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The search for a laptop has come to a close. I decided to buy a refurbished Dell after I nearly bought a cheap, used Apple. The Apple for sale turned out to be a Craig’s List scam, but fortunately nothing ventured and nothing lost. I’ve come to the conclusion that Craig’s List is not worth the trouble. I hope you have better luck.

The Dell Outlet is a great thing. It’s easy to use and fun. The deals are always changing. Two computers I thought about buying were gone by the time I got through dithering over them. It may be a ploy on Dell’s part to make you, think less, buy quicker and spend more. The wizard is probabably sitting behind Dell’s curtain putting the refurbished units up for sale and pulling them back again. That’d be tricky, indeed.

So the computer I bought is an Inspiron 1501. It’s kind of plain jane as far laptop design goes, but for the money it’s powerful enough. And I need that extra power, right? I was pleased when I ordered it.

Do you remember ordering things when you were a kid? I’ve always loved getting boxes in the mail. I remember saving G.I. Joe coupons so that I could order special figures and vehicles. Hasbro was smart and offered discontinued toys this way to kids like me who wanted what they couldn’t find in the store. I looked for Storm Shadow for months, searching every K-Mart and K-Bee store I came across. Alas I never found an original Storm Shadow. But I was able to order a Cobra infantryman.

I don’t think Vista comes with Storm Shadow. Vista came with my computer, though, and that’s what disappeared as quick as a ninja when I hit the lappy’s power button. Can you believe that? I hit the power button after very gingerly unpacking the box and looking at all the parts. Not much smells better than a new gadget out of the box.

The computer churns. It’s hard drive buzzes. The screen says it can’t install Windows properly and politely asks me to try again. What?

I try again.

Again.

Nothing.

Shit.

I have to say that Dell’s tech support saved the day. Liza_145026 from India was super helpful, although I don’t think the few jokes I cracked helped matters much. I’d give you some of the conversation, but it won’t cut an paste into the text editor very easily. But here’s a little that I remember,

Liza_145026: Please tell me what trouble shooting attempts you have done, Bos.

Bos: Ummm, I tried going into safe mode. Then I stuck the Vista os dvd into the drive. That didn’t work.

Liza_145026: Alright

(Liza typed Alright a lot. She must have it set as a short cut.)

Liza_145026: James, here’s what we are going to do. We are going to have to reinstall Windows.

Bos: Oh Goody!

So that’s what I did. I got to reinstall Vista on our first date.

That’s all said and done now. I’m watching the laptop, though, like a dog that’s bitten me. I wonder why I had go through all that trouble. Vista should have been there out of the box. A newbie must have inspected my refurbished model and not noticed that the damn thing wouldn’t boot up.

I did call Dell today to ask for some compensation ($$) for all my trouble. The gal I talked to offered me a printer, which I think is the equivalent of a bank offering you a toaster, but I said no, thanks. I had them refund me the cost of shipping.

I should have asked for a wireless router, or an MP3 player, or better yet. I should have asked for a Ubuntu disc.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 8:54 pm and is filed under Geekery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.