created a new ID and kept my Mac presence separate from this learning experience so any viruses will not infect my other info. I've approached this experience with an open mind. I really like some of the Office suite features, but will keep the Mac and external backup (no cloud storage) as my first choice for personal and professional work.

[glb613]

On 12/28/2014 Sunshine Kate said:

I cannot wait until the day when all computers are made like a TV. Just turn it on and no problems.

I'm so tired of loading software and hope it works. The pop-ups are ridiculous. I don't have time to call tech support, can't understand them, and half the time they don't know.

Ugh

If the pop-ups are security ones, Windows asking if you want to install the program, you can get into the user settings (found in the control panel) and stop them. It's the first thing I turn off when I buy a new Windows machine.

[nannycakes]

well after 3 times taking the battery out , it is still on. But I can hear the fan going fast

and then slowing down. It will most likely stop running again.

For me I liked windows 7. This has windows 8.1. But i understand electronics change and not always for the better.

It will be going back to the Q. It has issues, and being band new it should perform better then this. I had a Dell desktop for 10 years, and never had a problem with it like I have now.

Nannycakes