Yesterday I discussed the basics of buying a new computer. The most important first step is figuring out what you need and what you want out of a new computer. There are three main types of portable computers available these days: netbooks, basic laptops, and high-end laptops. Today is all about “netbooks.”1
(Scroll to the end to see my picks…)
Netbooks
A netbook is a very small laptop designed to extremely mobile and portable. They are optimized for portability and wireless connectivity.
Netbooks typically have a display of 10″ or less. 2 They usually don’t have any CD or DVD drives. 3 They usually have very small solid state drives or mid-sized hard drives. On the plus side, they usually have bluetooth, media card readers, and WiFi. They’re typically between 2 to 3 pounds, depending upon brand and type of battery. They’re also relatively cheap – between $350 to $500.
My requirements may differ from yours. If I were to buy a netbook, I would want:
Minimum 2 USB ports, preferably 3
Minimum 100 GB hard drive
1 GB RAM
Bluetooth
WiFi aka 802.11a/b/g, and preferably also 802.11n
Ethernet port
Modem port
Other things people might care about (but I don’t):
Webcam
Keyboard size
Monitor size
Keep in mind, I’ve never used any of these laptops – I’m just evaluating them based on their prices and my own opinions as to their respective brands and specs. Although, I’m enough of a nerd that I put together a spreadsheet to compare those five netbooks as well as about another dozen or so models and submodels. If anyone is interested in seeing the spreadsheet, mention it in the comments below or drop me a line.
Dell has a new netbook too, but it only has solid state drive options – which are too small to be of use to me. 4 However, I’m sure it would be perfect for some people.
If I were to buy a netbook today, I’d probably go for the Acer Aspire One. It occupies a sweet spot in terms of price, is a decent brand, and has very comparable specs to the higher-end models.
I’m undecided what kind of laptop I want/need. A netbook? A basic laptop? A high-end laptop?2
Figure out what you need, then figure out what you want
Needs
Its all about what you want and what you need. I need a laptop that will let me program, surf the web, listen to music, and send e-mail. This accounts for roughly 98% of my computer usage.
The last 2% of computer usage is comprised of processor intensive activities such as watching DVD’s, video games, video editing, DVD and CD burning, and manipulating large amounts of programming code. For instance, the WCAB legacy number to EAMS number converter involved more than 4.6 million lines of code. 3 My previous laptop struggled with that one. I probably only do these things once every six months or so.
For what I need, a netbook would actually work very well for me.
Wants
As any computer user knows, its very frustrating to have a computer that will not do what you want or takes to long to do it. My wants are a super slim, light-weight, battery efficient, computer that has the processing power to deal with large amounts of data and the ability to burn DVD’s and CD’s.
A netbook fulfills the wants of a slim, light-weight, and battery efficient computer. A basic laptop would suffice for the processing power and CD/DVD burning capabilities.
Having it all
When it comes to laptops, sometimes you can have it all – it just depends how you’re going to compromise.
If money were no object, this would be a no-brainer: buy a high-end light and powerful laptop. These cost $1500 and start climbing steeply after that.
The other compromise is not so intuitive. A very decent external CD/DVD burner combo drive would probably only cost $75 or so. If I’m only burning discs 2% of the time, this is a very reasonable solution. The bigger problem is the underpowered processors in netbooks. They simply do not have the ability to play new games, handle large amounts of data, or deal with too many simultaneous tasks. The only possible work around here is where you use your underpowered laptop to remotely control a more powerful computer and use that more powerful computer to crunch numbers.4 However, this won’t help with video games. ;)
Decision Time
What am I going to get? I’m going to run down the pro’s and con’s of netbooks, basic laptops, and high-end laptops next time. Stay tuned!
The second worst way to create a website is to build it totally out of frames. There are several workers’ compensation defense firms who have websites built out of frames – and they’re terrible.
In the early days of the internet frames were an easy way to enable navigation throughout a website. Since then easy-to-use intelligent server-side languages2 and client-side languages3 have made building website navigation tools a breeze. More importantly, these other technologies and techniques do everything frames do – only better.
Here are some of the problems with websites created using frames:
Un-bookmark-able. Just as with Adobe Flash, users can’t bookmark specific pages within a website built using frames. This means your website visitors can’t come back to visit that specific page and, more importantly, can’t send a meaningful link to their friends.
Un-navigable. Depending on how someone links to your frame based website, its very possible that they will link directly to an internal frame. This means a website visitor getting to your website from a search engine might never see your website’s name or logo!
Printing. Frame based websites don’t always interact properly with web browsers. When you go to print, you might end up printing the wrong frame. Make it easy for your clients to make a hard copy of the information they see on your website and don’t use frames.
