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DELL Debuts New Monitors

January 4th 2008 02:50
There's an unwritten law in technology that when we have reached a peak in any given field, where pushing any further would be plain silly, what should be upgarded is not the specs but the looks. My friends, we have reached that peak with monitor sizes, it is simply impractical to carry around a 30" LCD and call it a computer monitor. DELL is well aware of this as it discovers a new way to bleed the poor ass customer dry.

Introducing the Dell Crystal LCD Monitor.


Dell Crystal display


Dell Crystal display 2


Is it truly a revolution for monitors? No. Does it push any new technological boundaries? No. Does it look unbelievably cool, perhaps even something a Macaholic would be using? Yes.

There's no use pushing the tech, just pretty it up and sell it for a premium. There we go.
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Posted By: Ahmed - Category: PC, Parts
   


Cheap Computer Finds Market Niche - I Knew it!

November 14th 2007 05:40
Small PC - Big Power
Sometimes I wonder why people buy expensive computers. I've brought it up many-a-times in the past, if cheap computers were made available (as new) they would sell bucket loads.

The new Wal-Mart PC costing less than $200 but being able to do the typical word editing/internet surfing has been a huge hit and the first batch has sold out. Why? Well trust someone to spin this against Microsoft but personally I think it’s all about price vs. feature ratio.


It features a 1.5ghz CPU, 80gig hard drive 512mb ram comes with a DVD burner, runs Linux and comes in a small box – I’m even starting to want it.

For years, well since ever, computers have been price fixed, as new components have come out they have been adopted and have driven up the prices despite people not making use of the extra power. Most people will find that a computer from five years ago can accomplish the same tasks as a computer that was built last week, at a much lower price.

There is of course the problem of out dated components. Even though something might be more than capable of handling most tasks the age of its pieces could be its downing factor. If incompatible with modern hardware peripherals (be it keyboards or modems) consumers would have to purchase newer systems that pack an extra brunt despite the lack of need for it.

Now what of the software side? Well Linux has always been free, Windows is another story. Will the success of this new computer push Microsoft to compete with Linux on a crazy, almost psychotic manner, as it has already overseas?

Well we can certainly hope so, and maybe we can hope for a future where expensive PCs are not shoved down peoples throats.
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Posted By: Ahmed - Category: Computer, PC, Parts, innovation
   


Computer Warranty Blues, The Trilogy

February 15th 2007 13:42
Just hope this doesn’t turn into a Rocky-ology, or worse, a Pokemon-ology.

*Part One


Part Deux:

This may really end up turning into a bloody CIA, Godfather, Crime and film Noir movie all rolled up into one. Three weeks, three weeks with a broken down PUS that is still under warranty that the service people are blatantly refusing to fix.

Am I supposed to be happy with the fact they are replacing a broken PSU? Yes I am bloody well happy they are keeping to their promise, after milking me for extra money under the guise they will fix any faulty part in the system.

Am I supposed to be happy they in all honesty don’t think they cover the PSU by warranty despite the fact I bought a two year warranty? They are replacing it anyway, but they claim they are being really extra nice doing it because apparently the warranty does not cover the rotating device that is meant to keep the PSU from melting.

I’m sorry, that just doesn’t quite cut it. So should the motherboard have just went up and exploded because of one faulty transistor you would claim that the warranty does not cover that specific transistor?

Of course the other excuse is the fan cannot break, it is some sort of indestructible object hence any warranty issues on it is null and void. Clearly I took it out of the case and snapped it off myself, then repositioned it so it can jam the fan and cause the PSU to overheat. That’s right, treat your customers like criminals. They hate you so bad they’ll break their own PC’s, call for replacement parts, and guess what? They don’t get the part for three weeks, three weeks with a $1400 computer that isn’t working,

What Medion claims is that I stuck something in the PSU’s ventilation that snapped one of the fan blades clear off. It is a physical impossibility for something to snap a fan blade so cleanly off the damn rotor without causing any damage whatsoever to the edges of the blade where the impact would have hypothetically occured. The damn fan blade is void of all indications of physical anomalies it would have clearly received had it hit a solid object while rotating at high speeds.

So today was the big day, I was going to be paid a visit by a technician who was supposed to call first to check I was home. Did said technician call? Of course not, this has probably been another one of those stupid moves these companies pull off on their customers so that they drive their customers to the brink of insanity after which said customer goes out and voids the warranty by having the damn part replaced himself.

It’s a good thing I’m plain broke, I have like $28 and 36 cents in the bank. I love being a student because it doesn’t give me the option of backing down, I fight to the bloody, stinking death… and live to post about it on a blog. Fear me.

