The Dell Latitudes look much better than the Inspirons, despite the price difference. They were looking good, except ...
When Dell came to Australia, it opened a showroom in each capital city so that customers could at least see what they were buying. This is no longer the case. In fact, the gist of my conversation with a Dell rep was that they already provided the website, so what more did I want?
Well actually, I want to see the bloody thing before spending the local equivalent of US$3000 per unit (with options like a 3yr warranty). After all, if the client doesn't like the screen, keyboard or anything really, they can't just change it or upgrade it.
Corporates may be okay with buying samples to find out what they're like, but that doesn't apply to real businesses. So Dell can just stick it where the sun don't shine.
So I called IBM. For the third time in as many weeks, I shaped up to a 30 minute wait -
for their sales enquiry line!
Actually, I didn't this time - twice was enough. I tried a few different numbers and hung up each time a receptionist drone flicked me to the same sales hold queue. Eventually, I put my case forcefully enough to make it to the marketing queue, and after several minutes, I was rewarded with a human.
Many apologies, but IBM Australia has been reduced to a single office in Sydney. That's 1000 kilometers from Brisbane by road.
How about resellers? Well yes, but they don't carry stock. With persuasion, I extracted their names and numbers from IBM and called them anyway. Indeed, none had either sales or demo stock. One said they didn't deal with anyone buying less than 20, but another said I could make an appointment and they would see if they could request a demo unit from IBM (in Sydney).
For the record, Brisbane and the adjoining cities of the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast have a population in excess of 3 million. Apparently, this is too insignificant for IBM, let alone Dell. None of the retailers I tried had stock of IBM, and obviously they didn't have Dell.
For years, I have espoused Tannin's doctrine of 'name' brands when it comes to laptops. The damn things are just so proprietary, and parts and service are so hard to come by outside the US. This experience has radically altered my views.
I see Asus laptops everywhere. My brother reckons they're better than the Toshibas and Dells he sees. Asus has a comprehensive distribution channel and lists major laptop retailers directly on their website. I confirmed the best bets with the local distributor (who was extremely helpful) and rang a couple. The second had the
M5001 in stock.
1.55kg
including DVD-RW!
4:3 12.1" screen
Optional 8 hour battery
2 years global warranty
Excellent reviews
Hang on, that's a significant step up on the 'major' brands, isn't it?
There's also a widescreen model (which I can't find the link to right now) for those that actually want smaller displays. :roll: I'm definitely not an Asus fanboy, but they look to be a far better proposition all round in the modern marketplace. :-?