Search Engine Optimization. Search engines are designed to be smart. Even so, search engines still have trouble untangling a website made out of frames. If people cannot reach your website by searching for exactly what you’re about, your website is a failure.
I know why there some web developers sell frame-based websites. From a development standpoint, they’re very very easy to write. Frames are little more than HTML, so they’re if you can create a Word document, you can create an frames-based website. I suppose it would be relatively easy to also recyle parts of that website in a new website. These websites are also deceptively good-looking. When the web developer is showing you a frame based website, you’re going to see exactly what you expect. The “danger” of a frame-based website, as indicated above, is that its so easy for it to be shown to your potential clients in the wrong way or out of context.
I think I also know why businesses invest in frame-based websites. They require so little skill to create that a business can just have one of their file clerks or some high school kid build the website cheaply. The website would be, for all intents and purposes, free.
A website is essentially the 21st century equivalent of a resume. You’re using it to tell your clients about you before you ever get a chance to meet them. These days everyone considers Google to be a verb. If your potential clients are already looking for you through the internet, shouldn’t you try to put your best foot forward? A cheap temporary website is fine … as long as its temporary. As soon as you can afford to do so hire someone to put togther something better.
Website Development Tips:
Never build a site out of frames.
Other web technologies and techniques do everything frames do, only better.
Think of your website as your business’s resume, since that’s what potential clients may see first.
Think of your website like a business suit. If it doesn’t look good on a first impression, a potential client may never even speak to you.
Before I start talking computer repair, I offer three caveats. First, I have no formal training in diagnosing, repairing, or even using computers. Second, I have no experience with repairing an Apple or Mac computer. Third, all of the below only applies to laptop repair. Its incredibly easy to swap out components on a desktop.1
So, you’ve done the math and decided that it is more cost-effective to repair your non-functional and out-of-warranty laptop. You know that having the manufacturer or a big box store like Best Buy, Circuit City2 and Fry’s is a very bad idea.3 About the best you can hope for is that it will only cost you much more money than your computer is actually worth. The worst you can expect is to pay for your computer to be returned to you in worse condition.4
Option 3: Dedicated Repair Facility
Since I use my laptop constantly, it was extremely important to me that I took it someone who I could trust to do a good job. Unfortunately, this is the kind of decision I agonize over. Weighing the various pro’s and con’s, relative merits, creating formulas or spreadsheets to help me synthesize and digest the data.
I over-analyze, in part, because I want to make sure I spend my money well. However, its far more important to me that I make sure that whatever item I am researching is the most perfect fit for me. I spent my free time for the better part of the week Googling for local laptop repair places. Once I had a list of places, I started to par it down.
My criteria included: location, accreditation, apparent familiarity with my problem, initial diagnosis based upon my description over the phone, whether they performed a free diagnosis, whether I could locate any review or complaints, and price. You know, that’s all.
I first created a list of every laptop repair facility in my area and then tossed out the ones with bad reviews.
Question 1: Can you repair laptops?
This is a really good question even if you’re looking to have your desktop computer repaired. Repairing a desktop is dead simple. If a part stops working, you open it up, pull it out, slap in a new one and “rock on completely, with some brand new components“. 5 Repairing a laptop is far more involved.
If they couldn’t repair a laptop, I would not have any confidence they’d be able to repair a desktop and would move on.
Question 2: Can you repair components?
There are a lot of “computer repair” places, but most of them either only deal with software problems or only replace large whole computer parts. Their solution to a laptop problem is to replace the motherboard or tell you to buy a new computer. That’s like a mechanic telling you that you need to either replace the entire engine or buy a new car because spark plugs are just not their thing.
The good thing about a repair facility that does “component level repair” is that they will actually look for what caused the problem. Then they will need to try and replace just that little part. Depending upon your computer’s symptoms, you might need a new power jack, new chip on the motherboard, or even have the solder on the board around a chip melted and re-applied to the motherboard6 .
If the repair facility couldn’t repair a component level problem, I moved on.
Question 3: Can you diagnose the problem over the phone?
When calling a repair facility, ask for a technician and describe the problem for them. Obviously, you can’t expect them to actually know what’s wrong, so don’t hold them to it. On the other hand, they should be have some inkling as to the cause.
A small aside about workers’ compensation defense, and then back to laptop repair:
Sometimes during a doctor’s deposition I need to ask a question that deals with legal issues. Invariably, the other attorney present has a different take on the applicable medicine or, more likely, the law. In these situations, I state my position about the medical-legal issue in terms of, “Doctor, its my understanding that…” Then, I say, “Doctor, for the purposes of this question, assume that my understanding about the applicable law is correct. Now… [insert insightful question here]?”