The company is called Medion, I don’t understand why they have such a pathetic warranty claims system in which they send their customers off on a wild goose chase. One minute I’m talking to a Medion employee, next thing I’m told I’ll be called back a few days later by the people who apparently own the warranty, I talk to the people who are supposed to replace it, they claim they don’t cover it, I call back to Medion, they tell me to wait for another few days while they get another company to replace the part, it goes on and on. It’s like Medion is paying multiple companies to pretend they own the warranty for the Medion brand computer I bought.

Last week the company that apparently owns the warranty, which I later found out to be Medion itself, stated they ordered the part in and would receive the part by Thursday or Friday of that same week and call in to organize for a technician to come in and replace it.

They didn’t call, I called them Tuesday this week and asked what happened, they told me it had arrived (why didn’t they call then?) and that the technician would call me Thursday to come over and replace it, guess what, today’s Thursday, this Thursday was meant to happen seven days ago, that was when they were supposed to call and have the thing replaced.

You know I wasted a perfectly good day at home waiting for the technician, I could have been out job hunting, finding a job I could have increased my bank balance above $28 and 36 cents so I wouldn’t fight to the stinking death and have the damn thing replaced myself AND void the warranty, which is supposed to be valid for about another eight months.

I’m not used to getting buggered with, I have never really had to make a warranty claim against a product I purchased at Aldi that has caused me trouble. In fact the only experience I’ve ever had with warranty claims was a great experience. My father bought a Treadmill from Aldi, the treadmill broke down, he called customer services, they replaced it in a week, the treadmill broke again about a month later, called them, they replaced it again, then about two months later one part got faulty, my dad asked them to ship that specific part so he could replace it himself. They did, it didn’t even void the warranty and we didn’t pay a single cent for it. Express delivery to boot, from Hong Kong to Melbourne.

But Medion is acting the part of a prick, this is the fourth time they and the people they claim to have sold my warranty to promise to call and they don’t, the first was a few months ago, the second time was three weeks ago, the third was last week and the fourth is today. Not once have they made good and called us back when it came down to replacing the faulty part.

But when it comes to accusing us of deliberately and knowingly sabotaging a perfectly good computer they call, they don’t just call the house number, they called my dad, who lives in Geelong. Well my dad didn’t let Medion fool him into believing the fan snapped off because of some inane fall or battering that only broke that part of the fan while leaving the rest of the computer completely unscathed. He simply said, and I thank him for bringing this into light, that the entire computer is in perfectly good condition save that specific blade on that specific fan. Needless to say fan blades don’t snap off like that, unless they are built extremely faulty or deliberately sabotaged.

Once again, I did not sabotage my work computer that has some of my most important files on it, which I forgot to back up on a USB. It’s weird, I had just reformatted the whole thing, had taken off everything from my USB, all my precious files (just source codes, random projects), everything, and had gone through an extremely elaborate set up of the Platform SDK (PSDK) so I could be ready for the new year in university.

Setting up the PSDK is a pain enough, then when the computer just dies on you the next day it really hits me in the core. I’m sure that’s how sick and twisted I was, just potentially sabotaged my entire second year of university over a $200 PSU which I deliberately broke with my own bare hands.

Also let me make it clear, not once have I asked for a replacement, I’ve only asked for a replacement part, the PSU itself cannot be repaired by a technician, it has to be replaced, and that’s the only thing I want to see replaced. This isn’t some elaborate plan by some naïve (read: extremely stupid idiot who for three weeks has been pulled by the ear over a warranty dispute) eighteen year old to have his old PC (which up until three weeks ago I dearly loved) replaced by a new one through some inane loophole in the warranty. The only inane loophole there is in the warranty is that the company that Medion has sold the warranty to does not actually cover any part if they don’t feel like it.

Seriously, if it wasn’t for the warranty I would have saved myself about five hundred dollars and built my own PC, I paid a premium for a pre-assembled PC with OEM software and extra hardware I had no interest in for the sake of the damn warranty which the company I bought it from refuses to make good on and the company that actually owns the warranty is asking me to pay well over $200 to have replaced by a technician. Did I tell you if I replace it myself I void the warranty?

If the part was replaced today I would have assumed it was no more than a serious of misunderstandings that had led to the delay, but now I am utterly convinced Medion has no intention on making good on their warranty and their promise lest I press extremely hard to the point I leave no room for breath. I hate the idea of having to call consumer affairs but it really might get to that and I'll end upnot seeing the damn part replaced for another month, or more, or ever.

Damn you Medion. Damn you to hell.
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Posted By: Ahmed - Category: Opinionated, PC, Parts
   




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