consumerist blargh

[adularia]

If I had a nickel for everytime someone told me "You can buy it online!" I would be rich enough to just skip the whole pesky career change and spend my life looking at things to buy online.

Dammit, internets. I am very clear on this. A jpeg is not a substitute for an understanding of how any random object of desire will work for you. Apple

Comments

[brewsternorth]

Uh, yeah, agreed.

Apropos of new computers from unknown manufacturers, I got my Eee PC from J&R, who, while their customer service person probably knew less about the thing than I did, had an abundance of models on display. Possibly worth a look Dell-wise? Even if you don't buy it off them, you'll be able to get to grips with one.

/eta: they certainly had the XPS super-doodad model out on display last time I looked.

[adularia]

Buh, really? Their website says they don't carry Dells at all.

[avar1c3]

I'm curious, why the insistence on floor models instead of just making a best guess from the specs and returning if it's not everything you hoped for when it arrives?

[adularia]

Because I've had some shitty Dells as assigned work machines, and I want to see how much (if at all) the overall hardware quality has improved in a pricier/higher-end line.

[tnarg42]

My experience with Dell laptops is usually Latitude=okay, Inspiron=crap. Inspirons seem to mechanically fall apart (mostly in the hinges) long before they are obsolete. The Latitudes I've had at work have been just okay, not spectacular, but not horrible.
I definitely agree on fondling laptops, though. Unfortunately, most retail laptops are of the consumer-grade=crap variety.

[adularia]

Wow, I'm so glad it's not just me. The Dell I'm mostly thinking of was a Latitude, and really not acceptable. As in: seemed to ignore its own sleep settings, burned my lap if I took its "laptop" nature at all seriously, had a chiclet keyboard whose keys seemed likely to snap off at any minute, could not move between a wired and a wireless network without a reboot. I recently swapped an HP with similar but less severe annoyances for a Mac at work.

Now I'm back in the market for a PC because I want to be able to do 3D modeling with free/cheap modeling software and am tired of having to hunt for manufacturers (other than Wacom and Adobe, that is) that have deigned to create comparable Mac versions of their stuff. It just needs to be a GOOD PC. I am, as dymaxion put it, not looking for a good deal -- I'm looking for a bad deal on the right machine to keep around for the next several years.

[adularia]

The other case where this drives me up the goddamned wall is clothes shopping, of course. Being told "You can also look on our website" == LOST SALE. Not out of spite, I just usually don't bother.