This keeps objections and interruptions to a minimum and allows the doctor to focus on my question. If the other attorney is correct in their legal position, my question and the corresponding answer are irrelevant. Posing the question in this fashion completely removes any basis for objection since the doctor’s response becomes entirely dependent upon whether or not a given legal position is correct.
When describing my computer problems over the phone and getting a snap diagnosis from the technician, I ask them the following, “Assuming the problem is [the problem you’ve just diagnosed], are you capable of making this repair and how long would it take?”
If the repair facility technician had no idea what the problem was or would refuse to venture a guess based on what I was saying, I moved on.
Question 4: Who will be doing the diagnosis and repair?
I located a surprising number of local people who represented via their website or a posting on CraigsList.org that they were able to repair a variety of laptop problems. Some of these were just people who did the work out of their home. They may very well do a good job and certainly charged less – but they weren’t for me. I had a little more confidence7 in a repair facility employing a repair technician than I did in a some guy who put up an ad or website.
Occasionally, a local repair facility will actually out-source the diagnosis and repair. This, of course, begs the question – why do I need you?
As I mentioned above, I wanted to talk to a technician – preferably the one who would be performing the job themselves.
Question 5: How did you treat me on the phone?
Some technicians can’t help feeling superior to the their clients. 8 If the technician was the least bit rude or condescending, I hung up and moved on. Repair facilities are in the customer service industry as much as they’re in the computer repair industry. All it takes is one unfriendly or unknowledgeable person answering the phones for you to lose a potential client.
If you follow the above criteria to create a list of local computer repair facilities and ask the above questions, you’re going to stand a decent chance of finding the best place to get your laptop repaired. Good luck!
This is called a “re-flow,” since the original solder is melted and made to flow back around the chip or connections. If your computer gets heated and cooled a lot, this might be your problem. [↩]
And, perhaps wrongly so. This is just a gut feeling. [↩]
Unfortunately, this is also true of some attorneys. [↩]
I upgraded the website to WordPress 2.7 RC 1 over the weekend.
I generally do not bother installing the updates between the major upgrades. My major concern in upgrading is eliminating possible security issues and obtaining additional program features. I maintain a totally separate website from PDRater.com, also running on WordPress, where I install the very latest versions of WordPress and try out new variations on the look-and-feel of this website, new calculators, and new ideas about how best to present the current calculators.
Very late Wednesday night I upgraded this website to WordPress v2.7. I’m not sure I fully appreciate how much better it might be than the various release candidates.
Thursday morning I discovered an unintended effect of upgrading is that it “broke” one of my plugins. (Reza: Thanks for pointing it out!) I had modified an existing plugin, EasyPayPal, to allow this website to accept credit card payments. WordPress v2.7 changed the user profiles area of the website – and made it so that instead of seeing an option to become a paid subscriber, you just saw a cryptic PHP error. This is nothing that would have compromised a credit card number or anything – it just would have prevented anyone from giving me money.
A little bit of bug testing, one new line of code and its back up and running. :)
There are many different ways to put together a website. Flat HTML which does not interact with the users at all. Javascript enabled pages which allow the user to interact with the webpage a little. AJAX enabled pages which allow the user to interact with the web server and even other users.
The worst way imaginable for a website to be built is one entirely powered by Adobe Flash animation. I know of at least one workers’ compensation defense firm that has an all Flash website – and I feel sorry for them. Their clients probably never use their website. They’re squandering one of their best marketing tools.
Here are just a few of the problems with Flash websites:
Bandwidth. A picture of the word “website” is much much larger than the text “website.” In a similar way, a Flash website is going to be much much larger than the same information presented in pure HTML. The bigger your website, the longer it will take for it to load.
Maintenance. The smallest change to the website needs to be handled by the original web developer. If you “invest” in an all-Flash website, you’re basically hiring that web developer for life. With traditional websites, you can hire any code monkey to adjust your website.
Unnavigable. Flash websites do not work with the browser’s “Back” button. If your users can’t navigate your website in a normal fashion, they will leave and never come back.
Search Engine Optimization. Or, SEO, as it is known in the business. If your website is basically a bunch of moving pictures, it can’t be indexed by a search engine, so it doesn’t know what your website is about, so it doesn’t know when to show it to people who are searching for exactly the kinds of things you are trying to sell.
Repeat Business. If your website is meant to be something people look at once and never return to, I suppose its fine. The problem with a Flash website is that it will not allow users to bookmark or link to particular pages. This means if your clients really love a particular page on your site they can’t e-mail the link to their co-workers!
