New Laptop
Stephanie and I decided that having a single laptop in the house wasn't quite enough. Every time I travel, she's stuck without a computer, and ends up hiking into the office to take her classes or communicate with me. We've discussed the options ... including a laptop and desktop, since we already have one laptop (a year old eMachine). I also ended up in VA this weekend, so I expedited the search and stopped by Sams today.I went in looking for a fast laptop, light, and a large screen. But we also wanted to make sure that it has a DVD/RW. Which meant that I was stuck between a Averatec, 12.1" screen -- a 4.5lb machine, and a HP with a 15.4" widescreen, and weighing in at 7.5lbs. Right around the same cost. I called Erik, and he could not get any information about the Averatec from their website (I'll need to upgrade to 2GB of RAM for development).
So, I picked up a HP zv6008cl, and proceeded to the check out. I paid with a check, just in time for them to tell me they were sold out, it no longer will be sold, and the only one left was the display model. Turns out, they'd be happy to sell me that one, or give me a refund.
As she was giving me a refund, I inquired about a discount on the display model. "That requires a manager." So, ring me a manager. About 10 minutes later, along comes "AJ". "AJ" gets the details from me, and I explained what was going on. He disappears to a phone, and comes back 10 minutes later. "How about $175 off?" -- I told him I'd take a once-over and let him know.
Erik did some Googling, and couldn't find anything about the laptop. I know Sams has been carrying it for more than a month, but HP's own pages say it was only released yesterday (on the 19th). Huh?
I told the manager I wasn't up for it, it had been plugged in for a while, and there was no way that I was willing to pick up the laptop for that cost. He said "Why"? And then I started in on him.
"Do you know much about laptop batteries?" I asked.
"Nope, just that they all have one." He replied.
"Well, let me bring you up to speed.", and I started, "Have you ever noticed that your cell phone carries more charge when you first buy it, rather than eight months down the road? Yes -- I know, it sucks. But, mostly it's because batteries degrade over time, because the cells don't charge as efficiently. Your cell phone manual tells you to completely discharge the battery every so often. The smart way to use a laptop is the same. If it's always plugged in, the battery will slowly die."
He just stared back, his eyes glazed over.
"Alrighty, science lesson over. I have no idea how long that laptop has been plugged in, but I bet I'll need a new battery. A new one will run between $50 and $80 on eBay, but otherwise it's in good shape.", I informed him.
He woke up, "Oh, so, if I can take some more off of it, you'd buy it?"
"Only if it's enough to cover the cost of a new battery.", I reminded him.
"How about $250 off? That's the best I can do, since I was already below price. I'll try and explain the battery thing to my boss."
"Can I return it if I decide something's busted on it?", was my last question.
"Of course -- everything here has a standard return policy."
Deal.
So now, I own a lovely HP zv6008cl, of which I can only find about 21 mentions of this laptop on the web. It runs like a champ, and I got it w/ all the docs, the box, the battery [which works fine I might add], and the cables for $748.
I have no idea how well it will run Linux, but I'll let you know.
Not too shabby.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home