I know why web developers sell Flash websites. These websites show off how great you are at creating swooshing logos and nifty pages transitions. And, if your client ever needs a little change, they have to come back to you or pay someone else to build them a website from scratch.1
I also know why businesses invest in Flash websites. They want something stylish and unique. In reality all truly successful website forgo snazzy animations for functional user friendly pages. If Amazon, eBay, and Google don’t build their websites out of Flash, why should you?
This isn’t to say that Flash animation doesn’t have its place. It think its great for product demos, presentations, and banner ads. Its an excellent way to present information in a graphical format. That said, you should never ever purchase a Flash website.
Website Development Tips:
Never build a site out of Flash.
Never use Flash to show words.
If its good enough for Google, its good enough for you.
Focus on what your customers want to see, not what you want to show them.
Make it easy for your customers to tell people about you.
Heaven forbid you have a new hire or, you know, the law changes. [↩]
Before I start talking computer repair, I offer three caveats. First, I have no formal training in diagnosing, repairing, or even using computers. Second, I have no experience with repairing an Apple or Mac computer. Third, all of the below only applies to laptop repair. Its incredibly easy to swap out components on a desktop.
When I’m not buying computer or electronics components online, I like Best Buy for products and Fry’s for components. However, I would never have a computer diagnosed or repaired by either place.
First, let’s recognize that a big box store has certain priorities. As such, their staff are trained to sell, not to diagnose or repair. I imagine their priorities are, in order: (1) Sell you things, (2) sell you warranties for things, (3) sell you new things, and (4) sell you warranties for those new things, (5) LLR. 4 From a capitalistic perspective, its hard to argue with a business plan like this.
A little burned out component on the motherboard takes very special equipment and skill to replace. When faced with such a problem you can replace the entire computer, the motherboard5 , or just that one component.
From calling numerous computer repair facilities, I know very few of them have the special equipment and skill required to replace a single tiny component on a motherboard. If dedicated repair facilities do not typically have this equipment, I doubt big box stores would be up to the task.
I think everyone’s heard the horror stories or seen the TV investigations of big box computer store repair services scamming unwary or uninformed consumers. I have friends who hired Best Buy’s “Geek Squad” and still didn’t have their problems fixed.
If I were a very cynical person6 I’d suggest that big box stores hire untrained staff who have a vested interest in charging a diagnostic fee to tell you that your computer and all your data is beyond recovery.
Luckily, I believe the third option, finding a reliable dedicated computer repair shop, is your best bet.
Before I start talking computer repair, I offer three caveats. First, I have no formal training in diagnosing, repairing, or even using computers. Second, I have no experience with repairing an Apple or Mac computer. Third, all of the below only applies to laptop repair. Its incredibly easy to swap out components on a desktop.
When my laptop died back I Googled and called around trying to find and decide upon someone to repair my laptop. There are several possible options when it comes to choosing a laptop repairer. When your laptop is still under warranty, its a no-brainer to send it back to the manufacturer. 3 But, what about a computer that’s either no longer in warranty or with no warranty?
Option 1: Manufacturer
I’ve owned three laptops – a Compaq, a Dell, and then another Dell. On the one hand, I never had to call Compaq for technical support. On the other hand, by the time the laptop was three years old it was in pretty bad shape.
I called Dell first. Sure, I’d had truly terrible experiences with Dell tech support in the past.4 I figured it couldn’t possibly have gotten worse, right?5
Dell offered a three stop process to fix the problem:
Phone diagnostic. $50.00.
Selling me new parts6 and walking me through the repair over the phone. $200.00 – $300.00.
Sending in the laptop to Dell for repair. $300.00 – $500.00.
There are several problems with Dell’s repair process. First, its tremendously time consuming. Second, most of Dell’s processes are developed with the idea that the user is the most common problem. Third, if you have an actual problem you are all but guarrantted to spend more money than the computer is worth. Fourth, Dell tech support is just about the worst ever.
Time Consuming
Dell tech support is nothing if not standardized. Their tech support staff all have binders7 which list tons of symptoms, diagnostic tests, and possible fixes. But, before you even start such a scenario you will be asked to check all cables, that everything is plugged in, and restart your computer several times. Even if you eliminate all time you spend on hold, that’s half an hour right there.
By the time you’ve run through a few diagnostic programs, you’ve easily spent two hours on the phone.
Computer Users Are The Problem
As best as I can tell, Dell’s tech support binder has them verify that the problem is not the user, then not software, then not user-replaceable hardware, then not Dell-replaceable hardware. Obviously, their goal is to minimize tech support time by ruling out simple issues, and thereby minimizing costs.
I’m not saying this is a bad system. But, if the problem is obviously a hardware problem, restarting the computer or dimming the monitor isn’t going to help. I have sent in two Dell laptops becuase the left mouse click button stopped springing back up. After fully describing the problem several times, they still asked me to fiddle with the battery, check that the laptop was plugged in, etc.
The problem is that by requiring you go through the Dell checklist of basic problems with their tech support staff, they are guarranting that every single call, no matter how trivial, will require a minimum of 30-45 minutes.
My former “left mouse button won’t pop back up” problem is really a 5 minute phone call that should go something like this:
Jay calls Dell.
“Hi, my name is Roger, please state the nature of your technical emergency.”8
Jay: “Hi Roger, I have a Dell XPS 1210 and the left mouse button won’t pop back up.”
Roger: “Hmm. Well, try tapping the button. Does that work?”
Jay: “No, that doesn’t seem to work.”
Roger: “Hmm. Can you see anything jammed in there?”
Jay: “Nope.”
Roger: “Yeah, that was a longshot. Okay, well, I’ll send you a box and a shipping label.”
Jay gives Roger his information and is happy with Dell service.
Ideally, Dell would have a way to jump past certain steps. Perhaps by answering a computer trivia question or by hitting “3” for “I have performed all basic rudimentary tests and diagnostics and know what I’m doing.”
Or, more likely: “I have checked all cables, restarted the computer, removed the battery, reinserted the battery, restarted again, booted into Safe Mode, restarted, booted into the command prompt, booted back in Safe Mode, restarted, booted from a recovery disk, restarted, restarted, booted from a Linux CD, restarted, wished on a falling star, and my brand new laptop still arrived with a giant gaping hole in the middle of the screen.”9
Dell’s Guaranteed Expensive Fix
If your computer has an actual hardware problem, and you’re trying to get Dell to fix it, you’re all but guaranteed to spend more money than the computer is worth. If your laptop is out of warranty, then its probably more than a year old. If you go through Dell’s repair process above (phone diagnostic, user-repair, Dell repair), you’re going to spend a minimum of $550.00. This is a losing proposition. Unless you have a high end gaming rig, it probably cost between $750.00 to $1,500.00.
Dell’s tech support is the opposite of helpful. Their tech support personnel are trained to read from their scripts, repeat what you say as if they understood the problem, and then simply do the next thing on the script. Any request for deviation from the script results in a denial or, best case scenario, holding for ten minutes while they find out from their supervisor the reason for denying your request.
You can eventually get what you want from Dell’s technical support, but you better be prepared to fight like hell for it. You will need to argue and haggle with two layers of technical support grunts and as many supervisors as it takes to reach a technical support person located in the United States.
Even if Dell agrees to repair your laptop in an acceptable fashion, you’ve probably 10 hours in the process. Add this to the actual cost of the repair and its a losing proposition.
Look, I’m Indian and I hate Dell’s Indian tech support.
Last week a website user notified me of a problem he was experiencing with this website’s rating calculators. He’s been a regular user for nearly a year now. When he tried to perform a calculation the calculators would just show waiting indicators without showing the answer. If he closed the browser window and reopened it, it would sometimes fix the problem. To complicate matters, his coworker was having a similar problem.
Worst of all, this problem had been plaguing them for two weeks. If you have a problem with this website, let me know as soon as possible so that I can track down the last change to the site to see if its causing a problem.
My troubleshooting went like this:
Get a detailed description of the symptoms.
Try to replicate the problem.
Reiterate the problem to make sure I’ve got it right.
While working to diagnose and fix the problem, offer a temporary fix (putting up a temporary site for their use).
Look into recent changes in the website (going back two weeks).
Since I couldn’t replicate the problem, ask additional questions.
Does the problem occur at a particular time of the day?1
If the problem disappears, its obviously in their computer or network. If the problem persists, it could still possibly be their network or the website.
These browser helper objects are notorious for interfering with normal browser operations. Worse, you can’t rule them out based upon when they were installed because they’re constantly downloading and installing updates to themselves. [↩]
Double clicks send two requests to the server – and might be confusing the browser. [↩]
Two computers on a single network could be a coincidence, a sign of a problem with the website, or a sign of a problem with the client’s network. [↩]
If not, its a problem with that computer. If so, could still be a problem with either the website or their computers/network. [↩]
Tell them how to tell if there’s an error and how to give you the error code information. [↩]
They may not care for the constant updates, but they will know you’re on the case. [↩]
